Skateboarding culture rides into the mainstream at UCLA

Angel Aparicio sped down the concrete hill to the bus stop on his skateboard every day after high school. The familiar route turned dangerous when Aparicio lost control while turning a corner, and went flying onto the sidewalk.

He was unable to walk or go to school for more than a week after slamming his hip against the curb – but as soon as he healed, he hopped back on his board.

Now, Aparicio, a fourth-year sociology student, skates in Los Angeles every day, whether it is to class, or at local skate parks. Whether they got their start as kids or as UCLA students, others like Aparicio skate regularly on campus.

Aparicio first discovered skateboarding by playing his older brother’s “Tony Hawk’s Underground” video game when he was 11 years old. Then one day, while practicing basketball at a nearby park, Aparicio saw a stranger perform an ollie on a skateboard and was immediately convinced to buy one.

He was surprised to learn that people could actually skate and do tricks in real life, and not just in video games, he said.

[Related: The Fellers: Skateboarding on UCLA’s campus]

The next day, he and his mother went to a nearby KB Toys shop and bought his first skateboard – a poorly made toy version with spinners on the wheels and a flaming car on the bottom.

Aparicio spent the next months learning how to ride his new board. He eventually focused on learning how to perform one trick known as a tre flip. It took hours of practice every day for more than a month until Aparicio was finally able to flip the board 360 degrees in the air.

“From then on, it was just trick after trick. And it’s been just that for the past 10 years,” Aparicio said.

When he first came to UCLA, Aparicio was determined to keep skating since the hills of Westwood were perfectly suited for hill bombing, the act of riding downhill at fast speeds. Though he experienced his worst fall from hill bombing during high school, it still is Aparicio’s favorite thing to do on his board, he said.

He posted on the UCLA Class of 2017 Facebook page looking for other incoming students who shared his passion. It was through his advertisement that Aparicio met fellow fourth-year sociology student Jay Gannon.

Gannon, like Aparicio, has been skating since he was a child.

His father brought him home his first board when he was 7 years old after seeing him spend so much time playing “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.” Gannon’s first board was eventually stolen, but he picked up another one at age 11 and has been skating since.

“The fact that I’ve been on a skateboard for over 10 years of my life gave me the comfort, and with the comfort came the courage to try,” Gannon said.

Together, Aparicio and Gannon frequent local skate parks around the Los Angeles area with their friends. They typically head to the nearby Stoner Skate Plaza or the West LA Courthouse, the best spots to skate near UCLA, they said. But on other days, when up for the 45-minute bus ride, they travel as far as Venice Beach.

“If I have a free day, right off the bat my plans are to go skate,” Aparicio said. “It’s just a matter of when and how early.”

And though Aparicio has no intentions of becoming a professional skateboarder, it is an essential part of his day.

Other students have not skated as long as Gannon or Aparicio, so they pick up their first boards when they come to college for the convenience of skating around UCLA’s hills.

[Related: California skate culture inspires Old Skool Vans trend]

First-year aerospace engineering student Louis Blaya picked up his first Penny Board during Christmas of 2016.

“I saw my new schedule and I had a one-hour break in between every single class and I did not want to be walking around for three hours every single day,” Blaya said.

Blaya enjoys the convenience of carrying around the smaller Penny Board, as bikes and larger boards would be too cumbersome, he said.

Sam Nishita, a second-year chemical engineering student, also picked up his first longboard during Christmas of 2016.

His roommates pressured him into buying the board and the convenience of saving five to 10 minutes getting to class kept him on it, Nishita said.

In just over a month of skating regularly, Nishita only experienced one major fall.

“I was trying to squeeze between two people, but then I hit something so I lost control and ran into a car that was parked,” he said.

Longboards are typically considered easy to learn to ride and even though he is still trying to learn to skate, it has already been extremely convenient, Nishita said.

Most people with boards at UCLA do not skate to the same extent as students like Aparicio or Gannon, they said. Most typically skate to get to class and do not go beyond learning how to cruise on their boards, Aparicio said.

But UCLA has attracted many new skaters and though there is a sense of what might be considered mainstream in skating culture, students represent different styles that cannot be captured under one umbrella, Gannon said.

“Anybody could be really good at skating whether they’re a Ph.D. candidate or some kid from the inner city,” Aparicio said. “You wouldn’t be able to tell from how they act or how they dress.”