Our latest Visuals interview is with Mike Gigliotti, we connected to discuss some early inspiration that forever impacted one of skateboarding’s most productive artists…
words and interview by Jacob Sawyer. Mike Gigliotti in Utah. PH: Athena Wilson
You can check out an audio version of this article on our Listen In podcast. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other major platforms.
Mike Gigliotti was born in San Francisco but grew up a native Angeleno. Inheriting skateboarding from his older brothers, he cut his teeth at the West LA Courthouse, a spot he still localises. This storied spot would open up a world of inspiration and access to some of the greatest of all time, which, as this interview attests, remains a formative, eye-opening period. While picking his visuals for this article, he travelled back to the beginning, a time when his worldview was broadened by the colourful cast of characters who made up the Baker crew, blowing any linear notion of what it is to be hesh or fresh out the window. The Girl camp and the Baker squad who he encountered back then remain hugely influential, and he elaborates on some specific moments that made an impact on his young mind.
Via the original team frequenting the Courthouse, Mike would get a peek at one of the first Baker boards in the wild, long before Baker 2G, and having not seen the Baker Bootleg video that led to the birth of the company. The seed was sown, and the anticipation, with no gauge of what was coming, meant that the first VHS viewing of Baker 2G, fresh home from Hot Rod, was a mind-melting point for his entire friendship group. He expands specifically on Jim Greco’s part in this video, and how significant his stamp on the city was at the time: every spot Jim dropped the hammer at, a visitable eighth wonder. Mike’s reverence for this part, and Jim’s career and influence, highlight what a game-changer this was, and how every second of footage stands up today. The specific trick honed in on to follow is also plucked from Baker 2G, the penultimate trick in Andrew Reynolds’ part, a kickflip down the Hollywood High 16 which reverberated globally.
Having given the Baker squad their well-deserved flowers, Mike honours the inspiration of fellow Italian Guy Mariano. He revisits a Mike Blabac shot of Guy appearing out of nowhere as a Royal ad, and how this glimpse of such an elusive, legendary figure made him feel at the time. His board graphic selection backs this up: a Guy Mariano double up from Tony Larson’s iconic “Modern Chairs” series for Girl, making space for some more Guy and Girl celebration. This leads into reflecting on the work Mike has committed to board walls around the world ever since Andrew Reynolds and Spanky asked him to start contributing artwork for Baker back in 2013.
We touch on Mike’s feelings about Lotties, the shop he founded and served the LA skate community from for five years. We speak about working for Baker and putting in time over at Baker Boys, what a full-circle moment that is, and how motivating that environment is on all levels. We also talk about the new board series he has been enlisted by Julien Stranger to create for Antihero, and what a pleasure it was to reinvigorate their “Dawg Shit” imprint. We close out by talking about an early visit to Slam, his pottery, and how different mediums all feed into each other, a balance which is obviously working for such a prolific and inspired creative. Enjoy these insights from one of our favourite artists…
Jim Greco – Baker 2G (2000)
I think this part had such an impact on me, and the time in skateboarding, for so many reasons. One of them is just that Jim’s one of the best skaters. I think he’s put out so much amazing stuff over his career. If you rewatch his parts, like I just rewatched the Deathwish video from 2013, and it’s overlooked sometimes, how amazing Jim Greco is, how gnarly of a skater he is. The Baker 2G part specifically stood out to me because for one, he skates to the song “Gloria”, which is amazing. Two, I think for me at that time, I had never really watched or seen many people who looked like that before. I always grew up, especially in Los Angeles, purely a Girl/ Chocolate kid. So when I saw that video, I was like, “Oh my”, there’s this punk rock dude, but he was doing technical tricks too. That part starts off with him doing a switch crooked grind on a ledge. So I think it was the combination of the way he dressed and that he could skate really tech, but could also jump down stuff. It just had such a huge impact on my friends and me. Then, being very fortunate to be in Los Angeles, we could go and look at a lot of the spots he skates. We actually would go to the Wilshire set that he skated. That stair set, the 15 and the 10, were so famous in skateboarding, and he nollie backside flipped the 10- the best nollie backside flip of all time! He back nose blunted the 10; he back-lipped and back 5-0’d the 15; he switch ollied it. It was a pivotal part for me and my friends. And I think it holds up. Every trick in that part. If he did that today, it would be someone’s hammer. It would be one of their ender tricks.
