We are excited to report that Guy Mariano is the latest person to sit down with us for a “First & Last” interview. Guy Mariano is, without question, one of the greatest skateboarders of all time. His contributions to our culture have been profound, gifting us a catalogue of era-defining video parts that have continued to push the boundaries. From his childhood footage in Ban This and Video Days to his seminal part in Mouse, Guy has always been on the creative cusp of possibility. In this interview he recalls Stacy Peralta urging him and his immediate crew to be patient because their time would come, weighty advice that couldn’t have been more on the money as Guy’s part in Mouse remains one of the most influential, aspirational, and important parts of all time, one which set a standard that was light years ahead. While the skateboarding world struggled to catch up Guy would bow out of the spotlight, a hiatus that has been spoken about, which made his part that dropped in 1996 all the more poignant.
He remained a man of mystery with some enigmatic appearances but would return triumphantly in full-force when the Lakai Fully Flared video dropped in 2007. This epic return to form is one of skateboarding’s greatest comeback stories with Guy looking as good on his board as ever, and his reverance for the craft of building video parts motivating him to create something that’s just as impactful when revisited today as it was when we watched it at the premiere. For those of us who had grown up with Guy’s skating, watching his return was inspiring, and he has been putting in the work, and continuing to push himself ever since. Throw his incredible part in Pretty Sweet into the mix and take account of the part he just had in the Dickies Honeymoon video, you’re looking at a body of work filled with heavyweight footage that has appeared over the course of five different decades.
Legendary status doesn’t quite cut it, Guy Mariano’s influence is a constant that has forever raised the bar. With so much history to draw from, we wanted to explore his story through key moments within his timeline while also speaking about his current reality so we agreed to do so via a “First & Last” interview. It was great to get some nuggets from one of our favourite skateboarders of all time, whose impact is inextricable from the evolution of our culture. His recent Loose Threads part is an eminently rewatchable reminder of his mastery at work, his process, and the work-ethic underpinning his footage. He continues to prove that we can all keep challenging our own abilities and progressing years down the line, which is the purest form of inspiration. We’re grateful to Guy for everything he has done for skateboarding, and for gifting us these insights into his career…
Words and interview by Jacob Sawyer. Guy Mariano at home shot by Gia Mariano
First love before skateboarding?
Super Mario Bros.
First time you witnessed skateboarding?
It would have been a Powell video and it wasn’t the first one it was the second one [Future Primitive]. That came out in 1985 and I think I watched The Bones Brigade Video Show after that. I saw the video playing at Val Surf which is one of the first skateboard shops ever.
First proper skateboard and first board you obsessed over?
One of the first boards that I got was a Michael Jackson Thriller board from Toys “R” Us. My first proper board was a Steve Caballero Dragon. What year did the Thriller album come out? 1982? That Michael Jackson board got stolen on one of the first days I got it. I left it out in the front of the yard and I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night worried about it. I was so young that I couldn’t go out in front of the house without telling my mum. Then when I woke up in the morning it was gone. I could have just gone out and got it, it was probably only about 8pm.
First skate crew and the evolution of it?
It was the Val Surf skate team but you know what? I had a crew in The Valley first and it was from Charlie King’s ramp. He had a vert ramp so that would have been my first crew. Christian Hosoi and Gonz [Mark Gonzales] used to come there, that was my first experience of skateboarding for real. Val Surf was the first skate team that took me around to contests and stuff. They were also the first people to give me a free board. That came from a guy who actually ended up getting fired for taking a bunch of stuff from the shop which is pretty funny, I found that out later. I remember I would go in there with my mum and boards were expensive back then, with rails, stickers and nose guards and stuff, it was a lot of money.
“be patient, you guys will have your time”
Guy with Paulo Diaz, Rudy Johnson, and Gabriel Rodriguez in a Powell ad from the back pages of the March 1990 issue of Thrasher
First big influence while skating for Powell?
Ray Barbee, love Ray Barbee, everything, his clothes, his style. I went on my first ever tour with Ray Barbee and Frankie Hill. It was me, Gabriel [Rodriguez], Rudy [Johnson], Ray Barbee, and Frankie Hill. Frankie Hill was a big influence too, we loved Frankie Hill, he was a badass. He was the handrail, stair hucker
First bit of good advice from Stacy?
