Go to any skate industry event and you’ll realize how surprisingly out of touch many skate biz folk are with the younger generation of skaters. A couple of beers deep and you’ll hear a group of grown men reminiscing over dinosaurs like Tom Penny and Brian Lotti, comparing VHS collections and sharing tour stories from the 90s. Despite the fact that the average age of the skateboarder is older than ever before, skateboarding is and always will be fueled by the youngins.
But kids are dumb, and their opinions should be taken with a grain of salt and a shot of tequila, right?
Wrong, you old geezer! Like it or not, the kids we scoff at today will be like us – the jaded generations of the future, so their tastes are just as valid as your own. And instead of just sitting around stalking Instagram and hypothesizing who the younger kids are hyped on, we went to three of Manhattan’s busiest skateparks and asked them ourselves.
ISAIAH EDWARD
Age: 16
First skate video: Ryan Sheckler’s first Plan B part on Youtube
Favorite skaters: Ryan Sheckler, Andrew Reynolds, Luan Oliveira, Louie Lopez, Trevor Colden
Favorite company: Organika
Luke Rinay
Age: 13
First skate video: Pretty Sweet – Girl
Favorite skaters: Grant Taylor, Nakel Smith, Ben Raybourne, Ben Kadow, Jesse Alba
Favorite company: Anti-Hero
Ethan Garcia
Age: 15
First skate video: Nick Mullins’s video on the Berrics
Favorite skaters: P-Rod, Luan Oliveria, Shane O’Neil, Carlos Riberio, Brian Peacock
Favorite Company: Nike SB and Plan B
Mecca Morris
Age: 15
First skate video: Some local skate video, but Baker 3 was the first real skate video I saw.
Favorite skaters: Brandon Westgate, Ishod Wair, Shane O’Neil, and I don’t have any more…
Favorite Company: Real Skateboards and Vans
Shane Gordon
Age: 15
First skate video: the first online part of the Brunner twins
Favorite skaters: Marc Suciu, Louie Lopez, Kevin Bradley, Ishod Wair, Trevor Colden
Favorite company: Real, Emerica, Thunder, Spitfire, Skate Mental
Carlos Wilson
Age: 16
First skate video: Parental Advisory – DGK
Favorite skaters: Jimmy Carlin, Theotis Beasley, P-Rod, Keelan Dadd, Tom Asta
Favorite company: DGK or Real
Mickey Bellam
Age: 14
First skate video: Pretty Sweet – Girl
Favorite skaters: Luan Oliveria, Trevor Colden, Curren Caples, Manny Santiago, Torey Pudwill
Favorite company: Plan B
Tal Radke
Age: 13
First skate video: Pretty Sweet – Girl
Favorite skaters: Chris Joslin, Chris Cole, Mike Mo, Torey Pudwill, Youness Amrani
Favorite company: Any Kayo company for boards
“Chris”
Age: 14
First skate video: Pretty Sweet – Girl
Favorite skaters: Ryan Sheckler, Trevor Colden, Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, Torey Pudwill, Nick Tucker
Favorite company: Trophy Griptape and Plan B
Julian Aprende
Age: 15
First skate video: Alien Workshop’s Memory Screen on Youtube, it was one of the suggested videos to watch…
Favorite skaters: Daewon Song, Curren Caples, Ryan Sheckler, Trevor Colden, Chris Joslin
Favorite company: Real Skateboards
Investigative reporting & photos: Russell “the Intern” Dolan
Original Illustration by Michael Giurato (@badhairlife)
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June 13, 2015 12:08 pm
to everyone out there that’s bummed out on how “conventional” the tastes of these children are, you have to remember they are exactly that…children! jenkem obviously caters to a much different type of skater, who, if i had to take an educated guess, are more interested in coverage from the non-core companies and are older (to which Russell alludes in the intro). i mean, my favorite company now is magenta (please save the name-drop shit-talking, i’m just doing it for reference), but that age i was probably riding element boards–i had a very different idea what was cool, and definitely wasn’t concerned if a shoe brand was skater-owned. it all depends upon exposure. i guarantee you that if these kids are still skating in 5 years, their preferences will change to be less “generic”. /endrant
June 13, 2015 7:48 pm
Thanks for reading and for the feedback ! It’s crazy how different my favorite companies and skaters were from when I was 13 to now !
June 13, 2015 12:31 pm
This is a good premise, but why just three questions? And the questions only pertain to brands and pro skaters. Why not ask if they feel like rejects or popular at their school? Why not ask what they think of old dudes who can’t tre flip? Why did the start skating? Do they want to get sponsored? What do they think of Skateistan and non-profits? I don’t know but multiple questions with some more depth.
June 13, 2015 7:47 pm
We were trying this out and thought three would be good for now and see how that went . We’re gonna do more kids , more communities and different questions . Thanks for reading and for the feedback !
June 13, 2015 2:30 pm
And we were right, their tastes are terrible.
June 14, 2015 9:20 am
I think this was rad! They all have a good taste. So, will ‘Pretty Sweet’ become their ‘Video Days’ or ‘Future Primitive’ or ‘Shackle me not’?! Who knows… So, what can we learn? Maybe we need more real videos instead of shitty youtube clips. Thumbs up!
June 17, 2015 2:27 am
Oh my goodness if pretty sweet is the next generations video days these kids are gonna be killing themselves , or maybe the next generation will bring on a backwards progression in skating to save their knees and ankles