It was September 2003, and I was organizing my first trip to New York, after the fall of the Twin Towers and a complete change in the world. I had no idea what to expect from everything I had seen and rewatched in skate videos, MTV music clips, etc.
My most vivid memory remains that first push on Park Avenue toward Union Square on a late summer afternoon.
AARON HERRINGTON POLAR SKATECO
But what I’ll remember most is the fact that, during that end-of-summer period, several videos were being released that would change my entire perception of skateboarding (The DC Video, Yeah Right), and among them was Mosaic by Habitat.
I remember it was being screened everywhere, but the one we (I was with some friends) saw was at ABC Shop in the East Village, just above Tompkins—which at the time was just starting to become a regular meeting spot for sessions.
We walked in, introduced ourselves, and bam! The first thing they did was sit us down to watch the video—an absolute slap in the face, for its style, music, and editing. Sure, Photosynthesis had come before, but it had never truly captured me. You know, living in a small town, not everything reached you, and you had to choose which video to buy… and of course, you always picked the wrong one!
What an afternoon that was. Right after buying our boards, we ran off to Tompkins to skate—Max Fish, where you might run into Dill or Harold.
MAX FISH BAR – PH. PETER PABÓN
But what still amazes me even now happened a few days later at Union Square, which back then had a strong scene. We’d spend the afternoon skating the front steps, and often in the evening, behind the square near the market stalls, spontaneous jams would break out with a bunch of skaters going off.
One of those afternoons I was trying to shoot the little street gap behind Union, and this guy shows up from a distance—brown cord pants, iPath shoes, Habitat board… I look closer, and it’s Danny Renaud!
He walks up, says hi, the usual “where are you from?” small talk, then jumps in—and while we were timidly trying to land a flip, he casually throws a textbook switch backside heelflip, lands it, and—crack—slightly chips his tail.
For me, that would’ve been the end of the session, but not for him—he fixes the board as best as he can and does it again, perfectly.
We were all stunned. He says bye and leaves with a friend (super steezy too, but no idea who he was).
The three of us just stood there, frozen, replaying the whole thing in our heads.
TOMPKINS NYC
We moved over to Tompkins and ran into him again. Everything that could be done with that same board, he did. I didn’t even skate—I just stood there, enjoying one of my all-time favorite Ams in action. It was an unforgettable day.
I rushed to buy the Mosaic VHS, PAL format, and wore it out—until that fateful day when the VCR ate the tape. And that was that.
Over time, a thousand other videos have caught my attention, but even now, if I buy a pair of corduroy pants, I go for brown ones—maybe slightly baggy but not over the top—and then I try a frontside 180 ollie…
-S