He said one thing to us “be patient, you guys will have your time”. There was a time when he came to film us and it was a year before the video came out. We had all of this new footage of us skating that was filmed on Handycams and we gave it to him to show what we were actually doing. That’s when he told us that the guys who were ahead of us, it was their time and that we would have ours. The way he said it was so cool and nice that we understood it even back then.
First thing you filmed that you remember being really happy with?
Those last lines in the Blind video at the school Pioneer. I frontside 180d a can, 360 ollied into a bank, and big spinned a hip. It was really good filming.
Guy’s first published photo appeared in a Powell Peralta zine. Frontside wallride frontside grab next to frontside boardslides from Gabriel Rodriguez and Paulo Diaz
First photo appearance in a mag? First one that comes to mind as a favourite?
The first photo thing was when I made it into a Powell Peralta zine and it was a frontside wallride frontside grab. I remember another photo that I think was in Poweredge magazine and it was a backside grab in Santa Barbara on my first Powell trip. Then my favourite photo? I was just looking at a lot of photos recently. One of my favourite photos is a 50-50 on a fence that Lance Mountain shot, it has a nice sunset in the background. It’s just a nice photo and the fact that Lance shot it makes me really like that one.
First cover?
My first cover was a switch pop shuvit – fakie 5-0 on a rail, it was a Transworld cover and it was a sequence shot by Chris Ortiz.
Bank to fence 50-50 with the fieriest of skies shot by Lance Mountain and Guy’s November 1997 TWS cover shot by Chris Ortiz
First encounter with Mark Gonzales?
The first encounter would have been when he came to my friend Charlie King’s ramp in Burbank. It was special, it wasn’t a let-down, he actually gave me his complete after he skated. I had to split it up between my friends, one kid got the wheels, someone got the trucks, and one of us got the board. I was young basically, they probably bullied me for it. We shredded it, everyone separated it to get the juice off the Gonz. When I met him he told me “you rip but that board looks a little big on you”. He told me there and then that he was creating a mini board, there was a kid Dominic [Kekich] who was on Powell at the time and he told me he had made one for him. He had just made a mini Gonz board that was due to come out and he was all stoked on it. He was skating the vert ramp but there was also a jump ramp in the alley.
First fond Video Days memory that comes to mind?
I don’t know if I’ve ever told this story but before the Blind video [Video Days] had even come out Mark [Gonzales] would just show up. It would be really late sometimes, like at 2am but he would randomly show up and take us skating. One time during a weekday he just said “let’s go to San Francisco”. I agreed and off we went on a San Francisco trip. It was the same one where he did the pivot on that sculpture in the playground and boardslid the rail to fakie, the stuff at Embarcadero and the Wallenberg frontside grab. I took that trip without even calling my mum, I just jumped in a car and went to San Francisco. I ended up calling her to say I was on a skate trip in San Francisco and she said “get your ass home!” It was fair enough, it was a school week. I had to come home early on that trip and I got in trouble. I look back at some of that stuff now and it was worth it.
First now defunct spot you would revive given the chance?
You know which one I think would be dope? The Venice pits, the table top is still there, it’s buried under sand and they could dig it out if they wanted to. That is just a nice location even though at the time it smelled like piss and was the gnarliest. With all of the graffiti it was one of the most beautiful, visual spots. I’m sure that now it could be skated in a totally different way too.
First time Henry Sanchez blew you away?
I first saw Henry Sanchez in 1989 at a Powell Peralta Quartermaster contest. They had one of those PVC tubings that are a foot-an-a-half radius. He was doing fakie ollie over to backside noseblunt and that was the first time I had seen him. He had small wheels and he was charging, going so fast. That was my first experience seeing him skate. Mike Carroll was there too.
First clip that comes to mind that you think personifies your time at GIRL and the company legacy.
There’s footage of a frontside flip I did over a spine at a demo. I had a sideways hat on, and some baggy light blue jeans. That’s a good one. There’s a photo I like too of a frontside heelflip over a table at Los Feliz school. I like that one because you can really see the shape of that board.
First crew you phone for the session in 1994. First crew you call in 2025?
Gabriel Rodriguez, not only because he was my best friend but also because he was the one with the driving licence. Right now it’s Stefan [Janoski] and Donovan [Piscopo]. That original crew would have been Gabriel, Fabian [Alomar], Joey [Suriel], and me.
First trick back skating after your hiatus that stands out in your mind as a turning point?
