Pauly On The Pod
Pauly On The Pod
Jacksonville Skate Legend: Mike “Dinger” Peterson
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Jacksonville skateboarding isn’t just tricks and footage, it’s places, people, and the years you put in when nobody is watching. We link up with Mike Peterson, aka Dinger, a hometown hero who helped shape how a whole generation here thinks about skating: skate everything, go fast, keep your style, and keep showing up.
We talk Kona Skatepark memories from the first scary day on the ramps to the legendary obstacles that keep pushing skaters decades later. Mike walks us through the old Jacksonville street spots and how local history turns into local identity. Then we get into the real behind-the-scenes work of building a skate scene: how The Block Skate Supply grew, why an indoor warehouse skatepark hit zoning and city roadblocks, and what it takes to create something that can actually last.
From there it gets wide-ranging in the best way, comparing Florida skate culture to California’s massive ecosystem, shouting out the skaters who set the standard for style, and even breaking down the Ollie North with tips you can take to your next session. We also hit real life: injuries, ACL recovery, blue-collar work ethic, running Southern Pro Tree, and the kind of happiness that comes from doing what you love without needing the spotlight.
If you ride for your city, you’ll feel this one. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a five-star review so we can keep bringing on the people who built the scene.
Welcome Back And Kona 45th
SPEAKER_01What up? You're listening to Polly on the five with Polly Walnuts and Doctor Jones and I came out.
SPEAKER_00Hey guys, your boy Paulie. I got Doc on the line with me. What's going on, buddy? Thanks for tuning in, everyone. If you don't mind, take this time to uh like, subscribe, and share the podcast. And the best way to show your support is to give us a five-star rating. If you do so now, we would be stoked. Anyways, super hyped. Thanks for tuning in, like I said. Thanks for your patience. It's been a couple weeks since we've posted an episode, but I've personally been in the throes of moving across town as well as working my full-time job. And then we just had celebrated uh Kona's 45th anniversary. Man, it was so lit. Um just for everybody that was out there. We had Steve Van Dorn, the owner of Vans out there. We had Stevie Caballero. He signed your cane. Yeah, how many people did you get signed your cane?
SPEAKER_03Uh uh had Steve Van Dorn, Christian Asoy, Steve Caballero, and um Scott Olson or Steve Olson. Hell yeah, yeah. I mean Scott Olson's dead.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep. That uh Steve Olson, he was also out there with Dave Hackett. They were running some downhill uh races down the snake run. We had the Dern brothers out there doing bangers for bucks on the handrail. Uh InstaRamp, big shout out to those guys. They came out and set up a mini ramp and there was a bangers for bucks at the end of the night. Um Paul Hart was there. Paul Hart was there, yep, hometown hero. Um Stevie Cab and uh in his band Eurethane played, and man, what a pleasure to see them play live, man. I uh I dig that band. I love them.
SPEAKER_03Man, it was it was it was it was pretty insane, dude.
SPEAKER_00So started off early that morning, went all day. There's a VIP party that Friday night which went off, and uh it all uh it culminated with a huge bonfire at the end of the day on Saturday during the uh Instagram jam. But uh speaking of uh hometown heroes and such, uh man, this was a bucket list guest. When I first started out to do the podcast, I had made a list of uh some people locally that you know I knew or were acquaintances or or had yet to meet that was like, man, if I can get these guys on, I'll be doing something and I'll be going on my way. And at that top of the list was uh Mike Peterson, man. And I I couldn't be more stoked to have old Dinger on this episode. Uh we sat down in Chris's garage in uh in front of a fan and uh just chopped it up. What do we talk about? We talked about everything from skateboarding to fast food to fucking.
SPEAKER_03Everything in between.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you think we're some fast food connoisseurs. But anyway. And in a in a bunch of cool stories, man. We look forward to uh having Dinger on again in the future. But for now, guys, enjoy this episode. It was uh it was a pleasure. The hometown hero himself, Mike, dude, Peterson. Let's fucking get it.
SPEAKER_03Let's get it, boys. Should be played up high volume.
SPEAKER_04Oh fuck it down, Peter. Look how you've grown up for me.
SPEAKER_00He's crazy.
SPEAKER_03It's crazy. Get the fuck out of here. Hey, Dr. Doki, no time for that. You are listening to Polly on the phone. So shut the fuck up, yo.
Meet Mike Peterson Dinger
SPEAKER_00Hey guys, your boy Pauly. Hey, it's the doctor, and we are here with the man, the myth, the legend, local guy Mike Peterson. Welcome to the show. Hello, hello.
SPEAKER_02Is anybody in there?
SPEAKER_00So, yeah, man, super stoked to have you on, Mike. Uh just growing up here skating in Jacksonville, obviously. We we've all grown up watching you idolize and being stoked uh to to watch you skate over the years. I remember uh kind of growing up, all my friends wanted to skate street, and uh I just kind of skated both. And you were a huge inspiration for that, man. Just the full charge, like didn't matter, dude. You skated everything, fucking stoked.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I think uh a lot of that is the era I grew up in, is like when I was a kid, like it was right around the time when it was no longer like just training skating, everything was evolving to street and training. So like when we grew up, we skated whatever was skatable. Oh yeah. You'd either go to Kona or you'd go like downtown, and and then there was the the block, the actual foundation spot, the that cross like by Regency, and so in when I was growing up, that's just how we did it. Like you it wasn't like you just had one particular thing. So it was sick.
SPEAKER_00When when did you start skating?
Starting Skateboarding In 1984
SPEAKER_00How old were you? Nine. Nine, fuck yeah. Fuck, dude.
SPEAKER_01It was uh first board. What year was that? 1984. Ohy six.
SPEAKER_00Jesus Christ. I was born in 85. You've been skating as long as I've been alive. That's fucking sick. Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um the first board I had, let me think. The first like ghetto board I had was like a Veriflex from like a toy store. Yeah. And uh I remember I would just ride around my neighborhood on my knees, yeah, pushing around. And then um a buddy of mine that I knew his name was Matt Mills. I still remember that. He was a little older. He built a uh a half pipe at his house in the valley, right here. Oh, cool, right around the corner. Right here.
SPEAKER_02You're you're from the monument area, yeah, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So he built a half pipe right there, and it didn't have any flat bottom. That's this is like like the U. Yes, yep, the legit half of a pipe. Right. And it was just like built next to his house on an empty lot. And uh anyway, I went over there and and kind of he had like a um, I think he had like a Steve Stedham, like a PAL Peralta, you know? Yeah, yeah. And then I ended up getting like my first real board was a Vision Ghost, is what it was called. Yeah, you could probably look that up. It's kind of crazy. It was like a skull head with the a graveyard in the background. Hell yeah. Yeah, and it was called Vision Ghost, and then um, yeah, it was pretty much it.
SPEAKER_00Fuck yeah, yeah. First uh first skate park you skated, was that would that be Kona or was there something?
First Kona Sessions And Fear
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Kona was the first place I went.
SPEAKER_01Actually, the first time I went to Kona, I remember checking in and I was crying because my mom wasn't there to sign the the waiver back when it was the old the card catalog system, yeah. Yeah, and then uh when I when they called her and she like they were able to do it over the phone, and uh I didn't even skate. I was so scared. I walked out there and everything you know when you go out there like 10. Yeah, so like and dude, back then there was like I mean, Kona, there'd be a hundred people there every day. Yeah, it was like hot, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, so I just I remember just walking around holding my board fully like padded up in rental pads and shit, and yeah, so I'll never forget that. Just I remember crying. It Miss Ramos was the one. Yes, oh yeah, grandma Ramos. Yeah, oh that's fucking sick. The shape was different, I think. No, no, no, is that an OG one? Yeah, it's an OG one. Yeah, that was it. Vision Ghost. It looked like that, but it was more like neon y a little bit. Like the colors were different. Okay, yeah, but yeah. Yeah, no, that's right, man. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I think it's uh no go ahead, Chris. I think it's funny that uh the old, like the old spot called the block is now called the best bet.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it was uh yeah, and then when it wasn't a garden ridge ledge, because the garden ridge ledge, I remember skating that a bunch.
SPEAKER_01Well, we used to also call it Chrysler because what it was was it was an old car dealership and it was a Chrysler dealer store. And and the whole the the foundation was actually the entire store, like where they had cars parked inside. You know, like when you go to a dealership, like the showroom floor, the hot car inside, right? And I guess all that glass and shit got the bulldozed or whatever, so it was just the foundation from the inside of the store. Oh wow. And we all either called it Chrysler or the block.
