Grosso - A Love Letter To Jeff Phillips

This blog is not intended to simply re-post Jeff Grosso's Love Letters, but when he writes one to the late Jeff Phillips, how can you not pass on the "don't mess with texas" gnar... check it!

2 Millers Are Better Than 1

I saw this on The Skateboard Mag's website... Thunder trucks' welcome clip for Chris and Zack Miller.
Watch the father and son combo shred the combi!




Ace Skateboard Trucks MFG.


     Why ACE? because they look a little different than all the rest. ACE 44's is what I'm currently riding. And after riding them for a couple of months, I can say they have an incredible flow! Sweet comfortable surf style turns, they feel lighter than any trucks I've owned ,and they grind really smooth. 
 In other words, They feel like they where made for me !!!
But enough about me, check out the video and see how the Ace Pilots ride them in Montreal, Canada!
                                         
Here is a good review on 'em

Chris Haslam + Sitka = Canada

Chris Haslam goes for a ride at Gordon Head park in Victoria, B.C. dressed in sitka clothing...

2012 Van's Bondi Bowl-A-Rama Date Announced!

The Vans Bondi Bowl-A-Rama will be held on Saturday February 25,2012. All the action gets underway at 10am.  Mark the date on your calendar and stay tuned, as more info will be released as the date approaches.
If reading this post got you in the mood for some Bondi action, here are some highlights of last years event.
enjoy!

Ben Harper & Mike V

what do you get when one of your all time fav musicians gets on stage with one of your all time fav skaters:

Red Hot Vision Street Wear Contest

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS I Was listening to some of their old albums today. Halfway through "me & my friends" I though about mine and then I remembered the first time I saw them ...

HAMMER TORONTO

In the beaches area of Toronto,Canada. There is a small skater owned skate shop that holds a vibe that can't be described and must be experienced... 

If you skate Vanderhoof skate park and you ask any of the locals where you should buy a skateboard or anything skate related, 9 out of 10 will say "Hammer man, its an awesome shop!"
2225 Queen St. E

Where is Hammer?!?!
To 2225 Queen Street East, I drove.
The shop is in the basement of a Tatto shop. When the Tattoo shop is closed the door remains open so you can walk into the skate shop downstairs...
Once you get to the bottom of the stairs, the first thing you see is a shoe wall with plenty of brand selection.
There were two skaters in their early 20's working.  They both greeted me as soon as I walked in. The shop was empty as it had just opened, a dude in a Baker Skateboards T was organizing the cash register area and the other, the Creature T-shirt dude, was holding down the deck wall, pulling boards out of boxes and organizing them.
 I told the Baker t-shirt dude by the cash register that I was there to buy a complete as I headed straight for the deck wall,..

 ...the wider deck(s) wall to be more precise...
 The awesome selection on the wall made me think that maybe I should buy a bunch of decks, since it's going be hard to just pick one.
As I got there, another dude popped out from behind the wall...
"Hey man, how's it goin'?!"
"good dude!.. i'm here for a complete.." I said as excited as the first time i went to Rudy's skate shop in the mid 80's to grab my first pro set up.
"cool! you gonna need some help!"
You could tell this was the shop owner.
 He had a vibe; this is my shop and I'm here to sell you quality skateboard products.
 I had walked into the right skate shop!

 This was the first monday of summer holidays and in a minute the place got relatively busy, with eager kids coming in to get their skate fix. These kids knew what they were there to buy and they wanted to get it faster than it can be assembled. They could barely wait on their new; deck, trucks or wheels, so they can rush out to Ashbridges Bay Skatepark or any other local spot and spend all day, all summer, shreddin' with their homies.
I on the other hand, had to run around the city to do errands, had no chance to go skating and no clue what I was going to buy, so I didn't mind stepping aside and letting them service the eager groms and help the local rippers get what they needed.
This gave me time to go through their huge board selection and narrow down my choice of decks.  It also momentarily postponed me driving around Toronto's crowded streets on a hot and sunny summer day. It also gave me a chance to speak to the owner, Dave.
He, not only owns/manages the coolest hardcore shop in T.O, he has been on a deck forever,  he has seen a lot and is willing to share his stories. If you don't believe me, check out the museum tab on his website : http://www.hammertoronto.com/museum.htm
As I shuffled through decks and checked the different shapes, we talked about the local skate scene and how we had it in the good old days...
Once the shop cleared out, I had narrowed my skate decision to 4 decks :

A beautifully shaped pool deck 8.8" wide, designed by the pool riders at Creature.  A Darren Navarrette 8.0 also made by Creature, Jeff Grosso's brand new Anti Hero vert monster, 9.2' wide with antihero meets black label Grosso graphics and lastly Anti Hero's 8.5 xxl team deck. I stepped on all of them and visualized riding around in them. After going through the whole wall, I had 4 decks I was willing to buy, but I could only get one, so I had to make the final eliminations...
The Navarrette was too skinny, the shape was nice, but i needed something wider. The Grosso, (if i could buy two decks that day, the grosso would have also come home with me), I couldn't buy it, it was too wide and I wanted something to ride, not to hang on my wall. But if the 8.5 version had been there, then this post would have a slightly different ending...
It was beetween the Creature pool deck or the 8.5 Anti Hero, which looked perfect for pool/vert riding.


I turned to the dude that was holding down the deck area and with a smile from ear to ear said..."this is the one!"
"yeah, that's a nice shape!", said the dude by the cash register.
I brought the deck over to the counter and asked to see some Ace & Theeve trucks. Having ridden Indy's for the longest time, I had decided to try something new.
Theeve's are the first all titanium trucks, built for riders like Jake Duncombe &  Tony Hawk.

