What is Viejo Guerrero?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Viejo Guerrero is Spanish for 'Old Warrior'. The Viejo Guerrero Blog is dedicated to Arizona Skateboarders who are the first Generation and creators of the AZ Skate Scene. Each month Viejo Guerrero will focus on a pivitol Arizona skateboarder/or spot who helped pave the way for modern AZ Skateboarding. Our first installment will feature none other than Donnie "Don Ho" Christ---An OG AZer FOR SURE. Get your stoke on and check back soon.

posted by AZPX Skateboards @ 7:25 PM, ,

Joe 'Joey' Albillar

1. How many years have you been skating?
If I count from the time I got my very first metal wheeled skateboard around 1967 and began sidewalk surfing with one knee on the board and the other leg pushing along, it's 40 years. Ive never not owned a skateboard since so that could count. If I count from the time I was addicted in 1975 with my first taste of urethane wheels, it's 33 years!

2. You skated in Mexico City in the 70's. How did this come about?
My family moved to Mexico City in 1974 because of my dads job and we lived in a hilly part of town. It was a new section and there was new development all over the place. The new roads they built were so smooth and perfect for downhilling. The board I had at that time had clay wheels. Believe it or not clay wheels on a smooth asphalt road was a good ride. They tended to slide out on turns so if you if you werent trying to slide - watch out ! Other than the downhilling wed bring our boards to school and ride freestyle on the tennis courts at lunch. Some of my friends had these awsome new wheels made out of this space-age material called urethane. I had my sights set on one of those boards since the downhill session was eating up my clay wheels.
The end of that board was like Fred Flintstone getting a flat on his stone wheeled car. Remember how Fred's cartoon stone wheels would just disentegrate? Thats what happened to my clay wheels in the end, they just chipped apart where I couldn't ride them any more.

3. You grew up with (Ping) Steve Pingleton, is he the person who got you into skating?
If anybody got me into skating it was my mom. She outfitted me with my 1st metal wheeled skateboard, 1st clay wheeled skateboard and 1st urethane wheeled fiberglass hawaiian print board with a kicktail that looked like a ramp that went up to vert. Those early boards were all like 5 inches wide max ! Trucks were probably 2 inches wide too ! My mom was totally cool on skateboarding. My 1st ramp was one sheet of 1/4 inch plywood bent up to vert. We used metal shelf brackets and screwed the ramp to the carport wall. She didn't even have a fit the few times a board got away and shot up to put a hole in the carport ceiling.

I'd say Ping was the one friend I started skating with that never quit. That was the awesome thing, 'cauz before I'd hook up with some friends that skated and over time, they'd quit and I'd hook up with new friends that skated and so on. I met Ping at High Roller skatepark in 78 and we've been close friends ever since. Thinking about it, Ping is my oldest continuous friend who I've never lost touch with - hey 30 years this year ! He moved away to Seattle way back in the early 90's but his mom lives here in AZ so we skate every once or twice a year at least when he comes back. Ping always had the connections to the hot pools and secret places to skate. I wouldn't have skated most of the rad spots around AZ if it hadn't been for him. Back in the day you could buy beer at 19 years old and Steve scored us lots of 6 packs on the way to the Dead Cat Pool sessions. He was a grade ahead of me and is responsible for my beer cravings to this day!

4. You skated the legendary dead cat pool in the 70s and the 80s, any good stories to tell?
Dead Cat was one continuous good story. For those that don't know the pool, it was made of a type of whitish concrete that didn't chip away like most plaster pools. It was huge, you could pour at least 6 regular size pools in it and had the lights on the side walls so the face wall was free of the light hole. Also it had four love seats. Two of them were long like a 10 foot bench on the side walls. And best of all, not a bust 'cauz it was at burned down mansion house out in the boonies and didn't have many close neighbors.

During rainy season years in the spring there used to be these little micro beetles that would swarm the area and lots of them would end up in the pool. They would literally cover the whole bottom. You'd have to sweep them up and fling them out with a dust pan. Once you got as many as you could, it was then ridable but the beetles you did run over would make the bottom and your skate wheels so slippery it was dangerous so you were limited to carves and risk it on a kick turn. I must admit though we pulled some crazy Cess Slides ! After a while the pool walls would be marked with tracks of beetle slime.

The last time I rode Dead Cat before its demise in 87 the Sheriff arrived to bust us about two hours into the session. The funny thing was that we pretty much just ignored him and kept on skating. There were about 15 of us skating and we talked to him and gave him every lame excuse in the book why we should be allowed to stay there and it was at least a half hour later when we packed it up and left. We got the whole thing on video tape, it's funny to watch and see him pacing back and forth on the pool deck and us just keep taking run after run !

