{"id":94856,"date":"2022-01-07T13:10:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-07T21:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=94856"},"modified":"2023-09-21T13:13:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T20:13:13","slug":"elijah-berle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/elijah-berle\/","title":{"rendered":"ELIJAH BERLE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ELIJAH BERLE INTERVIEW BY STEVE OLSON<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY ACOSTA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You push as a kid, into something you dig, not sure of the outcome, but no one is\u2026 Continuing with will, fire, courage and love… Not allowing anything\u00a0to get in your way… you push on… Then it happens… Progress, luck, determination… The doors open… What happens next? Read on, you\u2019ll find out… Excelling towards the purpose, never stopping, persistence… Pushing to the next level, going beyond beliefs. The payoff… proving them wrong. Traveling the world… making it happen… This is a lil part of Elijah\u2019s journey… What happens next? We shall see… Slick it back… Go, man, Go!!!<\/em> \u2013 INTRODUCTION BY STEVE OLSON<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elijah, is that you? Where are you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I\u2019m at home. I just moved to Del Rey. It\u2019s pretty much Marina del Rey. You know what\u2019s funny? I was driving the other day and I saw all of these old station wagons parked in front of this house and I was like, \u201cWho is this dude?\u201d Then a buddy of mine was like, \u201cJeff Ho lives right near you and he\u2019s got all of these old station wagons.\u201d I was like, \u201cI knew there was something up with that house.\u201d I heard another rumor that he\u2019s got the holy grail graveyard of boards in his backyard, so I\u2019m always driving by slow to see if I can see him and work my way back there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. Wait. Where\u2019d you grow up?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in Santa Monica on 4th and Alta. It\u2019s crazy because that street was filled with really nice big houses. For some reason, it was the smallest house on this football field of property. My mom was renting it at the time and the landlord had split it, so the upstairs was ours and the downstairs was somebody else\u2019s, and we shared the yard. It was pretty cool because we lived in that nice neighborhood for half the price. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a nice area.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a very nice neighborhood. Bob Dylan lived right down the street, or so I heard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you grew up in Santa Monica as a kid? Did you go to Lincoln and those schools?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. I jumped around to a lot of schools. My parents put me in a couple of different private elementary schools and it was just going terribly wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was that because you didn\u2019t like school?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. I was just surrounded by kids that I wasn\u2019t on the same page with. My parents weren\u2019t rich, but they were trying to surround me with rich people. I was like, \u201cOh, come over to my house. I share a room with my little brother and we have a little condo.\u201d They would be like, \u201cOh, yeah, come to my house. I have a driver and a private pool and a huge play room and movie theater.\u201d I was like, \u201cWhoa.\u201d It was not really my scene. I was also the only skater in every school that I went to, which means things were also a bit tricky to navigate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There weren\u2019t other kids that skated?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. There weren\u2019t, not really, until I went to third grade. My parents pulled me out of the school that I was at because I was miserable and then I started going to Kenter Canyon Elementary with the famous skate yard. That\u2019s when things started to turn around. I was like, \u201cThis is sick.\u201d There were people that were a little bit more on my same page and I started to find my groove more and more there. I had a couple of buddies that skated there. They were better than the kind of the brats that I was going to school with before. So I went there for the rest of my elementary school years, from third to fifth grade. Then one of my parents\u2019 friends was starting up this new school. It was a new kinda break-through really hip private school, so I started going there. It was pretty cool and I had some good friends there. Then there was the Boys and Girls Club on Lincoln when it had the skatepark there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know it well.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I would go to school and then go skate that skatepark afterwards, so it worked out good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did you start skating?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started skating very young. There are old school photos of me skateboarding before I have any memories of skating. I was probably five years old. My uncle or my mom got me a board from Rip City when I was like three, so that was always there. I started to pay more attention to it when I was five or six years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know your mom. Didn\u2019t she get her first board at Rip City?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. My mom got her first board at Rip City in \u201878. I think they opened that year. Then I got my first board at Rip City in \u201899. Hopefully, they\u2019re not going anywhere, and we can make it three generations, but not anytime soon. They better stick around for a while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They tried to get rid of it at one point.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. They\u2019ve tried to get rid of it multiple times. Before COVID, this big developer was gonna go and swoop out the rest of that block. There\u2019s Carl\u2019s Jr. and a little dog spa and Rip City and then this empty parking lot. They were gonna come in and tear that whole zone out and build a big apartment building. I think, because of COVID, the developers pulled out, which is sick. If anything good is gonna come from COVID, it saved Rip City. They\u2019re pretty stationary now, as far as I know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you started skating, you were just a kid pushing around, yeah?