December 2011
2 posts
News: Feature Shoot Post →
15 tags
From Ohio to California in 3 days
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
Exhausted from over 40 days of zigzagging across the country seeking out shelter and skateboard spots, the crew decided to bypass Colorado and drive straight back to California. The territorial disputes over seats with access to a window for leaning on grew in viciousness and regularity, as all-night driving sessions became the norm. Every few hours a...
September 2011
12 posts
20 tags
SKATOPIA
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
At the bottom of a gravel road somewhere in the grassy city of Rutland, Ohio the van pulled up to a sign enclosed by pool coping with “Skatopia” written on it. The entrance lead to an 80-acre piece of land founded on ideas concerning skateboarding and freedom by a man named Brewce Martin. We drove by a pink school bus with broken windows, a house ...
Ohio
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
Andy Schrock (Youtube Username) welcomed us into his home in Columbus, Ohio sometime around 5 a.m. We proceeded to fall asleep on couches and a basement floor until we woke up in the afternoon, sore from driving through three consecutive states. After eating a local delicacy of chili and cheese over spaghetti, Andy introduced us to his friends at a...
Travelogue 1.4
Travelogue 1.3
12 tags
New York and Massachusetts
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
For two nights we slept on the hardwood floor of a barren living room among our dirty clothes, electronics and other valuable items in an area of Brooklyn populated by art students and unclassifiable weirdos. During the day we skated as a mob, taking priority over a few timid drivers but mostly dispersing at intersections to make space for barreling...
Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
A shirtless, barefoot drunk guy swayed on top of a D.I.Y. cement bowl as he looked down at Mcnugget, Ratface and Joel avoiding puddles on their skateboards at Philadelphia’s F.D.R. skatepark. The wind from the passing storm eventually pushed him over. If it weren’t for a reflexive catch by Mcnugget, he would have fallen to the hard, wet...
Travelogue 1.2
10 tags
Virginia and Maryland
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
The van pulled into the parking lot of Baltimore’s indoor Charm City Skatepark as water leaked into the van and puddles overflowing from gutters spilled into streets. The park was a maze of bowls, rails, ledges, gaps and hidden second-story rooms containing lengthy spine ramps; all managed by owner Jason, who gave us a thoughtful interview with his...
11 tags
North Carolina
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
One more night was spent on a beach in North Carolina after a scouting mission for rooftop urban camping proved unsuccessful. The empty, peaceful spot where we rolled out our sleeping bags late at night became a lane for joggers, walking families and concerned beach patrol officers at daybreak. We met up with Levi (Youtube username eliteskater08) and...
Travelogue 1.1
17 tags
Georgia and South Carolina
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
Ratface and Chris Mcnugget started walking on their hands on the densely packed sand beaches of Florida. While we waited for the van’s cracked radiator to be replaced on our way out of Daytona, they walked on their hands into the unlit, moldy smelling corridor of a strip mall. They did handstands on their boards and made sharp echoes with their flip...
8 tags
Travelogue 1.0
August 2011
15 posts
6 tags
Florida
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
Florida’s New Smyrna Beach was roofed in by an ashy sky that fractured with root-like shapes of blue lightening as our van pulled in to the Shluzas’ driveway. The heat waited patiently behind the clouds, allowing us to skate chunky brick banks and well-constructed skateparks by 4 p.m. on the heels of hurricane Irene. We stared at thrashing palms from...
Travelogue .9 →
Footage: Joel Jutagir, Travis Schirmer, Garrick O’Connor
Edit: Garrick O’Connor
6 tags
New Orleans
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
The heat settled and moisture took its place in New Orleans. Bridges over swampy vegetation lead us to old men beneath straw hats swerving on beach cruisers and slow trudging tour groups. In a flash across the van’s window, Ratface spotted a ramp below a freeway overpass. Joel pulled off at the next exit to find a makeshift skatepark. Trapped...
Travelogue .8 →
Footage: Joel Jutagir, Travis Schirmer, and Garrick O’Connor
Edit: Garrick O’Connor
Travelogue .7 →
Footage: Joel Jutagir, Travis Schirmer, and Garrick O’Connor
Edit: Garrick O’Connor
Texas
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
We stopped at a gas station somewhere in Texas on our overnight drive to Austin. A beach ball-stomached man inside the convenience store watched us file inside for water as if he’d been anticipating us. He asked what we were doing, and then with the urgency of an amphetamine binge betrayed all the secrets of the carnival games trade. Back inside the...
Say wasssup and peep the premier of our Austin, TX...
METRO LIVE
Travelogue .6 →
Footage: Garrick O’Connor, Joel Jutagir, Travis Schirmer
Edit: Garrick O’Connor
New Mexico
Photos: Ryan Young
Additional Photos (3,8,9,18,19): Travis Schirmer
We left downtown Phoenix some time after midnight for New Mexico with no place to sleep. A persistent beeping coming from inside of a building prevented us from camping on the roof of a partially abandoned strip mall. Since no one could take over driving due to exhaustion, Joel pulled into an empty parking lot circled by...
Travelogue .5
Travelogue .4
Footage: Joel Jutagir, Travis Schirmer, Garrick O’Connor
Edit: Garrick O’Connor
Travelogue .3
Footage: Joel Jutagir, Travis Schirmer, Garrick O’Connor
Edit: Garrick O’Connor
Travelogue .2
Footage: Joel Jutagir, Travis Schirmer, Garrick O’Connor
Edit: Garrick O’Connor
Phoenix, AZ
Photos: Ryan Young
Additional Photos (3,4,16,17): Travis Schirner
Words: Travis Schirner
The heat in Phoenix created irritability in each individual riding in the van, but it also sent us into a euphoric state when we reached the air-conditioned interior of Cheba Hut, an illegally-themed and exquisite deli in Tempe, Arizona. We decided that the outside world must be slightly cooler than...
Leaving Home
Photos: Ryan Young
Words: Travis Schirmer
We spread our equipment, bags and skateboards on the asphalt outside of Metro Skateshop. Chris landed a new trick on the D.I.Y. cement quarter pipe behind the shop before the van was fully packed. With a barricade of skateboards encasing our luggage we headed south from Pleasant Hill, California to Phoenix, Arizona. During the cross of the...
