Ozzie Ausband

Platform / Anthony Acosta

Platform Shop / Acosta Photographic Show

I drove over to Pomona to meet up with Ray Zimmerman and support Anthony Acosta as he was having a photographic show last night. There were cars everywhere and traffic was pretty crazy. It was an Art Walk weekend in Pomona. There were all of these galleries open and the sidewalks were crowded. I was early, so I walked around. There were people gathered outside of one place and I heard very loud rap music pulsing into the night. Through the large glass windows, I saw a crowd gathered around a performer who was rapping while a DJ mixed and spun behind him. It was very loud and the rapper was very angry. It was difficult to understand just what the Hell he was talking about. He had his hand on his nuts like they were the last one’s on earth and was hopping up and down, swinging his arm toward the ceiling. I thought he got stung by a bee on his groceries and was trying to swat at the unwelcome pest. He kept growling about porn…  it was a pretty poor performance. I turned away and wandered through a few galleries to look at art. Around 9:00 pm, they opened the Platform shop and a crowd quickly filled up the place. Anthony Acosta is an amazing talent. I can look through a skateboard magazine and turn the page to instantly identify one of his images. “Oh yeah! Acosta had to shoot that.” Most of the time, I’m right. He has a fantastic use of light and composition.

The Platform Shop  was started by Landon Mitchell and Donnie Meadows in November of 2006. They wanted a core shop that catered to core skateboarders. This was their vision and this is what they built. The place is no joke. Serious skateboarding. Lifetime. Pure. Anthony’s photographs hung on the wall. Each told a unique story through a unique vision. There were a bunch of people milling about the place and I smiled. These were my people.

Landon Mitchell and Anthony Acosta

It was a cool evening of skateboarding, art, pretty humorous  rap performances and friends. Thanks to Platform and Anthony Acosta. Thank you to MRZ for the images. Skate- Ozzie