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I think I started just kneeboarding around and then I have vague memories of doing ollies and kickflips in my driveway. It starts to be a little more familiar when we would wax the curb. You know how everyone has a curb on the side of their house, like the little stairs that go into the side door or backyard. My first memories of skating is just waxing the shit out of that thing and trying to learn 50-50s on it. Then we figured out that red curbs grinded good, so we would paint our back stair red and then wax it. That\u2019s when things started from what I can remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. Did you have some friends of yours that you just skated diehard with?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For sure. I had homies that slept at each other\u2019s houses and skated and took the bus everywhere. That\u2019s when I got a little older and I was able to break away from my parents a little bit, and they weren\u2019t taking me to the skatepark and babysitting me. At age 12 or 13, I was able to start taking the bus with my little crew. We were taking the bus to downtown L.A. or east L.A. I\u2019d tell my parents, \u201cOh yeah, I\u2019m just on the other side of town.\u201d Once you figured out that bus system, it was on. You were going everywhere. That\u2019s how we started making our skate crew. We\u2019d be like, \u201cLet\u2019s go skate with our buddies in the Valley.\u201d We\u2019d skate the Valley and go to Inglewood and skate with the Inglewood homies. It was just chaos building day by day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
BERLE NOSEGRIND IN KENTUCKY. PHOTO \u00a9 ANTHONY ACOSTA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m wondering about the chaos on the bus because sometimes there\u2019s chaos.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, you\u2019re just so stupid when you\u2019re a kid. You\u2019re tagging the bus and messing with people on the bus. We got on the bus one time and we had gotten into a little scrap with these kids at the skatepark and they got their older brothers to come chase us. We thought we were all good and we got on the bus and we could see them running after us. We were like, \u201cWe got away!\u201d They were running up and trying to get on the bus and we\u2019re driving away. We were flipping them off like, \u201cFuck you!\u201d They were a bit older and they had cars, so they just drove to the next bus stop and got on the bus at the next bus stop. There were like 10 of them, and we wrestled around on the bus and then we got our asses kicked when we got off the bus and then we just continued on with our skate day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly. When did you start surfing? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started surfing around the same time that I started taking skateboarding seriously. I was maybe 10, 11 or 12. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you mean when you started to take skateboarding seriously?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, before that, my skateboard was sort of like a toy, and then it started to become less of a toy and more of an obsession. That\u2019s when I started thinking, \u201cOh, surfing is pretty cool too.\u201d My mom was into surfing, so she took me surfing and then I would go to Malibu Makos Surf Camp and then surf camp in Santa Monica. I\u2019d do that all summer and then skate. I was talking to somebody about this the other day. They grew up in Venice and I was like, \u201cDo you notice that smell when you\u2019ve surfed a lot at Breakwater\u201d I\u2019m not saying it smells bad. but I\u2019m just saying it smells different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has a distinct smell.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It smells different than any beach break I\u2019ve been to and that smell brings back a specific memory of your childhood because I would always go and surf the Venice Breakwater before the last little light before dark. It had this distinct smell that brings back such a vivid memory of just being a kid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know that all too well. Where I grew up surfing, it was the same deal, at a riverbed cape, with the drain in it. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. It\u2019s like a scientific concoction of whatever is happening that is generating that smell. Those are good memories, for sure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. So when did you realize you could skate? When did you start getting your confidence to make something of this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, before that, it wasn\u2019t even a thought. I was just like, \u201cOh, yeah, I can kickflip. Yeah!\u201d It was just kickflip, kickflip, kickflip\u2026 I was not even thinking twice about it. All I could think about was kickflips. Then I would go to my friend\u2019s house and I\u2019d be like, \u201cCheck it out. I got a kickflip.\u201d They were like, \u201cI don\u2019t even know how to ollie yet.\u201d I was like, \u201cOkay, I guess I\u2019m better at skating than my friends.\u201d When you\u2019re a kid, you\u2019re always trying to be better than your friends at whatever you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. It\u2019s friendly competition, I think.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Then one of my friends would have a mini ramp and I would go over and skate their mini ramp all the time. They would not really know what they were doing, and I was learning all these tricks. I was really into it. It was fun doing kickturns and I just wanted to keep learning tricks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You skated the Boys & Girls Club a lot too.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I\u2019d skate the Boys & Girls Club a lot. Then my grandma took me to a skate contest. I don\u2019t even remember what contest it was. This is such a weird memory that it almost doesn\u2019t seem real. It feels more like a dream than something that actually happened, but it did happen. My grandma took me to this contest on the beach somewhere and I couldn\u2019t even tell you where it was. There was a younger kids division and an older kids division. I was not old enough to skate in the older kids contest, so I was in the younger kids division. I started skating and they\u2019re like, \u201cYou definitely can\u2019t be in the little kids division. You have to be in the older kids division.\u201d So I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay, fine.