Skate – Page 8 – The Choncordia Skateboard Co.

APR 11: Waiting For Lightning Premiere

By Hali Estrada.

Yesterday we woke up early to get a coffee and Skate in Costa Mesa until 4pm when we started driving to pick up Gunther and head to Los Angeles for the private screening of what I want to say is hands down the BEST DOCUMENTARY about Skateboarding that I’ve ever seen: “Waiting for Lightning” directed by Jacob Rosenberg. The documentary showcases the life of Danny Way taking you back to his early childhood and his beginnings in Skateboarding, his progression during the years, his innovation and motivations and his contribution to Skateboarding to this very day; redefining what is possible and evolving constantly.

“Nothing’s too gnarly” when it comes to Danny Way and we know that since we saw “Shackle Me Not” back in 1988 and Hokus Pokus in 1989; videos that changed Skateboarding and were extremely influential for every Skater at that time. After Hstreet Danny was part of “Plan B” and along with the rest of the team and under the management of the great Mike Ternansky they raised the bar again with their first Video “Questionable.” Danny not only showed everybody that he was amazing on a ramp but also an incredible fearless Street Skater. In the documentary, the story goes on describing Danny’s progression during the years all the way to his jump on the Great Wall of China.

There are no words to describe how inspiring this documentary was to all of us. We just stared in awe as the documentary unfolds Dannys unique way of seeing Skateboarding and how he got to the point where he had to create something new because he had already done it all. His determination and creativity go hand in hand with his unbreakable passion for Skateboarding and his humble personality. Danny Way is the Best Skateboarder in the world and he keeps creating new stuff and new ways to innovate….. As the documentary reach the end everybody started clapping and screaming and by everybody’s surprise Danny wasn’t done yet.

The final part was fucking amazing and I don’t want to ruin or spoil the documentary for anybody. The only thing I will say is that Danny has already built a new structure in Hawaii and you won’t believe your eyes when you see the tricks that he can do on it…. They posted a teaser a few hours ago so maybe this will kind of help you understand what I’m talking about.

We had an incredible night with all our friends and needless to say a very inspiring one. The video will be out at some point this year so you must get it as soon as it comes out; you won’t regret it. Thanks to everybody who helped us attend the Premiere and especially to Dina Rosenberg with BWR, thanks for all your help.

Here are some pictures , enjoy :). CFL.

Ken Block, Danny Way and jacob Rosenberg.

Danny Way and Christian Hosoi.

Jacob Rosenberg and Hali Estrada.

Guillermo "Pajarito" Rendon, Jesus Olcese, Danny Way, Giancarlo Zavalaga and Hali Estrada

The master of the 360 kf, Jason Lee.

Matt Hensley and Guillermo "Pajarito" Rendon in the after party at The Roosevelt.

Felix Arguelles and Hali Estrada.

New Zealand is closer than you think. Kate Anderson, Hali Estrada and Libby Beattie.

Guillermo and Sal barber holding the original H-Street poster for Hokus Pokus sign by all the Team.

Guillermo "Pajarito" Rendon, Rodney Mullen and Jesus Olcese.

Colin Mckay and Jacob Rosenberg.

Grant Brittain and Guillermo "Pajarito" Rendon.

MAR 31: Peter Chlebowski 10th Year Anniversary Board.

By Hali Estrada.

“THOSE WHO FORGET THE PAST ARE CONDEMNED TO THINK THEY ARE ORIGINAL”.

When I started Skateboarding and making my first “Skateboarding clothes” in 1988 there were no Skateshops in Lima and if some stores got Skateboards they sold the complete thing and the quality was extremely bad. It took a couple years for “Surfshops” to start selling just the boards and parts, Skateboarding was getting popular and they saw a demand, but needless to say Surfshops never got the best boards or the latest ones but we had to buy them there cause they were the only ones selling quality Pro Boards. At that time Boards were really expensive in Lima, around $80 with NO Griptape and we had to make them last as long as we could, it was a very bad time and we literally used our boards until they had a 1 inch tail. After some years price got better ( but only a little ) and a couple guys were importing good boards but they weren’t Skateboarders so you never got the perfect size or the best brand or the latest model, only one store got close to be a real Skateshop because they got advice from one of us, but to our despair it closed after a couple years. Some more years passed and Surfshops kept the prices between $70 and sometimes $100 per board, It wasn’t until 1997 when we decided that it was enough and we started importing boards, my brother was in USA and he made our first contacts, I was extremely happy the first time I got the first 10 boards in the mail, they were just blank boards but they were the best quality and the right size. We kept importing boards until 1999 when I moved to USA. It was January 2002 when armed with the latest version of the crappy Corel Draw I started designing the first Choncordia Pro Model.

