My house, el trescientos tres (303), was “The House”. This may sound self-centered, but let me explain.
When I got infected with skateboarding, all I could do, day and night, was think about “the board”, and, curious boy that I am, having watched ‘Birdhouse The End’ several times and then ‘Transworld’s Feedback’, I became obsessed with finding every skate video that ever existed. I can’t say I’m proud of this, but I would download every single video. Every. Single. One. If it was a wheel company boom, board company boom, 411vm any issue boom, any Transworld video boom, skateshop videos boom, it didn’t matter, I would download them all. Again, can’t say I’m proud of this, because I should have bought them to support the skateboarders and the companies, but I was living in Colombia, which, legally speaking, meant we’d get the option of buying a skate video probably 2-4 years after it had been released, and options were limited (not to mention the extra price of anything imported). So I did what I did. No pride in this, but here’s how I feel I paid for it…I watched every single video and would showcase them for my friends and I would know the details, who’s who, who rides for who, what gear they were wearing, what board they were riding, and I would educate my friends with this newfound treasure. This is I how I paid my dues. Every single time, one of them would ask “I like their skating, who are they” and I would say “they are such and such, they ride for these companies, and they’ve been on these other videos” and I would put those on. Sometimes it led friends to finding their favorite skaters. Sometimes it led them to finding their own style. But each viewing made us better by knowing skateboarding, and knowledge is power. Such is true in life, and it is true in skateboarding.
I held these screenings every day. Every day I would put on a new video, every day I would have a new story to tell, every day I would find a new favorite skater, every day I would pass along the knowledge. My room was tiny, but if you could fit ten kids inside, then ten kids would be inside, amazed by the talent, the freedom, the locations, the light. When we watched ‘Flip Really Sorry’ (a classic, btw) and everyone asked “who’s this PJ Ladd?” Well, PJ is the guy from this video, and I’d put in PJ’s ‘wonderful horrible life’.
“Oh yeah, that’s PJ, we know who PJ is, that video also has Ryan Gallant, no?”
“That’s right. Ryan’s also in that ‘Expedition One’ video and ‘Transworld First Love’.
“Oh, that Transworld video has Leo Romero, he’s in this ‘Emerica’ video and this ‘Toy Machine’ video.”
It goes on and on and on and on some more. Let me tell you, it’s all connected. Every single one of them is connected. You can make a connection from a video of the 1980’s to one from 2020. Imagine something that’s connected in such a way that it goes back to its roots. That’s skateboarding. Skateboarding is a web. Skateboarding is both old and it’s new. It’s been there, but not everywhere. It is timeless.
My friends would come to my house to watch skate videos. They would get a serious, but welcoming, hello from my father, in which they would reply “Buenas tardes Don German” and would receive drinks and snacks courtesy of my amazing mother “el jugito para los muchachos.” I only hope to have a place where my friends felt safe and were ready to absorb the knowledge. This is why I can safely say that my house, el trescientos tres, was The House.
I talked to a couple of friends from the time to ask them, what do they remember about the house?
Tito: I remember the sofa and watching videos on the computer, looking out the window to see if the weather was good to go skating. Obviously you can’t leave your parents behind. Too many gestures. The juice from mom and the seriousness of your dad. And just playing around inside the house, but pure skate videos to inspire us to go skating. Look out the window to see who was in the park. The doorman was nice too
Nicolay: I remember that first of all it was very organized, very beautiful house, I lived in a different neighborhood and my life to a certain point was not like that. So I would come in and think “this dude is a preppy haha but good energy.” I remember the drawings in your room, you had painted something on the wall, it was like a character from one of those punk bands that I liked at that time. I didn’t have a computer, so seeing you manipulate the computer as if it were part of you made it look so easy, just as easy as whipping your ass. The room was very yours too, it had skate posters and your drawings.
T: Well, another cool thing was that we would go to Andres’ house to watch videos, and you would go in feeling normal, but you would leave with a desire to skate, step out of the building and want to jump over the wall in front of it. You would came out very energized. Going in and watching the videos is something that I valued a lot, because today there is a lot to see that you get lost
Andres: What videos do you remember?
T: I think the most important was Transworld In Bloom. Because we saw the little dudes Paul Rodriguez and Evan Hernandez and those two were insanely good. And the music was very good and very influential. Tony Trujillo also came out with the song that was pure rock
N: (imitates electric guitar sounds) and he rocked a little lock on his collar
T: That part was pure adrenaline, the whole video was very good, the music too. Birdhouse The End too, the music was very good, it inspired us to skate. I remember Transworld Feedback, In Bloom, The End, Shorty’s videos and Zero’s videos.
N: I really liked the video for PJ Ladd Wonderful Horrible Life, it had a very cool style
A: What was your favorite skater from that time?
T: At that time Jamie Thomas, he was my favorite.
A: For me it was Chad Muska
T & N: (sarcastic) yeah right
T: It was the styles, Nicolay liked Andrew Reynolds
A: Sure, so he wore all Emerica and tight clothes, all punk
N: Well, everyone had their style. Tito had a shaved head and dressed like Jamie Thomas, you liked Chad Muska so you would wear baggy clothes and dyed your hair blonde. I liked Andrew Reynolds and Geoff Rowley. I liked them because at that time most skaters dressed liked rappers, they wore baggy clothes. So seeing them with different clothes and punk style inspired me
T: That’s what I remember about the house, el 303.
