Feeling a little groggy I met up with Rob and Dave at Crisis shortly after noon. After some bidness we went across the street. All 3 of us had new decks. Dave and I had the board that Rob designed and Rob had some random Christian Death board. Ha ha. I had setup an 8″ Monico deck after enjoying the small board the day before, but I went for high trucks with bigger wheels. Anyway, warming up went good. I probably skated my best the first 30 minutes then started feeling really warn down and tired. Rob was getting at it and almost got back 108 fakie 50 shove out first try so we setup Hosercam. It because a battle, but in the end Rob was successful getting it super good. I hucked a Safeway dream trick, kickflip front 50, but never committed. I had some fun back 50s, struggled with fakie 50s. Dave rattled off all kinds of tricks. 50s, 50 nollie shoves, 50 180s, 5-0s, the Blaine trick, halfcab noseslide, and mostly a halfcab noseslide 270 out. Rob went on to do back 50 bean plant out, front tail body varial, just straight ripping. I had a couple flip tricks early on that felt good, but the roughness of the asphalt there is starting to not feel great to try flip tricks. I sat for awhile. A couple other dudes joined. Dave was trying front crooks and would land it once the camera was turned off.

@fullertrron boosting #thestubborns

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Sep 10, 2017 at 3:05pm PDT

We bounced to the bank spot. I felt better there then I thought I would. After some warming up I filmed Rob and Dave get some lines involving tailslides, bean plants, front shoves and bonelesses. Good stuff. I struggled with ollies to fakie, boneless, b/s flip (Dave beat me to it) and then hucked a b/s heelflip for a bit at the end. I never got very close. Dave boosted huge bonelesses. Dave and I had some fun chinese nollies out of the sidewalk and some close calls. I guess that’s about it, the dudes stacked clips. Oh yeah, I ended trying a bigflip and didn’t get very close. Argh. I went home and fell asleep for a long time. Guess I was feeling a little sick. Ugh.

(setup 8″ null monico deck, venture v-hollow highs, 88a venom bushings, 52mm bones stf v5, nbnumeric 212 sand, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, 5mm footprint insoles)

Went to Research Ledge on a busy day where I was feeling paralyzed by my setup OCD. Lows vs Highs. Small board vs big. Riley had stopped by and encouraged an 8″ board with lows so what’s what I did. It felt whatever. The first kickflip still took several tries and I still wasn’t able to front 50. I did manage a few sloppy back 50s, noseslides. Struggled with some lines, may have gotten a bad one or two. I was riding a super old 8″ board that was razor tailed, so some of the lack of pop can be blamed on that. Didn’t get a treflip, but did get a first try heelflip that felt very easy, almost fakie heelflip. It got really windy for awhile and I just tried really slow noseslides trying do the 270 shove out. Didn’t get close. Did a couple more crooks and rested. Tried to get halfcab noseslide next, but it hurt so I left.

(setup old null 8″ board that I don’t remember the name of, venture custom hollow lows 5.25, way to hard venom bushing 94a, 52mm bones stf v2 that felt big with low trucks, 1/16″ riser, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsole, footprint 5mm insole)

Finally kind of getting the desire to skate again I went to Boulder park before work since I have the late shift. There was a few people when I got there. All skating. It was rad. After being annoyed by my big setup I grabbed my small one. It felt whatever. I wanted to hit the ledges a bunch, but I was too sore. I really didn’t do much of anything actually except make myself do a couple front 50s on the bump to ledge. Bumps weird me out.

(setup 8.25″ null spanbauer deck, venture v-hollow 5.25 highs, venom 88a bushings, 3 washers on the inside of each axle, 52mm bones stf v2, new balance numeric 212 burgundy size 11, spenco 3/4 thinsoles, FP 5mm insole)

Super fun and exhausted trip ender yesterday. @fullertrron @gnarlycarleigh @the_neviathan. Not shown @jackspanbauer @_f_u_z_z @43shifty @harperbenjamin

