An evening with Arto

The freeway was cluttered with cars. Taillights and chrome. Brakes. Standstill. I saw frustration and lethargy on those faces closest to me. I watched people texting and jousting for position in their cars. I saw indifference. A young man rumbled past me in some sort of rocket-powered Porsche. The engine throbbed and it startled me. The driver was clearly agitated, weaving and switching lanes. He was a picture of impatience. I smiled. Within thirty minutes, he hadn’t advanced more than three car lengths in front of me. “Never waste your money on a car that goes faster than the traffic will allow.”  I mumble. I drove past him on the right side, exiting. He looked like he was going to weep. Arto invited a few of us over to his house for an evening of good food, friends and bowl riding. I like Arto. I rather enjoy his company. He’s artistic, well-read, interesting and he is one of the finest skateboarders on the planet. You add style, humor and generosity to those things and one can readily see why he is a top shelf type of guy. Good people. A film crew was at the house when Ray Zimmerman and I arrived. Arto and the film crew were leaving for a motorcycle trip to Alaska. Sunday was departure day and Arto was having one more little backyard bowl BBQ before he went away for a month.

It was an incredibly heavy crew of skateboarders that descended on Arto’s. Neal Mims, Anthony Van Engelen, Ben Nordberg, Rayce, Pedro Rob, Lance Mountain, Louie Lopez, Jake Brown, Joey Tershay, Guy Mariano, Ron Chapman and others were in attendance.

Chris who ran the filming crew, threw down some hundred dollar bills for BBQ goodies, ice, drinks and stuff. I took grill duties and everyone else attended to the bowl. The snarl of traffic faded from my mind as skater after skater violated the coping back to the stone age.

The level of skateboarding was high, the food was tasty, the vibe was perfect and an evening with Arto is something that everyone should experience once in their lifetime. Thank you to MRZ for the images. Skate- Ozzie