Hairy drop ins

This was an interview I conducted for a zine I published in high school, Nuked!. The zine is no longer in existence and is a rather distant memory, but Kessler's lively character was to be ingrained in my memory for a long time afterwards (as was the thrill of writing my first real piece of journalism).

Here's a real New York character, a time capsule of the city skate culture and a key note in the development of skateboarding as we know it.

Hairy drop ins, real skate teams, & empty swimming pools

New York City's Andy Kessler talks about skating in the 70's, designing skateparks, and other topics s he sets 25 years of skateboard experience loose.

Andy Kessler is undoubtedly one of the most incredible people to meet and have a conversation with, not just for his skateboarding, but for what he gives back to its world. On the platform for Riverside 108'shalf pipe, here's what he had to say...

Where did your title of “Grandmaster of the 108” originate?

I guess just because I’m one of the oldest skateboarders in New York City and helped put together Manhattan’s first skate park, so people, or some have referred to me as the grandmaster of 108. And I’m up here all the time running the park.

How old were you when you first started to skateboard?

I think I was around 11 or 12 when I first started to skateboard seriously, when I had a real skateboard or somewhat of a real skateboard. I mean, looking at it now, my first board had metal wheels, nothing what the boards are like today. But it’s still skating, I skated every day.

Besides the metal wheels, what were the boards like back then?

Actually, back then, skateboarding had already progressed quite a bit, so there were without metal wheels, there were boards out with polyurethane wheels, by seventyyyyyyy-three. So, the sport had already been progressing quite a bit on the west coast and areas on the east coast. Surf areas probably caught on a lot quicker, because they [skate companies] advertise in the surf magazines as well. They had stories in surf magazines about skateboarding, so naturally the surfers took to it really quickly, and that area developed faster than it did in New York. But like anything, if it’s growing, it’ll eventually hit New York. Skateboarding was big in the 60’s in New York, to some degree. There were kids all over the place on skateboards, with clay wheels and metal wheels.

Why was New York City such a Mecca for skateboarding then?

I don't think it was a big place for skateboarding, but kids were doing it. And later on, in the seventies, when I first really started skating, early seventies, for a while you couldn't find a skateboard anywhere in New York. We would mail order our stuff from a place in New Jersey or California. Mostly New Jersey and Long Island. And maybe two years later, every kid in New York City had a skateboard. It was one of those things, the way that rollerblading took off, and it was huge in metropolitan areas.

So it was a stylish thing to do then, basically a fad?

It definitely was the thing to do, I mean people that weren't into it had skate- boards. Everyone had one, it was ridiculous. I think it was almost as big as it is now. Now, of course, it's a lot bigger because media's involved, but it was pretty big. In the 70's there were many skateparks being built then that aren't around any- more, but now twenty years later, they're building them all over again, all over the place.

When and where did you first start skating on the ramps?

Probably around late 1976, at a park out in Huntington, Long Island. It was called the Huntington Skateboard Arena, and then, soon after that, a park opened up in Farmingdale, Long Island…it was a concrete outdoor park, and not too long after that an indoor concrete park opened up in Northport, Long Island. There were two parks in Staten Island, probably around late 76 or 77. Then one opened up later in Staten Island, so the second one opened up probably in 78.

What was your first drop-in experience like?

I think it was as hairy as it is for anybody else. At that time they didn't have ramps with platforms on them or at least the one I dropped in on didn't, so you kind had to of teeter up there or your tail and then drop in, and we'd only seen one other person do it. But the way we learned was not from seeing people do it, we learned by looking in the magazines and seeing pictures of people up on the walls or up in swimming pools, in all these different positions, and just went out and figured it out for ourselves. But when we got the chance to see somebody do it, and knew it was possible, and knew how they did it, we were right on it.

In the 1970’s, when you were young, the skateboard image was a criminal one, there was a lot of criminal activity associated with it…how did this all come about?

I think that’s really only…any real criminal activity…that’s only individual. Image wise, maybe, it’s been looked at as criminal activity because kids skateboard in empty swimming pools since the early seventies, and had to trespass to do that…skateboarded on public property in the streets so it’s been looked at as mischievous, destructive to public and private property. So in that manner it’s been looked at as criminal. If you’re talking about real hardcore criminal activity, that has anything to do with skateboarding…maybe in the past there’s been a few individuals. But you’re going to find that anywhere, not only skateboarding. It’s kind of had a bad rap from the beginning, but now with the X-Games and the media blowing it up, it’s become more and more mainstream. It’s like I said before, where’s the double edged sword, good and bad, so they don’t know if it portrays it as it really is.

What do you think of the image conveyed by skateboarding and surfing, and that many companies are “exploiting” it?

Well, what sells anything to the public is usually the way they market things, so marketing is a big deal, and the image of what is portrayed by your product is…I don’t know if it’s necessarily that thought out for most, they’re going about it kind of cheesy, and to what they think is cool, and they believe that others are going to think it’s cool. It’s been the same way, it’s been pretty lame since skating started. Once skating and surfing started getting big and people started advertising, I think in some ways things[the media image] went downhill. In some ways, it’s obviously created an awareness in the public’s eye, like today the have in the X-games. It’s a double edged sword, what’s good and what’s bad. Personally, I wouldn’t go about marketing skateboarding through hip-hop or other manners of marketing that companies do at this time. It think there are more rootsy ways to do it. I have a small skateboard company (Wounded Knee) and basically we do our advertising…we only advertise in one magazine, it’s a small magazine, and the only reason we advertise in there is because we get to for free-myself and my partner are some of the editors in the magazine. We’re just showing it like it is, we have our skaters skating, no fancy clothes, some ads-no clothes at all (laughs), but uh, (laughs again) that’s not a marketing scheme! We’re just basically putting it out there the way it is, and really, the best way we could do any of our advertising is having people ride our boards, so we have a lot of great skaters, real hardcore skaters, uh, skating.

