Ganesh, Dogtown, Jay, and Venice Beach

After watching Dogtown and Z-Boys and feeling absolutely inspired by the story of Jay Adams and how much a of non-commercial, corporate-hating, live-or-die skater he was, I was amped to go to Hawaii and meet him. Meanwhile, my skate buddy, Harley, was looking up other interesting tids on the net. We found a comprehensive guide to Everything Dogtown here...

and also learned that Peggi Oki is not so far away.

The Pacific Ocean Park pier where the boys caught waves and respect ...

and the legendary shop where Jeff Ho would shape boards, Horizons West Surf Shop, and the DogTown and Z-Boys made a family and community for themselves is now in danger of being demolished and reincarnated as eco-friendly luxury condos...

My favorite actor of today, Emile Hirsch, not only starred in Into the Wild and Speed Racer (no joke, it's over the top, but he grounds it and takes that transformative hero journey like no other could. The cars are just a metaphor, baby) plays the one and only Jay fucking Adams in the movie about the life of the boys, Lords of Dogtown. What a match. Jay told Emile, make sure you represent my relationship with my mom--it was strong. Wow. From one icon to another, huh?

So after all this, Harley decides that we are going to actually go and pay homage to the Lords of Dogtown, and drive to "Dogtown" and skate the famous streets of Main and Bay. That was a truly magical day.

Magical Happening#1:
We get to the shop at Main and Bay and it looked closed. But right outside it read, "RIP Heath." We had such a blast drawing all the connections in our heads, that Heath played Skip in Lords of Dogtown, made friends with that family that way, Heath also being a very fuck-commercial Hollywood guy, commercial-anything like Jay, and we'd just read this beautiful article about Heath in LA Weekly, written by the arm of people who were his creative haven when he was in Los Angeles. It was historic, but it was closed off to us. So we went into the surf shop, and touched all the neoprene, looking for suits for women, and then suddenly, on the way out, the skate half of the shop was open! 

 As if we had made it open, with our sheer enthusiasm and reverence for being there. All the moments in history were there. The famous shot of all 12 Zephyr skate competitors. Peggy flying, Jay gliding, Tony cutting through air. I already eye my next board. Ganesh deserves a friend. 

Magical Happening #2:
We're skating down the paths, and we start surf riding, the same way these guys used to. Crouching, leaning back, leaning forward, and of course, all this while wearing my schoolgirl "Fuck You" skirt. Suddenly, we gain tremendous speed, because our centers of gravity are much lower. I was able to touch the front of my board just once, but for sure, people were looking at the Z-Boy and Z-Girl riding through. When they weren't looking at rainbow kites.

Magical Happening #3:
We hop off and start walking and suddenly some guys call Harley over. They are totally j-ing off to his longboard--they want to know where it's from, who made it, how old is it, how can it really be the only one like it in the world!!?
What's funny is that while he was basking in that 5 minutes of fame, I was being recognized! On Venice Beach! By a Black family! I saw them staring at me, thru my Arnettes, looking very opposite of the good little hip-hoppin' Indian girl who takes curry insults. I was in my prime, skater girl element. And still, they loudly whispered, "That's her, I know it's her! I see her on MTV!" I decided not to break Harley's fanclub, so that he could enjoy the feeling for himself for once.

Awesome Magical Happening #4:
Okay, and this shit you're going to flip out on. I did. We're skating down in the alley between Ocean and Main, I think, and we've been going for a while, sometimes Harley and I hold hands, and garner comments like "You guys are disgustingly adorable" and other times we'd get "Yeah! Wooh!!" but the best is when we got out our little cheapie new $10 "digital" camera, Harley was just turning around to crouch and snap an action shot of me, low to the ground and surf riding, when suddenly some bikers behind me, who Harley thought were going to ruin his shot, yell out, "Yeah girl! Just like Jay Adams!"

AKHKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

What the fuck!???? One day out, riding like I wish I was my idol, and I attract THAT kind of attention?????? HOLY HOLY F!!!!!!!! They call me by his name??????

Hilarious Happening #5: 

Harley got hit on by an old bird, just as I ran into a friend of mine who happens to be a songbird! So while we chat it up and talk about her album coming out, 'Ol Toothless is telling Harley how adorable he is, and "I'll bet your girl doesn't skate!" He corrects her, and her 85 year-old face sags and starts scowling at me. Aww yeah, all the girls love Harley.