\u201d So I was in the contest and I broke the shit out of my elbow. I remember being in the backseat of my grandma\u2019s VW bug, with a snapped elbow, and going to the emergency room, and I just had the coolest feeling about them being like, \u201cYeah, dude, you\u2019re too good to be in the little kids contest. Let\u2019s get you in the older kids contest.\u201d I was totally  broken, but I was still feeling good. It was almost like a small little victory for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right, of course. You were bumped up into the harder division. That\u2019s good.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. These are vague memories. All I remember is that it was on a beach somewhere. Maybe it was in Huntington Beach. I\u2019m not sure. It\u2019s such a vague memory that I feel like it\u2019s a dream I had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you your grandma know about this skate contest?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was the type of grandma that, when the news was on, she had a VHS and she\u2019d record it if there was anything to do with surfing or skateboarding. She\u2019d be like, \u201cOh, I recorded this thing for you on the news I saw today.\u201d Then she\u2019d hand me a VHS that she had recorded the news on. She would cut ads out of the paper and be like, \u201cCheck this out. This is happening this weekend. We should go down there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a cool grandma.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was the raddest. We would always go over to her house and she would be like, \u201cLet\u2019s go to Home Depot and you guys can get wood to build ramps in the front yard.\u201d We were putting stuff together and trying to ollie over whatever was in the garage. We would build a kicker ramp and just stack shit from the garage. We liked to try to ollie over as many things as we could, doing rocket air ollies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t you have a brother that skates too?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I have a little brother. He\u2019s super gnarly. He rips. He was always right there. He\u2019s a few years younger than me, charging right there behind us. He was the little stinky baby at the skatepark, with candy all over his face, doing three-foot frontside stinkbug airs. It\u2019s just sick that we get to share that together. He still skates and he\u2019s still ripping. and it\u2019s just rad. What most brothers have in common is they play golf or something. Me and my brother can go and slappy some curbs and skate. It\u2019s sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cMy parents pulled me out of the school that I was at because I was miserable and then I started going to Kenter Canyon Elementary with the famous skate yard. That\u2019s when things started to turn around.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I have the same deal with my older brother.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a good thing to share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. It\u2019s completely different than what most people get to experience. How did you become so gnarly?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, I always was the least good out of all my friends. When we started taking the bus around to go skate, it was serious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What age were you then?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was 12 when I was like, \u201cLet\u2019s do this.\u201d I wanted to get sponsored and try and film tricks. That\u2019s when I was with my crew who was taking it a lot more seriously than I was. I was not the worst, but I definitely wasn\u2019t the best. I was looking up to my friends like, \u201cHe\u2019s so gnarly. I want to be that good.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was that motivational?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I was always trying to keep up with them and constantly pushing myself. They were better than me. They always won the little contests that we skated in and they were the first ones to get little flow sponsors. Around age 14, they stopped taking it as seriously and I stuck with it. Then I filmed this video part for this local skate company. They had a little shitty office by the Santa Monica Courthouse and I put a video together for them. I went over to give it to the dude to see if he would be down to give me some boards or whatever. I went to drop it off with him and he just took the CD and plugged it right into the computer right in front of me. I was like, \u201cOh, fuck, are you gonna watch this right around me?\u201d So we watch this little video part and then he takes it out of the computer and puts it back in the case and gives it back to me. He\u2019s like, \u201cYeah, right on, man. You got pretty good. Keep skating.\u201d It was pretty much a no. He fully denied me and I was all bummed out. I was like, \u201cI just got fully denied to my face!\u201d Then I was skating back to the skate shop that I would go to called Nine Star. We would go there all the time because it had a ramp and they didn\u2019t care if we hung out there all day and skated. So I was skating there and I was all bummed out. At Nine Star, there was this older dude that I knew that worked in the shop. He\u2019s a really good skater and he was skating the ramp with this other guy. I was like, \u201cHey, what\u2019s good?\u201d I skated the ramp with them for a few hours and, at the end of the session, the dude I didn\u2019t know came up to me and said, \u201cHey, I work for Foundation Skateboards. Do you have any footage?\u201d I was like, \u201cWell, actually, I\u2019ve got this CD in my backpack.\u201d It was the same footage that I just had gotten denied with, but I didn\u2019t tell him that. So I gave him the CD, and then he called me a few days later. He was like, \u201cWe want to send you some Foundation boards.\u201d So they started sending me boards and then they invited me to San Diego. I was so nervous that I was skating shit that was way out of my comfort level, but it was working and I was landing the tricks. It was eye-opening to see the next step that I could take things to, so I kept pushing my comfort levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was this primarily street skating?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I could always skate transition because I grew up at transition-influenced skateparks, but I was more gung-ho street. I just wanted to skate handrails, stair sets, gaps and that kind of stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did you start getting handrails and gaps and stair sets?