SPEAKER_00So that was kind of and that's where obviously homage to that is where the block skate supply comes from. Yeah, exactly. Fuck yeah, that's rad.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because it got torn down like probably I don't know, we probably skated that place for about five years, I think. Yeah, hell yeah. And everybody went to that bitch, dude.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we still we still skated it when I was growing up, and it was Garden Ridge.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, those garden ridge ledges were so much fun. Yeah, me and Dude. So like where Garden Ridge is though, like way in the back, see, the actual foundation was probably only like 30, 40 feet from Monument Road. It was like right up front. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that bank next door with the double-sided curve. Yep, yeah, all that shit got skated, and then we'd all eat at Burger King across the street, which is still there. It's still there, yep. And Lindy's is gone and AFA was there for a while. It was kind of funny, they wouldn't let us take our boards and Burger King. So you would go up there and all these skateboards would be stacked in the window in front of it. Yeah, that's funny.
SPEAKER_02Damn, dude, that's funny. Burger King was above the bus system at that point. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah,
Jacksonville Spots The Block Origins
SPEAKER_00man. Uh fucking love everything you guys are doing with the block. Um super, super sick, super inspiring. Every time there's something going on skateboard related, you guys are like in the middle of it. Um, you guys doing anything again for like a little pop-up with uh Street League coming back? I know you guys set up like a little uh plaza out front there last uh last summer. Yep.
SPEAKER_01I the I think they're gonna do the skate thing again, but street league this year is actually endorsed. It's at the arena, it's in the arena. Oh, okay. So I don't know how much is gonna be going on outside yet. Right. I think we're still in the works of figuring that out. Cool. But I'm hoping that we can. We still have all that stuff stored from last year that we did in front of Vijestar or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Um, but I don't know the exact layout yet. So, but I do know we're a part of it and we're gonna be inside, I think, doing stuff like vendor stuff and helping with it. But I'm I'm I think we're figuring out right now the skate part of it. Rad.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, you guys, so you guys are running the uh the Orange Park skate park. You got the block uh skate supply in uh Springfield, which is like the headquarters with the little plaza out back. Yep. Um you guys have had a couple of iterations here in Riverside for a while, and didn't it all start off as like a warehouse thing over off Talleyrand?
Building The Block And Indoor Parks
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's how so back in 2013, I uh I found this warehouse, 10,000 square foot warehouse, and I I always wanted to kind of um my whole idea was with it was like I wanted to kind of duplicate Tampa.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So but backwards. Okay, like the way we built it. Like you know, you know, Tampa, I mean, pretty much since like 97 or whatever when they started or 96. I don't know. They they think they started 93, 94. I think 93 is the year. Yeah, 93 or 94. But since they built that street course, it's always been the roll-in pyramid bowl corner. Yep, right. Like that has never changed. Yeah. So I I that line that whoever thought of that, I don't know, it's probably Schaefer, you know, one of those guys or Zitzer, one of them, Fraser. But uh I always thought that setup was so legit. Yeah, dude. Because it was like you never had to like really push, yep, and you got the same momentum coming back as going the other way. Because the because the real focus was kind of the pyramid. Yep. I mean, you could do tricks on both things, but you know, right? Right. So when I built it, I built the same thing, but the opposite side. Oh, cool. So like if you were, let me think, if you were goofy footed when you'd go over, you would carve the bowl backside. Where at Tampa you'd be front side. Right, right. Right. Yeah. So I'm getting kind of out of left field. But anyway, so so when when I always wanted, we never really had uh we had this place called Skate Road 13, way, way back. It was a roller rink. This is way.
SPEAKER_00I don't even think you guys I moved here in 98. Yeah, so this is like back in like late 80s.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_02I was born in 92, so that's right.
SPEAKER_01So they would they would bring ramps out and and you would skate in the roller rink. Like there wouldn't be roller skating. Almost like what they would do for demos, kind of roll it out, kind of, and then just put it up, right? So anyway, that was kind of my first experience with like an indoor skate thing. Yeah, you know, and then Tampa, though, was the big influence because when you started going there, it's like, dude, this is fucking sick. So in the ghetto, you can do whatever the fuck you want. Yep, nobody's gonna, you know, you can have live shows in this bitch at two in the morning, and you ain't getting complaints. Yeah, nobody's around.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's a stupid hotel right next to Tampa, so yeah, it was like the coolest idea, you know. And um, and I I I really I don't want to say I wanted to copy it, but I just wanted like that here. Right. I was like, dude, we can be doing this here for sure. It's right, yeah, you know, and working with each other and whatever. So anyway, I found the warehouse, we built it all, but then uh the city, there was like zoning issues and just bullshit. Yeah. So anyway, that's when when and I had done all this kind of on my own, kind of thing. I don't I had a bunch of people with me helping and like you know, building the park Mike Cruz, Eric Haddock, Tony Adams, you know, shout out Mike Cruz, love my cruise. But then um Pete and James came along. Yep. And well Pete Pete and I kind of brought in. Yes. So Pete Pete was always kind of there. Shout out Pete. And then um, and then it um when everything started kind of going to shit, that's when Pete and James were like, dude, we should just get a shop going and try to figure this, like, because we have kind of the following, and he's like, You've already kind of created this brand. Yeah, let's just open a shop and then work on the skate park, but have the shop going so you have like generating something, some momentum, right? Right. Well, momentum, not even more financially, more just momentum of what we're doing, right? Exactly. Yeah, so so those guys came in and then I I brought them in, partnered up with them, and then we started in Riverside and built the shop over there. I don't you remember that off Park Street? Yeah, you had a little manual back.
SPEAKER_02I broke my ankle in that minute if I remember it quite well.
SPEAKER_01And at that time, I was still trying to figure out how to get this indoor thing going. Right. My main focus was like, I gotta get this shit going. But it it just in the end, it just never, it was just a never-ending battle. And it I I think it was just that I don't want to hate on the city at all, but I just don't think that the city understood it. Yeah. They didn't understand like what we were doing. Like, you can't, what do you mean? Especially in a warehouse, what do you count talking about?
SPEAKER_00Was controlled by like First Baptist Church heavily for a long time. So anything that was like overly progressive or might seem like riffraff, they like just wanted to keep it out of.
SPEAKER_02But but I think with like the street league coming to Jacksonville, especially twice now, and they're doing it in the uh Thirds Memorial Center, yeah, that going back to that idea might become a lot easier now that the like there's some indoor skate parks, but it always seems like they've never lasted from skate asylum back in the day.
SPEAKER_00The skateboard house was sick, it was tiny, but it was fun, that little bowl, and then you just had the basic back and forth kind of little street area where when it was raining, which it does all the time here, you know, it's like it's like Seattle and Florida, though. Well, no, but I mean it just comes through and it downpours. It's not even like a mist that can dry up, it just comes and wrecks everything. It's like why can't we keep a covered skate spot in this town?
SPEAKER_01Well, and and it, you know, both of those I thought were rad, the skate asylum and the skateboard house. But like I can tell you, and I um that probably where these two locations were, the amount of money they were spending to keep it open, just rent and fucking bullshit. Yeah, like that's no way to sustain it. And that's why where I found where this was for the amount it was for the space it was, it could have easily happened. Right. Right. We could have kept it going, we could have had bad months and it wouldn't have killed it. It wouldn't, it would have always been able to stay open. Yeah, it was financially easy. And I think those two places both would have still been going if they were in a location where they weren't paying fucking who I don't even know, but you know what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean our skateboard house was right there, like old St. Augustine and Santos.
SPEAKER_01I mean, that's like a lot of money to fucking be in there.
SPEAKER_00Heavy traffic area, right?
SPEAKER_01Right, and and the reason they are is because it is a heavily trafficked area. Yep. So anyway, it it was it was an ideal location, it just didn't work out, didn't pan out.
SPEAKER_02Is that location taken over yet?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it's just like storage or some shit now. Makes sense.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, some guy the anti-pick just putting all this shit up in a warehouse.
SPEAKER_01Probably could be like a fucking who knows. But um, so we moved over there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I didn't see the city though. Um, is this still going through Dino under across from Ram? I know they were talking about doing like a skate area with like walking paths. I've seen it in the newspaper and I've heard talk about it, but I'm like, is it really happening? It seems like I've heard this for like five or six years.
SPEAKER_01Well, there's been the one that I I get, you know, this is more of a Peter James question because they they're really heavily involved. Yeah, which we definitely want to get them on next. Right. And I I don't I don't want to say something that I don't know is exactly correct. No doubt. But I do know that what was talked about, I know that they're gonna do something downtown underneath the overpass, like on 95. Cool. That's in the works. Yeah. Now we're not really involved in it. We're just on the peripheral. Kind of paving the fountain. Hey, this is you know, any questions you guys have, call us. Yeah, for sure. We'll be glad to help. Hell yeah. But uh, but um I remember that the one thing that I thought was really cool is they were gonna do this um that walkway thing like to Riverside, which is being built. It's like a bike path that goes from Springfield to Riverside. Oh, yeah, yeah. They were gonna put team pain obstacles on either side.
SPEAKER_03Like by doing it and cheating it?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Fuck yes. That would be so sick. Holy shit. Now, I don't know where this went because this is like I'm talking like a bus stop seat that's an actual skateable ledge.
SPEAKER_02Oh, dude, like the one that was by Main Street.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but it was it's like they you know how they do the skate art, right? Oh yeah, yeah. So like that, and then you'd set it in different parts of the ledges that won't be capped.
