GEOFF ROWLEY: It's like I said.
I think a lot of times it's not just about doing a brand
new trick every week, and therefore you're the legend of
skateboarding because you're able to
progress it in that way.
There's other sides to it.
It's a creative outlet.
People are supposed to be inspired by what professional
skateboarders do.
More than anything, they're supposed to be inspired.
And they're supposed to want to continue to pass that along
to the next generation.
And the fact that Eric's around now, and he's tattooing
right here in Fairfax in LA--
pros skaters and young skate kids--
and as humble as he could possibly be.
Not every pro skater that you meet as you're growing up ends
up being the whole time that they're around that
inspirational character.
And there's very few of them.
And I think Eric deserves a huge amount
of respect for that.
PATRICK O'DELL: What's up?
Welcome back to "Epicly Later'd." This episode is
about Eric Dressen.
I'm really excited, because I feel like this show has
primarily focused on the eras that I kind of started skating
in, which was the '90s, 2000s.
I really wanted to jump back a couple years.
So I thought it would be sick to do an
episode on Eric Dressen.
He goes back further than almost anyone that's in
skateboarding.
He started entering pro contests in the late '70s.
In the '80s, he was slaying street contests, winning
everything.
He's right up there with [INAUDIBLE], Tommy Guerrero.
He's got so much influence on the way people skate now.
And then even to this day, he's still super
on point with skating.
I'm really stoked to share that story with you guys.
And this is it--
the Eric Dressen "Epicly Later'd." I hope you enjoy it.
ERIC DRESSEN: I've been tattooing for the
last eight years now.
And for the last year and a half, I've been here on
Fairfax at Will Rise next to Supreme and [INAUDIBLE]
Gathering and Diamond and Hundreds.
It's been one of the best things that
ever happened to me.
Can you show them my tattoo I did on your ribs?
TYLER THE CREATOR: He did this shit.
He did that.
-He got me too.
TYLER THE CREATOR: He got me good.
He got me good.
ERIC DRESSEN: It's kind of rad down here.
I talk to so many people every day.
And I'm one of the shyest people you ever met.
And from being down here and just walking out and talking
to everybody, I came out of my shell.
It's funny.
Now I'll talk to anybody.
JASON DILL: The one thing that personifies Dressen's
character so much is the Supreme store with the bowl
that's been here since 2005.
And to this day, Eric will still come in, walk to the
register, and ask if he can skate the bowl.
CESARIO MONTANO: Dressen made a mark in skateboarding
history, and he is an entity in this industry
you can't fuck with.
He's like a 5.0 Mustang.
The motherfucker's small, short, and stubby, but he's
all muscle, just all engine.
You know what I mean?
I compare him to fast cars, because when we skated, he was
about velocity and fast.
He never did anything half ass and always did shit hardcore.
When it came to skateboarding, the motherfucker had bigger
balls than all of us.
PATRICK O'DELL: You don't live here anymore?
ERIC DRESSEN: I just keep my stuff here pretty much.
I live with my girlfriend.
We don't have storage here, so I just threw
everything in here.
My dad worked for three former skateboards.
I used to test ride these little yellow boards.
And I'd try them out and see how much I could
wear it out in a day.
PATRICK O'DELL: So you dad was into skateboarding sort of?
ERIC DRESSEN: Yeah.
Well, my dad, that's the first guy I ever saw
skateboard was my dad.
But it was '73 or '74 the first time I ever saw somebody
skateboard.
My dad and my mom pretty much split up when I
was six months old.
And I was pretty much just on my own.
I didn't really have a mom, so I could just go and leave and
come and go as I pleased.
When I was six, my dad got me this motorcycle for my
birthday, this Indian Mini Mini 50.
And on that day, I decided I was a grown up.
I was no longer going to be a little kid.
I threw away all my toys.
I moved to Las Vegas with my grandma.
And we lived right by the desert.
And I taught myself how to ride a
motorcycle, how to jump.
I was ripping it up.
And I'd seen some dirt bikers out there.
And they had long hair, so I decided, I'm going
to have long hair.
I grew my hair out.
Maybe a little short while after that, I saw "Endless
Summer." And I wanted to be a surfer.
Everyone told me, oh, you have to learn how
to skateboard first.
So I'd just come home from school, and I'd just skate,
play wheels.
I'd ride around in my OP shorts.
Back then, it was just what surfers did when there weren't
waves, or just to get around.
And then one day, I walked into Jacob's Surf Shop in
Hermosa, and I saw "Skateboarder" Magazine on the
counter, first issue with Greg Weaver on the cover.
And from then on, I was like, boom.
I was going to be a pro skateboarder.
It was life or death.
Logan, Bane, and GNF, and Sims were the top companies--
and Hobie.
But I wanted to ride for Logan.
STEVE OLSON: You could compare Logan Erskine to Girl.
In that they were one of the better teams.
They had the Logan family.
JIM MUIR: They were unbelievable freestyle rider
from Encinitas, California.
And they did their own boards.
And they had these solid oak plank, 3/4 inch, with wedge
tails glued on skateboards.
They were really heavy.
After the Zephyr team, they had Tony Alva riding for them.
They had Bobby Biniack riding for them.
LANCE MOUNTAIN: If you skateboarded at that time, it
was the top professional brand.