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 6, 2017 at 7:24am PDT

Last day in LA. We piled into the van with all our bags and headed to Stoner park. There was only a few people there! It was so rad even though we were all dead. Rob went off. He was going up and down the curbs, ledges non-stop (it wasn’t until the end of the session that we filmed). Back 50s, manuals, front tails, front noseslides, halfcab noseslides. It was so sick. Jack took the opportunity to learn new manual tricks. Kickflip nose manual and fakie bigpsin manual to bigspin out. Whoa! Fuzz had some tall 50s, but mostly just enjoyed the sun. Carleigh was ripping. Kickflip up the curb (I think?), boardslides, back 50s and ollied the bump to bump more than once. Nate almost did a dream trick of nose manual up, turn front 180 to switch manual down the MJ ledge. Dang! He beat me to kickflip up the curb, manual trick, something off the ledge. This session made me start to question my big setup because I couldn’t front 50 to save my life ( I only got one, but it was really fun). In my stubborness I decided to make my legs hurt more by trying a 3 trick line on the 3 ledges in a row. I got noseslide, boardslide, crook bonk. Tried noseslide to fakie, halfcab noseslide, crooks, but never got it. The ride on grinds down the 3 stair were really fun, that line above was at the end of the day and I was super destroyed tired. I didn’t really see Dave much, he was busy skating the bank to ledges and transition. Oh, he did do an amazing manual to boardslide 270. Oh and Ben Harper showed up after awhile and was super nice to talk to. He was having a front shove day and squeezed in a few treflips and a super smooth heelflip off the little ledge. Super fun session even if my legs didn’t really work.

We kind of skated Venice after that. Nate earned trick of the trip as we rolled up to the boardwalk. Some random security dude called out ‘nollie lazer flip’ and Nate did it. It was epic. We all yelled. Carleigh had some nice noseslides in the park, but other then that i don’t remember anymore skating. What a fun trip. The journal entries are written almost a week later and can no way live up to the aweosmeness of the trip. Love these people.

(setup 8.38 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 91a bushings, no bottom washer, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric 212 burgundy, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

Two tricks that predate color. 📷 @_f_u_z_z #cali4niahotstubborns

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Sep 9, 2017 at 12:35pm PDT

So stoked we waited a few days for the downtown push day, because it was the coolest day of the trip and it was bearable to go without water for awhile. We left from our apartment and ended up at the spot above pretty quickly. Dave and I spotted it first. It had a bunch of 2 stairs in a row that were really fun to ollie down. I think Dave had some 180s thrown in. I tried too, but never linked multiple ones together. Jack ollied up all of them. Carleigh either ollied or firecrackered (maybe both) all of them. Did I mention this was a police station? So cool that they didn’t care. The only thing they cared about was Fuzz standing on the ledge when he filmed. I had told Rob if he landed the back 180 I’d get his back which I did with a kickflip off the bump then front 180 the stairs. I tried another line of halfcab flip then front shove, but never committed to the front shove. Jack had a rad ollie off the bump over the grass.

@jackspanbauer getting nostalgic. Photo by @43shifty #cali4niahotstubborns

A post shared by Null Skateboards (@null_skateboards) on Sep 4, 2017 at 8:09pm PDT

Then we hit this spot which was one of the main destinations. It was of course way harder to skate than we imagined. Dave reigned king and put down a lot of tricks. The pivots both ways on the edges were sick, front disaster kind of. Jack had the lofty ollie shown above and a one foot or two as well. I had back and front rock, but they were more like under rocks since I didn’t deck them at all. Fuzz had big goals and was disappointed with himself, but still put down rock fakies, rock, fakie rock and maybe another trick or two. Carleigh was decking her front rocks so good, but didn’t quite get it before we got the boot.

Some of us skated a little brick bank briefly. Just some stalls. Nate was going off trying a boardslide transfer on a legit flat rail. He would get it. Kind of hyped that when Nate lands tricks he might even look more bummed than me. It was so sick though. Off we went. Jack did a gnarly hippy jump while I found a fun ledge for people to sit on. Then some Glen shenanigans where I took way too long to land a kickflip, but slammed into a sign rather well. Definitely my favorite clip of the trip. While I was doing that Fuzz had some steezy pops onto a curb cut and front 180 off. Dave was trying to manual into a bums house. We stopped by the Kirchart hydrant for Jack. He wanted ollie over to manual which he would have done had his bushing not blown out.