5. Skating the desert pipes really prepared us for the high roller pipe; don't you wish Arizona had a full pipe to ride these days?
Actually for me it was the other way around. My first pipe I rode was the blue fiberglass one at Christown Mall. I think it was around 16 feet across. They had a mobile skatepark that was there for a couple weeks. This was probably 1977 and when High Roller opened up in 1978 the pipe quickly became my favorite sesh spot. We had the most extreme sessions there with Shelton, Morgan, Kenny, the Ping brothers, Don Ho and lots of others. It was toward the back of the Park so it doubled as a great party spot to make sure we didn't wear ourselves out too much without taking a break ! And yes... I wish AZ had a full pipe to ride these days. They just opened up a decent one in Vegas though that I rode a couple months ago. We need to do a road trip !

High Roller though was awesome, that's the only place I ever rode in contests and in the pipe during one of the contests I couldn't believe I scored perfect 10s from all three judges during each of the three separate runs that night. Come to think of it out of the grand total of maybe three local contests and the AZ State contest held there, I never took less than 1st place ! Wooo Hoooo my place in history ! ! !

Ping introduced me to the desert pipes which were so smooth and sooooo big. Memories? Big scary downhill runs, walking through the pipeline from the far side to avoid security. At least 10 minutes in pitch black. No flashlight of course. Luckily no face plants into equipment or falling into some bottomless pipe hole, Best memories of all is at the Hassayampa Pipes running from the security guard back into the pipeline blackness while those who didn't run got busted and then later that same day running from the sherrif and hiding in the river bed while those who didn't run got busted. Skating - Love it !

6. I never did get to ride the Love Bowls, but you were featured in Thrasher Magazine riding them. Who took the photo?
I don't know about "featured", but a picture taken by none other than Steve Pingleton took the photo and Brian Brannon wrote a cool article titled Phoenix Skate Town. September 1988 Thrasher Mag. It's got a lot of old skoolers pictured in it. Todd Joseph, Steve Shelton, Me, Chicken Butt, Brian Cook (Wrex), etc. Any Phoenix skate historians would do well to dig up a copy of that issue ! I'm raging over it right now - glad it survived the last 30 years in my sacred box of skate mags. Primo story by Brian about Phoenix Skate History. Brian - you are the best skate writer - hands down.

7. You have been shooting skate photos since the 70's, now you are shooting skate videos. What is the title of your maiden project?
My maiden project is Mission Unstoppable. A video of our downhill crew bombing South Mountain road ! Matter O fact, I'm burning some more copies as I'm answering this here question. The DVDs go fast and we pretty much give them out for free to our friends and bros we meet skating. We shot it over this last summer in 07 after being clued into an extreme beautifully paved 3 1/2 mile road at South Mountain AZ. It drops over 1000 feet ! It'd get so hot in the day, we were getting up at 4:00am to get skating at 5:00am. Been getting rave reviews, it's got your nearly fatal crash from Holbert lookout and a Bootleg Live BucketHead Zeppelin Riff Set timed to some major video effects etc. etc. etc. I could go on and on but you just have to see the film !

8. We both fell out of skating for awhile, now we are back better than ever. Aren't you glad we got back on our boards?
Definitely!! Lots of people think I'm crazy 'cauz I'm a Viejo Guerrero and should be sitting on the couch getting fat and having a mid-life crisis, but with all these parks popping up here in the North Phoenix Locale and good friends to sesh with I'd be missing out on my second childhood. I'm skating with friends that I'd fallen out of touch with 30 years ago. Viejo Guerro is in the blood. I'm just glad that the wave of skateparks didn't happen when I was like bedridden in some rest home or something. I would just have lost it and probably cruised my wheelchair over to the GoodYear Bowl deep end and done a roll in to end it all !

