So two weeks ago I made a trip out to Portland, OR to visit the tranny technician, Leonard Houx (whom recently moved back from NYC), and skate the city of infinite spots. Mr. Alan Siegler caught a later flight out there.
Upon arriving at PDX, Leonard and his friend Chris picked me up and took me to a hand full of dope spots. Luckily, 8 hours of sitting in a plane did not hold me back too much and I was able to land a couple tricks. The next day was spent skating Burnside and scouting spots around the area. For those of you that haven't been to Burnside, it is a lot smaller and tighter than it looks in videos...and super hard to skate. The locals were killing it though. I was struggling to say the least. Alan showed up and began to bring the gnar pretty much right away. Back smiths and back tails on the steep trannies with ease.
The next day was the most productive, film-wise (though it looked doomed from the beginning). We actually got kicked out of one spot right as I was getting the camera out, and ended up at some abandoned school. I ended up snapping my board and busting my shin open, gushing blood pretty bad. I cleaned it up and once I started skating again, I could feel the blood starting to ooze out. Seemed like we were off to a bad start. But then Leonard came through in the clutch and pulled out a nice switch line (I don't think I saw him do one regular trick the whole time we were there). Then Alan started to work on a line and these Native-American meth-heads (a couple) were cheering him on. They we so psyched on him that they gave him the nickname, Strength. Also, they thought that he was 44 years old, like themselves. It is a wonder what a little bit of gray hair can do to estimates of your age.
This was me, filming Strength.
Cash, Money, Hoes!
Strength beginning his line.
The meth-heads wanted a closer look of Strengths lines than he did. They were psyched and kept saying "succeed!"
The woman tried to give Strength these gloves as a victory prize. He wouldn't take them and she seemed kinda bummed (pun), so I told her that he was vegetarian and they are leather. Then she tried to give them to me and I said I was vegetarian too, but that Leonard wasn't. So Leonard ended up with the gloves...rad!
Leonard said that she showed him a tattoo she had of an eagle that she got when she finished high school, the irony comes in the fact that she is currently living in an abandoned high school. I guess everything comes full circle. Note: she flashed us in the process of showing him that tattoo...you wish you could see my dv tape.
Here is my busted leg later that night. That dried blood is what leaked out after it was cleaned and bandaged.
They had toys at this place we were eating, so Leonard got artsy.
This was the illest Godzilla toy ever made, pretty much.
A Pabst in the water bottle holder? I guess that is how Oregon rolls.
That is a box of Voodoo Doughnuts that I am holding. Look it up!
Photos by Leonard.
1 comment:
damn, wait til the end to mention voodoo doughnuts. it was the best part of your trip, for me. vegan donuts, yo. can't walk by a dunkin' donuts without being resentful.
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