~ @_f_u_z_z on a wall 📸 @43shifty . . #cali4niahotstubborns #thestubborns #unitgs

A post shared by crisis skateshop ~ since 2010 (@crisis_skateboards) on Sep 8, 2017 at 6:52pm PDT

Then some wallride time here. Fuzz had a couple unreal wallrides. I had a couple insanely fun wallie nollies with some fun powerslides down the hill after. Dave went for front wallride. Not sure if he got it. It’s kind of a blur after this, but we saw so many cool spots. Dave and Fuzz 50’d a little marble ledge. Rob ruined a curb while security swooped in. We found this super rad black granite ledge that could have become a full session. Rob had done halfcab noseslide and front noseslide. Carleigh was doing noseslides, Dave boardslides, Nate boardslides, I was almost getting crooks. But there was a weird scene with some cops pulling over a lady and some security guards lurking by the ledge. I tried to crooks while they were there and apparently got really close to their bike (I must be completely unaware of space because I didn’t know I was close) and we got the boot. Such a bummer, we could have posted up there for a long time I bet. Next up was a sick hill bomb that Rob wallie/nollied into first try. Dave got it too. I think all of us bombed the hill and it felt awesome. I don’t recall any more skating after this. What a blast, skating downtown with friends rolling from spot to spot is my favorite thing. Especially with this crew, downtown LA and nice weather.

(setup 8.38 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 91a bushings, no bottom washer, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric 212 burgundy, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

~ these banks at Kenter Canyon Elementary school in Santa Monica have some of the deepest roots in our beloved skateboard culture. It was an honor to skate them and through my own stubborn respect… I refused to crack an ollie. ~ fuzz #cali4niahotstubborns #thestubborns #unitgs 📸 @gnarlycarleigh

A post shared by crisis skateshop ~ since 2010 (@crisis_skateboards) on Sep 5, 2017 at 11:39am PDT

Another warm day in sunny LA we took a very long drive to Paul Revere. The back area where the old Dog Town banks were was closed off. We were about to skate a smaller bank when we got the boot.

So we drove to a nearby school named Kenter. Fuzz, Dave and Rob engineered unlocking the front gate and we were in. The main schoolyard had banks all around it and plastic benches scattered here and there. We quickly moved one onto a bank. There was also a long hallway with a few stairs which made for a fun (I mean frustrating) warm up. I think I was the last of us to get the line, but I hit my hand really hard on a low hanging ceiling on one of the 3 stairs. By then Jack was already going to work on a bench. He would either lock into back nosegrind or hang up and slam super hard. It was a painful watch. He got the back nosegrind 180 and a kick back lip or two. I was amazed at how tall the benches felt. It was kind of depressing. I think I only got a weak noseslide on them. Dave and Rob had some boardslides. Rob might have done halfcab boardslide too. Nate was killing front smiths on the bank to bench. I wanted to film one of them, but he was trying to figure out a flip trick to do in a line. Rob had front noseslides in a line with bean plants on another bank. Dave was getting front 50s after trying various tricks on the other bank. I got a crappy noseslide or two and a good shinner as I complained to Fuzz about how hard skateboarding is. After awhile some people driving by gave us weird vibes and we ended up bouncing. Jack had gotten a sick sign ride, but Nate couldn’t get the front smith again and Dave couldn’t quite get the front 50 back 180.

Up and down with one foot on the ground. 📷 by @_f_u_z_z #cali4niahotstubborns

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Sep 5, 2017 at 2:24pm PDT

So far on #cali4niahotstubborns I've landed all the tricks I was hoping to and exactly how I wanted to. 😕

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 4, 2017 at 10:48am PDT

Then we went to the Courthouse. I thought it would be total chaos, but it ended up being pretty awesome. A breeze had started and there is a lot of shade there. It didn’t stop us from all being sweaty messes, but it didn’t feel too hot. Pretty much right away I started trying the noseslide 270 shove and basically only tried that for at least an hour. The one above was the only “make”. Great, second trick of the trip that I had thought of ahead of time and wanted to do, but did it so poorly it’s not usable. I still had a lot of fun though. There was a really good vibe. Skating such a rad spot with such great homies is wonderful. Nate was killing the same ledge as me. Back 50s, back 5-0, back nosegrind and for the Stubborns .. back nosegrind shove! So sick. Jack basically tried manual 360 flip out the whole time. He got a couple, maybe not as perfect as he wanted, but he did it. I saw Dave do some long boardslides to fakie. Rob got the 4 stair line real quick. Fuzz had been chilling, but got going with some flatground until he cracked his tail on a fakie bigspin (I think). Carleigh would do lines through the benches after filming Jack try the manny 360 flip. She got a rad line doing 4 or 5 “basics” in a row.

