Way back in 85 I was knee deep into skating. Living in Ohio at the time we didn't have ramps around so it was just about street skating for us. Gonz was our hero...the guy that made street skating cool. So they had a contest downtown at the convention center and tons of pros were there but I was just there to watch Gonz tear it up. So I'm sitting in the stands and who comes up and sits RIGHT NEXT TO ME? Yeah, Mark Gonzales. Man...I was gitty. He was so cool and laid back...wasn't a stuck up prick like so many of the pros of that time...he sat and chatted with me for about 30 minutes and drew a Gonz original piece of artwork on my board per my request. I'm sure he would have rather been sitting elsewhere instead of getting pummeled with questions by me...but he never showed it if he did. Definitely one of the coolest pros I ever met...I know he wouldn't remember that conversation but I was on cloud 9 for quite a while. Thanks Mark👍
That's the best story man, I honestly want to meet him the most out of any pro that I haven't talked to yet which I've only said a few words to some but either way. Also jason dill for sure, him and I would get along great.
Cool story. I have a quick story too. I didn't get to talk to him like you, but I saw him in SF when I had just graduated high school and on my way to Junior College one day (circa 2001). Lucky I was actually wearing a REAL skateboards (his team at the time) t shirt that day instead of my usual metal shirt. I turned right at the corner on my way to the subway, and there he was on a bike in front of me. He caught a glimpse of my shirt and looked back at me for a quick moment as he rode away behind me. He probably read in my surprised expression what I was thinking... "whoa! that's Mark Gonzalez!" I have told that story probably over 15 times.
Spent a couple years with Mark 7-8 grades in Glendora at Sandburg Middle School. No money, he would rip his sister's Barbie pink flex board at the Glendora Bowl. Always blew minds, on whatever and wherever he skated. It was late 70s, early 80s, and we got respect from all the older guys because of Mark's abilities, he pushed us, and made us better skaters too. We all knew his talent would get him to the pro level, even joking around that one day they'd make a Speedy Gonzales board for him. Good for all he's done and the trail he has blazed. Couldn't happen to a better person. Thanks for the fond memories Mark!
@@zerofckz6158 think it was a separation or divorce of his parents that he had to live in Glendora for those years. Still have the yearbooks with him in there. He dropped by one our friend’s house for a visit a few months after he had moved back to Fountain Valley or South Gate, I’m not sure. My friend had built a ramp, just one sheet of thin plywood, up against a cinder block wall that was about 7-8 feet high. It was wicked and narrow, had the toughest tightest transition with a couple feet vert where end of plywood met the last couple blocks near the top. All we could was fakie from close to vert. Mark shows up and within minutes has it wired and destroys it…dropping in from top, rock and rolls, etc…our minds blown again as usual watching him do his thing. Always did it with ease too.
@@TheWallygatorca he had a ramp at the South Gate house. It was a corner house. The side back yard had no wall,so me and my friends would skate down and catch him on that ramp. Good times. 🛹 👍
The yellow deck he's riding throughout this video is one I designed (shape and graphic) for Natas a few years back. Can't believe I get to write that sentence!!! skateboarding rules!!!!!!!
The best at Gonz is his mentality, there is no difference between he's 10 or 40 years old...he got a big gift, to be a child inside...the body is grown and the mind become older, but his heart is the same of an 6 years old! The most of us lost this gift! He is one of the good guys...
This is the best bio collection I’ve seen on Gonz. Possibly more inspirational now that he’s the crazy ol dude terrorizing NYC ... just a gift to the this little world we’ve been blessed to exist on. Much love & thanx
The greatest of all, his frontside ollies are the epitome of style. Gonz is skateboarding and skateboarding is Gonz. I love you man, you are one of my very few heroes.
@@duanescot I got into skating around 87. I was from NorCal to. I skated with Gonz once in SF. He was so rad. He barreled down a hill and ollied the distance of a crosswalk. Easily 13ft from white line to white line and cleared it with room. What a great time to be a kid.
The blues,,, that's beautiful man,,,,,if you know the blues then you know,,,if your sad or lonely , angry then you play the blues n you feel all the negative shit wash away n the good happy blissfull feeling start flowing through you ,,, I feel it when I play me harmonica or the bongos ,,,I try to play guitar but I'm still shitty at it but it's passionate stuff so your flowing positive vibes out into the universe,,,then ,,,,! .? ,,,AINT BORED NO MORE N ALL THE BLUES HAVE FLOWED OUT THERE, DO WAT U LOVE N UR DOING WELL,,,Failing that crab ur board n go skate
3:50 I forgot how much I loved too see these guys rip he had the instinctive thought to touch the ground before he hit a rail. You will never see that today. Gonz was one of the last skaters that understood the ground was cool to touch at high speeds.
