Hollywood, CA
On our maiden voyage to the oldest skateshop in the world, an unwelcome guest made her presence known. Mother Nature and all her wrath was in the house at Val Surf in North Hollywood forcing us to take shelter and make plans for what we call a “do over” in the éS Game of SKATE. With just a few games under way when the skies opened up, the decision was made to start fresh one week later and hopefully have all of the rain-soaked kids return to claim their spot in the lineup.
A week later under a more typical California sky all the hungry skaters from the rain-out showed up and a few new faces made it into the line up. One of those new faces, Chris Mendes, would prove to be a force greater than Mother Nature when it came to sending kids home early. The legendary Max Knee showed up with a posse of support, local favorites Chris Angeles, Matt Lemond and Adam Swanson were all in the brackets but it was Chris Mendes, that made his way to the top spot in the finals, taking home the éS/Boost Mobile Game of SKATE Gold Medal and that coveted ticket to the Amateur World Championships being held in Costa Mesa July 11th-13th.
The finals at Val Surf were so amazing that Brandon Richards, one of the owners of Val Surf, passed on courtside seats at the Lakers play-off game, just so he wouldn’t miss a thing!