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was all just whatever you would find skating up and down Wilshire Blvd. From Santa Monica to downtown, you would find rails and stair sets and hit every single one that you could. The first handrail I did was in Century City. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s still there or not, but I definitely remember that. I went and did a crooked grind on it. I think it was like an 11 or 12 stair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How was it? That must have been insane.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was insane. I thought I was a pro. I was like, \u201cI\u2019m a pro skater. I just crooked grinded a handrail in the street. I\u2019m the best skateboarder ever.\u201d It was a huge confidence boost. Then I slowly started to realize that people are doing a lot more than that, so I wanted to catch up. It\u2019s always about catching up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. As a little kid, to land something, you\u2019re like, \u201cAll right! That\u2019s it! I\u2019m in!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was full addiction. You\u2019re rolling away from tricks like nothing in the world could be better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rad. So you used to hang at Nine Star on Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. They always had a sick ramp and we would skate there every day. We would go to the Cove Skatepark a lot too. We would go to Nine Star after school and stay until the sun went down because that ramp didn\u2019t have lights, and then we would go to the Cove because the Cove had lights. Except, on Thursdays, there was a bike session, so we never went there on Thursdays. I spent a lot of years at those two places for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you started getting flow from Foundation, that was probably another huge come up?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. That was when I started taking the Surfliner train down to San Diego every Friday, and I would stay with the team manager for the weekend. My parents met him and thought he was responsible, and he was. We weren\u2019t doing anything but skating at that point. Drinking wasn\u2019t part of my life. It was just strictly skating, so that was cool. I would go down there and skate for the weekend, and try and film and then come back and go to school. We did that for a few years. Then they were starting to ask me about travel. I couldn\u2019t really travel and do school, so I convinced my parents to let me do homeschooling. Then that wasn\u2019t working and they let me take a year off of school. I got my first chance to go to Europe, so I was like, \u201cLet me just give this a try. If I don\u2019t start getting paid, then I\u2019ll go back to school.\u201d Then it just worked out and I started getting paid and I went to Europe and things escalated quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How old were you when all of this was happening?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was 16. I turned 17 on my first trip to Europe with Vans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BERLE 50-50 COLUMBUS, OHIO. PHOTO \u00a9 ANTHONY ACOSTA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So you were on Vans early too?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Well, I was on Foundation and Osiris first. I was pretty young and stoked to have any sponsors. Then I got older and started being a little bit more opinionated and I realized what I liked more. I was not satisfied with the people that I was surrounded by, so I tried to reach out to other companies. I ended up riding for Chocolate Skateboards and then Vans shoes. That\u2019s when things started to get more serious. I was like, \u201cThis could be legit. They want to take me to Europe, and they want to pay me this amount of money. Okay, this is working.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you didn\u2019t have to do school?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I just never went back. I dropped out in tenth grade, so I got one year at fuckin\u2019 algebra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t like you think that you\u2019re better than all the other students. You were just doing something you like.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. You go to school to find your career, but I had found my career already. My parents weren\u2019t too hyped. I conned my parents and said, \u201cI\u2019ll get my diploma myself.\u201d That was before homeschool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it worked out. I really like the fact that the one guy denied you and was like, \u201cYeah. That\u2019s cool, just keep skating.\u201d Then you went and got onto a real deal. That is so beautiful to me. I love those kinds of stories.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. It just worked out as it was meant to be, and then I was out of the gates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. At the beginning, when you were on Foundation, who were you skating with? Who were the other cats that were pushing you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corey Duffel took me under his wing and was kind of like a Mr. Miyagi to me. He was looking out for me the most. I would go with him up to Walnut Creek and we would skate together and he would take me to spots. He was the kind of dude that knew the whole deal, so Corey Duffel was a huge influence on me when I was on Foundation. We were pretty close and I just wanted to be like him and do what he was doing and skate the kind of shit that he was skating. I was like, \u201cThis dude is fuckin\u2019 cool.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s super nice too.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. He\u2019s the nicest dude. I\u2019m this 13 or 14 year old kid and he doesn\u2019t need me staying with him for the weekend, but he was down. He just wanted to skate. He\u2019d take me to spots to see what I could do on the spot. That was a cool time and everything was so exciting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then you get on Chocolate and you go through the transition from Foundation.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was easy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chocolate was closer too, being in LA.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. It was a lot closer. At that point in time, I was a huge fan. I was like, \u201cI\u2019m not even good enough to skate for those guys.