Grosso and the Devil

I can remember almost every skateboard I ever had even as far back as the one I was given at two years old (it lasted me a while). As a young lad growing up in a struggling construction family, I gladly settled for the cheap Variflex boards from Gemco (later became Target). I was happy as long as I had a skateboard, even in the days that I was heavy into bmx my board was never far. My pop even ran over a board with the ol' station wagon and proceeded to repair it with some wood screws and some scrap metal. That board weighed about 3 times as much after that repair, but dear old dad said, "good as new!". When Richie, one of the "big kids" across the street, offered me a new Santa Cruz deck for ten bucks, I knew I couldn't pass it up. Looking at the graphic I knew mom wouldn't go for it, so I had to convince her of the deal without her actually seeing the merchandise. It was a go! Finally, my first "real/professional" skateboard, and with a scary demon graphic! As soon as I got that board home, mom made me sand paper out the eyes of the demon, she intended a lot more, but I got her to compromise on that, it was the part that made her the most nervous. I will never forget that board, I skated it for years, and I hope to one day find another one of those decks, maybe two, one to skate, and one for the wall. My friend Elaina invited me to come skate up in Costa Mesa one day and we went and skated with Grosso, Hassan and some other rippers, that put the icing on the cake many years later. Ah… memories.