{"id":57368,"date":"2016-05-09T08:57:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T15:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=57368"},"modified":"2016-05-09T08:57:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T15:57:52","slug":"steve-olson-juice-magazine-state-of-skate-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/steve-olson-juice-magazine-state-of-skate-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Olson – Juice Magazine State of Skate Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name: Steve Olson<\/strong>
\n Hometown: Hollywood, California<\/strong>
\n Age: 54<\/strong>
\n Affiliations: Guest boards with Dogtown Skateboards, Skaterbilt and Real.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What set-up are you riding right now?<\/strong>
\nThat changes constantly, but I always ride Mob Griptape and I always ride the deck that I make and I usually ride formica bottoms and I usually ride Type S wheels, Bones Bushings and Bones Bearings, or Hard Luck and Indy trucks.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most fun skater-built spot that you\u2019ve skated lately?<\/strong>
\nI love Burnside, FDR and San Pedro. I love DIYs.<\/p>\n

Have you ever built something to skate?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve built ramps and I helped pour the concrete for the pool at Concrete Wave back in the day. We were patting down the dirt at the age of 15. I think that was the first pool in a park actually. It was a figure-eight bowl, like a peanut snowman bowl with a top hat. The shallow end wasn\u2019t rideable, but the deep end was. It was shotcrete, so it was hardcore. It geared me up to go to other pool contests. I\u2019m a skatepark kid. I loved Carlsbad Skatepark. I liked Concrete Wave, Skatopia, Paramount, Lakewood, Chino, Marina Del Rey, Cherry Hill and Apple. Concrete Wave was the spot. Del Mar was great. All the skateparks were badass back in the day.<\/p>\n

Who do you like to skate with the most these days?<\/strong>
\nI love skating with David Hackett and Lance Mountain and all the local kids. I love skating in Venice. It\u2019s super fun. We used to have bad ass sessions in Glendale. I like skating with Ngoho and Danny Rogers. I like to skate with all of my friends and I like to skate with dudes that I don\u2019t get to see all the time. I like this backyard pool in Palm Springs called The Yard. That\u2019s fun. I haven\u2019t gotten to ride Bucky\u2019s. He\u2019s like, \u201cYou\u2019ll like this bowl. It\u2019s nine feet deep.\u201d I\u2019m thinking, \u201cBitch, I used to wheel and grind Paramount\u2019s 18-foot bowl.\u201d I like Arto\u2019s pool. Arto\u2019s pool is fun. I like Angelo\u2019s pool. Give me a good backyard pool. I like to throw a good grind on pool coping. That\u2019s what I like the best.<\/p>\n

Best skate graphic you\u2019ve seen lately?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m down with my brother\u2019s artwork for skateboards. I also like some of the \u201860s graphics. One of my favorite graphics is the Indy 500. It\u2019s just two checkerboard flags with a helmet. It was more geared for racing in the late \u201860s and early \u201870s. It was badass. It was done by the same dude that did the Black Knight graphic. I like the Black Knight graphic too. It didn\u2019t really have anything to do with skateboarding, but whatever. I\u2019m not interested in pictures on the bottom of a skateboard. That\u2019s boring. That\u2019s not a graphic. That\u2019s a picture. Graphics are graphics. Drawings are drawings.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best thing you\u2019ve ridden in a skatepark?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t think there is a best feature. There are no bad features. I like Venice. I like Glendale. I like Santa Monica. I like Etnies. I just like skateparks. I like that joint up in Newberg, Oregon. I love all the skateparks up there. I like this one pool they have up there. Lincoln City is badass. Pier Park is badass. Donald is really fun. I like Clairemont. I like that new park down in Encinitas. That pool is wickedly fun. I like Washington Street too. It\u2019s badass. I like all skateparks.<\/p>\n

Who are your favorite skateboarders?<\/strong>
\nI really really really liked Tony Alva and Jay Adams in their time. I thought TA was amazing. I thought Jay Adams was a badass at Del Mar in the loose ball bearings urethane days. Then there was this kid Stevie Monahan. I like Gregg Weaver. Brad Bowman was amazing. David Hackett was amazing. Salba is amazing. There are all the new kids and all the dudes from the \u201880s. It just goes on and on. I loved to watch Hosoi back in the day and I love to watch him skate now. I like watching all those dudes. It\u2019s just badass. I like Pedro Barros and Greyson Fletcher. There are so many dudes that rip. I like watching Chad Muska skateboard. I like watching Nyjah Houston. It just keeps going. I\u2019m not some narrow-minded dude. I like watching my son skateboard. He\u2019s got a little Gerry Lopez thing going on in his skateboarding. Somehow some way he came through with that. He\u2019s a cross between Rory Russell and Gerry Lopez. There are so many dudes that I enjoy watching skateboard and skateboarding with. I like Ngoho\u2019s skateboarding. He\u2019s smooth and stylish. I like Raven Tershy. I like all the new kids. I like Chris Russell. There are unknown dudes that rip. There\u2019s Blake Johnson down in Venice and I love the way he skateboards. He rips. There\u2019s a kid doing a manual down the street right now that looks kind of good. [Laughs] \u2018Hey now!\u2019 I enjoy skateboard riding and I just like watching dudes that enjoy skateboard riding.<\/p>\n

