With a few hours to kill, we figured we would go to new skate shop that just opened in Long Beach, Urban Rolling. I had heard about it during Monday Night Skate, but hadn't brought myself to go. It's a mission to drive down to downtown Long Beach just to stare at some skates and maybe get wheels. But today was different. Chris and I were further south and the 5 freeway would be packed. I texted Jeremy Soderberg for an address and off we went. We used Chris' G1 phone to navigate our way to mecca. Let me just say Google Navigation is the best thing ever. But the battery on the G1 is all sorts of fail.
We've driving down Elm St wondering where the shop would be. Chris says "I don't see the skate shop..hope we didn't pass it." As we come up on 3rd st, there's a large sign "Urban Rolling". I think that answered our prayers. We park after having our spot in front of the shop snagged. We walked in and you know it was oddly refreshing to go into a shop to buy goods. Last shop I bought goods from in person was during my Norcal extravaganza trip last December where I went out of my way to visit Amall. It was just nice not to stare at a screen to look at skate goods.
The first thing you see is the front desk, oddly unmanned. When visited Amall, I had that same kind of luck. I have a photo of it somewhere...
We wandered around the store aimlessly, staring at everything. Well, first we gravitated to the skates. Wouldn't you?
Let me just say the Ben Schwab Xsjados look loads better in person than they do online. So do the Carbons. They even have the Jr Razor skates. Get your sibling a pair of skates from here. $109 dollars. Okay shameless plug in complete.
They have a few backpacks for those of you interested..
I'm not fan of the GC bag after the first version of this bag decided to stop zipping. Since then I've made some fun of GC's proven ideas slogan. The irony is I'm riding GC featherlites now. haha. They were gifts from a friend so I can't complain. Surprisingly good frames compared to my last pair of frames, the Mooks. Oh and if you're wondering, yes, they sell frames too. Too bad I only caught photos of their wheels and random hardware. But if you like GC frames, they have them in stock.
They have Street Artist wheels! I'm glad I didn't have extra cash on me or I would have been one broke boy.
They also sell some clothes. A few Vibralux shirts, some INRI shirts and jeans, Gost gear, and a few other companies...
We ended up talking to the owner for a good hour or so. Turns out his kid skates, Sean. Who's Sean I asked myself? He showed us some edits of his son and then it hit me - I had skated with Sean on numerous occasions and had even taken photos of Sean! Case and Point...Sean and Dan below:
Ah that was such a fun shot to shoot!
Anywho, it was fun talking to Sean's dad (oh, I'm so sorry for forgetting your name, I'm rubbish with remembering names!) about England, Sean's skate, things he's trying to do with the spot, the transition USD is making from distribution to direct, new products, the website, the old days of rolling, old skates long forgotten in our closets, life in the states (I found out Sean and his dad were from the UK. That was a trip!). He was a chill guy to talk to. It certainly makes it worth the drive just to shoot the breeze with him. He mentioned he's trying to work with a bearings company out of the UK called Bulldog Bearings. Cheap, effective quality bearings. Sounds like a rad deal to me. Bulldog's slogan was hilarious - Bulldog Bearings, "Doin' it doggy style". Come on, doesn't that make you want to try them? haha.
After talking for a while, Chris and I ended up buying some goods to show our support. I bought some Vicious Abec 9 bearings to replace my dead Vicious Abec 7s. I'm going to die. But that's okay. I'm glad I'm a fast skater, so we'll see how this works out. I'll have to post a review about them soon. It's raining so it'll be a good couple weeks. That and I want to try my hand at product shooting, so we'll see what I come up with. Gives me a good reason to use my new Nikon SB-25. Can't wait! Onto Chris' purchase! He ended up buying a key chain that says "Go and Roll". So random but it was neat. That and Chris wanted to replace his 1up plush mushroom key chain. For $3 dollars, how could he say no?
With our purchases in hand, we said our adieus, thanked Sean's dad for the interesting conversation and hoped to see him soon. Glad we took the detour home.
All in all, this topped off the day as one of my better Fridays.
Check out Urban Rolling's website or if you can, go in person to show your support. They're located on 3rd street and Elm in downtown Long Beach, CA. Once you see the sign, you can't miss it! They're open 11-7 Friday and Saturday, and 11-6 the rest of the week.
0 comments:
Post a Comment