SPEAKER_02Thank God. Right, exactly. So fucking time.
SPEAKER_01But I don't I don't want to say what I don't know. Yeah, I never know that that stuff was uh talked about. Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well I hope hoping that keeps going forward.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it would have I think it's a fucking insanely cool idea. Hell yeah, me too.
SPEAKER_00You know, like I mean, like I said So let me ask you
Florida Vs California Skate Scene
SPEAKER_00this. You've traveled around uh, you know, obviously a bunch. Um I've always you know I've never been out to California, but I feel like the two like I mean you got Florida and California, heavy skate cultures, like how do you think Florida skate culture community you know compares to Cali? You know, because Cali seems to get a lot of the shine. We got a lot of you know guys that come up here, get recognition and move out there. Yeah. But you know, just the the politics, the community, like what you know.
SPEAKER_01I I mean I'm the same, is it different? I I well so when I went to California, I had or I was kinda on the come up thing, like after Tam like the first time I went to California was after I won Tam. In 99, right? Yes, yep so like I went out there and I think it was a little I don't want to say easier, but when you've already met all these people and then you go there, it's like you already feel like it's the same. You're just over there. Yeah, you already got homes out there. Yeah, right. Um, but I feel like because the scenes here are smaller that we're way more this tight knit kind of out there, it's just kind of like there's people everywhere skating. So it's like there's there everybody's cool, yeah, everybody's whatever, but I don't think there's like the kind of bond that there is here because it isn't as big, it still isn't as big as it is out there. It's just it's the mecca out there. Yeah, it's where all the corporate headquarters for the major brands are. There's so many fucking skate spots and so many skate parks. Perfect weather. It's like you it it's like it's amazing. It's just like holy shit, man, fucking everybody skates or surfs or does you know, it's fucking my favorite spot out there? Uh Uh Hollywood High 16. I liked uh I liked Washington Street, it was fun. Oh yeah. That was really cool because I got to see that place kind of be built over time because I went there when it was just a fucking mound with a curb cut. Cool. And then I would go back like six months later, and this whole section would be built, and then I'd go visit, you know, so I saw it kind of happen. Yeah. So it was always cool, and it was literally right next to the San Diego airport. Like literally, like you're skating it, and there's airplanes taking off like fucking a half a mile from you. You can see them going down the runway from the so like every time you land in San Diego, you get picked up.
Fast Food Takes And Travel Tales
SPEAKER_01You go right there. Like that's fucking sick. Well, I'd always hit In and Out Burger first. That's my favorite space one. In and out burger is like a must off the bat. And then and then it was straight to you know Washington Streets.
SPEAKER_02Now, did you go animal style at one uh in and out? Fuck you, dude. You know this.
SPEAKER_01I know two of them shits. I'd be fucking sweating out my neck eating. Loving it.
SPEAKER_02When I went to uh Phoenix for uh Vocal Mall in the Parks finals and stuff, yeah, it's first time having an In N Out burger, and one of the homies that was like from out of town was like, yo, you gotta go animal style. I was like, what the fuck is that? It's not even up there. He's like, just do it. Just tell them. They don't know what you're talking about. Yeah. And you won't seem like a new guy. I'm like, all right. And then, dude, it makes you sweat so fucking hard. Like, I don't know what it is like about it, but it's just it's what it's not just eating the double cheeseburger, it's everything mixed in with it.
SPEAKER_01It's like the Chick-fil-A of burger joints. It really is. That's what I don't know. Because you know, when you go through Chick-fil-A, it's like always right, it's always quick, and you're like, God dang, dude, the shit's the same. It's the fucking chicken is like it's off the charts, right? Every single time you never get a bad bag. No, no, no. You know what I mean? Yeah, like you go to Wendy's or some shit, you're like crossing your fingers, like, okay, is this shit? You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Dude, I went to I went to Wendy's fucking uh just the two weeks ago. And I was like, Yeah, I want a bacon double stack with only ketchup. And like, okay, and I get my burger and there's no cheese on it. There's no bacon on it.
SPEAKER_01Oh no.
SPEAKER_02And it did just ketchup. Yeah. It was like, what the fuck?
SPEAKER_01I went to Wendy's one time recently. This is funny. And I pulled through the drive-thru and there wasn't one person behind me or one person in front of me. And I get to the window and they go, Hey, can you go park over there so we can bring you your food? There was nobody in fucking line. I'm like, Jesus. I'm like, why do I gotta go over here? Like, are you like, really? Like that's wild. Nobody's ordering anything. I just sit here.
SPEAKER_02Like, if I would have had to wait and they were coming with my cheese and my bacon at the same time, they're not even offering the junior bacons uh uh for the four for four at Wendy's.
SPEAKER_00No, I go double double stats. This lady gave me double assassins. They're like $2.90 now. They used to be 99 cents. So I just pull into Chick-fil-A. That chicken deep fried in hatred and battered with ignorance, is delicious every time. And it's always right.
SPEAKER_01It's always fucking right. I mean, we make it. And there could be fucking 70 cars in the line, and you got your food in 10 minutes. Fuck yeah. It don't matter.
SPEAKER_00Discouraged by the length of line at Chick-fil-A, dude. You'll meet you'll move through there quickly.
SPEAKER_01You want to hear a Chick-fil-A story? Fuck yeah, bring it. Okay. The guy that owns Chick-fil-A when COVID happened. The uh uh a city in South Carolina actually called him and he came over to direct the traffic because the city was so impressed how he ran his drive-throughs. That he went and fucked up. That he went and directed how to get the the COVID test and get people in and out. Whoa. Swear to God. That's wild. A little Chick-fil-A knowledge. Yeah, there you go. I'm not like a chick. I mean, I'm not like a few. So what was your in and out story? Let me hear this.
SPEAKER_02Oh uh no, it's uh fuck. No, I I told it in Phoenix. Yeah, when I was in Chicago. Well in Vulcan Wild in the parks. Yeah. I I lost the contest, but you know, you lost the contest.
SPEAKER_01All the collisions you had in and out, dude. That's all in Bulk and every time.
SPEAKER_02Dude, I had Del Taco for the first time there, too, and their uh tacos are 39 cents a taco. Yeah, dude, a broke kid come in there with 10 bucks in his house.
SPEAKER_00Well, remember cheap ass cheeseburger day, McDonald's, early 2000s?
SPEAKER_01Dude, Wednesday. And all the harde is Carl Jr. And now they're all coming this way.
SPEAKER_00That's wild.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, let me tell you another one. You go to Australia, they're not called Burger King, they're called Happy Jacks because the name Burger King was already like used in Australia. But it's like the same like colors and everything. It's Burger King, but it's named Happy. I think it's Happy Jacks. That's fucking crazy. It's so weird. But it's Burger King. It's a whopper, it's all that bullshit. That's wild. Look that up. I want to make sure that name's right. I love it. We're talking about hamburger.
SPEAKER_00All right.
Style Heroes And Ollie North
SPEAKER_04Like our back porch every night.
SPEAKER_00No, so let me ask you, growing up, who's your uh favorite skaters? Like who did you uh look to in Iowa?
SPEAKER_01You know, it was always Buck Smith, was like one of my favorites. Um people that but and I think Buck and like there was Buck, Bob Reeves, Donnie Griffin, Kevin Lambert, Barry Floyd. I mean, did all these dudes, Jamie Alcorn, like all these kids. Yeah, Hungry Jacks. Hungry Jacks. That's what's fucking awesome. That's the Burger King of the logo and everything, that's why. So yeah, no, it's Burger King, but they can't call it that. For some reason, they can't do that.
SPEAKER_02That's not goddamn funny.
SPEAKER_01But growing up at Kona, you know, because we all grew up at Kona and then over at um That's where I first met you at Kona. Yeah, and then there was this uh Steve Buchanan was another one, and uh like uh David Gilbert, my my good friend of this day, Eric Roop, all these dudes that I'd look up to. Um and uh but like outside of when when you you know you have the people that you see, but then like videos and stuff, it was like Frankie Hill, Ray Barbie, Matt Hensley, you know, Danny Way, obviously, Tony Hawk was always, you know, just those dudes were like Mike Vallelli. Like that's when I was like hooked, you know what I mean? And uh, and then that that shit just kind of never changed. I mean, I'm fans of everybody in Skateboard.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was about to ask uh any of these uh younger, like heavy hitters who you like in these games.