That’s really great because there’s a myriad of companies out there claiming to have a skateboard or surf team, but those guys simply pose around in their clothes, and they don’t really do anything!

No, they don’t do much of anything, that’s right.

How do you go about designing a park?

I think the best way really to design a park, is, for one, to be a skater yourself and have some experience in skating at lots of different parks. And two, is to get as much input as you can from other people. I mean, by yourself, you’re pretty limited just to what you know, and you never know, if you have just a little bit of an open mind and take a little bit of information from others, you can come up with something really great.

When this park [Riverside 108] was designed, did you have anything in mind such as having the structures flow into each other?

We tried to make all the structures flow one to the next, we didn’t build everything that we wanted to build, we only built this ramp (points to the halfpipe where we’re sitting) with two small ramps over there, and we just slowly built from there. But we did have in mind a park where one thing flowed to the next, to the next. And since we’ve been opened, it kind of took shape on its own. And that’s just how it’s gonna go from there. These are the type of ramps that if you want, you can take apart, start over, do something different with.

Are there any plans for Riverside 108?

No official plans, but the unofficial plans are to expand. I mean, we have a lot of space out here to build more stuff. I’d like to build some concrete structures, maybe even build a pool, an in-ground bowl…

That would be really great…

That’d be really great! I mean, what’s happening, since Riverside opened, there have been some towns in Long Island that have contacted me about building skateparks, and in upstate New York, about building skateparks, so I’ve gotten involved in designing some other skateparks. I designed one and built it out in Greenport, Long Island, and this September, in about two weeks we’ll start building a park in Montauk, an all-concrete park, that I designed.

I heard that you do a lot for inspiring kids to drop in…(Andy laughs). How do you go about doing that?

It’s really usually, uh, not a very pleasant, uh, process. Usually kids come up and they want to drop in, and a lot of them want to come up and drop in long before they’re ready, and we encourage them not to. But the kids, who are ready to drop in and are afraid to, we usually give them a pretty hard time, until they do drop in. So that’s our form of encouragement.

What do you mean by giving them a hard time?

Well, we’ll drop in ourselves and show them that it’s that easy, and give them as much guidance as possible, and when they still won’t drop in and they’re definitely well ready to do it, and they won’t, we give them a little bit of hard time.

Do you have any advice for those getting into skateboarding?

I would say don’t worry about what other people say is “cool”, and just do your own thing, have fun, and like I said, don’t worry about what other people think. Just keep trying, keep going.

What did you have for breakfast this morning?

(laughs) Couple cups of coffee and probably a few cigarettes.

What’s the best thing you did in skateboarding that nobody saw?

(laughs) Oh, that was the 900.

Last two books you’ve read?

Dysfunctional, Aaron Rose. It was just a big introduction, and Big Pause.

If you can take back one act in your life, what would it be?

Having coffee and cigarettes for breakfast.

What would you like to try that you haven’t?

Sky surfing.

What word do you love?

Probably not a very nice word.

What word do you hate?

“Hate” is a pretty hateful word.

What’s your greatest fear?

This interview being published?

If heaven exists, what do you want God to say to you at the pearly gates?

You’ve done a good job, but you left a few things out, so we’re sending you back.

What sound do you love?

Congested traffic on New York City streets. (laughs)

What sound do you dislike?

Silence.

What man made object best represents your personality?

The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, because it’s been around a long time, it’s got some style and character.

What’s your favorite scene in a movie?

That’s a tough one and I do watch a lot of movies…I’ll have to skip it.

Who are your heroes?

I don’t really have any heroes…people that I’ve admired…Tony Alva, actually today turns 42, is probably the real grandfather of pool riding and skateboarding. He’s a good guy, just what he’s done, and the fact that he keeps at it and is still doing it. I don’t know that I have too many real heroes. I like regular people.

Villains?

Try not to have very many enemies or create them, although I’ve ended up with a lot, here and there, but really, I try not to hold any hard feelings. I think the villains are the big companies, and advertisers, and the way the things have been marketed, feeding people just empty dreams, with no substance.

If you could star in any TV show, what would it be?

Something stupid, probably, something like Drew Carey, something really ridiculous.

What’s your favorite smell and why?

There are particular smells that you know, and that bring back really good memories. I don’t know what it is that smells like it. Ah, burning rubber! It reminds me of Riverside Park.

If you could arrange a private concert with any three bands/musicians in history, who would be included?

Definitely Jimi Hendrix, if you could dig him up. Bob Marley would be another one, but you’d have to dig him up, too. One more? A third? We’d have to bring in Jaco Pastorius, a bass player, played with a lot of great jazz bands in the 70’s. They’d have to dig him up, too.

Can you cite a line of poetry, or a famous quote?

Love is blind, but lust has one eye.

What’s your most treasured possession?

Some old photos, maybe some old skateboards. I was gonna say my wife, but she’s not really a possession. She’s treasured, though.

5 words that describe you?

Humorous, humorous, broken humorous, intense, and humorous.

What are in your pockets right now?

Probably about five dollars, my keys, and that’s about it.

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