My gawd ! Who jumps the Wallenberg Steps like that ! He looks like he was going so fast and he was. Blinding speed with a massive crail grab. Who does that ! I remember seeing a Vision add with Mark and something attracted me to his style . Little did I know I would skate for the next 30 years .. I loved it. Wish I could still skate.
Love the Gonz...and as I know some of the London spots and knew skateboarding before Mark brought his stuff to the world and made it a better place and much funnier. Watch and enjoy and learn from one of the world's finest ever Riders of the Board. I love the fact that at this point in time of over 1,827 views no-one is naff enough to give this short film a thumbs down. for most it should not even be an option. Ride on... Boardie Gonzales !
I just watched this before I went to bet, then woke up and got on the computer, and I just realised i watched the whole thing again whithout even realising.
I was a kid, 12 years old, and I lived on the next block over from Mark. We would build wood ramps, go up, turn around and that was it. He wasn’t any better or worse than the rest of us. What was different was that look that mark gave to the camera; we would be playing, and a minute later Mark would look at me exactly like that look he gave the camera; then start wailing on me with fists…only way to get him to stop was to either run or fight back. I miss those days.
I love the gonz but I have to say I started skateboarding because of tony hawk. Being a teen in the mid 80's tony was everywhere even the tv show that's incredible. After seeing tony skate I wanted a skateboard. I got one and began skateboarding on the streets. Then I began reading Thrasher and transworld. That's when I really discovered Gonz. Then I discovered the Gonz Gap @ the embarcadero in sf.
I got into skating cuz if gonz he was always my favorite cuz he looked like me lol 😂 plus i love riding around nyc soho street full speed like him those were the days!!!...
How can you not know about Mark and not be completely inspired by him. He looks like he’s having so much fun and even with his success he is still playing in traffic and trying to kick flip his bikes lol
Go skateboard shop was on 42nd Ave San Mateo CA that s place we're wed listen to the grateful Dead live at the Frost amphitheater with Larry mike arco and my father loves that Olympic games type stuff!
Loved Gonz growing up but in those days only vert was covered in the rags, so a lot and what I mean by a lot is MOST skaters skated street. For example we were placing the quarter pipe on a wall to wall ride, then we realized a hip ramp would do, then if you mastered wall riding and big ollie's you could do a mini wall ride.
After I saw the photoshoot of the Gonz Gap at EMB, I wuz an instant Gonz fan. I had 5 of his boards. My first Gonz with my new Indy 159's and Rat Bones and I wuz ready to ollie up those school benches.
Gonz and Natas came along and then there was this thing called a pro street skater. It was a new and fresh idea that would boggle my mind a bit. It was always the vert guys that got all the glory before.
hes the main reason i run a quiver and different trucks. Its fun to ride different ways and ollie the same things it does feel different on different trucks and board lengths. Even if its the same wheel shape or deck width. The older you get the more fascinating it becomes to ollie the same gap or transfer the same hip/gap with different setups. You realize you can skate the same obstacle at different speeds or air, and just flow around. Until each setup has to be truly ridden a certain way and you learn which tricks really bode well with shorter 31.5 lengths or 8.38x32.75" cadillac cars. I cant wait to add a 215 setup to the collection. Its probably going to be an egg
Every skateboarders favorite skateboarder. Took what Rodney Mullen was doing and took it vertically. The reason I skateboard the way I skateboard, Street Style
Matt K that’s the one!!!!!step by step ollie over pool gap. That issue was my first thrasher and had ads for Animal chin, police academy 3, 720 arcade game, Hosoi 10’ air!!!!!! I was one year into skating at 11years old. One or the Best experience of my life. Thanks for helping me. Gonz I hope your read this fan mail. Hahaha
Sick boy's was Soo much fun those years skateboard ing 33rd Ave even with John Cardial and Julian and friends from H.M.B Samtans to Bart was $25 cents back then 85-86 I'm thinking about it good times Kieth cockrine joe Heckman and John Cardial the day s of old bumb bank in half Moon Bay and cotton Ross ramps way back!?