Is there anything that hasn\u2019t been built to skate yet, that you\u2019d like to see built?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s in my brain. I haven\u2019t built what I want to ride yet, but that could happen one day.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s one of the most fun road trips you ever took?<\/strong>
\nI had a super fun time when I went and skated with Hosoi, Hackett, McGill, Ngoho, Lester Kasai, Steve Steadham and all those cats down in Atlanta. It was so fun. It was a little hot. Hotlanta!<\/p>\n

Are there any skate-related charities you support?<\/strong>
\nAll of them. I don\u2019t know the names of all of them.<\/p>\n

What music have you been listening to lately?<\/strong>
\nThere are thousands of bands that are really good. I like bands from Primal Scream to Benny Goodman to the Sex Pistols to the Ramones. I don\u2019t even dislike the Spice Girls. I like N.W.A., Louis Jordan, Hound Dog Taylor, Big Mama Thornton, the Blasters, the Stray Cats, Mott the Hoople and T. Rex, Iggy Pop, the NY Dolls, Happy Mondays, Soup Dragons, Aerosmith, Zeppelin, Sabbath\u2026 I love Generation X. I like X Ray Spex, Bill Haley & His Comets, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. I like the girl bands from the \u201860s. I like the Stones. I love reggae. I like all of it. It\u2019s the greats to the greats.<\/p>\n

What do you consider the responsibilities of a professional skateboarder?<\/strong>
\nIt depends. What does that mean, a professional skateboarder? Does a professional skateboarder get paid? Is there a certain way of acting in the public eye? I don\u2019t know. What do I think a professional skateboarder shouldn\u2019t be? A dick! A lot of them are. Some of them are a little bit too hot on themselves and they need to simmer down. Pro skaters shouldn\u2019t be dicks.<\/p>\n

Which skate shops do you support?<\/strong>
\nI go to the ones that are around my house, like Brooklyn Projects and Supreme. If I\u2019m at the beach, I go to Rip City or Venice Originals.<\/p>\n

Favorite skate photo of all time?<\/strong>
\nI have several. There are several of Jay Adams who is the most photogenic skater of all time. He could get himself into perfect positions. There is a skate photo of Gregg Weaver and a skate photo of Denis Shufeldt and a photo of T.A. There is a really beautiful picture of Luke Moore back in the day in \u201878 or \u201879, East Coast. I really like that photo that Ivory Serra shot of Andy Kessler pushing in the streets of New York that was on the cover of Juice. There are a lot of photos that are so fantastic. One of my other favorites is the Hackett frontside at Doris pool shot by Friedman. That might be the most ultimate skateboard frontside grind shot ever besides any shot of me. [Laughs] Just kidding.<\/p>\n

What is your take on girls skateboarding?<\/strong>
\nIf they dig what they\u2019re doing, that\u2019s fine by me. Do you want me to tell you the truth? I think they don\u2019t need to skateboard like dudes. Girls are way more fluid and way more interesting to watch than a dude, but they try to emulate the guys and I think that\u2019s the wrong approach. That\u2019s just me. There\u2019s a girl longboarder from Brazil and she does it with her own style and she rocks. She dances on her skateboard. I\u2019ve always thought that girls shouldn\u2019t try to be like the dudes. Be like a chick. It\u2019s cool. That\u2019s what makes the world go round. We\u2019re different species, but we\u2019re still humans. Make it cooler than what the dudes do, even though the dudes do pretty cool shit.<\/p>\n

What skate memorabilia do you have that means the most to you?<\/strong>
\nMy favorite thing that I got from skateboarding that I still have is my Skateboarder of the Year 1978 trophy. It\u2019s kind of lame, so I put a G.I. Joe anti-anthrax mask on it and now it\u2019s the coolest thing I have. It\u2019s a really dope trophy.<\/p>\n

Who contributes the most to your local skate scene?<\/strong>
\nAnyone who gives me anything. That\u2019s a good contribution. [Laughs] I need boards, trucks, wheels and bearings. Hardware I can get.<\/p>\n

What are the three coolest skate tricks to you?<\/strong>
\nI like the power slide a lot and I like a good mean Bert. I also think the ollie is amazing. I like frontside grinds and backside carving and frontside carving and airs. I like a lot of it. That\u2019s more than three, but whatever. One of my favorite moves is the shifty, but that\u2019s just me.<\/p>\n

Do you think skateboarding should be in the Olympics?<\/strong>
\nYes. Why not?<\/p>\n

