I think I was around 15 when my Dad was 40 and thought, "Man he's old. There's no way I'll be skating at that age."
I was introduced to skateboarding through my father. He was a surfer back in the 50's & 60's in Hawaii, where my parents grew up. They later moved to California and I was born. Skateboarding was the thing for surfers here in California in the 60's and my Dad immediately made me a homemade board.
Gerry Lopez was a famous surfer back then and his board had a lightning bolt in the in the middle, so my Dad made me a surf/skateboard with a lightning bolt on it.
Since my Dad was an artist, I grew up around art shows and openings and that had a big impact on me as well, especially in L.A. So skateboarding was the cool thing to do and I was totally attracted to it and once I saw the magazines... that was it, I knew this was what I wanted to do for a living.