When I came back I remember being at the GIRL Skateboards skatepark and I did a fakie 5-0 fakie flip. That was a moment where I thought “maybe I could still skate”. Then I went to the streets and did a fakie 5-0 half cab flip out on a bank to bench, I had a Fourstar advert doing that. That ended up being one of my last tricks in my Fully Flared part and it was one of my first tricks coming back. I think that one was a standout point. So the moment was in the park where I thought I could do it and then I put something down in the street.
First trip to England?
I was there with Kareem Campbell on an AXION trip in 1999, we were with Atiba [Jefferson] and Gino [Iannucci]. I went before that though, I was there in 1995 because I remember skating the Radlands competition, I did a fakie ollie backside nosegrind down the handrail.
First skate trip outside of the US?
It might have been to Japan in 1993, it was an early GIRL Skateboards trip.
First thing you had a hand in designing you were proud of?
At World Industries we were able to make our own shapes, it was with Rodney Mullen. You would take half a board and shave it off with sandpaper, that way you could taper the tails and the shapes. We were doing that at World Industries with a lot of the tapered boards you would see. I was probably more hands on back then than I am now. That was a great experience. I think as kids we definitely knew what we wanted that wasn’t available and Rodney [Mullen] actually let us design stuff with him, even down to the clothes. For a lot of that early World stuff we were inside factories, helping pick out colours, and checking stuff out. It was very early on to be doing that. Shaping the boards with Rodney Mullen at World Industries, got to love him, he’s the best.
First place?
I think I got first at my first ever contest. My mum drove me there, all the way to San Diego. That was a very special moment, I think that she started to believe in skateboarding at that point. It was a CASL contest. Just recently I found a storage space with all of my trophies so I can go and take a picture of that one.
Guy’s personal archives run deep. First place trophy from the 12 & Under Street Style CASL contest held at Oceanside pier in 1987 pictured in the centre of many others
First & Last? First trick you can think of you’ve done once and never again.
Switch inward heelflips,
First trick out the car?
Shuvit
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Guy Mariano’s epic ender from the Girl Pretty Sweet video released in 2012
Last trick?
Of my last tricks I like the switch tre nosegrind. It’s not because I think it’s a gnarly trick or something, it’s because the deadline of the video was up and we were pushing it. We pushed that video so many times to where we were told not to go past a certain point, and we still ended up days past the final deadline. [Sean] Malto did that overcook nollie flip and I did the switch tre nosegrind honestly two days after we were supposed to have finished filming. They had that similar situation with Eric Koston for Yeah Right! and in my head I thought it would be so nice if it worked out. I had been trying it at night during the week and I was really sore. Rick Howard even called me up and asked if I could go and do it that same night, he said he hated to have to ask me but it just couldn’t be any later. I asked for one more day and then I’d go and try it on the Saturday in the daytime and it worked out.
“We pushed that video so many times to where we were told not to go past a certain point, and we still ended up days past the final deadline”
It was really special because Eric [Koston] was there with me too. With Eric they were going to do this Berrics last moment thing but I just didn’t want it to be on video like that because I think it may have jinxed it. But to have him there made it special and it definitely tied that part together as a better ender. I had tried that trick before and there’s footage we could probably get from Ty Evans. I tried a switch tre nose blunt on a Fillmore rail with Ty Evans around the time I did a 180 nosegrind on the Fillmore rails for a Royal ad. So that was probably almost twenty years previous. You can try a trick a decade or longer ago and still come back to it but there was a lot riding on the one I did. It is a good memory for a lot of different reasons.
Last trick you learned or re-learned?
Madonna.
Last big battle you had?
It was a boneless off a fence.
Last person you saw skate in person who blew you away?
Daan Van Der Linden.
Last board graphic you had out that you were really stoked on?
I really liked my Mark Gonzales graphic, I rode that one a lot, I’m just a big fan of the dude. That one had a lot of wood grain which I like and it’s another reason why I really like it, a minimal graphic and a lot of wood grain. It was a green stain which I really liked. When that Gonz graphic came out there was a regular board and a shaped one, I had a lot of fun skating that shaped one. I don’t even think I have got a new one left but I rode that board and really enjoyed it.
This was at a time where I had just been filming a bunch of tricks and getting lost in skateboarding and filming. I was skating but it was serious and maybe I wasn’t having fun, it was that board that brought a lot of fun back into my skateboarding. It’s hard to do that sometimes, especially when you’re just trying to get clips. I would keep that board in my trunk and there was something about knowing it wasn’t going to be so serious from the point I got it out onwards that allowed fun to be had.