\u201d Then I got semi-kicked off of Foundation and Osiris. It was like, \u201cYo, if you don\u2019t want to be here, you don\u2019t have to be here.\u201d I was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d So I didn\u2019t have a sponsor for a few months and then I was skating a lot with that dude, Mike Mo. He was like, \u201cCome and skate with me in Simi Valley.\u201d So I was spending a lot of time out there skating with him. Then he was like, \u201cI want to introduce you to these guys at Girl and Chocolate.\u201d So I went down to their skatepark at their place in Torrance and I was skating with them. Then Aaron Meza was like, \u201cHey, do you want to film something for the website?\u201d The next thing I know, Rick Howard is coming down to meet me and Mike Carroll came down, and Sam Smyth, the team manager. So I film this thing for them. I wasn\u2019t sponsored yet, but I was rocking their gear because I had been getting it from Mike Mo. I was wearing Vans, because I was buying Vans. After I made a little video for Chocolate for their website, they said, \u201cDo you want to skate for Chocolate?\u201d I was like, \u201cFuck yeah!\u201d After the video came out, Jamie Hart from Vans called me and was like, \u201cHey, I saw you were wearing Vans in that video. Are you buying Vans?\u201d I was like, \u201cYeah. I don\u2019t skate for Osiris anymore, so I\u2019m skating Vans.\u201d He said, \u201cWell, let us send you some shoes.\u201d It was like, \u201cWhat is happening right now?\u201d It was too good to be true. I connected with him really well, and he said, \u201cCome down to Costa Mesa. Let\u2019s meet up and you can skate this contest and I\u2019ll give you shoes.\u201d I felt like I might as well have been wearing a mink coat. I was like, \u201cI\u2019m skating with Vans on a Chocolate board now in a contest and I didn\u2019t buy this stuff!\u201d It was just another one of the times where I felt like the man. I was so hyped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks again to that guy at that first little shitty skate company that said, \u201cYeah. Go ahead. Just keep skating.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I found out later that dude also hustled fake IDs out of his office. It was a ghetto-ass skate company. It wasn\u2019t a real company. So it was just all meant to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then you started traveling. Did you travel with Foundation and Osiris first?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. We would go to Woodward and then we would go to San Jose. It was real low budget and local. We just went to whatever was close. I think we got to Arizona maybe. When I started getting on planes, I was with Vans and Chocolate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. How was that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a bit overwhelming, honestly. The first trip I went on, it was Eric Koston and Guy Mariano and Sean Malto. Alex [Olson] was there, too. It was all these dudes that are like my idols that I watched in Fully Flared. It was like, \u201cWhat?! What am I doing right now? This is weird.\u201d Luckily, there was a few other younger kids that caught on at the same time, so I cliqued off with them really well. Everyone on the team was really cool. Everyone was like, \u201cYou guys are so rad!\u201d Then we went to Florida for two weeks and we were at the Kona Skatepark and we did a whole tour. Ty Evans was filming and I got a bunch of tricks. I dislocated my shoulder and popped it back in myself and kept skating. I was like, \u201cWhoa, this is getting pretty gnarly.\u201d I was so hungry for it. If I popped my shoulder out now on a trip, I would be like, \u201cOh, I\u2019ve got to go home and do physical therapy and go to Erewhon.\u201d Back then I was just like, \u201cAw, I\u2019ll just pop my shoulder back in. Let\u2019s go.\u201d It was really good times. I try not to ever not appreciate those times. I always want to hold those times very preciously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWe were at the Kona Skatepark and we did a whole tour. Ty Evans was filming and I got a bunch of tricks. I dislocated my shoulder and popped it back in myself and kept skating. I was like, \u201cWhoa, this is getting pretty gnarly.\u201d I was so hungry for it.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Right. It sounds like it was the beginning of your whole deal. Foundation and Osiris was your introduction, and then all of a sudden, it was Vans and Chocolate. Now you\u2019re in the majors. I\u2019m not shitting on Foundation or Osiris\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. It was just like, if I were to have graduated high school, I would have gotten a shitty job, and I would have gotten a better job and a better job, and then you get your dream job. I think that\u2019s just how it goes. Instead, I was a skateboarder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When was the first time that you went to Europe to skateboard?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I turned 17 on my first Vans trip in Europe. They took me to Germany to Munich and then we drove to Austria and went to Innsbruck and Vienna. That was on my 17th birthday and that was insane. It was just total culture shock because I\u2019ve never been out of the country. I might as well have been on a different planet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a 17 year old kid, all of a sudden, you knew you were part of the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I didn\u2019t even know places like that existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was it like for you to be skating\u00a0 outside of the U.S.?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just wanted more and more and more. I didn\u2019t care what it was, I just wanted more. I just wanted to skate anything that you\u2019d take me to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then you\u2019d get some video parts as well.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d try and do whatever I could to make it happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have anything that pops out in your memory that was just crazy and heavy?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were so many times where it was a lot, but it was never enough. You think you\u2019re at your top and then you find yourself doing something even crazier. It\u2019s a snowball effect. You\u2019re never gonna be like, \u201cOh, yeah, I\u2019m good enough. I\u2019m just going to stay where I\u2019m at.