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 7:13 pm
“favorite company: Vans”…….poses for the pic with nikes……..then tell me who thinks kids are dumb is wrong…….
June 12, 2015 7:22 pm
Hi my name is CorpoSk8er McKook, and I thinks monster energy, element, and of course diamond supply co. REPRESENT are my favorite core companies, Nyjah is obviously the best cuz he wins like every contest, and my first skate video was the 2014 street league super crown. What do ya mean that’s not a skate video. Hey wanna play S.K.A.T.E?
June 12, 2015 7:28 pm
Hi I’m Hipster McUnderground, and my favorite skate companies are Poler, Pizza, Hopps, Bronze, and palace, you probably havent heard of them they’re pretty underground. The first skate video I watched was cherry. I like doing no-complys every ten seconds, slicking my hair back, filming everything in black and white and wearing white tees of course. #neveruncuff
June 14, 2015 5:42 pm
you spelled polar wrong bitch
June 15, 2015 2:44 am
good on him. nothing wrong with polar but a lot is wrong with the fags instantly liking boards they have probably never ridden. and that do no complys all the time and have their trucks so loose that its horrible to watch them even roll down the road
June 15, 2015 5:14 pm
maybe he was talking about Poler the skate camping tent company
June 12, 2015 7:55 pm
the first skate video i ever saw was from my friend who brought IN BLOOM to class and convinced the teacher let us watch it using the tv with vhs, that was maybe 10 or so years ago.