El Skate Shop - The Wildest Skateboard Shop in the West
El Skate Shop began in 2002 as online shop AND brick and mortar shop in Huntington Beach, CA. At 177 square feet we were fairly certain we owned the title of "Smallest Skate Shop in The World".
We also went by the slogan of "The Almost Non-Profit Skate Shop" where we priced our inventory very low in order to make easier for people to keep skating. You could buy blank decks from $16 to $20. Grip was $3.
As of 2021, elskateshop.com is mostly an archival site. However, we still do sell grip tape, wax and hardware and may one day get back into the business of selling skate goods.
Past team riders included Dallas Rockvam, Aaron Babila, Chris Treiber, Chris Hernandez, Mike Davidson, Matt Bublitz, Amber Moffatt, Darrell Norman, Eric Ricks and Ryan Fitch.
Brandon held it down on Shorty’s for years. I’m pretty sure he was in all their first five or so videos. It’s funny to think back at how big Shorty’s was back in the late 90s. It was like the DGK of that era.
Brandon Turner – SK8MAFIA
Brandon is amazing at popping over things. Whether it’s a huge chain link fence down to street level – or three flipping up on top of big ledges. He definitely still carries that classic Shorty’s / Muska trait of no fear of big things: drops, rails, and gaps.
“The new dude on Blind. Blind newest video is coming out this year. Will it rival Video Days?” – El Commander, 2004
Aaron’s Part in Push
Man it sure seemed like Blind was a dead-end for a while. Everyone on that team ended up disappearing. Such a bummer because they had great talent. And the weird, sad story about this goes way back to those days when everyone was feuding with Vision. Blind was the opposite of Vision. The point of Blind was to stick it to Vision. But even in skateboarding, it’s still business and brands can kind of lose their original…well….vision.
Alan Peterson. I think this guy rides for World I’m not sure, He has this 2 live crew ad on the back of a Transworld Mag.
Alan Peterson’s part from SMA Debunker (1991)
O.K. that opening scene in the video above has probably never been done again. 25 years an no one has touched that massive set of stairs.
He uses a commercial building’s roof as tranny practice! Awesome. This video part is a little slow and sloppy (those were the times), but he pulls off some amazing tricks – still impressed to this very day.
Billy Marks rides for Toy Machine. Toy Machine decks are pretty damn good. Always hard to get though, they keep their distribution pretty tight.
Billy Marks Good and Evil part
“Raw, Flipping in to every which way. Sliding the last inch of every rail. It’s fucking tight.” – Jeremy on Billy’s Good and Evil part
Billy’s boards used to range from 7.5″ to 7.625″ mostly. But that was back in the early 2000s. I’m guessing that now-a-days, they’re in the 8″ range since everything has gotten bigger. It’s weird too because all the Flip guys were skating big boards back in the early 2000s. Big boards make for stronger ones and some say they make your flips nice and slow looking. All stylish…
The legendary old schooler. Old schoolers get mad props since they had the balls to do gnarly shit and not get any money for it.
Brad Bowman skating Marina Del Rey skatepark 1979
That video shows Brad skating the famous Marina Del Rey skatepark. That was like the Mecca for skateboarding in the late 1970s and early 1980s. You can see that he’s wearing a “Dog Bowl Pro” contest garment. I’m sure Dog Bowl refers to the bowl he’s skating in and since it’s next to Venice, CA (a.k.a Dogtown) – that’s probably where the contest name originates from.
The amazing thing about these old bowl / pool skaters is that many of them are still at it to this day! I guess concrete is more forgiving than I thought :).
If you have ever seen the Bob Burnquist “Double B” deck, I think it originally came from a Brad Bowman deck.
The man, the myth, the legend. He 50/50-ed the El Toro 20 stair rail.
Ben Gilley vs. the El Toro 20
Ben rode for Black Label Skateboards back in the early to mid 2000s. In the video above he also 5-0s that monster rail and I think blows threw another few tricks – totally owning it. Our former team member, Matt Bublitz also board slid it in 2004. He was just a little dude then.
Anyway, as you can see, Ben was a total powerhouse. One of the classic hammersmiths from that golden age of street skating.
I first saw this guy on the Emerica video I think. I strange to think that you would first hear about a skater in the Emerica video.
Aaron Suski’s part from Emerica This is Skateboarding
Aaron Suski – Satori Stories
Hell on Wheels: Aaron Suski
Aaron’s is the godfather of the millennial style: he’s got tranny down, speed, and a killer street steez. And of course he gets the extra cool cred of being East Coast raw. NOTE: Being from somewhere other than California can be a huge boost to your skating career 🙂 (assuming you’re a sick skater to begin with).
If you’re looking for a great example of a salad grind – watch the videos above. That’s a great style to emulate. It’s clean, powerful, has it all tweaked out in a noticeable angle. I was watching Steve Caballero do salad grinds in a trick tip video – and even Cab doesn’t get them as tweaked out as Aaron does.