Peter Chlebowski was a tiny kid when I met him, I remember him landing perfect Switch Heelflips and Switch Frontside Kickflips in 1993 wearing huge pants that I made for him, he was probably 3 feet tall and even though a lot of us were landing those tricks at that time he impressed me more than any other kid, he was incredible. Peter grew up to be one of the best Skateboarders in Peru and In 2002 we turned him Pro for Choncordia.

In 2002 Peter was the first 100% Peruvian Professional Skateboarder living in Peru with a Pro Model selling in USA Stores, this maybe doesn’t sound that extraordinary to a California kid but its a big accomplishment for a Peruvian Skateboarder and he deserved it. After 10 years Peter is still one of the best Skateboarders in Peru and he not only kills it but he is also a humble down to earth guy and Im glad to still call him my friend after so many years. In new years eve 2012 I told him I wanted to Re-Issue his old Board for the 10th Year Anniversary, he was more than happy with the Idea so I got the old Corel Draw file and converted it to Illustrator….. and here they are :).

It comes in the original Green Color and also in 3 new color combos, back in 2002 I didn’t make the fonts so this time I made an improvement, the graphic is exactly the same but the fonts are my take on the original 2002 fonts. Only 25 Boards will be made in each color so get yours while you can :). Im also working on a video with the whole story of Peter, it will be done next week so make sure to come by to check it out, you won’t regret it :).

CFL.

MAR 09: Coming this Saturday…

The new MASK Pro-Series will be available this Saturday and this time along with Sebas , Jesus and Giancarlo boards we will be having a GUEST PRO BOARD so make sure to come back tomorrow for the update !!!!!

JAN 09: Still Life with Wood and Haroshi

By Hali Estrada.
Photos by Gunther Estrada.

I think the best parts of living in California is having the opportunity to skate some of the most iconic spots in history and to watch first hand the progression of Skateboarding literally happening in front of our eyes; add to that the advantage of being only 10 to 40 minutes of the latest video premieres, contests, events and art shows and you will understand why we love living in sunny California.

Last Saturday we attend not 1 but 2 Art shows in just one night. Around 8:30 we were on our way to “Still Life with Wood” at the AR4T Gallery in Laguna Beach. “Still Life” showcased a collection of classic pictures from some of the best Photographers in Skateboarding; Grant Brittain, Dave Swift, James Cassimus, Miki Vuckovich, Jon Humphries and Atiba Jefferson.

Gunther Estrada, Grant Brittain and Hali Estrada.

We got the chance to meet Grant Brittain and after talking to him for a while he told us that in the mid 80’s he met a Professional Peruvian Skateboarder at Del Mar Skatepark; we thought it was Eddie Reategui ( Eddie was the first Peruvian ever to get Pro status in the States back in the 80’s ) but he told us that it wasn’t Eddie, it was somebody else but he couldn’t remember. We were very intrigued about that so its our job now to find out who this mystery Skateboarder was. After saying goodbye to Grant and getting a glass of wine we were on our way to Los Angeles to meet up with Alvaro, Ken and Diego for the Haroshi exhibition.

Huf and DLX partnered with Japanese Artist Haroshi to exhibit 5 of his sculptures, we knew about Haroshis art for a long time and we were looking forward to see it in person. Haroshi crafts his sculptures from recycled Skateboards and the detail of the each piece was incredible. Starting with the Spitfire wheel we were slowly walking around each sculpture trying to figure out how he did it, specially the intricate fire hydrant which Torey Pudwill ollied right before we got there. Tommy Guerrero and Ray Barbee were playing some great tunes, this guys are not only great Skateboarders but also very talented musicians, seeing them took me back to the Powell era and made me remember that Stacy Peraltas documentary about the Bones Brigade is gonna be ready very soon, we can’t wait to see it ;). In conclusion we had a great night with all our friends and we probably we’ll be doing it again very soon; here are some pics from both shows.

John Cardiel by Atiba. "ALL HAIL CARDIEL".

Natas Kaupas by Grant Brittain.

"Los Mysteriosos" were playing songs in Spanish for the crowd.

Atwuan by Atiba

Gunther Estrada and Skateboarding Legend Jeff Grosso.

The Bones Brigade by Grant Brittain.