SPEAKER_01Like, um, dude, I've I'm I'm always been, and I've always well number like Kyle Burard is a buddy of mine. Yeah, I've always been a big fan of him, but like front route concrete, yeah. So like then like I I I've always been a fan of Dennis Boosnitz. Fuck yeah, yeah. I think he's like that dude, and then like Ashad, those dudes. I mean, they're not younger now, right? But still, like you watch videos of those dudes, Apple Yard is another one. Archo doesn't skate much anymore, but that dude, like, you'd see those dudes and then uh Rick McCrank is another one. And and probably these dudes I'm naming kind of skate the way I like to skate, because all these dudes I'm naming, they skate all that shit. Everything fast shit, yeah. And they kill it. You know, Grant Taylor, another one, another one. Like, god damn, dude, like he can go fucking 50 a big ass handrail and then do a nine-foot frontside air and a deep end. Yeah, and you're like, dude, this dude's fucking gnarly. Gnarly and shit. Yeah, dude. No grab. Yeah, yeah. Like, and and just like, and I and I've always been more of a style dude, and I feel like all those dudes had like effortless, effortless style. For sure. And made it look, it's like when it doesn't even matter the trick. It's just like the way that guy just ollied those, like, you know, ollie the pyramid, and it made it, you know, fuck. I could watch this dude just push around. Yeah, like Donnie Barley. Donnie Barley was another. I could just watch Donnie Barley push down the road, and I'd be like, that is so sick, like to me, just the way it's just so comfortable.
SPEAKER_00Like, speaking of style, man, you've got one of the best one-footed ollies ever. What how how long have you been doing that trick? Shit, man.
SPEAKER_01That was a that was from Matt Hensley. Yeah. Watching those like old hocus pocus and uh H Street videos, and and they used to do them. How I learned them is they used to ollie, and when you took your foot off, you'd smack the board so you wouldn't get nutted. Oh, yeah, yeah. Because you you know, when they do them, they'd ollie and take their foot off on the come up. So that's a way that we'd learn them, and then you'd knock the nose down. Yeah, you always had the pitch of the nose down, which I've been at. And then I learned how to do them where you ollie and get level and then take your foot off, and then you're in complete control. Yeah, like you can just chill and then just put your foot back on when you want to, or anything.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I learned Ollie Norse because of like seeing you do them when I was younger. I was like, dude, that trick is so fucking.
SPEAKER_01And I'd always tell people that ask me, I'm like, just get flat and then take your foot off. Don't don't fucking concentrate on just trying to kick it. You don't have to kick it. Yep, you just take it off. Oh yeah. Like once you're like when you Ollie and get like, especially like out of a bank or off of a ranch, you know, when you get flat, then you just take your foot off.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, I I know it make it sound like, oh, you just take your foot off. No, no. After a couple thousand tries. Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, because I learned I learned uh how to do like a crail grab, and then I let go of the crail and Ollie North after the grab. Like and it's all because of how you're like you said that to me once when I was young at Monument, and I asked you, I was like, yo, Ollie North, how how do they work? And you pretty much explain it the same way you did back then. It's the same, it's as soon as you get used to it, it's it's fucking like it's it's brutal when you do them right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it's good, man. They're fun. And now, I mean, dude, there's dudes that like board control is so stupid. So crazy now. I mean, I just watched the Tampa Pro contest. I'm like, dude, yeah, that guy just did something that would take me, I couldn't do it. I mean, I'll just be I can't do that. Yeah, like that ain't gonna happen. Like, I would, you know, but like dudes can like kick flip, catch the board, and then like and now all the combo tricks on the rails, like early 2000s Tony Hawk pro skater game.
SPEAKER_00It's like I feel like yeah, it's real now. It's like we used to play that, you know what I mean? That's like X, Y, square, square, left, left, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me do a review. In and out of everything, it's it's definitely wild.
Women Skating Kids And Community
SPEAKER_00The progression has and in the the ladies, the progression. I mean, just honestly, in the last 10, 15, 20 years, it's like been an explosion of talent in the female sector. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01We're doing this thing now, actually. It's funny you said that. They're doing ladies skate day now. Uh yeah, I love it. We love it on Wednesday, and actually we were just doing that before we came here. Like, you know, yeah. Well, well, we did the one today at um Jack's Beach. Oh cool, but on Wednesday we're at the shop doing it. But um, dude, it's epic. It's like all these uh all these chicks, just like it's cool. And you can tell that they're really like into it. It ain't like a fad, it's like they want to learn the shit, you know, and and it's it's I think it's a really good thing for everything.
SPEAKER_00I totally agree. I totally agree.
SPEAKER_02Dude, my daughters don't want a skateboard, they have no care for it. And that's how mine was.
SPEAKER_00She skates, but my youngest, not so much. She actually just took her bike to Kona for the first time. There you go. And she was like so scared on her roller skate, scared on her skateboard, but like, dude, she got on her little bike, she was going all around the freestyle, rolling in. I was like, I guess we got a little BMX her.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and you never know because of that. She might hop on a board one day and do that.
SPEAKER_00Well, my my oldest, she's 13, and she's basically been skating since she was, you know, younger. And I worked at Kona. Um, I managed there for a couple years, so she grew up kind of coming to skate camp and stuff. She's on the mission to learn a kickflip right now, but she's got Ollies and like front one eighties. She can like drop in the big mini ramp at Kona and do like rock fakies and stuff and slash grinds. But yeah, dude, it's it's super fun watching uh the kids progression, you know what I'm saying? Passing the torch.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. I remember when mine was little and I I always like I I remember that this is just how I was raised. My mom was always like I I don't care what you do, just as long as it's positive. Yeah, right? Same here. When Hannah, when when Hannah was younger, um, I never was the one to go put her on the board, like, we gotta go do this because I do this, you know. So I would take her to the park on the razor scooter and just laugh because we're all like, I know I I'm not gonna sit here and bat it, but like, you know, you're like got a lot of money. But then I'm like bringing it there, you know? But all I'm looking at is my kids smiling, riding around. Guilty of the same thing, right?
SPEAKER_00Guilty of the same thing.
SPEAKER_01And I was like, this is fucking rad. She's having fun, but she never really got it. She can roll around, but I never was like, you need to go do this or do that. I I was just like, either she's because it was the same for me. It's it's like I either I'm gonna like it or I'm not, and I don't want anybody to tell me you gotta do this.
SPEAKER_00Right, uh it's one of the reasons why I got into skateboarding because I played team sports growing up, and it was like I we moved down here and I I got introduced to it really, and it was like I fell in love with it, and it was just kind of like the freedom, and it was like was all on me. Yeah, and then no coach yelling at you, there was no amount of uh you know, equipment or shit that you can buy that would increase your ability. Like you had to put in the time, you know, and and and it that's that's one of the reasons why I fell in love with it. Honestly, my my daughter was kind of responsible for me getting back into it. Like 21, got distracted, partying drugs, you know, nightlife shit, and didn't even realize that. Like I woke up like six, seven years later, and I'd only been on my skateboard like maybe four or five times in that period. Because I just was waking up too hungover, I was working all the time. It was just like I always had a board, and then I had my daughter, and she got to you know, toddler age, and she thought it was cool. She was sitting on it, and then she I would put her in between my legs, and we bombed a little hill in the neighborhood and stuff, and then I like took her to Kona, and it was like, damn, I had so much fun. I can't believe I let this slip out of my life, and it was like on from there. You know, I'm coming every week, and yeah, you know, that was it's weird, man.
SPEAKER_01Once you were a kid, you realized you when I when I realized when I had Hannah, you realized just like how much like time you had like having you thought before that, like, oh I ain't got time to do that, and then you have kids, and it's like you're doing 47,000 things a day on top of still skating and doing all this other shit. Yeah, like, god dang, man, I didn't, you know, like you it makes you think about the time you had, like for sure.
SPEAKER_00You're like, damn, I really fucked off a lot. Yeah, yeah, I wasn't doing shit. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. My oldest daughter's about to be 10 on the 29th of this month. Yeah. And like I think about it all the time because our younger sister is gonna be seven in August. And like I have them all the time, like they live with me. And like throughout the days, I'm like, hey, you wanna like just go? Because I can't skateboard anymore. Like I gotta get both my hips replaced and everything. And so you're you're lucky you're walking like some days. Dude, like two months ago, I was still in a wheelchair. Like, I would just uh going through doctors trying to figure out how they're gonna do surgery, and they're like, Oh, you don't we don't take your insurance, go somewhere else. And like, so I'm like going to seventh doctor now, finally. But it's like my daughters, they've just seen me be down and out for so long, and they don't want to like get on a skateboard just because I'm not there to like help them out.
SPEAKER_01Help them, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And like that, that's one thing. But you know, my oldest daughter's into anime and stuff, so now I gotta read a Jap like in Japanese a lot. So that's that's pretty fun. Watching a lot of cartoons.
SPEAKER_01I'd love to see that, dude. What does this say? Uh Kamichiwa. That's like all the kids are in anime right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Origato?
SPEAKER_00Hey, so let me
The Dinger Nickname Story
SPEAKER_00let me ask you this, Mike. How'd you get the nickname Denger?
SPEAKER_01Oh man. How'd this come about? All right, so um yeah. No, it's not bad, actually. Like, so it's really funny, actually. So when I when I put the nickname like Dinger, they'd probably have to be a good one. How this all started out was I rode for Fiber back in like 998, 99. And uh when they would send me boxes of boards, he he would write my name and write Peter Dong on it.