What is your proudest moment in skateboarding so far?<\/strong>
\nI really am proud of what my kid has done with skateboarding and he does it because he loves it and he\u2019s committed. I also liked being inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame. I thought that was such an honorable thing and I\u2019m still blown away that I got in. I liked getting Skateboarder of the Year, but I didn\u2019t know I was getting it. I also like winning skate contests and I just like skateboarding. My proudest moment is that I can still skateboard.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/a>
Steve Olson takes a backside grinder over the hip from deep to shallow at the N-men reunion. Photo by Dan Levy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

ABOUT THE JUICE MAGAZINE STATE OF SKATE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we started Juice Magazine 22 years ago, you could count the number of skateparks on one hand and grindable pool coping was mostly a distant memory. Now there are thousands of skateparks all over the world, along with a vast quantity of DIY spots built to skate. In 1993, the majority of skateboarders listened to punk rock or hip hop exclusively. Now skateboarders listen to almost every kind of sound created. Two decades ago, skateboarding related charities were non-existent. Today, there are numerous non-profits giving back to skateboarding in many ways. One of the most important differences between now and then is that, 22 years ago, there was a clear division between old school and new school skateboarding. Now that wall of separation has followed the same path as the Berlin Wall, allowing for an unprecedented unification of skateboarders all over the globe. Great strides have been made for girls that skate as well as the acceptance of skate history and long overdue recognition for skateboarding\u2019s pioneers and its artifacts. At the same time, the current generation of skateboarders is taking skateboarding to new heights, previously unimaginable. As the landscape of the skateboarding industry changes on a daily basis, and the topic of skateboarding in the Olympics rears its head once again, along with the disturbing subject of who controls skateboarding being tossed about by corporate entities, we decided it was time to take a good look at the State of Skate. We asked 20 questions to 100 skateboarders, ages 8 to 58, and found that skateboarding is as diverse as the skateboarders that are addicted to it, no one controls skateboarding except skateboarders, and the State of Skate is savage and strong. Now get out there and skate tough!<\/p>\n

JUICE MAGAZINE STATE OF SKATE <\/strong>features interviews with 100 skateboarders including: Tony Alva, Dave Hackett, Chris Strople, Duane Peters, Steve Olson, Dave Duncan, Steve Alba, Tony Magnusson, Pat Black, Jesse Martinez, Bill Danforth, Jim Murphy, Ric Widenor, <\/span>Lester Kasai, Glen Charnoski, Bryan Pennington, Peter Furnee, <\/span>Jeremiah Risk, Ryan Smith, Jason Jessee, Omar Hassan, Cam Dowse, Jen O\u2019Brien, Depth Leviathan Dweller, Brett Roper, Travis Beattie, Chris Gentry, <\/span>CW Dunn, Chris Albright, Charlie Wilkins, Cairo Foster, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, BJ Morrill, Dr. Lenore L.A. Sparks, Sid Melvin, Jesse Irish, Packy Fancher, Greg Lutzka, Jimmy Larsen, Adam Dyet, Luis Tolentino, Greg Harbour, Frank Faria, Ryan DeCenzo, Dave Bachinsky, Johnny Turgesen, Casey Meyer, Edward Sanchez, David Gravette, Ben Hatchell, Brian Geib, <\/span>Felipe Gouveia, Eric Santos, Kyle Smith, <\/span>Cameron Revier, Josh Stafford, Justin Grubbs, Etienne Eden Archila, Sanzio Piacentini, <\/span>Josh Elder, Eddie \u201cMighty\u201d Moreno, Kevin Kowalski, Otto Pflanz, Jeremy Smith, <\/span>Adam Wiggins, Jimmy Wilkins, Danny Gordon, Jake Hilbish, Corey Blanchette, Adam Legassie, <\/span>Nick Santos, Trey Rounds, Curren Caples, Justyce Tabor, Andy Anderson, Sarah Thompson, <\/span>Coral Guerrero, Collin Graham, Derek Scott, Ace Pelka, Sonny Rodriguez, Jarren Duke, Mikayla Sheppard, CJ Titus, Noah Schott, Emily Earring, Julian Torres, Wyatt Wisenbaker, Josh Forsberg, Nathan Midgette, Roman Pabich, Yago Dominguez, Jack Winburn, Jonas Carlsson, Kiko Francisco, Bryce Ava Wettstein, Desmond Shepherd, Matty Jessee and Luke Kahler.<\/p>\n

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY, ORDER ISSUE #74 BY CLICKING HERE…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Name: Steve Olson Hometown: Hollywood, California Age: 54 Affiliations: Guest boards with Dogtown Skateboards, Skaterbilt and Real. What set-up are you riding right now? That changes constantly, but I always ride Mob Griptape and I always ride the deck that I make and I usually ride formica bottoms and I usually ride Type S wheels, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4027,4028,4041],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-interviews","category-skate-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/OLSON_DANLEVY.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57368"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58221,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57368\/revisions\/58221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}