9. You're a fast learner, you are the only person I have been able to teach front side berts to. Were you always a fan of surf style?
Actually you're getting me into surf style now. You, Don Ho are the surfiest skater I've seen. When I was a kid I could never do good front side carves and now you've helped me learn them along with front side berts. So basically I'm new to surf style and you've been a good teacher. Thanks !

posted by AZPX Skateboards @ 3:33 PM, ,

Steve 'Ping!' Pingleton
Sunday, January 6, 2008

This installment of Viejo Guerrero is for Arizona Master Skate Archivist Steve 'Ping!' Pingleton. I met Ping! at the Casa Grande Bowl 'bout '89 or '90 and we hit it off instantly. The dude was so far removed of what skateboarding "looked like" I knew immediately he was as hardcore as hc gets. Not only did this uber nerd carry a camera everywhere, he was also one the earliest computer artists, airbrush technicians and concert bootlegger. I wanted to grow up and be Ping! Needless to say that meeting turned into an endless barrage of skate missions, camping trips, concerts and epic parties. Ping! was stoked on how he could call me jonezin for pool info and I would always say "I'll call you back in 5", and the sesh was on! That's enough of my Ping! ass kiss sesh. Here's Donnie Ho's interview of the mighty Ping! and some kill visuals to go along with it. Oh yeah, go to DesertPipes to check out Ping!'s archive.

PING'S INTERVIEW

1. How many years have you been skating?
A little over 30 years, since about 1976 or so. I never stopped during the great vert "black hole" of the late 80's - 90's when all the skate parks closed and vert skating died off. I skated downhill, pools, ramps, etc. to keep going.

2. When and where did you lose your vert-ginity? How was it?
We use to ride our bikes down alleys in grade school looking for pools. I think we had about 6-7 pools in four to five neighborhoods around my house growing up. We saw what was being done in the skateboarding magazines, so we took it from banks to pools pretty quickly. The first pool I really remember we called "Shaw Butte" pool. This pool was a nice round egg bowl with easy alley access. I remember some of my friends (Morgan, & Larry Mead) used to ride barefoot in that pool. I have some photos of Larry doing front side grinds and you can see his toes plus trucks. I tried skating barefoot and it did help to grip the board, but after getting bruised feet I went to leather moccasins then Vans when they came out. I remember my first big trick was front side carves over the light in my leather moccasins at Shaw Butte pool. Once I hit tile, then coping, I could never stop. It's funny, thirty years later front side carve grinds are my favorite "soul" trick lately. What a long strange trip it’s been...

3. I remember skating the infamous "Dead Cat" pool with you and your brother John. You used to do those crazy airs off the love seat onto the side wall. Wouldn't it be cool if one of the skate park builders would replicate that pool?
Yeah, those were good times! We rode that pool for five years straight. That pool was so unique, the massive size, the gnarly coping, the obstacles like the loveseats and a burned down mansion! Roman shaped pools are pretty rare. I have skated a few smaller back yard Romans but they were no where close to the Dead Cat experience. I think it would be a great design for a skate park bowl, i.e. round bowl, inverted loveseats in the corners, square sidewalls with more loveseats and death boxes. Dead Cat pool was truly a training ground for us all. It was so big and deep, you could go really fast on the super smooth plaster. You really had to have your shit together to ride there! I remember we all ripped that place up. You, Shelton, Joe Albilar, Jimi Howard, Morgan McCarthty, Slater, and my brother John. All the Westside/Litchfield crew, AZ legends were born there. I still have these excellent Dead Cat pool dreams like thirty years later. I will never forget that place.

4. I remember skating the desert pipes by Lake Pleasant, and then swimming at the flumes. Any comments on the Desert Pipe era?
The desert pipes were so epic, where do I even begin? The desert pipes really set us apart from Cal, especially in the 70s.We had the best skate terrain in the world. At first, at Lake Pleasant, we were just carving the huge pipelines, because we were riding pools and didn’t know how to kick turn at high speeds. Once the pipes hit the magazines and the boys from Cal. came out and showed us how to ride the sections, it was on! The AZ locals caught on immediately. Those down hills were so fast and smooth you could go as high as you dared to go, and we did. Since the pipe projects were so remote it was cool to be able to skate pipes, swim in the CAP canals, camp and party in the desert which was all we wanted. Security was pretty weak, except in the Indian Reservations and we had lots of fun adventures. Lake Pleasant was close to Phoenix and the biggest project. It was the beginning of it all. I tried to document as much as I could on my website www.desertpipes.com. I have shared lots of photos from my personal stash as well as stories. I even put together a DVD of videos from my personal collection.