SPEAKER_04That's what he would write.
SPEAKER_01So it kind of started out as Peter Dong, right? And then they started calling me Dongger, like instead of Peter Dong. And then so we're at a last name, baby. So we're we're me and we're at this thing, it's just like San Diego Trade Show thing, and all these skateboarders are there and shit, and me and Beroard are like hammered, and Barard comes up to me and he's like, Donger! Well, you look to his my left, and I don't know if you remember this, but you remember the dude that could Ollie like way high named Ken Lu, and they called him the Donger. Uh, I don't think so. You can look this dude up. He had long hair, and he fucking had like he could like I think for a while he held the record for the highest Ollie. Really? And they called him the donger. Well, that dude is standing next to Kyle when he says, Hey Donger. And then that dude looks, and then Burard's like, donger, uh, danger, donger, danger. And then it just turned into donger and danger. Yeah, and then it was just like, all right. And then it was just like this fucking name that's just kind of happened. Ken Lu? Ken, it just put the donger skateboard.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you don't want to see what the pictures come up as the donger.
SPEAKER_01The pictures come up for the donger. The donger. Yeah, that's him. So, so yeah, so don't get images. So he dude was cool. Hell yeah. It was just kind of like a funny moment, but then it just like turned into that. And then like all my buddies start calling me that, and then it then it even turned it even got worse because when I was like raging all the time, I'd turn into El Dingro. Oh man, I'd just be like this, yeah, yeah. I've got one of those altruy guns, so I understand, I can relate.
SPEAKER_02So I put my came to the city. King of bad decisions already.
SPEAKER_01But uh, but yeah, and it just kind of stuck, and it it was just that that was it. I don't know. It wasn't like plant, you know, it's one of those things. Those are the best nicknames, and those are always the ones that stick. And then it's just been there for all my old buddies that I grew up with to this day. It's still there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it fits me though for sure. I'm a fucking idiot.
Sponsors Globe Video And Big Slams
SPEAKER_00So what uh what was your first sponsor?
SPEAKER_01Uh excuse me. Um Sunrise was like the shop sponsor. Big shout out, obviously. And then um a company called Beast, which is crazy. Flatline? Yes, yeah. So this is when Josh and Ryan ran it. Okay. They uh it was actually called Hulk by Josh Lauterman and Ryan. Okay, and then it switched to Beast because I I don't think they could use Hulk because of the the name. Like uh I don't I I could be wrong about this, but I think it was like infringement like using copyright infringement, yeah. Yeah, or whatever you call it. So they called it Beast, and then um it uh they started making boards with the flatline logo, you know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00And yeah, I remember that. That was like around the time that the the big street course, the first iteration of that at Kona. Because I remember I uh seeing young Joey and this was state asylum time, all that shit. And Gus Cooper.
SPEAKER_01Yep, exactly. So then um, and then it and then when I rode for Beast, I went to the Tampa Am in '98 and did really well, and then that's when I met the Fiber dude. And and Ryan and those guys, it was just kind of super small and local.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And the opportunity I had with Fibero, it was like a bigger thing, right? And then it was just like those guys were even like, yeah, you should, you know, how long how long were you riding with FiBorough?
SPEAKER_00Because wasn't Elenium was like early 2000s?
SPEAKER_01Uh so Fibro was uh ninety eight to like two thousand and one. Okay, and then Elenium.
SPEAKER_00That was a heavy team, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, there was a company too called Eastwood I rode for a minute after Fibero. Okay. And uh, and that was like with Kyle Burrard and Trey Winslow and uh um Joe Fernandez, uh Brian Dale, you know, a lot of North Carolina, Virginia dudes, super sick deal, yeah. And then that kind of went bad, and then uh it didn't go bad, it just they would have and then and then a lenium came along, and then it was like game, you know, kind of and world industries and then consolidated. Consolidated. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_02My older brother, uh his first skateboard was a world industries world air board. Um I think it was like 2001 or some shit.
SPEAKER_01But it uh I think it oh oh when I oh yeah, that time, yeah, because world's been around forever. I can't remember when I got on world though. It was probably like oh three, oh four, yeah, something like that.
SPEAKER_02I I remember the first time I met you was like in 04, and you're still riding for world back then.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so it was probably around then because the Lennium had ended and then yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yep, because uh you rode for Globe at the same time and uh the pendyan video came out.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, the Globe Indian video. That's when I was on a Lennium, yeah, is when I filmed the Globe video, yes. Yeah, I used to watch that part over and over again. That was cool. That treaty park footage and just seeing all the local shit. It like gets you super hype.
SPEAKER_01Super hype, because that whole thing, too, that was kind of crazy about that video was they flew me to California. It was the dude, it's crazy how that shit is sometimes. They they're like, hey, we need you to come out here. I'm like, okay, cool. I come out there and go sit in a room just to be told, hey, we're making this video. Like, so but but it was cool. I went out there and scared, you know, it's all good, but it was kind of weird. Like I always thought, like, damn, they flew me all the way to target that we're making a video. Like, yeah, you're flying me out here and picking me up and fucking air. What the fuck? You know, like and uh um the company needs so they were like, we're gonna do a uh a the the original thing, it was gonna be a section with like me and two other dudes. It wasn't gonna be like a whole thing. So then they they uh I got back home and Bo, you know, Bo Yes So Bo uh, yes, he sent all my footage to them and then they flew me back there again. And they're like, Look, we've seen all this, we want to just give you a whole part. Right, because I had already had all this shit that I'd been doing with Bo. Yeah. And uh so then I'm all Excited, and this is kind of a funny story. I fly home, and two days later I go to Kona at midnight and light the tombstone up and try to blunt figure the tombstone palace and broke my fucking arm. Oh shit. Or my wrist or whatever. Yeah, yeah. So it's kind of like it was kind of funny. Whatever.
SPEAKER_02Did you ever do the blunt fakie on it?
SPEAKER_01Did I? Yeah. No, I fucked. I had never tried again because I came in and I had it. I hit the kink. I was about to say, it was at the kink, yep. Like that. And then um, I just never really uh I did some other stuff on it, and uh and then Tim Johnson too, man. It was so sick. I was like, dude, you gotta go do this shit, man. Like, I tried, I'm sorry, I can't do it. It was another one of my favorites. He fucking dude, he handled that shit.
SPEAKER_02Dude, no pads or anything. And like Bob Bernquest did it, but he all padded up and everything. And then Timmy was like, yeah, fuck that shit.
SPEAKER_01And then some kid just recently front blunted that thing. That's crazy. That fucking kid. I think it's a kid who won Street League. The hero. What's his name? What's his name? What a kid from he's from America. Was it Jagger Eaton?
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thank you. Or Jagger, Jagger, yeah. Yeah, he did that shit. It was conquered. That is gnarly. The the front side Ollie uh that Jake Wooten did, the 40th anniversary party was one of the wildest fucking things I've ever seen. Pedro Delfino. Straight up, straight down, like wild.
SPEAKER_02Dude, Pedro Delfino uh did front front invert on it at like one of the uh one of the anniversaries. And this is before he was on Death Wish and everything, and like I didn't even know he skated street. I always thought he just advert and was brutal like that and skated pools. And then when he got on Death Wish and all the street shit coming out, you're like, God damn, dude. Yeah. Holy fuck.
SPEAKER_01The best thing I ever seen on that thing there was buckled back boneless off the side of the floor. Oh, so sick. Best ever.
SPEAKER_00Dude, I've got to be able to get it. I have ever seen all the clips of you skating one of the I don't know, the least skated things, the gnarly inside hip of the J-Run. I haven't seen you pop over that. I mean, like, even the video clip doesn't do it justice. The bank that you come in on is fucking gnarly. Yeah, it's fun, dude. Yeah, dude. You always float them cut in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But dude, you and Buck got tandem uh bonuses on them uh.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but my shit was so fucking dude. My shit was like a saggin' fucking granny's boobs or something. And here's Buck fucking all the way out. I was just I was stoked that that happened because I was like, dude, this is sick, you know, whatever. But like he just dude has the best. It's the best shit, man. Like I've seen a lot of shit go down on that thing, and it's cool and and it's rad, but in my mind, like I can just because I guess you're there, all you know. Yeah, he would and what was so sick is he would do that shit on command. It wasn't like something he'd just dilled up like. He would just fucking roll in off the vert ramp after doing some run on that, and then just go down and and and he would be like so tweaked, and and it it ever and he did it perfect every single time. It was just like, dude, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_02I've probably seen Buck do at least 15 on those since my I started skateboarding in 2001. Yeah, and it's it's still brutal as fuck every goddamn time.
SPEAKER_00So badass.