I still am, actually, but back then I was a local at the West LA Courthouse. That’s where I learned how to skate, and that’s where my whole crew of friends learned how to skate. The Baker dudes would go there; at that time, it was kind of even before Baker Skateboards started. Jim Greco kind of rode for Zero at the time, and Erik Ellington did; Andrew Reynolds was on Birdhouse, and I think Elissa [Steamer] was on Toy Machine and stuff, but they would go there so we could actually see them. I wasn’t friends with them. I was a little kid, you know? Once you get older, after the age of twenty, everyone’s the same age, but at the time I was eleven or twelve, and they were probably nineteen or twenty. But I vividly remember me and my friends going up to Greco and kind of nerding out. Asking, “How many tries did that trick take?” Or “What shoes are those?” Stuff like that, and he was super cool to all of us. He would answer all our questions. If they had extra stickers in their car or something, they would hook us up with stickers. Erik Ellington was cool as hell to me; Reynolds was, Elissa. They were all so friendly to me and my buddies as little kids. So that obviously only made us bigger fans as well because they were so cool to us.
We went to the local skate shop called Hot Rod, and the dudes working there were all talking about it. So my friends and I bought the VHS tape and brought it back home. I can’t remember which one of us bought it, but that’s how we first saw it. I think another reason why that video was so important to us is because we just didn’t know about that world. I know they had already had a video out called Baker Bootleg, but I hadn’t seen it for some reason. I think seeing that video was a whole new side of skateboarding I just didn’t even know about. Again, I had a couple friends that were super into Toy Machine and Zero and rail skating and stuff, videos like that. That stuff was cool, but that just was not my thing. I was way heavier into just Girl and Chocolate. I just thought those dudes and companies were the best shit out. I didn’t really care about anything else at that age. I was so fascinated because it wasn’t just one style. You had guys in the video like Mike Maldonado, Jeff Lenoce, some hip hop-looking dudes, some hesh dudes. It had a good mix of everything, and just goofy shit. This was also one of the videos where I was seeing kids who were my age in a skate video, which was a big deal too. Like Evan Hernandez, you’re seeing kids your age who are sponsored and shit; it’s so impressive. It just made a huge impact on all of us; the whole vibe of the video is great, it was just awesome.
“Every trick in that part. If he did that today, it would be someone’s hammer. It would be one of their ender tricks”
Jim’s nollie backside flip down the Wiltshire ten- if you watch him do that, It’s flawless. Everything about it, you could not have done that trick better! Also, he does it at that spot, a legendary spot lit up at night, and he’s wearing the Andrew Reynolds Emerica shoe, the brown ones. At that time, those shoes weren’t out yet. When that video came out, a lot of them are skating in those brown Emerica shoes, but as a person, a non-sponsored kid, you couldn’t get that shoe. They must’ve been skating early samples of it or something during that time. You could eventually get that shoe maybe a year later, but my friends and I desperately wanted that shoe. We were calling skate shops. “Do you know when this is coming out?” Obviously, the world was so different back then. They were like, “We don’t know. We pre-booked it, but we don’t know when it’s coming”. So, just everything about this clip. I also love that in the video they show the trick multiple times from different angles. They show it in slow motion, but like super slow-mo, this perfectly executed nollie backside flip with a sick outfit on. The whole thing is showstopping for me, for sure.
I also think something interesting that I didn’t know about Jim Greco until I got older is that he’s originally from the East Coast. So he grew up in Connecticut, and there are a lot of skaters out there. Brian Seber, dudes like Antihero guys or ledge skaters, East Coast dudes that all love Greco too. People where that doesn’t seem like that would be their favorite skater. Jim Greco crushed it on the East Coast before he moved out to California and got on Zero and Emerica and all that.
All the Deathwish videos, all the Baker videos from there on out always had good music. I feel like that’s how I found out about 90% of the music I listen to, from skate videos. My girlfriend, every time I ask her if she’s heard a certain song, she’s like, “Oh, what’s it from? A Thrasher video?” And I’m like, “Yeah!” She’s always making fun of me, but how else do people find out about music if not through what they’re into as a youth? My older brothers put me onto some hip hop stuff, but 90% of the shit I listen to today stems from a Transworld video or something. This dude’s been around forever, so this might be a point of shame, but whatever, I don’t care. I didn’t know who Theo Parrish was until Palace videos. I love everything Palace puts out; I love all their videos and their team and everything about it. But all of the music they use, even later in life, I listen to all this new stuff now, and it comes entirely from Palace videos. So, I just think it’s cool; you have got endless inspiration. I was talking to Andrew [Reynolds] about this, and I feel like Andrew and Erik would probably say this too… Jim Greco is Baker. His attitude, his ability to do what he wants, he marches to the beat of his own drum, so to speak, and absolutely the music he’s into, whether it was Johnny Thunders or hard music, Erik and Andrew definitely give Jim his flowers as far as digging for music. But Andrew’s the same way, you know, and so is Erik. They have both put me onto a lot of music as well; they’re a good crew.