I just remember Logan being the first that branded boards
with riders' names.
And there was a whole list of them--
Bruce Logan, Brad Logan, Robin Logan, Laura
Thornhill, Bob Biniack.
LAURA THORNHILL: It was not only something that we were
doing because we had so much passion for it, but it was a
means of transportation as well, and it was a lifestyle.
So it was an amazing cast of people and characters.
I remember meeting Eric and his dad, and he was just this
little shredder kid, blond-haired cutie pie.
And everyone just ate him up.
If he fell and totally ate shit, he'd get right back up
and hit it even harder.
He just always had this relentless, go for it style
and attitude.
He was a rock star from the get go for sure.
ERIC DRESSEN: I guess I was pretty good for my age then.
I was like 9 years old, 10 years old.
And she asked me if I wanted to be on Logan.
I got on Logan, and they would just send me packages.
And I'd get pulled from class in the fourth grade, and it
would be Bruce Logan calling me to see if I wanted to go
skate somewhere.
And I was like, my dad's at work.
I can't get to San Diego right now.
Eric was like the ripping little kid.
Back then, it was a little bit more odd, because there
weren't as many kids.
But he had really good style and mad talent.
And he was a pretty even-keeled kid.
There was a little skatepark in Torrance, and me and Laura
Thornhill show up to skate.
I look at the top of the hill at the skatepark, and there
was Tony Alva getting interviewed, because he was
about to come out with that Leif Garrett movie,
"Skateboard." And I'm all, there's my hero up there.
It was like the sun and the moon, everything aligned, and
I was under the same sky with Tony Alva.
And all I wanted to hear was what his voice sounded like.
TONY ALVA: You could build such a big pool.
I mean, it's--
ERIC DRESSEN: Back then, the only time you got to see Tony
Alva was like in the magazines.
He was never on TV, and they didn't have videos back then.
That's how I learned how to skateboard or is just looking
at pictures.
And they'd just have that one still or a sequence, and I'd
just try to emulate their style.
I could go up and kick turn like this dude or do something
like that dude.
I was always just emulating.
JEFF GROSSO: I was still playing with G.I. Joes, and
this kid's doing front side grinds.
That's the fucking reality of it.
I remember seeing him in mags and thinking, how fucking
cool, you know?
Because you'd open up the "Skateboarder" and you'd go
back to see who got "Who's Hots" in the back, because
those were the guys that were fucking coming up.
And he looked like a little surfer kid, and a
super skinny board.
I think he was doing a front side attack, like whipping one
in a snake run.
That was what was fucking awesome about it.
There was just a handful of actual kids that
were getting coverage.
And that was like, fuck, we can do this too.
Wow, a ten-year-old kid who gets to skate
with the right guys.
Who is he?
Where is he from?
-I just remember there was probably half a year where you
saw probably three full-page photos in "Who's Hot." I
always felt like I was the young skater of my group, but
my group wasn't in the mags.
You know what I mean?
So I was this kid going, I wish I was that
kid with those guys.
ERIC DRESSEN: I was getting paid even as an amateur.
Like Excalibur Trucks paid me a salary and gave me contest
incentives and stuff.
Like if I won a contest, I got $100.
So I did pretty good this one summer.
I was getting, like, $300 a month.
Plus, every Friday at Skateboard
World, they had a contest.
And I won, like, every contest back then for my age group,
like 10 and under.
So I was doing pretty good back then.
-Top dog Tony Alva sets up a competition--
ERIC DRESSEN: Alva came out with Alva skates, and my dad
was renting a little house right down the street from
Kenter Canyon School.
So that was the summer of '78.
I kind of just met up with Alva one day and starting
hanging out with him, and I got on Alva then, which was
the dream come true, because that was the baddest company.
CHRISTIAN HOSOI: Marina Del Rey opened, and I was, like,
first one there, two weeks before it opened, sneaking in
the side of the gate to get in to watch Tony Alva, Jay Adams,
private session.
Me and Aaron Murray were these little kids that couldn't even
skate deep bowls yet.
We couldn't even ride a pool.
We were just riding little bowls.
And I think it was the Gyro Dog Bowl Pro contest happened.
And then here came Eric Dressen.
He's pro in the contest.
Now, this is the first time I've ever seen him.
And he's in there doing wheelers, little airs, and
ollies over the hip, just like he's D style, full on like
this, just super sick.
But he was 10.
And me and Murray were like, this 10-year-old is ripping.
And it was so inspiring for us, because it made us have
hope that we could rip right now.
We don't have to wait until we get bigger.
-That's time for Eric Dressen.
[INAUDIBLE].
ERIC DRESSEN: That was my local park.
And I did pretty good.
I got like 24th out of 40 or 48 people.
I just missed the cut by four people.
PATRICK O'DELL: And that was an am contest?
ERIC DRESSEN: It was a pro contest.
Technically, I was professional.
That's all I wanted to do was be a pro skateboarder.
That was it.
And my dream was to get "Who's Hot" and be on Logan and meet
Tony Alva and hear what his voice sounded like.
And you made all that happen.
LAURA THORNHILL: Aw, that was beautiful.
Aw.
ERIC DRESSEN: Cut.
LAURA THORNHILL: That was sweet.