SPEAKER_02Every goddamn time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so you and you guys used to work together, didn't you? Out of the beach bars? Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01When when everything, like when the economy hit and everything slowed down, I started working at the writs and dude.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I remember there was uh one time I was on the ladder uh changing the letters up there on the rip on the sign, and you just uh come out of the bar and you go, Chris, you ever fucked a fat chick before? And I was like, wait, what? I'm up there on the ladder, wind's blowing, I'm trying to get these letters right. Yeah, he's sketching out. Somebody's gonna find out my secret. And then I like I just yelled back, I was like, Yeah, my old manager from Arby's. And he's just like, dude, dude loses his shit. He's like, I don't want to hear any more about it. From manager from Arby's, that's enough said. That's fucking great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just that you had Arby's in it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that would that painted enough of a mental picture. Yeah, I mean, I think we clarified earlier, we've all spent enough time at fast food restaurants.
SPEAKER_02I got overtime, I'll tell you that right now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
ACL Recovery Tree Work And Happiness
SPEAKER_00Well, what uh what you what you got going on uh these days, Mike? I mean, you skating much lately? Um yeah, well, not now.
SPEAKER_01I I tore my ACL uh three m was it three months ago? February. What month? Yeah, surgery already in a thing. Yeah, so I got this like the brace? Yeah, and it only constricts me to go to like the half bend, yeah. But no, I mean, all in all, it's called a cadaver surgery. They basically I've got another, it's it's pretty crazy. I have a donor's ACL. And they bolted in.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Kyle Gracie had had the same thing.
SPEAKER_00So this is why like these ACL surgeries are like better recovery time now. Oh, yeah. And I mean that's what used to be a death sentence, right?
SPEAKER_01Right, and I like fortunately I've never had like real bad knee issues ever. Yeah. So this is like the first time. Yeah. And uh um um I've just heard the nightmares from people and shit over.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've had a partial tear of my MCL, uh, but that was it. I didn't have to have surgery, luckily.
SPEAKER_01Well, when I did it too, they didn't do the surgery for like two months because they said because I had done some uh what was it meniscus damage? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so they were like, if you do both, sometimes it helps uh um one heals the other. It's weird because the fluid that is coming off the meniscus will help the ACL heal. Oh, okay. So I this is what the surgeon said. So I didn't I didn't get the surgery for like two months. He wanted to wait and see if the ACL would heal. And then I went back and told him what I was feeling, and he's like, Yeah, we gotta replace it. So then when they did it, when they took out my old one, it was just smoked. He was like, That thing's done. I can imagine. So, but now if I do everything correctly, which I hope will work out because I'm so fucking active, I it's hard to not do things. I understand. I definitely understand. I'm one of the you know, some people it's way easy to sit on the couch for me. I I fucking dude, I lose my mind. Idle hands are the devil's playground for me, bro. I gotta I gotta keep busy. Yeah, so the um, but if I do it all right, he's like, you're gonna be right. Ripping in no time. Yeah, he's like, you'll be able to, he's like, you know, you could go in like four months and roll around. Uh-uh. I said, I don't work that way, dude. I said when I I need we don't just roll around. Yeah. I'm like, you gotta put me on restrictions, dude.
SPEAKER_02Like I can't uh you gotta like I need a doctor's note to get back in the skate park.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but ever everything from this point, it's only been two weeks, and I'm fucking. No, you're walking great, man. Yeah, you feel good.
SPEAKER_02I was expecting you to be on crutches when you got here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was only on crutches for two days. You wanna go get coffee? I don't even drink coffee. Just need something to do. Yeah, give me on the challenge, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Standing over me, just like staring at me.
SPEAKER_02He's like, You ready to go get coffee?
SPEAKER_04I need a minute. I need a minute.
SPEAKER_02I like the cupcakes they sell there though.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. But uh, no, I uh everything feels good. I'm super busy with the tree service, which is awesome. Uh skate shop does awesome. It's just like it's kind of weird. I I'm trying to get used to um like I'm just so used to being like working all the time and being busy, and and it's like I almost feel like this is kind of maybe a blessing in disguise to like like because I have really good help at the tree service, but I'm I'm always the one doing it because I'm just so used to doing it. Yep. So now I have to let him take it. And the other guy that's doing what I usually do, he's doing really well.
SPEAKER_00Fuck yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I I don't think that point would have ever happened if I you have to do this to me to let because we have to continue moving. I can completely relate.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm a carpenter and that's the way it is, because it's like, bro, I mean, I can hope that you do it right, but then I might have to come back and fix that. Right.
SPEAKER_01Or no matter how they do it, yeah, you you're uh you're gonna be able to do it. You always find something based, yeah, yeah. Right, or like whatever. But I I'm super easy about I'm not super anal or like, oh, you should do this. I let him do it his way, and sometimes he does really well. Yeah, sometimes he'll do something I might suggest, and then he does it another way because of what I see, but I I've just got to learn, like, look, man, I'm not gonna be able to do this forever. Right. So I've gotta fucking learn a way to actually, instead of being like the teacher that's up there, be the teacher on the ground going, hey, this is what you need to do. Yeah, you know what I mean? Because when I go, I'm not a good teacher. I'll be like, because I'm just wide open, dude. I'll go somewhere and be like, yeah, man, rig it there, do it there, put it there, and fucking let's go here and we're going to Arby's to see a faction. But I mean, like, that's what you call call back, boys. I get the mind's just like, yeah, you know, I'm fucking eight steps ahead and we still haven't left the shop yet. You know, so it's really hard for me. Like, even in skateboarding, like uh people wanted me to be like a like go like teach kids and shit, dude. I last like five minutes. I'm like, I I I'm too, I'm not good at it. I'm not good at I can if you but if somebody like you guys came up to me and asked, it's way easier for me to go, dude. Look, if you do it like this and this, you you'll see what I'm saying. You'll figure it out. Yeah, but trying to tell that to a somebody that's never done it, I can't, I I I I'm not it's it's just I'm not gonna articulate, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you definitely gotta have the patience for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and I and I don't think they got patience sucks.
SPEAKER_00Well, they gotta want it too, because when I was working at Cona doing the summer camp, man, I had to do that all the time. Right. And it was like of the 20 kids I had in summer camp for the week or 30 kids, there was like five to ten that were like legit wanted it. You know what I mean? And everybody else was like, you're trying to teach them encourage, and it's like, I got no fucking time for this. Let me go teach the kid over there that's actually trying to learn frontside ollies on the mini ramp. And that was the other thing. I don't want to teach you to push correctly, right?
SPEAKER_01And then I would like go or I would go and then I would end up find myself almost like doing a demo for these kids. Yeah, I wouldn't even be, I'd just be skating, and I'm like, this ain't helping them. You know, this ain't doing anything. So I just it it just didn't seem to fit. Yeah, like what it I it's it's hard. And it's uh what I'm doing, I'm relating it to like this the tree service. For sure. Like I I see it all and I just go do it. And my partner Eric, though, he's fucking awesome at teaching. Yeah, so we work really well together because then he knows the shit like I do. So he's able to take them and go, hey man, look, he he's good at showing them the right way to do shit. Oh, yeah. And I'm just up there fucking wide open, like, yeah, man, we're fucking going, you know, but it worked out. Yeah, like yeah, yeah, you know? Yeah. Um, but yeah. So anyway, I'm uh yeah, everything's good with that, and it and it's cool to see that that I've got guys that can like fill in.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just pass the torch to a little bit, take a little load off, you know what I mean? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Honestly, dude, I don't know how you haven't that many hours in the day. Because I remember old story, you got off work from a landscaping company, went down to Maitland Banks, did a trick first try, and then went to Tampa, did really well at Tampa, then came back and went to work like the very next day or something like that.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. Like I'm wide open, dude. Yeah. Shit, when I won Tampa Am, I was in a tree the next day. Yeah, damn. And there are people in California calling me like, why are you working? You don't need to work anymore. I'm like, what? What? But I mean that's in the background. But it's rad. I I'm glad I grew up with that that mentality. The blue collar, dude. I mean, it's just like I I don't know any other way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And what's kind of weird is right now in my life, I'm probably the happiest I've ever been. Fuck yeah. And I'm doing the same exact thing I did 20 years ago. Fuck yeah. Before the skateboarding took off. Now, don't get me wrong, the skateboard career was the most epic. Yeah. What I'm getting at though is just like I I was just the the whole skateboard career was almost just like on a carpet. So you're just kind of like cruising and like enjoying it and like looking at it like fuck, I'm on like a 12-year weekend right now. Yeah, you know what I mean? And like doing what I want to do. But I what I'm doing now and how it's doing, and I'm busy all the time and I'm here and there and whatever, but I'm I'm fucking happy.
SPEAKER_00That's fucking sick. That's great. I love what I do.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you know, and and and that's all I want to do. Is that I think the best thing in the world is getting paid to do what you love. I love doing tree work, I love the skateboard. I I mission accomplished. Mission accomplished.