They don't grind down, but they grind your bank at $150 for a pair. A bit much for a rider of my abilities, Ace was the way to go. I had heard they are made by a cat who worked for Independent, they turn quicker and are lighter than indy's. I decided to grab a set of 44's. For wheels I had wanted to try Bones SPF, so when I saw a set of Chris Miller's 60mm, I had no choice, the size was bigger than I wanted, but I could not resist getting the same wheels the stylish legend Miller rides. Inside them some Bones reds bearings and hardware, the selections were made.
"Am I putting this together for you?" he asked... "No don't, I have errands to run today, and if you put it together for me now, I will end up at the skatepark instead of running errands!"  I replied...,.."I'm putting it together then!" he said as we all laughed.  While I waited for him to assemble the deck,  I picked out a ATM 8.0" deck for a friend, and continued my conversation with Dave. "here, this is going to ride nice at the hoof, enjoy it dude!" He said and handed me my new skateboard. I was good to go. I had the perfect set up!
Just then another busload of eager rippers rushed in, so I stepped aside and headed for the door, as I walked past the owner, he handed me a shop t-shirt and said, "here man, see you around!" I thanked him for the quality service I had received and headed out to do my errands. As soon as I stepped out of the door of the shop, I could not resist, I skated to my car, got in it, and drove straight to the skatepark, I could not give up the chance of  hitting the hoof with this brand new gnar stick in my possession!




Vans Pro-Tec Pool Party 2011

I spent my saturday hanging with Nollie & stuck to my laptop, watching Vans Pro-Tec Pool Party.
 I enjoyed every minute of the 6 hour webcast. The pros were awesome & tore up the pool, but for me the best part of the event was getting to watch the likes of, Tony Hawk,Lance Mountain, Stevie Cab,Duane Peters, Salba, Eric Nash & the stylish Chris Miller, all rip better in their 40s than they did in their 20s.
You don't believe me? watch this vid...



Masters 
Name (Hometown) Purse 
1. Chris Miller (Del Mar, CA) $18,000
        2. Steve Caballero (San Jose, CA) $9,000
         3. Lance Mountain (Alhambra, CA) $5,000 

Acadias Own - the Grossman -

Vert Gods II - Jeff Grosso age 43


The first time I ever heard of this talented vert rider was when my homes Hernan  bought his Santa Cruz Coca Cola inspired deck. He showed up at my house one day, and with a smile from ear 2 ear he said..."look what i got, try it!"  I steped on the board and my view on skating changed. I realized that not all boards should be shaped the same, and different boards for different riders..

   A very short time later, started seing mr. Grosso in thrasher magazine, transworld skate mag and others, Santa cruz ads, Independent trucks ads, spitfire wheels ads, Wheels of Fire vid,.. Jeff was everywhere packin' a bag of stylish tricks!
Once you see this man's steez, you know, why anyone with a camera, wants to shoot him!
bat model


        


LOVE LETTERS- Mony Grind- Part 1 from Six Stair on Vimeo.

20 years later... still rollin' around


I love spending lunchtime at this place... in all types of weather.

 Just before lunchtime my phone rings, its Brad...
 Mr. McGinn is always up for a lunchtime session, even in the middle of winter with the ground coverer in snow.
 He tells me that he spent 3 lunchtime sessions diggin' out the bowl... and now, it was ready to be shredded.
frontside over roll in
backside tail or dropping in?

Ok! I'll be there in 10 minutes!
 - as I got my dog and gear ready, all I can think about was his dedication to the juice. Because while all his co workers where taking their one hour lunch break, stuffing themselves, Brad was hitting the hoof with a shovel, digging snow and heading back to work. All done,so that he could come back in a few days, and have his lunchtime face stuffing of gnar.

Once I got there.
 I could not believe, that the bowl was bone dry, because of rad brad's dedication.

 getting tips on how to carve the hoof's corner with style.
When you get the juice flowing, you don't feel cold - Brad floats a tuck knee


Peep this fs tuck knee! TRUE CANUCK STYLE!

These are a few pics of a few lunchtime sessions of the last couple of months.
The funnest sesh was this last one, there was snow everywhere, but the bowl was dry and the juice flow kept us warm.






afterschool sessions - sometime in 1990


Late last year, a childhood friend tells me that he had some pictures of us skating as teenagers.  Back in those days, we didn't skate with any cameras, so i was really curious as to when these pics were taken and what they were...

They were taken at Erics house. when he lived by Islington & Finch - also location of the board heist story- maybe one day it will make the blog...
Diego sliding his Lance Mountain Powell Peralta deck, Indy trucks & T-Bones.
Ricardo throws his jacket, nose to the air and grinds his indys, mounted on that second hand, street Hawk.






Jav slides a Sims Kevin Stabb with some nasty orange Gullwings and his favourite wheels - OJIIs Teamriders.















One of the worst group skate shots ever! great photography though!

These pics brought back so many laughs. Memories of carefree riding, all day skate adventures. Thanks to the TTC, we got all around the city ollieing, grinding, sliding and shreddin' all the concrete that surrounded us.
 Specially on sundays, when all of the stores where closed and you could skate an empty downtown Toronto! None of us rode to be professionals, or to shoot videos so we could then upload them to youtube...We just rode for F U N!
 THANKS!  eric for the pics & the rest of yous for the epic sessions , laughs & tons of shoegoo!