\u201d You always want to do more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about getting hurt on trips?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would get hurt, but nothing too crazy. I did hurt myself pretty bad on a trip one time and I had to spend a week in the hospital. That was by far the worst I\u2019ve ever been hurt. I fucked my kidney up on a trip in Detroit and I had to go into surgery. I had internal bleeding and it was just a shitshow. It was pretty bad, but I was fine. All I wanted to do was just heal up and get back on a trip to travel as much as I could. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you ruptured your kidney and had to stay in the hospital for five days?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was there for a full week. I got surgery and it sucked. It was terrible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did that happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just fell randomly. It wasn\u2019t even a crazy fall. I was just warming up and I fell and put my elbow right in my gut. I was like, \u201cOh, I just broke my rib, I think.\u201d Then it just felt not right. I continued to feel not right. Then I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m good. I think I\u2019ve got to go to the hospital.\u201d The guy was like, \u201cThere is an Urgent Care right down the street. Let\u2019s go there.\u201d We walked in and this lady behind the desk was looking at her fingernails or something. She\u2019s like, \u201cSign the sheet, sit down, and we\u2019ll call your name.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh, I\u2019m fucked up.\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cWell, we\u2019ll get to you.\u201d I said, \u201cOkay, can I use your bathroom?\u201d She said, \u201cYeah. It\u2019s down the hall.\u201d I went to the bathroom to take a piss, and I looked down and it was just dark red thick blood. I was like, \u201cOh fuck.\u201d I ran back out and I was like, \u201cI just pissed and it is really bloody!\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, you need to go to a real hospital. Get out of here.\u201d Then I went to a real hospital and they rushed me into surgery. I was pretty fucked, but I was trying to be tough like, \u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d I\u2019m all good now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it was hectic. Did you rupture your kidney?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I had two holes in my kidney and it was filling my stomach up with blood. It felt like there was a balloon in my stomach and someone was blowing up the balloon. It was the weirdest feeling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow. That is weird. Did you have to enter contests when you started riding for those companies?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little bit, but not really. They didn\u2019t push me too much. I did one Tampa Am and ended up winning and they were like, \u201cOh, you\u2019re a contest guy.\u201d I was like, \u201cI am not a contest guy.\u201d I just felt like I got lucky. I tried to skate a few contests after that, and didn\u2019t do very well and then they were like, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to do contests if you don\u2019t want.\u201d I just want to skate street and film tricks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. What was the breakout video for Chocolate?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pretty Sweet. I started filming for that video when I went on that first trip with Chocolate to Miami, Florida. Everyone was there to film for that video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is filming for videos a part of the job description?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Then I went straight into filming for the Vans video, which was literally back to back. I didn\u2019t stop. I went straight from filming with Chocolate straight into filming with Vans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What were your parents thinking?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were stoked that it worked out for me. They were like, \u201cOkay, where are you now?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cI\u2019m in Jacksonville, Florida.\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cOkay.\u201d Then I was like, \u201cI\u2019m in Innsbruck, Austria.\u201d They were like, \u201cAll right. When you are coming home?\u201d They were super proud and stoked. I was making my own money and paying for myself and they were like, \u201cOkay, good for you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
BURLY BERLE OLLIE TO WALL RIDE. PHOTO \u00a9 ANTHONY ACOSTA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s nice when that happens. How long did you ride for Chocolate? You still ride for Vans, yeah?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I still ride for Vans. I\u2019ve been riding for Vans for around 10 years now. I rode for Chocolate for six or seven years. I was skating with AVE and Dill a lot and they were always like, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you come skate for Alien Workshop?\u201d I was like, \u201cI\u2019m not gonna quit Chocolate. That\u2019s insane.\u201d They were always teasing me like, \u201cCome on! Come skate for Workshop.\u201d I just couldn\u2019t picture myself quitting Chocolate. Then, around the time those dudes left to start FA, there was a different vibe. It\u2019s not that I had a falling out with anybody at Chocolate, but things just started to change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You were good and you were becoming older and becoming who you are.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Everyone was. Everyone was just growing up. Around that time, a lot of the older dudes started to quit and I was like, \u201cSomething is going on. Everyone is quitting and nobody really hangs out anymore.\u201d It wasn\u2019t that big fun company that I was a part of at first. That\u2019s when a lot of the guys over at FA, the kids, were like, \u201cWhen are you gonna skate for FA? Come on. Come skate for FA.\u201d It just started to sound like more and more of a better option. One day I decided to go for it and make the switch and everyone at FA was just super welcoming. It was really hard to do, but it was an easy transition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it hard to deal with Chocolate when it was time to go?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. They understood. They were cool about it. No one was mad at anybody. It was more like, \u201cIt\u2019s a bummer, but we get it. Do your thing.