Don't play with me...
He was like, "don't play with me..."
Don't play with me, I'm the boss.
I'm the boss man, don't play with me.
[ALTERNATE USE]
[PRESENTED BY SHAUN WHITE SKATEBOARDING THE VIDEO GAME UBISOFT]
[CHICAGO]
Me and my friends used to come down and
[KEVIN KUCZKOWSKI] sneak on the train when we were little kids, and
just explore, and we didn't even really know where
any of the spots were.
We just got out and pushed around.
I've probably known Kevin for like a good three years, you know
[TIMMY JOHNSON] Just around, we're both with the same shop, the same shop Uprise,
they've supported both of us, so that's brought us together the most.
Uprise is the shop that...
they've really helped out Chicago with skateboarding,
building all the parks, and most of the homies that I skate with,
every day we'll meet up and say, "alright, see you at the shop at 12,"
and just see where it goes from there, and usually jump on the train
or skate somewhere, and just...
Whatever comes our way, we'll skate it.
You can actually skate anything you really want to, like...
Looking out the window and seeing crazy spots, like what is that?
You know, just trying to find anything to get creative on.
Downtown Chicago is just full of new possibilities for a young kid.
Even an older kid now, they're always building new stuff, and
like I really enjoy skating everything,
like weird sculptures that I can wall ride, and like, anything, really.
Skating truly is like a release, you know, because
anything can be going on, but you get on that board
and you push as fast as you can in any direction you want to,
without anybody telling you what to do, so it's truly like freedom.
A lot of spots in Chicago, you have to be really patient,
because there's always so many people.
You have people that are really psyched on skating, or like...
maybe people from other countries that don't really see skating as much,
and they're psyched and they want to try out your board,
or like see you do cool tricks or whatever, but...
then you also have the haters, like some old people and stuff,
that aren't really feeling it,
and think you're destroying their property.
Skating downtown, a lot of federal buildings,
and the cops don't like it, the security guards don't like it,
get called, so you gotta get out there, you gotta get work done.
There are a couple spots where you can go and put in work, but mainly like...
if you want the scenery of downtown, you gotta go there
because the cops, they're ready. They're ready to just take you down
for whatever reason. I don't know.
They just want something to do when they see a skateboarder,
they just want to attack him.
There's been plenty of times where I've skated home from work,
like 3 in the morning, like, that's when it's probably the most quiet.
Like, the city definitely sleeps, 'cause there's nothing really going on
so you could just skate down the street.
There's basically a lot of cuts, and like a lot of spots that I tucked away
in the city. Like, you gotta really search to find them.
Or spots where you wouldn't even see value if you aren't a skateboarder.
You cruise through those spots, and it's like,
and it's like a whole different field down there.
You know, you see different types of people down there,
or you get a different feeling, so those are the spots.
Chicago has a lot of interesting spots, but if you...
You go down to the city exploring, you'll see a lot of curb cuts,
You'll see a lot of natural waves in the concrete where you can just...
You can go there and have a good time, you can do ollies as long as you want.
I mean the cars, they don't see you, they don't really see you,
you're coming out of nowhere.
They're driving, and then they're probably like, "what's going on here?"
Somebody on a skateboard, or like, what?
Most of the ground in Chicago isn't perfect
because we have really harsh winters.
And it just destroys the ground, they put salt all over it,
Half the spots you go to that aren't downtown
have just pebbles and concrete.
A lot of bondo work, and signs, and tape.
Nobody's going to force you to learn kickflips, you know?
Nobody's going to wake you up in the morning - your mom's not going to
be like, "time to do tre flips today," or "time to hardflip an 8 stair."
You make that choice. You get up, you go out there, and you do it,
'cause it comes to a certain point where nobody's gonna
nobody's gonna tell you to do anything.
You gotta make that choice. You gotta go out there and make it happen.
When I was around 12,
me and my brother would watch Beach Street, you know,
and get cardboard, go in the basement,
and just try to do windmills for whatever reason.
I don't know. But, we just tried to do windmills.
He got windmills and then I got them.
But my friend, he took my brother to Alternatives,
and then my brother took me, and the first day I went there there was
actually like a battle between everybody in there,
so there were two different sides,
and it came to my turn, so I had to go out there and do my thing.
Basically, Alternatives is a family youth agency.
They're responsible for a lot of different activities
that go on in the community.
It's a good center, and it's helped a lot of families out.
Skateboarding along with other things, like breakdancing, art,
it's just different ways people can express themselves.
'Cause no matter what color you are, what race,
you know, whether you're this or that,
anybody can pick up a board, and anybody can get into it, be involved,
and I think that's a main reason why
a lot of people get into different things,
'cause they have nothing to be a part of.
That's why people join gangs, or people feel like they're nothing,
'cause they don't feel any love, but...
skateboarding is something that...
You could wear the greatest clothes or you could have the newest board,
and you can talk, but it comes down to you riding on that board.
It comes down to you showing what you really have.
[PORTLAND]
My name is Devin Appelo,
[DEVIN APPELO] I'm 23 years old.
And I'm from Portland, OR.
It's a lot better than anywhere else you can really go to,
because you can pretty much do whatever you want
as long as you're not a complete idiot.
I always try to find new spots, that's prety much what I do.
Just ride around on a motorcycle, and look for new spots.
I like looking for skate spots to find some unique spot.
I'll go on spurts where I want to skate bank stuff, so...
You guys came around the time where I wanted to.
A lot of people who come to Portland, OR, they come to skate the parks.
Because they think Portland doesn't really have that many spots,
but it does.
The people who skate Burnside, they usually stick to the parks,
or Burnside, but everybody kind of takes skateboarding a lot less serious
than California, for sure.
I'd rather fix a spot up that looks good rather than
skate some 7-stair handrail that everybody else skates.
I don't want to do a crooked grind and ollie flip out, or something,
I'd rather just do a long smith grind.
I don't really like to warm up too much.
I'd rather just get it done and over with.
It's not that I don't like to skate,
it's just that, the trick I'm going for is what I want to get,
so I don't want to skate a whole bunch and get tired,
'cause, I don't know why, I get tired.
There's so much other stuff that I try to...
that I'm doing, too, like... I'm getting into motorcycles,
and I keep all my bikes pretty much in my backyard.
Some stuff I don't know,
I'll take it to my friend who's a motorcycle mechanic.
[CONTINUED IN PART 2]