SPEAKER_00What's the name of the tree company? Uh Southern Pro Tree. Southern Pro Tree. If you're in the Jacksonville area, yeah, some shops in uh Maple. Tree work done. Fuck yeah, definitely holler at them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's uh it's cool, man. It's fun, and all the dudes I work with are just like us, and we just it's great, man. It's like a family. Yeah, no, dude, I totally totally relate to that. Yeah, and all the surroundings and shit. That's what I'm all about, man. I don't I I'm not scared to work. Yeah, I like, I mean, you know, but now don't get me wrong, if I worked with five dudes that sucked, I'd be fucking over it. Right. It's all because cause it all like blends with skateboarding. Like you go skate with people that are fucking kooks or fucking assholes or whatever, you're not gonna have fun. You're gonna be like, man, this fucking sucks. Yeah, no matter how much you want to skate, it's gonna suck. It's the same thing. So my surroundings are a big part of my life, yes.
SPEAKER_02Well, there's like a lot of uh professional skateboarders where they get done, they've never worked a real job and they spend all the money thinking it's gonna keep coming and then it stops and they don't know what to do anymore because they've never really worked. And it I think that's like a m a main like stable point in like skateboarding kids should just be able to have that mentality and coming back to work because this shit ain't gonna last forever.
SPEAKER_00Well, we also kind of come from the era when they where there was actually shop classes in in schools and stuff like that. So I don't know about you, but I got into carpentry because of wood shop you know, in in middle school, and then that which led me to guys I met in the skating community here as a teenager working construction, being like, Oh, you want to come scrap out for us? And next thing I know, they're buying me a tool belt, they're teaching me how to frame, drywall, this and that, you know. So you know, unfortunately, kid kids aren't being taught how to work these days. No, they're being taught how to take a test. It's just a different era.
SPEAKER_01I don't I I think I I I don't know. I just I I a funny story is I and this was kind of this is epic. Um so hey, will you grab me another one of them drinks out of the truck? Oh, I got dude, there's a refrigerator full of stuff. Oh, I got some some of them yellow dogs brushed. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02He's not talking about dog fits, ladies and gentlemen, alright?
SPEAKER_01So I'm in this van, dude, in a in in on a globe thing, right? And when I think back at this now, it's just epic. It's like it's like, okay, so you got me. Right. Then you got Ronnie Mullen.
SPEAKER_02Oh god damn.
SPEAKER_01Rashawn Mosley. Oh shit. Chet Thomas, Paul Macnow. What are you doing? Matt Bumper. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Holy shit. And uh one of the dudes is like talking about, hey man, you know, like you should like plan ahead. Like, so when you're done skating, man, like blog trying to get in my ear about this, and I was so amped on just being there, right? I was like, dude, hey, hey, what the fuck are you talking about? No, I said, I literally was like, dude, listen, man, let me tell you. I said, I'm just gonna enjoy this shit. And if I gotta go back and cut trees down in 10 years, I'm gonna fucking do it. I'm just enjoying this. And uh, and I just remember Rodney Mullen of all people, just loving it. He was laughing so hard.
SPEAKER_04He's like, that's the best answer I've ever fucking heard. Fuck yeah.
SPEAKER_01But what's kind of funny is here I am. I mean, it's 20 years later, but like, yeah, and I'm doing that and I'm happy, you know. Fuck yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's the way it's gotta be, man.
SPEAKER_01Like it's like I don't think I'm one of those people that that is meant to have money where I don't have to do anything.
SPEAKER_02Because I'd probably end up You'd still be doing shit though. I would end up making really bad decisions.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I just think it's not I think you know this is true. I'm hoping as I get older, maybe that will happen, and then I'll be more, but like I think like if I were given a lot lot, yeah.
Airboats DIY Spots And Next Steps
SPEAKER_01I mean, I did well, I'm very happy with the whole thing, you know, but like if I had like the endless things, like I'm already on this whole fucking airboat thing. I want to buy an airboat and like drive that. Yeah, look, yeah, it's that like me porn. She's like, because look, I'm sober, I don't party anymore. So if I get pulled over, the first thing you're thinking is there's some drunk dude driving an airboat. Dude, I don't drink any more too that's fucking rabbit.
SPEAKER_04Shit, dude. I'm still.
SPEAKER_00No, dude, there's an airboat that's always right out here off Fort Caroline, like there's one field, and I just I want one so fucked up. You're sick, right?
SPEAKER_01And I'm like, and I always go like this. This is a good thing. I'm like, hey, go through your phone and name one contact that owns an airboat. Well, if I owned one, then I'd be in your phone.
SPEAKER_02I know there's only one guy fit for the job. Exactly. God damn it, that's I gotta get around that airboat once, too.
SPEAKER_01When you get that when I was talking at the shop, I'm like, man, I want to buy, I want what I really want to do is one day buy it like under the tree company and like logo it with the tree company shit. Fuck it. And just like rip like like fuck it, man. Like, they blew up. Have you ever been on one? One they're sick. Oh, dude, they're so fun. Like, I've been on two. I've been on like a fucking family boat tour airboat thing. Yeah, and it was the worst shit ever because the guy's going like 20. Oh no, we had a five yeah. Yes. So I I I went on this one in Orlando, and this fucking dude, he fucking pulled up and the boat ramps like far. Yeah, he just pulls up, he's like, Y'all call about the airboat.
SPEAKER_04Like fucking already, like, and we're like, yeah, I'm with all the Vulcan dudes. We're like, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And he's like, man, hold on. He just parks the truck, and we're all sitting there, we're like, okay, what's going on? Like the boat ramps over there. He just got out. The shit wasn't even chained to his trailer, dude. He gets out on the concrete and back into the water. And he's like, y'all bring that green shit in that cooler, let's go. And it was and I'm like, dude, this guy is my fucking hero, dude. Dude, that's my spirit. That's my dude. And he took it party. And I remember we were on the water, we're going like probably, I don't know, 30. Uh, what's fast on the water? 35, 40 miles an hour is pretty fast. So, I mean, he he's on it, and we're coming up on land, and we're all sitting in these chairs, and we're all fucking, yeah. And then we just see land coming, and we're like, fucking land, land, we're all like grabbing shit, like land, and we just went right on land, and I was like, dude, this isn't that cover craft. Yes, yeah, that's what it is. The ingenuity is so fucking not correct. It's awesome. It's a fucking John boat with a skid plate and a V8 motor. It's fucking sick. Let's go.
SPEAKER_02Tag me in, coach. Tag me in. Oh bad.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_02Uh I always uh watch like swamp people and shit, so you can check up on the family. You know what I mean? Yeah, dude. Check on your family. Dudes with the fucking fanboats are the ratio.
SPEAKER_01Oh, they're epic. They're epic. They have that one guy that was on uh uh X-Men, Shelby. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah. Like that dude. Like, dude, give come on, man. I I just come on. I love it.
SPEAKER_02Let's get it. Dude, we're gonna see Dinger on naked and alone the next month and a half.
SPEAKER_00I'm so ready, man. I just Everglades on an airboat. Um something to do. Yeah, yeah, it'll give me something to do, exactly. But uh so what uh you guys got any you know future plans for the block coming up? I mean, it seemed like you guys went from one shop to then taking on Orange Park. Did Orange Park just come because it was like vacant?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so the Orange Park thing kind of happened, like just or I guess organically would be the right word, is like um when uh what what was the lady that ran it? Super cool lady.
SPEAKER_02Kathy, I think.
SPEAKER_01Is it Kathy? I'm sorry, I forgot her name. Uh yeah, my bad too. Yeah, I'm very she was super cool though. Yeah, she did it all on a nonprofit and all that, and when she moved out, we just happened to contact Orange Park, and they were like, we would love to have somebody there to kind of keep an eye on the park. It's got cameras, it's got everything. Right. So we just kind of came in and and it just worked out where we were there. We're only really there on the weekends though, because of whatever, but but it it's just a super cool, like, like we we don't have a lot in there. It's just more like, hey, we're here. Yeah, a presence at the park for the parents in the city, right? And we sell drinks and shit and whatever. Expanding the brand at the same time. I mean, it's not logoed at all. Yeah, you go there, you don't see any like yeah, it's not, it's just kind of we're there and and we're we're we I I'm stoked. It's cool. It's like it doesn't do we're not, you know what I mean? It's not like we're whatever, it's just more we're there. Yeah, you know, make it expand it a little bit, you know.
SPEAKER_00So when you uh moved to Springfield, was the little plaza always a plan?
SPEAKER_01Uh yes, because we looked at the building, and what's kind of funny is James found the building, and I'm I'm over there and I'm like, what the fuck are we doing over here? Because it was gnarly over there when we first moved over there. And James kept going, dude, I'm telling you, this area is it's happening. It's turning, it's turning. It's happening, it's happening. And I'm like, uh, you know, and and I was just like, All right, man, let's do it, you know. So he bought the building, those three that all that area that's painted that color, it's all so he leases to the two police places next to us, too. Red. And um but when we were in the back, the first thing we were going is oh, we could probably build a mini ramp or something back. I mean, we had the space, yeah, right. And then um well, it's definitely evolved into a cyclic. Right, and then it and then I came out there with like a machine and graded everything with Eric and and then um um Tyson. Um Tyson, Kid Rips, Tyson Zayn. Zayn, yeah, thank you. Tyson donated a bunch of money to us to build the foundation. Oh shit. She was all about it. And it was the coolest thing. She's just like, yeah, I want to help. Tyson's heavily into skating and wants, you know. Big shout out to them. It was fucking great. So then we poured the foundation.