5. I think its rad that you and Joey had the fore site to capture those images and sessions with photos and video. I wish I would have saved some of my old skateboards and taken more pictures when I was young. What got you into photography?
Actually, it was the old school master skate photographers who first got me stoked on shooting skateboarding photos. Cassimus, Jim Goodrich, C.R. Stecyk III, Glen Friedman, Bryce Knaights. All those dudes who shot for the skate mags back then. Skateboarding photography was a challenge. The photo equipment was pretty primitive back then and good cameras were pretty expensive for us in High School/College. As far as video's we felt lucky if someone could borrow their dad's VHS cameras. I got my first 35mm camera from a friend name Mike Lanning about 1982 or so. Much respect to Mike, he was a great skate photographer and a big influence on me and Joe. I remember we built a darkroom at his apartment near Joe's house and we all nearly died mixing fixer with no ventilation in 110 degrees during an Arizona summer heat. Joe Albillar went to High School with me and was a naturally talented skate photographer. He still continues to amaze me to this day. My mom was very supportive of me too. I hate to admit it, but I got busted in High School shoplifting film on my way to California with friends. My mom still let me go! I was poor but had to have skate photos. I did whatever it took I guess.

6. The High Roller days were awesome. We had some bionic sessions there. Do you remember skating the hell out of that place and then partying at North Mountain Park then going back to High Roller and skating all hammered?
OMG, dude you were there. How can we ever forget those days! Looking back we were so blessed to have the quality skate park we had. High Roller's design was so far ahead of its time. It is one park that I would love to see replicated. The big full pipe/flat wall was as good if not better than the original Upland Pipeline Skate Park. They had much better bowls. Yeah I remember the raging keg parties at North Mountain Park in the 70's & 80's. The cops could not control it at all. Since we were all under age North Mountain/Shaw Butte were good party spots on the way to High Roller in Sunnyslope.
Crazy things I remember about High Roller were; huge follow the leader sessions in the free style area at night (10-20 people) jumping the fence at night to skate the clover bowl and pipeline under the street lights, skating drunk on top of roofs at Keg parties on North Mountain then back to the skate park. We also were lucky to have Skate in the Shade (12ft keyhole) in Tempe, Permanent Wave, Thrasherland and tons of banks and pools. High Roller was also such a proving ground for early AZ skaters. Even the pros from California came to respect us at the High Roller contest.

7. Now in the 21st century, living in the North West you get to ride some killer parks. How do you like skating those huge parks?
I moved from Phoenix to Seattle in 1994 (13 Years Ago) It was a huge lifestyle change for me. My entire AZ wardrobe was shorts & shirts. I froze my ass off when I first moved here!!
There were no pools here but good snowboarding and mountain biking which was a
good alternative for adrenalin fixes. About 2000-2002 Dreamland/Grindline
was born in West Seattle and they started building these sic/scary skate parks all over the pacific northwest. Looking back I think Seaskate at Seattle Center (11 ft combination bowl) the original Ballard Bowl (sweet 10ft combi bowl) & Sumner set the standards for all the epic skate parks we have now. One of the best sessions of my life was at Seaskate
(Seattle Center) during the Experience Music Project "Hey Punk" event in 2001, with Brian Brannon, Duane Peters & Tony Alva on a late summer day before the demo. I shot about seven hours of video during the three events from 2000-2002. I am just finishing up editing the DVD's with all of the bands and skaters. The new parks rule, they just keep getting gnarlier. I have two full pipes over 18 feet within 1 hour of my house. The closest is 20 minutes away. Big cradles are way fun, Lincoln City is incredible, similar to Arlington and Goodyear. Portland has the raddest skate parks right now. Pier and Vancouver are so scary. It's a good time to be alive and skateboarding!!!

8. Seeing you have skated in the last four decades, do you see a difference in the skate scene today as opposed to the 70's & 80's?
The major differences I see are in the equipment and the magazines. It really amazes me that there is so much money and emphasis now in street skating. Vert skating is making a comeback with the X-Games, Gravity Games, Concrete Rodeo and Oregon Trifecta. Those guys Burnquist, P.L.G. Sandro Diaz, Shawn White, Bucky, Danny Way, all risk their lives skating BIG vert walls!! But the big money goes to the street skaters doing flippy tricks over stairs and rails. (WTF?) Has the sport been totally sold out to the big corporations just to sell shoes and gear to poser kids from the suburbs? It seems like its more about the money now than the soul of the sport. Don't get me wrong, I do respect street skaters for irritating the local cities enough to build the new generation of skate parks. It's just the exploitation of the sport and commercialism I really hate. In the seventies we were the pioneers and it was all a rad new adventure. The eighties started out with cool skateboarding and Punk was in, then it died because of the greedy, paranoid adults. The nineties were the "great void" for us vert skaters. All of the skate parks were closed and street skating became popular. In the 21st century vert skating is being reborn with all the new terrain. I predict it will re-emerge on top again.

