Guy Mariano

Guy Mariano is the best skater in our era. Why is he the best? The answer is simple, his style is effortless, his tricks are super creative, and he has always been ahead of his time. Just watch any footage of him and you will see how natural and comfortable he is on a board. I am lucky to have met him and see him skate in person several times and I cannot describe how incredibly sick he is.

His talent was evident at a young age. As the youngest member on the Powell team which included Gabriel Rodriguez, Paulo Diaz, and Rudy Johnson, he not only held his own but motivated others by his novel tricks and signature style. Watch the video, "Ban This," and you will get a glimpse of his talent.

After skating for Powell, Guy skated for Blind Skateboards, which was the best team of street skaters ever assembled. His epic part in the Blind Video, "Video Days," is considered by many skaters to be the best video part ever. Mariano showed us what was possible on a board; ollie impossible to rail, nose blunt slide, and late big spin over a trash can are just a small part of his ridiculous arsenal of tricks. He was also the first one to do a switch three sixty flip on camera as can be seen in the Blind Promo featuring Tim Gavin and Henry Sanchez.

I met Guy through my friends Jeron Wilson, Weston Correa, and Lance Mountain. Jeron was the last member to be sponsored by the original Blind team and I will discuss his contribution to skateboarding in another post. After the Blind team left World Industries to create Girl Skateboards, I had many chances to see Guy skate in person. One of the sickest tricks I seen him do was a monster frontside flip over the pyramid at the old Powell skate park. I can go on and on and attempt to describe how good of a skater he is but I will leave it for the reader to go on youtube and watch all of his footage.

Everyone has their trials and tribulations in life and Guy Mariano is no exception. He has been through some tough times in his life and it has made him a stronger and better person. I heard that his next video part is really sick and am looking forward to seeing him shred it up!

my first skateboarding experience

I started skating when my family lived in Valerio Gardens. Valerio Gardens is an apartment building on Valerio street in Van Nuys. We lived next door to a nice Italian family, the Garcias. They had three sons and one daughter, Michael, Joseph, Danny, and Melissa. One of the sons, I don't remember which one, let me ride his skateboard one day in the abandoned lot next door. It was a skinny wood board with narrow trucks. I remember I loved it the first time I rode it. I liked it because it allowed me to learn something new and fun. I always wanted to be the best at new things. One day, one of the boys dropped the skateboard from the balcony and it broke, so did my heart. But fortunately I was always able to borrow a board to skate from some kid in our apartment building. Eventually, my father bought me my first real board which we found through the Recycler. We traveled by bus to Reseda where a guy sold me his old Hosoi. The trucks on the board had bad bushings but I loved that board. Later on, in the fifth grade, my dad bought me a mini Caballero for my birthday. I skated everywhere with that board but I got jacked by some guys on the way home one day. I cried for a few days since the board cost $138 and it was a financial burden on my parents. A few weeks later my parents bought me a used Tony Hawk and it was on again. This time I started to skate with some kids down the block, Tony and his brother. We formed a little crew and I learned how to launch ramp on that board.