SPEAKER_00Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then um uh um just over time as we accumulated more income, yeah, we would add on, and then we're just like, dude, we've got like a legit little spot. Legit little spot back here. It's fucking sick.
SPEAKER_00And and and it city's not taking this one, boys.
SPEAKER_01No, and that and that was the other thing too, is like me, Pete, and James have all learned we've been through so many speed bumps and fucking whatever, that now the shop is in a position where the best way to put it is nobody can fuck with us. Fuck yeah. Like it's like we're so solid where we are and what we're doing, and everything's legit. Yeah, that's awesome. So everybody can just fuck off that wants to try to if they you know, we got the little flossy DIY right around the corner.
SPEAKER_00I mean, it's fucking sick.
SPEAKER_01And that's all city, and I mean, um, I I I don't none of us take credit for any of these things. Yeah, we just want to be involved. Same here and help and and get it going, and flossy's been a huge fucking I love that place.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, I was uh when when Cam was first out there, yeah, I was running my own carpentry business for a little bit, and I had kind of had a summer of uh a whole bunch of fencing. So I was taking any rubble I could find out there, I was just dumping it off there in the corner, putting a tarp on it.
SPEAKER_01Shit, man, when we can give them extra bags of concrete, like when we did that uh the Street League thing downtown, the Vulcan stone that was built out of concrete. Yeah, yeah, dude. I went over that bitch with my fucking claw truck, the loader truck. Fucking I fucking pulled the entire fence out, back to my because the the actual obstacle was in a dump trailer. We had to load it with a claw. The thing weighed like fucking 2,500 pounds. Yeah, oh yeah. And then I pulled it. I was wondering how the fuck it got out there. So I pulled the I pulled the fence back, drove the back the dump trailer in through the fence, which we had like that much room. Yeah, and then the claw reached over the fence and grabbed it and placed it, set it. Holy shit. And I'm out there, dude. This is like nine at night, there's fucking lights blinking and shit. I'm like, we're fucking running it like fucking straight off and so it's like it was so sick.
SPEAKER_04It's so good.
SPEAKER_02That's great, dude. Fuck, that's so good.
SPEAKER_01My my guy Philip that does it, he's a really good friend of mine, and uh, dude, he's crazy as shit. Like he's super cool, but he just don't give a fuck. So I love it. I'm like, come on, Phil. He's like, yeah, let's do it. Let's fucking get it. Yeah, let's get it. So yeah, it uh yeah, that was that was fucking a cool moment. I was like, dude, this is so sick. Like that's red. I mean, we had the entire street blocked off, all that shit. Fucking shit.
SPEAKER_02You know Taylor Clark, the skateboard comedian or comedian. Man, I I think I'm you I if I saw him, I'd probably knew that he I guess he was at the block or whatever with uh Devin and uh his buddy.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yes, yes. I know you're talking about.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we uh when we met when we met him up at Flossy because we did a uh podcast with him. Like me and Paul are both looking at the Volcal Stone. We're like, how the fuck did that get here?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, and that's where I wanted to get it like closer over, where because right now it's kind of not really. You can like do manual shit on it, but I couldn't get the trailer in anymore for to get it out. So how far it is is how far we could reach and get it in there. Plus, it was like 10 at night on Sunday. Yeah, so it's like whatever, and we had to put the fence back up. Oh, yeah, you know, for that show. So it was like it was like a process, but I think if we went in there with like even like a couple pallet jacks or something and figured out a way to do that. We could definitely figure out a way to position it better. Yeah, yeah. It's just gonna take some people. Honestly, I think like 10 or 12 people could probably kind of do one of these. Yeah, you know, yeah, yeah, just kind of a little bit out of time. Um, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Because if it was in a different spot, I think it'd get used way more. But I was just stoked it was in there.
SPEAKER_04I was like, holy shit, this is cool.
SPEAKER_00I heard that like I guess the city found out about it and they're like, yeah, we're they're not really pissed about it. Like they're kind of like build whatever you want, keep everything under like you know, six feet. They just want cops to be able to see in.
SPEAKER_01The only thing they're I what from what I've understood from Pete and just Adam and James and and is kind of I think the graffiti thing and and keeping it clean. Yeah, but the city actually came out and painted it. Fuck yeah. Like they had employees come out and paint the whole flat bottom.
SPEAKER_00Holy shit. Wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's so because people were I don't know if it was graffiti or if they did it, but um, they're super happy with it. Yeah, they're stoked on it, and I think they're stoked on it too, because every time you drive by there, it's getting used. Yeah. I mean, before that thing was just probably an empty battery. In the hood. In the hood.
SPEAKER_00Like who plays tennis in the hood? I'm not trying to be any type of way, but like for real, that is a country club.
SPEAKER_01What's crazy is the indoor park I tried to build. If you went right over the MLK on the other side, it was like right there.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01So it's like that's the area that it's thread. Yeah, it's cool as shit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, we were looking in the uh me and my my girlfriend, we were looking in the uh Springfield area, but we ended up just signing a lease on a place over in Murray Hill. But I kind of I like I like the whole right outside of the downtown area.
SPEAKER_01That's where Haddock lives over there. Adam, all of them. You know Eric Haddock?
SPEAKER_00Uh I know him acquaintances, but not you know, really close to my book.
SPEAKER_01Brown Santa boy. That's what I used to call UPA. Brown Santa boy. Boy, I'd see that truck pull up back in the day, I'd be like, oh, Santa's here. Fucking drop the shit off.
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_01Love it.
SPEAKER_02Dude, I fucking I love Eric, man. That dude's always been rad.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. Yep.
SPEAKER_02You would never be able to guess his age either. The beard really hides it well. Dude's like 87 years old, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Does he just for mend the beard? Because I mean, shit, I'm 37 and the gray won't be.
SPEAKER_02I'm not in his bathroom. I can't tell you.
SPEAKER_01He's a beautiful human being. There you go. That's what I call him. There you go. He's an idiot, just like all of us.
SPEAKER_00Fucking love that guy. Absolutely perfect. So well, fuck yeah, man. I've been stoked to uh link up with you. Honestly, uh, when I first started doing this podcast was when I first quit drinking like three years ago, and uh, I'm just kind of looking for something else to fill my time. And it was kind of something I always wanted to do, and I was like, well, how can I kind of promote rad people doing shit and kind of you know fill my time sort of a thing? And you were honestly on my bucket list when I first made my list of like wanting to work up to getting somebody on was Mike P. So honestly, stoked to have you on, bro. Would love to.
SPEAKER_01I'm I'm trying to I got I'm gonna do another one of these with Ryan King in a couple weeks. Right. And um me and Bo are actually working on this thing called Reflections. Cool. Because there's a lot of stuff that we didn't talk about, but I I'm it it's kind of for that. Yeah, and you'll see that and and uh it's it's uh it's a little more heavier on the whatever, but I'm super excited about it. We definitely keep an eye out for that. Yeah, yeah, it's cool. Definitely promote it however we can. Uh yeah, um uh Bo just finished the one on Jamie Alcorn, and uh they're actually showing that at Kona in June. Oh, so doing a show up there and um an art show and all that. Very cool. So um, and Jamie Alcorn's the man, dude. He's yeah, I he was one of the dudes when I was young that he had I just always remember he had this photo in it, and it was either in Thrasher or Trans World, Smith grind in the deep end of the pool, and he had the best Smith grinds. Oh, yeah. Like his fucking style was so dope. Fuck yeah. So like it's just cool now. He's like a super famous motorcycle builder, and yeah, he's doing he's killing it, yeah. You know, and it's just like it's it's cool shit, man.
SPEAKER_00Hell yeah, dude. Yeah, so well yeah. Well, uh, if you want, go ahead and plug anything you want to plug. Tell the people like you guys plug skate supply.
SPEAKER_01Ah, yeah, no, they they know. Uh Pete sucks, James is an idiot. There you go. Love you, Adam, Tony, fucking Eric, Devin. I don't know. I'm gonna keep going out of list. I almost got all your names tattooed on my ass cheek, but probably a bad decision.
SPEAKER_04He's the one who always sends you the meme text.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's Mikey sat. Fuck him. No, he's awesome. No, uh, no, I just yeah, thank you. I'm I'm glad, man. I'm glad you guys have me. It's an honor to be here. Our pleasure, dude.
SPEAKER_00We'll definitely uh link up again in the future and uh keep an eye out for everything that the block has got uh coming in the
Closing Plugs And Five-Star Ask
SPEAKER_00future. And uh thanks for listening, everybody. Peace, love, and skateboarding.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man. On camera or tape, whatever. One more. One more.
SPEAKER_02Jesus Christ took us three tries. We'll we'll work on it next time.