9. You're a seasoned veteran and a true Viejo Guerrero. Any advice for the groms?
Respect the locals, watch and learn from everyone. Don't follow fads or trends and do what feels right for you. Ride what works best for your style, screw what others say. Wear your pads and helmets because 20 years from now you'll be glad you did. Safety equipment is cheaper than a trip to the hospital. Skating consistently with soul & style is way cooler than any flippy, or robo trick that you finally pull off after 20 tries. Above all, have fun because that's what it's all about.

10. Well Steve, you've skated over 30 years so far and you're riding as good as ever. If you keep it up you could hit the half century mark. What do you think; do you have another twenty years in you?
Boy Don, I sure hope so bro! You know I just had shoulder surgery 6 weeks ago for a torn rotator cuff but I actually feel lucky compared to many skaters. For my age I have not had that many major injuries. I got nine stitches in my forehead by dropping my back truck into the death box on a front side air off of the loveseat at Dead Cat with no helmet. Joe A. drove me to the hospital. I dislocated my shoulder in 2003 but other than that I have had sprains, bruises and cuts but nothing major. I think vert skating is a really good aerobic exercise, especially pipe skating. I skate 2-3 times per week for one hour or more. I also snowboard a lot and do some mountain boarding and hiking. My body really needs the hard exercise, and the adrenaline is really the best drug. I hope to be skateboarding as long as my old body can handle it. Vert skating can be brutal, but with all the (sic) new skate parks being built it’s just way to stay stoked on life and I will keep skateboarding everything as long as I can...peace...

posted by AZPX Skateboards @ 6:00 AM, ,

Todd (TJ) Joseph
Monday, July 30, 2007

What can I say but that I am more than stoked to have an exclusive Todd Joseph interview on the VIEJO conducted by none other than the Ho himself; Don Ho. TJ is more just an integral part of our AZ skate scene, he was active in the AZ Punk scene as well. Donnie has decided to take the helm on Viejo Guerrero so look out for some more AZ legends coming soon.-Lob Rocker

When did you start skating?
In 1976, I got a Hang Ten board for my birthday.
What's your first skate memory?
Seeing a picture of Gregg Weaver skating barefoot in an empty pool..it was in Sports Illustrated. It blew my mind. I just remember thinking..."I gotta do that".
What's your favorite 70s skate spot?
I gotta go with High Roller skatepark in Phoenix. Next would be Marina Del Rey.

If you could pick a crew to have your ultimate skate session, who would you want to ride with?
Neil Blender, Duane Peters, Ray Rodriguez, Dave Z., John Lucero, Nik Rosendahl, Kevin Staab, Brad Bowman, Christian Hosoi, Mike Weed, Tex
Gibson, Chris Strople, Bert Lamar, the list goes on...

What's the gnarliest thing you have done on a skateboard?
I won a contest at Upland, after only a handful of runs there. Complete snake session and everything.

Why do you still skate?
It's in my blood.

Where do you skate most?
AZ skateparks...I like Glendale, McDowell Mountain Ranch, Tempe, Goodyear and Peoria.

Do you prefer downhilling, street, slalom or bowlriding?
Bowlriding fo sho! but I like em all.

Tony Hawk or Tony Alva?
Both, they are both cool guys. Great skaters, and have added so much to skating (that said; Alva).

If you could choose one of your heroes to skate with, who would it be?
Duane Peters, period.

posted by AZPX Skateboards @ 9:58 AM, ,

Donnie 'Don Ho' Crist
Sunday, May 20, 2007

Hopes and dreams realized and destroyed. The undeniable legendary Dead Cat.

Ho is the shit! This dude is rippin' harder today! This is what he sent me:

Hey Rob, here are the photos you wanted. I started skating in the summer of '75. I
knew a kid with a board with clay wheels. We used to go to the mall and skate. My
first day on a board I was being pulled by a bike, I wiped out and took out an
old lady in the process. She was pissed. Soon after that urethane wheels came
out. Open ball bearings, then came closed bearing wheels. By '77, I was skating the
infamous Dead Cat Pool. By '78 we got our first really good park. It was called
High Roller. We were skating the desert pipes, dead cat and High Roller. It was a
great time for skateboarding. In '78 I was recruited by Stacy Peralta, I started
skating for Powell Peralta as an Am. Stacy had Jim Cassimus shoot me at High
Roller in the snake run. That's where I got my full page shot in Skateboarder
Mag. I skated for Stacy for nearly a year. I also skated for Pepsi Cola for a
short time...Ho