Pierre Andre Senizergues, 45, is an interesting guy even for skateboarding. He is the sole owner of Sole Technology. That means when Sole Tech makes a dollor, it’s Pierre’s. He also owns most of the buildings that Sol Tech inhabits. He has an amazing yacht, what has been described as a “$25 million house in Malibu,” and a “waterfront” place in Newport Beach. Plus, he is single.
Now, Pierre has let the Los Angeles Times Home & Gardensection do a profile on the Newport Beach house so those of us who haven’t been over for drinks (ever) can see what the place looks like. It doesn’t look to shabby, actually. Not that we were surprised. He was also nice enough to pass on little nuggets like this in the captions:
“To do something new, that nobody else has, you can’t be afraid to fall,” says Senizergues, here in his meditation room.
Today, Vital Media Network President Brad McDonald announced that while their BMX and MX sites are doing well, they have decided to put their skateboarding site on ice saying:
We’re putting Vital Skate on indefinite hiatus. After two years, we just couldn’t get the traffic and advertising where it needed to be. To everyone who supported the site – thanks!
While McDonald and Todd Toth’s roots in BMX (along with the edit and photo skills of Mark Losey) helped take Vital BMX to the top in traffic, the group never did get traction in the skateboarding market. As we know, that industry is pretty tight about who it supports and does not support. Apparently, they were not backing Vital.
When we look back at our time at the fall ASR Show we think of all the great things we missed: the people we didn’t talk to (like Hurley’s Bar Rafaeli, the skateboarding we didn’t see, and the amazing product that we missed. But then we realize that at least we have these photos to remember the show a by.
Here’s a little downhill skateboarding flim of Patrick Rizzo, Noah Sakamoto, and Colin Blackshear from Adam Kimmel and Ari Marcopoulis that perfectly captures the lunacy of going fast on a skateboard.
It may have been held September 4-6, 2008, but this ASR show felt a lot like a typical January show in terms of size and scale. Still the must-attend trade show of the season, this year buyers, retailers, and exhibitors were gritting their teeth and smiling through a show that comes in the midst of a sliding U.S. economy.
At the surface, things seemed status quo—models in skimpy swimsuits handing out flyers, a full beer garden, after-show parties, and free-flowing drinks come 5 o’clock. But spend more than five minutes talking to nearly anyone on the floor, and the word recession rose quickly to the surface.
“I’m one of the few people here old enough to remember the last real recession,” says Jeff Harbaugh, market analyst and industry consultant. “It’s bad, and it’s going to be a while before we see the end of this one.”
Even those booths and brands who seemed unaffected were keeping their guard up. “As quickly as it comes, it can go,” says SkullCandy’s Luke Edgar in reference to his brand’s current meteoric popularity. “It’s especially important in hard-economic times to keep our heads down, be humble and treat our retailers with respect, and keep charging ahead.”
We hate to say it, but anyone who thought the 80s revival was over is thankfully wrong. Who would think that anyway?
From the look of some of the products on the floor at the September 2008 ASR show, the neon wave is just beginning to peak. Which is great for those who lived through it the first time. And even more fun for kids who’ve never seen color before.
Funny thing is: we like it all. Bright colors are rad. Video games are rad. And, the Dragon Domos (pictured above) are totally rad.
Follow the link for a few more rad things we saw at the show
After all those times we’ve been hassled by the man while trying to get a skateboard on an airplane without checking bags it was great to see the new Incase P. Rod skateboard bag at San Diego’s Agenda trade show. This thing is the perfect bag for skate travel and while we’d seen it popping up on all the hype sites, it is much better in person.
And this is just one of a well-thoughtout three-piece line that includes an overnight bag and a skate backpack. It will all be available in October.
SIMA, the undisputed champion of trade show scheduling seems immovable. The wiley IASC is tired of living in its older surf bro’s shadow and wants to move the dates. Some hardgoods skate manufacturers (looking for anyone to blame for lagging sales) even say they want skateboarding to have its own trade show.
Retailers claim they’re going to enough shows already. Stuck right in the middle is ASR’sAndy Tompkins.
The talk of the show: who will win when titans clash at Brutal Schedule 09? One thing is sure: if ASR breaks up, retailers will be the losers. And they’re having a tough enough time already. Then again, we’re not sure many of the major labels care all that much about them anyway.
We saw people walking around with these at the ASR show, but we couldn’t really figure out what they were. Now we understand, but it still makes no sense. Stand up skateboarding paddles that cost $149?
Some of the highlights of the Kahuna Big Stick™ Classic is a solid-wood barrel shaped grip with gentle, tapered oval shaft shape to give a great feel in a paddle weighing only 16 ounces. Fabric prints are sealed under the fiberglass for a sweet look. The tip is designed with dual high-performance rubber contacts to allow for high grip and durability and feel as you paddle on the pavement.
Buttons is a pretty heavy endorsement, so they must be serious. But seriously. . . ?
Located at 319 7th Avenue in the heart of San Diego’s Gaslamp District the high ceilinged, 7,000 square foot, brick building sits literally on Petco Park’s left field line directly next the gate that 15,000 people walk through each time there is an event. And Shane Wallace is pretty happy about it. “We have the best retail location at the best ballpark in the nation,” Wallace says.
A DJ is spinning to the side of the woodgrain-and-mirrors eyewear display and skateboarder Terry Kennedy and his crew are making some noise. It’s hard to see much of the detail of the store thanks to the sea of people filling ever bit of floor space. One thing that is visible is the bark-covered trunk of an evergreen tree reaching for the roof. “That’s where the snowboards will go,” Shane says. “We had to wait until after this party to get that set up.”
The interior, which was designed by JPS Designs, The Goodwins, and Shane Wallace, is expansive yet retains a boutique feel. Doors open both onto the street and into the ballpark grounds, so in theory people could walk out of an event and through the store on their way home.
With 27 stores in the heart of what Wall Street is calling the worst “housing state” in the nation, Wallace knows that it hasn’t been all parties and DJ’s in action sports retail lately. “I won’t lie to you,” he says. “It’s been really tough year. But it’s going to turn around.”
He smiles proudly as he gazes across the packed store on opening night. “We have a few more adjustments to make, but this is our future,” he says. “This is Active.”
[Update 09.06.08: Just got word that sales in the store’s first two days of operation have been “stronger than expected.”]
Follow the jump for all the photos (click to see them full size).