\u201d Since then I\u2019ve been trying to do as much as I can. I just want to keep pushing until I can\u2019t progress anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much do you skate now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The past couple of years I\u2019ve been filming video parts. When I\u2019m not skating, I\u2019m probably surfing. Then I\u2019ll get into serious skate mode and I\u2019ll skate every day for a long time. Then I\u2019ll take a few weeks off and surf and focus my mind elsewhere. Then I come back to skating really motivated and ready to go. It\u2019s this cycle that I\u2019ve always been on. I\u2019m all in skating every day, and that\u2019s all I want to do, and then I\u2019ll be like, \u201cI need to take a break.\u201d Then I\u2019ll just surf and do other stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you get any pressure to keep skating?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, I know when I need to put some work in and when I can take some time off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you make your own little films too?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here and there. I\u2019ll just put stuff on my Instagram or whatever. Mainly, it\u2019s just stuff for sponsors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How influential is Instagram to your whole career?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram is more relevant than filming a video part now, which is weird. Times are changing and things are evolving. Kids don\u2019t have the attention span to sit there and watch a whole video. They just want to see a few good tricks on Instagram, and then they just keep scrolling. They obtain it and then it\u2019s gone. People are more focused nowadays on what they can put out on Instagram that will get the views. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does that help your whole deal though?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I don\u2019t have to spend two years filming a part now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You spend that much time filming a video part? Two years seems like a long time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s crazy. You go a little bit mad, and nothing else matters and you\u2019re pretty much like an insane human being. It\u2019s crazy because your whole life  revolves around it. You\u2019re flying to New York to film one trick and then you\u2019re flying home. You get hurt, and you\u2019re like, \u201cThis is chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you feel pressure when you have to go and do all that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. I\u2019m more in the zone and I like that mode. That\u2019s the way my brain is working at the moment. I just do whatever needs to be done. It\u2019s definitely a different mindset than my normal self, when I\u2019m in video part mode and nothing else matters and nothing is gonna get in the way of that. I\u2019m going to do whatever it takes to make happen what I want to happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you keep upping your game?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You just keep pushing yourself. If there is a trick on a certain spot in your last video part, you try to find a bigger spot to do the same trick or you learn a new trick at a really gnarly spot. It\u2019s never like, \u201cOh, I want to go do this trick.\u201d For me, it\u2019s like, \u201cI want to go try this trick.\u201d I don\u2019t really know if I could do it or not, but I want to go try. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you try it and you make it, is it the same feeling as when you first got a trick on a handrail?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Now it takes a lot more risk than it did back then, to get that feeling, but that feeling is still there for sure. It just takes a little bit more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about surfing? Do you love surfing and skating the same?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I definitely have the same motivation to do both, but I\u2019m nowhere near as good at surfing as I am skating. It\u2019s frustrating sometimes because, when I paddle out, I\u2019m used to the skill I have on my skateboard, and it\u2019s not there when I\u2019m surfing. I\u2019m thinking I can do an air or I\u2019ll see a section on the way and I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, right here!\u201d Then I go to do it and it\u2019s just a flop. I\u2019m like, \u201cOh yeah, I\u2019m not skating.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. Have you gone on surf trips? I don\u2019t mean when you go on a day trip.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been to Hawaii three or four times and got completely smashed. I\u2019ve always wanted to go on a good surf trip, but it never really worked out. I\u2019ve never surfed anywhere too cool on a surf day trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when a lot of the guys over at FA, the kids, were like, \u201cWhen are you gonna skate for FA? Come on. Come skate for FA.\u201d It just started to sound like more and more of a better option. One day I decided to go for it and make the switch and everyone at FA was just super welcoming.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Skating is huge in Indonesia. I mean it was before COVID. It was going off down there while I was there.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I\u2019ve seen it. There is a lot of backyard bowl action situations going on there. I\u2019ve got to get down there. I\u2019ve always wanted to, but I\u2019ve never found the opportunity yet, but it\u2019s gonna happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s coming and the waves are on point. What about COVID quarantine and that whole scene? Did that tweak you at all?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. Honestly, it didn\u2019t bug me. I was filming a video the whole time so I would just go skate, come home, go to sleep and heal my body and then wake up and go skate. It wasn\u2019t really anything different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s fortunate. What video part were you filming?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was for a Vans video that I put out called Alright, Okay. I just filmed with Greg Hunt. Gilbert Crockett had a part in the video as well. I think that took about two years to film, so we were filming for a year up until COVID and then through COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were you flying around to get to places?