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)

Went to the dog park after work. I was feeling okay. I got there about 10 minutes before Jake and was warming up as he set up a new board. I had gotten a little ways into my bag when Jake joined. He went through the warm up motions then did a first try treflip so good. I struggled on heelflips for a bit before getting a fun one. I had a little more trouble with most tricks than I have recently. I posed a fakie tre and Jake started trying them and said it should be our goal. So we spent a long time working on those. Jake was doing it after a no comply 180. I was trying two lines to it. 360 flip then turn around and fakie tre. Or no comply 180, fakie flip then fakie tre. I got a couple sketchy 360 flips before mostly just trying the other line. We both would land on some of them. I eventually gave up on the line and tried a couple quick ones and landed it. I was super hyped. It was even clean. Then we played a game of SKATE. At that point I was pretty sore. It went on awhile without people landing tricks. I got him with halfcab flip, fakie bigflip, heelflip. I tried a bunch of nollie tres to try and get the 3 tres I can do in one day, but never got one. He got me with treflip, 360 shove, a couple other tricks and then ends me with his first fakie tre in a long time. So sick. We left hyped. Man it feels great being able to try tricks again.

(setup 8.5 null rabethica 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 sand, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

After work, food, crisis I went to Broomfield park around 6pm. Darin, Justin and Riley showed shortly after I had done my stationary kickflip start. 3rd try. I was feeling really stiff and sore though. We mostly did a quartapotty/ blue box session. It was rad. The other dudes were rattling off tricks. Darin got up to back noseblunt then crooks. So good. Justin had a lot of crazy manuals as did Riley. Back and front 180 to fakie manuals. I couldn’t even get a regular manual. I got pretty far into my quartapotty list. I was hyped on hurricane, fakie pivot fakie, fakie front smith fakie and front tail. On the blue ledge I bailed manuals, got the worst back 50 ever done, a rare fakie nosegrind and kind of close to kick back 50. Darin had bluntslide, back tail, back tail to fakie, front & back 5-0s on the blue ledge. Riley went off starting at the stairs and I filmed him do switch heel practice. It was funny. I will probably post tonight. I was more sore than I should have been.

(setup 8.5 null rabethica 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 sand, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

Sunset flip with @43shifty

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 27, 2017 at 8:03pm PDT

After a day of avoiding the heat, errands and some slacking I met Rob at Twin Peaks shortly before sunset. It was funny because I talked to my brother on the way there. He couldn’t believe I was at the school next to where we went to junior high. Then I told him I was doing the same thing that we did when we were in middle school and he laughed. Rob got there basically the same time as me. We both started landing tricks faster than I would have thought. We both got no complies first try, mine had a sketch ride out. Both got 2nd try no comply big spins. I was hyped on a second try front shove to fakie. Rob had crailtap, one foot, bean plant, front bigspins, b/s flip, cabs, more I’m forgetting. We were rattling them off! Well, I was until I got to 360 flip where I was 0-10 with only one commit. Before that I had gotten kickflip to fakie, b/s flip, f/s flip (sketch), pop shove fakie (girl butt ride away), boneless, beanplant, maybe more. It was really fun.

Then being as stubborn as I am I went to research ledge on the way home. I kind of wanted to see if I could skate again after a break since I’ll be doing that in LA a lot the next few days. At first I thought it would be impossible, but I ended up being able to skate decent enough. I didn’t try any flippers, just a few ledge tricks. But man it was dry. I guess Riley scraped it all off earlier in the day. I did a couple terrible crooks, one back axle stall and a couple front 50s. One of the front 50s felt rad. I haven’t gotten up on that ledge in that way in a long time. Then I went home.

(setup 8.5 null rabethica 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 sand, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

This morning was awesome. @iamnotacreepyjake @skateboard_chicken #grindsbeforenine #teamsweatstain #icantollie

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 26, 2017 at 6:44pm PDT

After bringing India to Wheat Ridge HS to take her SAT I went to Golden park. I was the first one there around 7:45am. Yikes. I started with the new routine of a mostly stationary kickflip. Got the 6th one. Not too bad. Then I just kind of cruised around. Did a few noseslides, carved the Big O, manualled the little manual pad, etc. A couple other people showed including Jake. We ended up getting into these lines pretty much around then. Except I had been starting my lines with crooks on the stand alone ledge then wallie onto the ledge like Jake. The ollie over the curb hip was harder for both of us than it looks, but it was fun. Pretty hyped on my line. I got the line once before, but both the kickflip and ollie were terrible so I’m glad I did them again. Should have probably done a frontside flip instead, but oh well. Then Jake and I played on the manny pad area for awhile. Actually, so did Saul. He ollied up it. Pretty rad. I got a nose manual, Jake got real close to manual front 180 out. Jake came close to front crooks on the little bench. I didn’t get close to front nosegrind at all, but did get remotely close to kick back tail.

Then we skated the bowl for awhile. It’s very fun to carve. After Saul’s it’s crazy how much setup time each wall has. I got on axle stall. Saul had a bunch of slashes. Jake padded up and put down front smiths and fsa’s in the deep. So sick. Then we skated the tiny qp for awhile. The tricks shown are basically everything we did. It was a fun session. Jake and I said we’d do new tricks and we did. Mine was the silly front axle body varial. I got one to fakie too. Jakes was the noseblunt 180. Textbook. Really fun day even though the sun wrecked me. It was super hot.

(setup 8.5 null rabethica 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 sand, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)

Friday afternoon fun and frustrations. #skateboardingishard

A post shared by glen gillinghammer (@corpoglenny) on Aug 25, 2017 at 7:37pm PDT

Feeling very sore on a hot Friday afternoon I met up with Rob and then Dave at the Dog Park. I got there first and started with a little yoga to try and feel less sore. It helped a little. I had gotten to the point of trying flip tricks when Rob showed. Rob wasn’t feeling too good either and I thought he was gonna bounce right away, but he came out with new socks and started shredding. Dave would arrive shortly after. I had landed a slow first try fakie varial flip that kind of cheered me up. Was trying lots of treflip and nollie treflips, but not getting them. Rob quickly dug into varial heels and stuck with them through close ones, frustration, etc. He wouldn’t end up getting one unfortunately (although he told me he got one the next day!). Then I mostly sat and Rob and Dave tried treflips for awhile. Both had some close ones. Can’t wait to see these dudes land them.

Then we went to Saul’s. A dude named Josh was there and Jake would show after awhile. The sun was messing with the deep end. I skated alright, but had a couple good slams. Probably the worst slams I’ve taken there actually. One was a butt to coping, the other was an attempt to feeble the shallow end that ended with me stepping back on the board (I think) and then taking a lot to the wrist. Rob had the front slashes down. Saul skates his bowl fast. Some of the carve grinds are turning into stand up grinds. Dave had the casual manuals, super sick front smiths, and his effortless style. Jake showed and quickly did all kinds of tricks. Pivot fakie in the shallow, front smith the deep, front lip over the hip. Wow. Then I had to bail for dinner.

(setup 8.5 null rabethica 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 sand, spenco 3/4 thinsoles and FP 5mm insoles)