ERIC KOSTON: Things started to get a little different over at
World with Rocco.
He was always able to throw money around and, oh, if you
do this, I'll give you $100, and he'd just
have a wad of cash.
After a time, it was fun, we would always get cash off him.
Being young, we didn't trust him.
Everyone started to mutually feel that way, but never did
we get to the source of it and talk it out and, hey, Rocco,
man, are you ripping us off?
None of us were old enough or responsible enough to confront
something like that.
It's like, oh, no, I'm convinced.
Fuck that dude.
Let's bounce, and that was it.
TIM GAVIN: We were riding for Blind at the time.
I remember in '92, that's when he started to hang out more
with Guy, and Rudy, and me, and Henry.
And then I would bring the dude up to LA periodically.
And I don't know when Eric really got the cool
card with the crew.
I don't know when that happened.
I don't--
I think it was we evolved as friends during
those Plan B years.
In that two year span, we all got really close.
GUY MARIANO: We started going up to San Diego to hang out
with Eric and skate with Eric, and I think Eric was coming
down here a little bit more.
I did a lot of World Park days with Eric, and that was
interesting because if you've ever seen Eric skate a skate
park, it's amazing.
And you can only imagine him at a super young age just
really going for it.
I remember when we started Girl, we were actually off of
Wilshire at Macy's, this ledge off stairs.
And it was me, Tim, Henry Sanchez, and Eric, and Rick
was telling us he's thinking about starting this company
and he wanted all of us to ride for it.
ERIC KOSTON: I remembering me and Guy going, sure.
Let's do it.
Didn't really even second guess it.
That would be awesome.
AARON MEZA: I heard about it that weekend they came out at
the contest.
Mike York was like, everybody just quit World.
They all started this company.
ERIC KOSTON: What's funny is that that Back to the City
contest, in SF, I was already up there just skating.
And [INAUDIBLE]
came up to the contest, and then I wanted to tell him.
And he just looked at me and he goes, are you leaving too?
And I was like, yeah.
And he was like, all right.
The team was sick.
It was all the dudes that we hung out and skated with
anyway, so it was perfect.
TIM GAVIN: I was the last dude to get on Girl.
Eric was definitely on before me, because I was the last
dude on, literally.
I really befriended Eric.
We just became tighter.
He moved up to LA, and we moved in together.
I think we were the only dudes that had an
apartment in our crew.
MIKE CARROLL: His house was definitely the crash pad.
It was just staying up until like 5:00 in the morning
playing "Mortal Kombat" and then getting up at 2:00 or
3:00 in the afternoon, going and eating burritos, and then
maybe hit a spot that day and skate, and then just do that
same old thing.
ERIC KOSTON: We were one of the first ones to have a
place, so it's the play house, basically.
It's the place that there's no adults, and we started to
drink a bit and want to get chicks.
I feel like Schner was the one who brought the Arizona
drinking aspect into it.
TIM GAVIN: He never was interested in drinking or
smoking pot, but whenever he did, he was a
total fucking disaster.
I remember this one time he fucking drank, and I think it
was the first time he smoked weed, and he ate a box of
Cheez Its, and just fucking threw up.
The entire house was fucking orange.
MIKE CARROLL: I forget who it was, but someone walked in on
Eric on all fours on his bed after drinking Jaeger or
something like that, just puking onto his bed.
It was that age for everyone.
Everyone's first drinking experience, drinking the
shittiest Cisco and all that shit.
MALE SPEAKER: People were telling me about Mike York
pissing in one of your shoes.
That was a story that came up.
ERIC KOSTON: Dude, I still have the shoe.
MALE SPEAKER: No.
ERIC KOSTON: Yeah.
York, what the fuck are you doing?
And he just mumbled and he was just like [MUMBLES], and his
back's to me, so he's just like [MUMBLE].
TIM GAVIN: Apparently Mike York does that a lot.
I guess he's known to take a walk sleeping and piss in
random places.
Eric was so devastated about this piss in
his Air-Pacs, man.
It was fucking hilarious.
I mean, fuck, those were our college years.
Those were fraternities, our dorm rooms.
I would do anything to get back there and be living with
Eric again.
It was lame, but it was the best times of our lives, dude.
GUY MARIANO: We would wake up in the morning, he'd make egg
McMuffin sandwiches for everybody and coffee.
He's the man.
It was Koston, dude.
Koston used to make me breakfast every morning, and
for that matter, like five other people.
AARON MEZA: I wouldn't even be like, hey dude, is
it cool if I stay?
We'd all stay there.
Mike Carroll, York, everybody.
We'd stay there forever.
I mean, if you know Eric, he's super generous, but I don't
think he necessarily wanted a lot of people staying at his
house and making a mess of the place.
He's not like fucking come one, come all, fuck yeah,
party at my house.
He was just dealing with it because he's so nice.
I mean, he would come pick me up at the airport and we'd go
skate, and it was just for years.
Seriously, since "Goldfish" through the "Chocolate" tour I
stayed at his house.
