The skateboard pull has never stop since I was ten.
I just watched a documentary on Daewon Song, a legendary skateboarder. It sent me back.
Daewon at his peak was incredible. Doing things at a speed and a level of mastery that was so far out that we couldn’t even dream of doing half of that. He was that bad. 3 flip to nose manual on a steep ass, rough bank, like it’s nothing.
I was skating Paris and Daewon was skating LA. Now I’m in LA and I know where Gardena is. I know the triple-digit street LA a bit. But more than that, I understand the paradigm. Parents working constantly. Hot days. Perfect evenings. The brutality of that economic system that pushes you to want to try some stuff like jumping on a board and slide on a handrail because fuck it, let’s try. The urgency. The desperation. The creativity.
Hardcore capitalism created street skateboarding. Car culture –parking lots, ability to go anywhere- fed it.
All I could see from 10,000 miles away was teenagers with freedom to spare while wondering how this was possible.
It seems wrong how Daewon is known across the world in one community and still had to live in his car for a while, not so long ago. Hardcore capitalism is some serious shit.
He’s a kind soul, like most skaters I’ve skated with or skaters I heard in interviews.
This makes me want to drive around, find a parking lot lit with soft orange lights and practice my manuals. Just skating.