The one and only Gonz by Grant Brittain, another Classic.

Dog head.

The fire hydrant.

Skateboarding Legend and musician Tommy Guerrero playing some tunes on the Guitar Sculpture.

Tommy Again after finishing the concert.

Diego Espinoza, Ken Mishima and Hali Estrada.

The Spitfire Wheel Sculpture.

Steven Treboux and Gunther Estrada.

Close Up of the guitar.

The hand.

The amazing Sal Barbier and Gunther Estrada.

JAN 07: Agenda……

By Hali Estrada.

Skateboarding is getting bigger than ever and is NOT because there is more Skateparks, FUCK NO. This worldwide Skatepark booming is the result of the popularity Skateboarding gain in the late 90’s with the X-games and video games like Tony Hawk Pro Skater; The kind of popularity only big corporations can achieve with a decade of huge marketing campaigns and advertisement; Lucky for us, Skateboarding itself is not and will never be for sale… so relax… because if somebody strange to Skateboarding builds a park, or starts a company selling boards bluntly copying graphics, or calls himself a real Skateboarder to sell shit in Wallmart or Target, is not doing us a favor and is not defining Skateboarding or making it bigger and most definitely is not making a real contribution to the core Skateboard industry.

I read something Thursday morning before going to Agenda that make me think a lot about my home country and how some “Important” Skate companies are managed there by Surfers and people who know nothing about Skateboarding but somehow run the game there, that’s just fucked up but what I read went even beyond that. Please don’t tell me that because you built Skateparks in Peru, the core Peruvian Skateboarding companies will suddenly make more money and will owe you something, Im sorry but is not like that, the core Skateboard industry was there doing business before you built your parks and they will still be in business with or without 10, 20 or even 30 Skateparks. Core companies will always have Skateboarders to support them. Skateboarding doesn’t need Skateparks but Skateparks would not be there without Skateboarding; Skateboarding doesn’t owe you anything.

Chris Cole, Jesus Olcese, Giancarlo Zavalaga and Paul Rodriguez.

So, I was thinking about all this stuff walking down the lines in Agenda; To my surprise a lot of brands that have nothing to do with Skateboarding were selling … yes… SKATEBOARDS. I kept walking down the lines thinking about what I read that morning about Peru when suddendly I walked into the amazing Tony Magnusson, Tony was one of the best Skateboarders in the 80’s and 90’s, and with Mike Ternansky were behind the force that changed Street Skateboarding forever; H-Street Skateboards. Tony came to Peru back in the 90’s with Alphonzo Rawls and Jason Rogers; after a brief walk down memory lane he asked me how things are in Peru. I told him that Skateboarding is bigger than ever there and that there is a lot of Skateparks; he looked at me in the eye and with a smile on his face he told me: “Thats because we went there, we changed everything”.

I think this is very true, not only them but all the Skateboarders and companies that were here since the beginning, they were an inspiration to us and they are the root of this huge tree that is now the “Skateboard Industry”; Skateboarding is bigger than ever because our roots. Needless to say “The Berrics Agenda” was the only part of the convention center where I felt comfortable, I think is a great Idea to separate the core brands from the rest of the show. It was almost 6:30pm when we decided to go back home but not before meeting the legendary Brian Lotti, in my opinion one of the best styles ever along with Ray Barbee. It was the perfect end to our Agenda experience; we even took a couple of pictures, here they are :).

CFL.

Josh Kalis and Jesus Olcese.

Brian Lotti and Hali Estrada.

NOV 12: Love+Guts.

By Hali Estrada.

Last Thursday we were on our way to the LAB in Costa Mesa to celebrate Thrasher 30 years of Art and Photography. Thrasher was the first real Skateboarding magazine I got in my hands back in 1989 and walking into this room filled with some of the most iconic pictures in Skateboarding history was overwhelming. I was literally sorrounded by the progression of Skateboarding from Tony Alva to Leo Romero; Moments forever captured by some of the best photographers like Luke Ogden, Bryce kanights and Mörizen Föche.

After getting one of the big posters and walking around the room for like an hour we went outside to get some prints. Gunther got a 10 piece print set from Lance Mountain and I got an amazing Dragon print from the CAB himself, he told me that Stacy Peralta’s documentary about the Bones Brigade is coming out soon, Stacy is a great filmmaker and we can’t wait to see it. After the show we went to the party thing in the back of the LAB but thats another story. It was a fun night and a very inspiring one, here are some pics of the show.

SKATE AND DESTROY !!.