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Salad Days Skateboard Co. Part 1: Sick & Tired of Being Sick & Tired (1) (page 2) As I said in the previous post about my history. I would go into these scenes & come back to Salinas & could never understand how being this close to Cruz, San Jose & San Francisco; the lack of industry & scene that existed here, being that Salinas is this area's city. The saying goes, "there comes a time when you are sick & tired of being sick & tired; that you will eventually do something about it." Which I guess was me & truly is one of the reasons why I started this company called Salad Days. Let's go back to Oceanside. So, when I moved down to Oceanside there was a skate shop there called Ozone Skate Shop; it was the local shop. I met Riley Hawk, Kyle Kimberling, Chris Troy & a gang of other folks that were already in the industry, or were about to come up in it, that rode for them. That shop went out of business, just like that. Poof, gone. One day here, the next day not. That was my first business lesson in the business of skateboarding. My second lesson, happened in West L.A. I lived down the street from the infamous C-house & across the street was Sugar Skateboards, which was owned by Marko Jabinski. If you guys don't know the company Sugar, it sort of makes sense. For many years, I watched "Sharko" run his business. He didn't have much at that time, but one thing I knew he did have was boards & once again folks, location is everything. Break your board at the courthouse & you could go across the street with $20 bucks (inflation is a motherfucker) & get a Sugar board & be skating again in about half an hour. While I wasn't involved that much with Sugar, I would still stop by at times & see what was going down & skate with the team. I would see a lot of other things happening as well, such as Marko working on board designs, guys either hanging out, or stopping by to get supplies before hitting the streets. I watched as the company grew in the local shops & also helped the community stay hyped on skating. Every night after work, or off, Marko was found out at some spot skating, filming, organizing sessions & making videos. He was always handling his business & if you saw him partying, or hanging out; it was uncommon. He was & is a true inspiration to any skateboarder & Sugar is his testament. What Sugar showed me & what I learned from both it & Ozone was that it doesn't take superstars & all these bells & whistles to make it work, while at the same time maintaining longevity. All you really have to do is be passionate about what you are doing & get out there & do it. Does it really matter if World Skateboard Mag mentions your name? Does it really matter if the whole world knows your name, but doesn't know anything about you? Yet claiming to be true to the cause? If you have never heard of any of their riders from their past to their present, names like Billy Roper, Nate Principato, or Mario Saenz, Victor Brooks, etc; you guys should check them out. That's a real small independent, skater owned company right there. Just read the About page on their website. Granted it has been numerous years since I have even seen these guys, or recently observed how their operations are going today, besides Instagram. However, my intentions for highlighting them was to elaborate on the point of why I started Salad Days. (1) (page 2) (Next Post)

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