A Little Background on Aaron Suski
Aaron Suski is a professional skateboarder known for his smooth and technical style on the skateboard. He is from Phoenix, Arizona and started skateboarding at the age of eleven. Suski quickly gained a reputation as a talented skateboarder and started getting sponsored by various skateboarding companies.
In 2002, Suski turned pro and began competing in various skateboarding contests around the world. He quickly made a name for himself in the skateboarding community and became known for his impressive tricks and smooth style. Suski has won numerous contests throughout his career, including the TransWorld Skateboarding Street Invitational in 2007 and the Tampa Pro contest in 2009.
In addition to competing, Suski is also known for his work in the skateboarding industry. He has worked with numerous skateboarding companies, including Element Skateboards and Volcom, and has helped design and develop new skateboard products. Suski is also known for his work as a skateboarding coach and has worked with amateur skateboarders to help them improve their skills and reach their full potential.
Suski is also known for his philanthropic work in the skateboarding community. He has worked with various organizations, including Skateistan, a nonprofit organization that uses skateboarding as a means to empower youth in Afghanistan and Cambodia. Suski has also worked with other organizations to raise money for various causes, including the construction of skateparks and the promotion of skateboarding as a positive and healthy activity for young people.
In addition to his work in the skateboarding industry, Suski is also known for his activism and advocacy for social and environmental issues. He has worked with various organizations to raise awareness about issues such as climate change and has participated in various demonstrations and protests to promote social and environmental justice.
Overall, Aaron Suski is a highly respected and influential figure in the skateboarding community. He is known for his technical skills and smooth style on the skateboard, as well as his contributions to the skateboarding industry and his activism and advocacy for social and environmental issues. His dedication and passion for skateboarding and his commitment to making a positive impact in the world make him an important and inspiring figure in the skateboarding community.
“Brian Sumner is the nicest pro you will ever meet. But if you take advantage of this fact I will personally kick your ass.”
Brian’s part from Adio’s One Step Beyond
Brian Sumner – Comeback Skateboard Part Birdhouse – The Beginning
Yep that’s right. Brian Sumner knows karate. And he is not afraid to use it. There was a story going around that Brian had a hard time with getting into fights. It’s weird because he seems like such a refined English Gentlemen. We use to see him drive around town in a Mini Copper with the British Flag painted on top. He also has a little Chihuahua companion that rides shotgun. It’s kind of awesome when you think about it. Here is this completely non-aggressive looking guy with a toy dog that can kick your ass.
Brian is a really good skateboarder. Unfortunately it seems that he has had very little opportunities to display his skating. The only two videos I can think of that he was in Adio’s One Step Beyond and Birdhouse’s The End. Those videos are approaching ten years of age. Hopefully we’ll see some more parts from Brian in the near future.
Ok we have this thing for Bastien Salabanzi. He used to skate in front of our operation all the time because we were next to the Flip Filmer’s headquarters. To us he was totally insane. Possibly the world’s best skateboarder.
Bastien Salabanzi: The Lost Part
Bastien Salabanzi’s “Not So Sorry” Part
Bastien Salabanzi’s “Sorry Era” Retrospective Video
Bastien Salabanzi | The Nine Club With Chris Roberts – Episode 109
Bastien Salabanzi – Stop And Chat | The Nine Club With Chris Roberts
Jart Skateboards – All you need – Bastien Salabanzi
We heard through the grapevine he may have had a slight attitude problem, but whatever – who doesn’t right? He had an amazing part in Sorry, started winning tons of contests, maybe even got a shoe contract. Then he completely disappeared. Totally disappeared off the face of the earth. Well here he is killing it again.
So this is what I don’t get: Is he just doing the underground thing? Kind of like what Tom Penny did back in the late 1990s. Just hiding out? But then he pops out at contests and takes home winnings. Why doesn’t Plan B or Element try to pick him up? Is it because he has lost all his notoriety and none of the younger skater generation knows who he is? I’m sure with 4 weeks of magazine publicity and some Youtube effort he could be back on top.
Then there is the dark dark possibility of being blacklisted. This does happen to pro skaters every once in a while. If certain industry heads or the industry as a whole doesn’t like you, then you’re totally screwed. I’m pretty sure this happened to Chad Fernandez, Andy Macdonald, Gershon Mosely and Benji Galloway.
Original Excerpt
The story of Bastien is an odd one. He started off as a young kid on Flip. They found him in France and threw him on the team. His part in Sorry was incredible for the time. The next year after Sorry he won every street contest and became a poster child for Quiksilver. Then in 2004 he completely fell off the face of the planet. The word around the street was that he had a “bad attitude”. But when you are the good, you usually shake off the attitude issue and come back at some point. Bastien was a machine, he was a total natural at skateboarding. You don’t just disappear like that. The interesting thing is there was a pro for Flip in 1999 that followed a similar legacy. Spooky.