After Fuzz broke his board we went to a shop that was literally next to the Courthouse. It turned out to be a rad shop and then we skated a mellow bank to wall after. Fuzz got a couple really good wallrides. Rob with the wallie nollie which I would eventually get too. I don’t remember who else got wallrides. Dave was skating so I’m sure he did. Nate couldn’t quite get it. Fun ender. Man my legs were beat.

(setup 8.38 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 91a bushings, no bottom washer, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric 212 burgundy, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

@43shifty #cali4niahotstubborns

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 2, 2017 at 2:30pm PDT

After visiting a cool shop Lotties we hit up LA High in another 100 degree day. The shade wasn’t too bad, but the sun was crazy. We all seemed to do our own thing for awhile. For me that meant not much of anything because I was so sore. I got a couple slow boardslides and 50s. Jack had some rad wallies over the corners, tailslides. Dave was shredding. Wallies into front or back grinds like it was nothing, boardslides to fakie. Fuzz had some solid wallie 50s. Nate with the front boardslide to fakie. Birthday girl had been talking with family on the phone then came out and did a sick line of axle stall, wallie 50 and rock fakie. Then a ‘dork’ session ensued on the bank to wall. Rob had kicked it off with a wallie to wallie/nollie which I tried too. Then it turned into bonelesses, ghostrides, power slides, etc. It was so incredibly fun. It’s hard to describe the tricks. Fuzz did an alley oop boneless wallride to pivot. Rob did some kind of beanplant wallride varial. I had a powerslide to slappy 50. Dave was doing bluntslides. Jack was ruling the ghostride variations. Nate was doing powerslides too. The ghostrides were so fun. Thank you for the shade. I loved the dork session.

Lighting up the spot. Carleigh, backside blunt. @gnarlycarleigh #cali4niahotstubborns #thestubborns #scumhole

A post shared by dave fuller (@fullertrron) on Sep 3, 2017 at 10:12am PDT

Dream spot. @corpoglenny #cali4niahotstubborns

A post shared by Rob Helmstetter (@43shifty) on Sep 2, 2017 at 7:33pm PDT

After a drive, some In ‘N Out, and a swim in the ocean we ended up at this awesome bank to curb spot. Of course it’s harder to skate than it looks. Not much runway because of water, the curb being really short, etc. But stock tricks were rattled off quickly. I was hyped on getting hurricane first try. Rob beat me to a kickflip back 50. He did it like 3rd try, I never really landed it, but did get one accidental back smith. Nate did front pivot to fakie and a couple quick footed 360 flips to fakie. Fuzz did a bunch of tricks including his fakie pivots, front tail fakie. Rob also had no comply disaster. Jack with the fancy back axle to front axle to fakie and a lot of other tricks. Dave probably did 100 tricks including back tailslide and chink chink. He also kept skating while Carleigh was doing her epic birthday blunt. The stoke was so high when she landed it. It was a pretty magical session with a completely epic ender.

(setup 8.38 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 91a bushings, no bottom washer, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric 212 burgundy, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

~ @gnarlycarleigh // varial flip #cali4niahotstubborns #thestubborns #unitgs

A post shared by crisis skateshop ~ since 2010 (@crisis_skateboards) on Sep 1, 2017 at 8:20pm PDT

Today was pure 🔥🔥🔥. Skate and temperature wise. #cali4niahotstubborns #thestubborns #104degrees #nategotanenderandhurdledabarrier