MALE SPEAKER: Where did you start actually taking a part
really serious?
Or have you always?
ERIC KOSTON: It was probably "Goldfish" or really wanted to
get a good part.
Because that was Girl's first video, too.
I wanted to make sure we had a really sick video
when it came out.
Everybody did, just to back the company.
TONY FERGUSON: It was definitely
mellower, not as intense.
It was more of a friendly, fun vibe, and I think that's what
Mike and Rick wanted to portray.
It was everyone skating together.
We would go skate the same spot everyday.
We'd be at the courthouse.
That was just to take it back to funner times.
MALE SPEAKER: Do you remember the first time
you filmed with him?
AARON MEZA: I remember filming a line with him at [INAUDIBLE]
that was super long with tons of hard tricks.
I think he backside heelflips over a wall in "Goldfish." I
just couldn't believe how much good stuff was in
it how long it was.
I wouldn't necessarily say every time we went out we got
something, but it's pretty obvious he was definitely
fucking so naturally talented.
I think the most naturally talented skater ever.
Back then when he was young and carefree and only had to
skate, it was a joke how he could do anything.
SAM SMYTH: And now I see more people like that.
I feel like, at the time, he might have been the only one
that I've ever seen work that way or skate that way, where
he could do anything that he dreamt of.
ATIBA JEFFERSON: Back then, it didn't seem like skateboarding
was his main focus.
It seemed like being a young kid was his main focus.
I mean, I really watched skating turn
into his main priority.
"Mouse," you saw it.
That part to me is you're seeing, oh, he's finally
taking skating seriously.
He's finally using his potential.
His "Mouse" part, Eric's part.
His video parts have always been better and better.
I don't know, dude.
He's just good.
GUY MARIANO: During "Mouse," me and Eric were really close.
I was definitely living with him at the time.
I liked being around Eric.
He pushed me on a skateboard.
I think things would have been a lot different if I didn't
spend a lot of time with Eric.
I don't think I would be as good of a skateboarder.
Not to say that I was on Eric's level.
Eric's always been way above me.
But I looked to Eric for what was the next thing, and what
was possible.
TONY FERGUSON: Sometimes the video doesn't give it justice.
[INAUDIBLE], we were skating down with Eric one time,
because he did five tricks in 10 minutes on this rail.
It was insane.
He did nollie 50-50, and he was like,
oh, I like this rail.
He did nollie frontside noseslide, nollie frontside
nose grind, and then nollie frontside nose blunt.
TIM GAVIN: Everyone knows Eric's good.
I want to tell this, though.
In the "Mouse" video, when I did that 50-50, I remember
Eric was trying it too, and I did that before Eric did, and
it made it in the video.
I had to get that on record.
I mean, I consider Eric one of my best friends.
I've known the guy for 20 years, lived with him for 10,
I fucking barely know the guy.
ATIBA JEFFERSON: For a dude who mumbles and is the worst
guy to talk to on the phone and have a conversation with,
he really is good at acting not like himself.
Even the Charlie Chaplin thing, his personality and
charisma is so good, I'm very surprised he
didn't go into acting.
SPIKE JONZE: The one with Eric as Charlie Chaplin, we were
shooting something else that day, I forget
what we were doing.
Something at the warehouse.
And then we wanted to do that too.
And the thing that made that one work is Eric had never
heard of Charlie Chaplin, or I guess he'd heard of him, but
never seen any of his stuff.
So I bought him a box set of Charlie Chaplin VHSs, and he
went home and watched it over and over again.
And OK, here's what makes Charlie Chaplin funny.
And he went and just sort of studied his Charlie Chaplin.
I guess, knowing Eric, if he's going to do something, he's
going to take it seriously.
AARON MEZA: I feel like he's like a lot of the dudes that
have to do it, he can pull it off.
They moved into the old man thing, he was
pretty fine with it.
That's pretty hard to have to do that stuff, but I feel like
he has done better than some of the other guys.
Where someone like Tim was awkward about it, or just way
nervous, I feel like he's always been pretty good at
that stuff.
SPIKE JONZE: Yeah, we'd done a set of boards with everyone
old a few years before that, so it came out of that idea.
Whatever dumb idea that anyone comes up
with, it's made a reality.
I don't know if they ever pulled that
out for the box set.
The dailies of that stuff, I could've just
watched that for an hour.
That stuff's best.
What school are we from?
MALE SPEAKER: We're from Santa Monica Community College.
SPIKE JONZE: OK, Santa Monica, what about Santa Barbara
Community College?
MALE SPEAKER: Santa Monica City College.
SPIKE JONZE: You stop and you're sipping your coffee,
and you look up and down the street.
You see a set of stairs, and then you get an idea.
You start pushing, and pushing harder, and pushing harder,
and then racing towards the stairs and then launch down
the stairs.
And then in slow motion, close up view with
wind in your hair.
And then you land, come to a stop, and proudly look back at
the stairs you've conquered on your wheelchair.