Go to any skate industry event and you’ll realize how surprisingly out of touch many skate biz folk are with the younger generation of skaters. A couple of beers deep and you’ll hear a group of grown men reminiscing over dinosaurs like Tom Penny and Brian Lotti, comparing VHS collections and sharing tour stories from the 90s. Despite the fact that the average age of the skateboarder is older than ever before, skateboarding is and always will be fueled by the youngins.
But kids are dumb, and their opinions should be taken with a grain of salt and a shot of tequila, right?
Wrong, you old geezer! Like it or not, the kids we scoff at today will be like us – the jaded generations of the future, so their tastes are just as valid as your own. And instead of just sitting around stalking Instagram and hypothesizing who the younger kids are hyped on, we went to three of Manhattan’s busiest skateparks and asked them ourselves.
ISAIAH EDWARD
Age: 16
First skate video: Ryan Sheckler’s first Plan B part on Youtube
Favorite skaters: Ryan Sheckler, Andrew Reynolds, Luan Oliveira, Louie Lopez, Trevor Colden
Favorite company: Organika
Luke Rinay
Age: 13
First skate video: Pretty Sweet – Girl
Favorite skaters: Grant Taylor, Nakel Smith, Ben Raybourne, Ben Kadow, Jesse Alba
Favorite company: Anti-Hero
Ethan Garcia
Age: 15
First skate video: Nick Mullins’s video on the Berrics
Favorite skaters: P-Rod, Luan Oliveria, Shane O’Neil, Carlos Riberio, Brian Peacock
Favorite Company: Nike SB and Plan B
Mecca Morris
Age: 15
First skate video: Some local skate video, but Baker 3 was the first real skate video I saw.
Favorite skaters: Brandon Westgate, Ishod Wair, Shane O’Neil, and I don’t have any more…
Favorite Company: Real Skateboards and Vans
Shane Gordon
Age: 15
First skate video: the first online part of the Brunner twins
Favorite skaters: Marc Suciu, Louie Lopez, Kevin Bradley, Ishod Wair, Trevor Colden
Favorite company: Real, Emerica, Thunder, Spitfire, Skate Mental
Carlos Wilson
Age: 16
First skate video: Parental Advisory – DGK
Favorite skaters: Jimmy Carlin, Theotis Beasley, P-Rod, Keelan Dadd, Tom Asta
Favorite company: DGK or Real
Mickey Bellam
Age: 14
First skate video: Pretty Sweet – Girl
Favorite skaters: Luan Oliveria, Trevor Colden, Curren Caples, Manny Santiago, Torey Pudwill
Favorite company: Plan B
Tal Radke
Age: 13
First skate video: Pretty Sweet – Girl
Favorite skaters: Chris Joslin, Chris Cole, Mike Mo, Torey Pudwill, Youness Amrani
Favorite company: Any Kayo company for boards
“Chris”
Age: 14
First skate video: Pretty Sweet – Girl
Favorite skaters: Ryan Sheckler, Trevor Colden, Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, Torey Pudwill, Nick Tucker
Favorite company: Trophy Griptape and Plan B
Julian Aprende
Age: 15
First skate video: Alien Workshop’s Memory Screen on Youtube, it was one of the suggested videos to watch…
Favorite skaters: Daewon Song, Curren Caples, Ryan Sheckler, Trevor Colden, Chris Joslin
Favorite company: Real Skateboards
Investigative reporting & photos: Russell “the Intern” Dolan
Original Illustration by Michael Giurato (@badhairlife)
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June 12, 2015 12:44 pm
The moment your life goes from filming in the streets to working in an office you are guaranteed to be out of touch.
November 20, 2015 12:10 pm
It hurts to read this, working in an office since sept. 2k14 and it feels oddly comfortable but i feel how “old” i got
June 12, 2015 12:48 pm
Nothing too strange from the above except for that Luke kid’s favorite skaters. Good for them.
June 12, 2015 12:51 pm
True – a lot of kids got into skating from Pretty Sweet.
Gonna do this in different cities / countries I think if people are into it.
-Ian
June 12, 2015 1:59 pm
You should totally do that. It be cool to see how different geography might play a part. Though most of the kids seem to have love for heavy california companies. Interesting how no one mentioned the “cool” companies (palace, polar, F.A etc etc)
February 4, 2017 12:23 am
Yo jenkem SoundCloud is wack (or I am, psh, whatever) fix alien work shop mix, yo! It’s my favorite
June 13, 2015 5:30 pm
What was strange about Luke’s favorite skater?
June 15, 2015 10:24 am
The choices weren’t as mainstream as the other kids.
June 12, 2015 1:00 pm
This is pretty sad
June 12, 2015 1:07 pm
Why?
June 13, 2015 3:33 am
Most of the skaters suck, hardly any individuality or old skaters, they’re all just modern street league guys. Would’ve liked to have seen the likes of Ray Barbee and stuff on there
May 13, 2016 11:34 pm
Ray Barbee?? They’re like 14 yo, most of them have a couple of years skating, let them find their shit alone, I see names like Luan, Grant Taylor, Daewon Song and Marc Suciu and those dudes are awesome. 420mcyolonuzzsk8 is on point, you guys need to chill and let kids be kids.
June 12, 2015 1:13 pm
‘sad’?! ohhh, you meant Rad. an easy mistake to make… the R and S are pretty close together on a keyboard.
June 13, 2015 12:32 pm
he meant sad. this is horribly sad but still kinda rad
June 13, 2015 9:15 pm
how the hell do you want these kids to know about ray barbee? the guy hasnt done anything in ages and all those kids got into skating three years ago… yeah and by the way, they dont know about natas kaupas either! still, a lot of them mentioned ishod and westgate who both have style for miles.