![]() ![]() That was three days before Gus’s sixteenth birthday. That the first fall in our new apartment, Hurricane Sandy rolled right over Long Beach. The first two years were tough-a divorce, and a move. In high school Gus continued to explore modern sneaker culture. See the French worksheet with the Emerica logo on it. He focused on those in elementary and middle school-often making sure he had two different colored shoelaces-one pink and the other black, in fact.īy the time Gus was in high school, he was less focused on the skateboard brands, although he still doodled those brand logos on his high school papers. In the first photographs that show Gus in his cool shoes, you can see Gus wearing the well-known skateboard shoe brands-Vans, DC, Emerica, Osiris, Supra. We began to call Gus “Imelda” after Imelda Marcos-the wife of the former president of the Phillipines, Ferdinand Marcos, who was reputed to have over a thousand pairs of shoes. It must have been enough for me just to type it up. I had clearly become too tired of being asked for money so often that I wanted him to promise to stop asking until his birthday. At one point, I even drafted a “Shoe Contract” for Gus-a document I was surprised to come across years later. He took to going in on his own, trying on the sale shoes, and coming home to ask me for $20.00 to buy a new pair of Vans-on sale. ![]() So, Gus looked in the window of the Long Beach Surf Shop. The whole thing-the affordability, the independence, the “cool” image of skateboarding (and the really cool ones in LA-that distant and dream-like city in that dream-like state of California), and the rebellious music made skateboarding Gus’s “culture” of choice. Tony Hawk’s Underground had really cool music, too. That’s just old enough to be someone to look up to, but not too old to be someone you might be able to tag along with, or join in playing games like Runescape, or Tony Hawk’s Underground. It was all cool, and it was all pretty affordable. ![]() The music seemed to “go with” the skateboard culture. By the time Gus was in sixth grade, his big brother was playing with his friends in a band. It was an independent sport-and Tony Hawk’s skateboarding video game made it super cool. They did not have to worry about lifeguards saying to them “you can’t surf here.” They could pretty much go where they wanted and when they wanted. Also, skateboarders did not have coaches and parents to boss them around. But all you needed to be good at skateboarding, and therefore part of that group, was one skateboard. Sports-the equipment, membership/dues for travel teams, etc.-were expensive. And the fact was surfboards, lessons, and everything else that went with it was expensive. The other “culture” in Long Beach, aside from “surfer culture” and “hockey/lacrosse/sports-in-general culture” was skateboard culture. It offered all manner of surf “wear”-from rash guards to snazzy bathing suits to board wax to wrap-around sunglasses. It provided a place for people to buy surf boards and surfboard paraphernalia. Long Beach Surf Shop served several purposes to Long Beach locals. Gus stopped by, on his own, or with friends-sometimes. The place was right in the middle of town, there was only one main drag where all the stores were. Gus regularly visited a local business called Long Beach Surf Shop. ![]() One of the first observable instances of Gus’s keen fascination with shoes was the moment he commented on his grandmother’s black Converse All-Stars. He began to show an interest in “cool shoes” around fourth or fifth grade. ![]()
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