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were filming in our hometowns. If you watch my video part, the majority is LA based. Crockett is from Virginia so, if you watch his video, it\u2019s pretty cool. Usually, your video parts are all over the country and all over the world. This time I was like, \u201cJust stick to your homebase and do what you can.\u201d It also kind of brought it back to when you were a kid. You weren\u2019t traveling and you had your spots at home and that\u2019s just where you would skate and you\u2019d do what you can do there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s cool that you could do that. Here\u2019s a question. Why are you a greaser?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know. I started slicking my hair back when I was 13 or 14 years old, and I just never stopped. I didn\u2019t know what else to do with it, so I put some grease in it and slicked it back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What grease do you use?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I use Murray\u2019s Pomade light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know that orange can.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was a kid, I loved The Outsiders. That was my favorite movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening scene of The Outsiders is so dope, when they come up on the little kids with the cards.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole movie was great. I just wanted to live in that movie. That\u2019s where I want to be. I really liked that movie with Johnny Depp, Cry Baby, when I was a kid too. I was like, \u201cGrease is cool.\u201d I really like old cars too, so, yeah, I\u2019m just a greaser. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I dig that. Do you have any old rides?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve got a \u201855 Bel Air that I\u2019ve had for too long. I got it six or seven years ago and we got it to run for a second. Then I wanted to tear the thing apart and rebuild it, so I\u2019ve been doing that for about five years now. Now we\u2019re putting it back together and we should have it running in the next few weeks, so that\u2019s a big thing. Then I\u2019ve got an old \u201857 Chevy truck. For the past two years, all I did was just drive old cars. I was trying to go skate every day and film a video part and I\u2019d have these rickety old cars. I was almost losing my mind a little bit. By the time I\u2019d get to the skate spot, I\u2019d feel like I\u2019d already skated so, recently, I caved in and got a newer car that\u2019s more of my skate vehicle. If I\u2019m going surfing or something, I\u2019ll take the truck. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you surf?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all over the place now. I never really go too far south. It\u2019s pretty much anywhere from Manhattan to Oxnard. That\u2019s my main zone. I\u2019ll surf First Point a lot because I like to longboard. Unless the waves are pretty solid, I like to just ride my longboard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What kind of longboard? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a 9\u20196\u201d noserider Scott Anderson Farberow II. It\u2019s the best longboard I\u2019ve ever had. I try and whip that thing around as much as I can. If the waves are picking up and that board is not going to make it, then I\u2019ll ride a short board and try to do some turns or get tubed. For the most part, I\u2019m just trying to walk to the nose and do a nice turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you stay hyped to skate or is it just in you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t. I get over it and I surf for like a month. Then I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, yeah, skating is kind of fun. I want to try that out again.\u201d Then I get back into it. It just goes back and forth. It\u2019s just like clockwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about the future?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m just kind of in between right now. I just filmed a video part, so I\u2019m just getting over that break after I put a video part out. Now I\u2019m ready to start getting back into skating and go down that path again and see where that goes. Maybe I\u2019ll film another video part or maybe I\u2019ll take a surf trip first. I don\u2019t know. Things are changing. People don\u2019t care as much about a six-minute video part. If you put out a minute of footage more often than the time it would take to film a six-minute video part, just put that out. Thirty seconds is three or four tricks. It\u2019s all good and it\u2019s easier for me. It\u2019s supply and demand, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. Then you can just lay hammers down everywhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. You can just get it out whenever you get it and it\u2019s relevant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good. Do you have dudes you skate with or do you just roll solo nowadays?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I skate with a lot of FA guys mainly. It\u2019s whoever is skating that day. LA has a pretty good scene and there\u2019s always someone skating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY, ORDER ISSUE #78 AT THE JUICE SHOP\u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ELIJAH BERLE INTERVIEW BY STEVE OLSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY ACOSTA You push as a kid, into something you dig, not sure of the outcome, but no one is\u2026 Continuing with will, fire, courage and love… Not allowing anything\u00a0to get in your way… you push on… Then it happens… Progress, luck, determination… The doors open… What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94859,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4027,4028,4041],"tags":[14255,14262,29,14362],"class_list":["post-94856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-interviews","category-skate-2","tag-juice-magazine","tag-skate","tag-skateboarding","tag-steve-olson"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Acosta_ElijahBerle_5050_ColumbusOhio_2019_Acosta_a7r9407SM.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94856","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=94856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94860,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94856\/revisions\/94860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}