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 1, 2017 at 6:36pm PDT

#cali4niahotstubborns

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 2, 2017 at 9:01am PDT

First spot was Griffith Park. The minivan said it was 104 degrees. It felt hotter then that as we walked up the ditch from our car and even hotter as we began skating in it. I was kind of the loner that skated the smaller bank for awhile, dropping in and eventually ollieing in. Most skating the weird opening at the bottom of the tall bank. I guess Nate did a front board shove transfer. Fuzz did front tail to fakie. Jack did a kickflip manual down it. Wow. Rob and Dave joined me trying tricks into the smaller bank. Surprisingly Dave struggled to ollie in. It was weird though because the roll away was obstructed with water so you had to roll down the bank at an angle. I tried fakie bigflip for awhile. I thought it would happen quickly, but at one point Rob came over offering water and I said “not until I land it”. At that point I knew I was going to keep struggling and the risk of heat stroke was real. As I was trying it Jack was trying the kickflip manual in the big bank again. The heat really sucked. Then Carleigh and Nate started joining me trying tricks in. It hyped me up, but after a bit I had to give up and rest in the shade. I was close to throwing up. Jack did throw up. Carleigh got a pop shove in and Nate did back 180. Jack and Dave joined in on the fun. Dave got wallie off this weird cement chunk into the bank. Jack did a gnarly kickflip in then ollie into the tight bank by the opening, ghetto bird in too. I went back up as Carleigh battled varial flips and Nate tried nollie big heel. Carleigh was first landing it so good. I got her back with a very terrible fakie bigflip where I stopped at 90 degrees then kind of slid for a bit and turned it in. I should have tried again, but I was too hot and lost all my motivation. Nate got his trick a few tries later. So sick! We skated the ditch area for awhile. Dave had some sick front board pop outs and front 50s. But water in the ditch prevented it from being easily skateable. Fuzz got into some locked back smiths on the no-curb part, Rob got front smith 180 out and some steezy bean plants. I had some fun back 5-0s.

Late night shenanigans @fullertrron #cali4niahotstubborns

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Sep 2, 2017 at 10:45am PDT

After a break, some food and a drink or two we went skating around 10pm. We started by just pushing for blocks. I hated it. Others enjoyed it, but pretty much nothing is worse for my plantar fasciitis than pushing non-stop. Nate and I stopped at kind of famous manny pad stair spot for a bit. There are 3 sets of 3 or 4 stairs in a row that can be skated as ledges or manny pads. We caught up to the crew around the block at a Jack In The Box and enjoyed some excellent socal red curbs. We skated it for a long time, it was a blast. Everyone got slappys. It’s hard to remember them all, but Jack had some super long ride on back 5-0s, a hilarious slam trying to kickflip in the middle of a slappy, some incredible no comply flips over a median. Carleigh had ride on grinds and toasted the curb with a few slappys. Dave got buck with slappys in all directions, sometimes to tailslide, sometimes crooks to fakie. Regardless of what Rob says he was indeed slappying and they were super long and sick. I know he had some unique ones, but I’m forgetting now. Fuzz and Nate had long ride on grinds. Man it was fun. We hung out at the Convention Center hubba for awhile. It’s amazing that people can skate that. Then it was the long push back. We hit a couple random spots here and there briefly. Dave had a horrendous slam off a 3 stair right in front of a guy sitting near the stairs. I feel bad for laughing, because I could tell he was bummed, but the guys reaction was too funny. I mean he’s just sitting there and all of a sudden this grown man slams right next to him and he just kinda bugged out wondering if he needed to call an ambulance. There was a spot with some long stairs and I couldn’t believe Rob still had the juice to ollie up them and try manuals. Day 1 done!

(setup 8.38 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 91a bushings, no bottom washer, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric 212 burgundy, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

Dave and I skated the curb on the newly repaved driveway at the school across the street while we waited for Jack to show up. I had a new deck and new shoes and they felt kinda weird. We didn’t really do much, some pivots, pivot shoves, no comply tails, etc. Jack showed and messed around long enough to do a bigspin pivot. Then we was off to LA!

(setup 8.38 null spanbauer deck, venture 5.8 trucks, venom 91a bushings, no bottom washer, spitfire f4 101a 51mm classic wheels, 3 washers on the outside of each axle, nbnumeric 212 burgundy, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)