Last purchase that has enhanced your life?
Tesla, full self-driving.
Last time you scared yourself?
I scared myself when I rolled my ankle and heard that pop, that was scary.
Last thing you implemented that has improved skating for you?
Saunas and ice baths.
Recent blunt to fakie on a perilous pole filmed for the gram by Seu Trinh
Last trick you put out there that you were really happy with?
Blunt to fakie.
Last thing skateboarding brought to the table you think the world needs more of these days?
Skateboarding always needs more fun but I think skateboarding is in a good place. Everything can exist right now so I think it’s in the best place it’s ever been.
Last good skate you had?
I had one the other day, I had a session with Stefan [Janoski] and Donovan [Piscopo] that was really fun. We went to the slappy kerbs and had a really good time warming up, laughing as we were skating. I went to film a trick and didn’t get it but still, because I’ve been injured lately I was just happy to be skating. You know it’s a good day when you’re happy even if it hasn’t worked your way. I was just happy to be there and grateful. I also went out the other day and got a clip for the Dickies x Thrasher collab that’s going to be coming out so that balances it out.
Last good film you watched?
To be honest it was the new Lilo and Stitch movie, it made me cry. I hadn’t seen the first movie, my lady and I took our daughter with one of her friends.
Last album you listened to all the way through?
I was thinking about this the other day, one album I listen to a lot is Swimming by Mac Miller. I like that album, I like that feeling. He was a good musician too, his beats and melodies are a good mix of music.
Last skateboarding artefact you collected?
My friend got Herbie Hancock to sign a copy of Mouse for me.
Watermelon Man is one of skateboarding’s finest musical mements. The Girl Mouse video signed by Herbie Hancock
Last Nike SB shoe you stockpiled?
I am always stockpiling the Grant Taylor’s, the Blazer Low GT, black ones with the white Swoosh. It’s my favourite and also the Blazer Mid, black ones with a white Swoosh, white sole, that’s my go-to. I actually have a brand new pair on my table here right now.
Last person who pushed or inspired you?
My daughter. I see her trying really hard and stepping outside of her comfort zone at school and stuff. I use that as motivation when I’m skating or having challenges with certain things.
Last skate trip that took you somewhere you would want to revisit?
The other day I was telling Ty Evans that I’ve never been to Madrid and he was like “you were there with me”. That’s how I am, I didn’t remember that trip. But the last time I went there last year was the best trip I had had in a long time. I went with Jesus [Fernandez], Daniel [Lebron], Adrian and the guys from the Welcome Skate Shop. For me Madrid was like Barcelona, New York, and Paris mixed together. It was during Christmas time, the whole place was lit up, it was beautiful, and the food was amazing.
We went to restauants where they bring out the whole animal that you’re going to eat. The butchers show it to you and it’s really healthy and clean. It also had the best skate spots ever. People used to travel there a long time ago in the 90s but I feel like that part of Spain became less of a destination. Being on that trip was really special, I would love to go back there. There were insane plazas, and lots of spots I recognised because of Mark Suciu parts. There are plazas with 50 spots within one. Spain is my favourite place.
Guy’s full-cab flip which closed out his part in the Dickies Honeymoon video
Last time you heard music from one of your parts in the wild?
At a coffee shop called Comissary in Burbank. I was having a meeting with JoeFace [Joe Monteleone] from Dickies and one of the songs from Fully Flared [Band Of Horses] came on and we both had a laugh.
Last trick you consciously retired?
Frontside flips. They just don’t work like they used to, haha.
Last words?
Hahaha, I got last words… two things can be true. That’s my new one. It’s the most upsetting phrase in the world. Next time you’re having a disagreement with your wife drop that one… “two things can be true”.
We would like to thank Guy for taking the time out for this one and entertaining this trip into his history. Thanks also to Neil Macdonald (Science Vs. Life) for the mag scans, and to Lance Mountain for sending his photo.
Follow the socials of Guy Mariano, Dickies, April, and Nike SB for further updates about what he has been up to.
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Previous First & Last interviews: Jack O’Grady , Sirus F Gahan , Andrew Brophy , Nick Boserio , Jarrad Carlin , Colin Kennedy , Henry Sanchez , Mike York , Amanda Perez , Mark Gonzales , Lance Mountain , Brian Anderson , Danny Brady , Wade DesArmo