Andrew Reynolds – Baker 2G (2000)
I think I picked this one for similar reasons I talked about Greco on the way. One, he had those brown shoes on, big deal to me. I eventually got them; I had a couple pairs of them. I love it to this day when skate companies make a shoe like this; they just put out his New Balance shoe in that same colourway. I saw there was an Air Force One Nike that came out. I like when skate shoes kind of look like hiking boots. Tom Penny and that whole crew always made them look super sick. This trick, I think at the time, was by far the biggest thing anyone had kickflipped. It was the cover of a magazine, and I think he actually kickflipped it more than once. Again, it’s just the perfect kickflip down a famous stair set that me and my friends would take the bus and walk by. We never saw them; even to this day, I’ve never been at Hollywood High when there’s a big session going on. This was a monumental kickflip, especially for that generation of skateboarding, so much of it was about going big. Who’s kickflipping the biggest set, who’s ollieing the biggest set, and there were so many guys back then just going to the gnarliest thing they could. I think he kickflipped the biggest stair set and made it look easy. He went on to kickflip bigger shit than that. But yeah, just again, great songs in that part, perfect trick, perfect outfit, perfect everything. Just the coolest-looking trick I can recall.
“perfect trick, perfect outfit, perfect everything. Just the coolest-looking trick I can recall”
The way it’s filmed too, long lens, so you see him starting all the way back at the 12th stair and throws down with that hand. I don’t know much more to say about that other than it’s the perfect trick. Baker sticker on the nose; again, I think all this shit was before Baker Skateboards started. I think they all rode for different companies at that point. The Transworld cover was amazing, and there’s a sick interview in that mag where there are a lot of the tricks from that video. I think the kickflip noseslide at the UCI hubba is in there; great interview. Him and Greco, at that time in Los Angeles, and again, probably the whole world, but I can only speak on LA, changed a whole generation of kids. To dress differently, grow their hair long, just a different vibe than we had seen before. It was massively influential.
They all lived in that zone, the Hollywood area. I think for them, they would all meet up at Hollywood a lot; it was a meet up spot. There’s a bunch of shit to skate at Hollywood High, there’s that other famous five stair, and then there’s the two stairs in a row that Erik Ellington skates. And it sounds like, from the stories they’ve told me, that they were just there all the time throughout the years. In Baker 3 there’s so much Hollywood high footage as well.
I knew kids who happened to be there when those guys were filming. They told me they were there and the Baker dudes didn’t care as long as you weren’t in the way. They didn’t care if you watched and stuff. I never personally saw anything go down, though. I went there one time with that crew later, and this was just a couple of years ago. We got there, and there was a crew of professional razor scooter people there, and dude, they were getting down; it was actually respect, it was gnarly. They were jumping on the 16; it was actually awesome. One of the razor scooter dudes was scared to jump on the rail, so Pedro Delfino was like, “All right, get my back”, and he had a backpack on. He just 50- 50’d the 16 to motivate the girl on the Razor scooter. And then she ended up doing the equivalent of what looked like a frontside boardslide, I guess, on the 16. But Pedro just casually 50s a 16-stair handrail with a backpack on, psychotic!
Guy Mariano – Royal Trucks Advert (2002) PH: Mike Blabac
Guy Mariano was like a ghost in Los Angeles. My age group would hear stories of him, and that he was the best skater ever. You could watch some VHS tapes that proved that he was the sickest, but you never saw him. Then the older dudes at the skate shop would talk about how he either doesn’t skateboard anymore, or he only skates by himself. You would hear these rumours. Again, those Girl and Chocolate dudes would be at the courthouse all the time. Robbie McKinley was a local; Chris Roberts was a local. You would see [Eric] Koston and all those dudes; they would be there regularly, and you would never see Guy Mariano ever. He was just my favorite at that time, my favorite skateboarder. I was like, his name’s Guy Mariano. He’s Italian. I’m Italian. That’s cool! He was the sickest; he had the best style, and his video part in Mouse. Then the older dudes at the skate shop would show us footage from Video Days and stuff like that. So I was like, oh man, this guy’s been good his whole life. So I think at that time, and it’s still true to this day. You’re always hoping to see more Guy Mariano footage, and at that time it was hard to find new shit of him. So when I saw that photo, I can’t even describe how it made me feel.
It was like seeing someone skate that you didn’t know was alive anymore. It was such a huge deal to be like, oh shit, he is still skating. This looks new. You could tell by the way his face looks that it’s from that time, it wasn’t an old photo that they were reissuing or something like that. It’s a new photo; he has his pro model Axion shoe on, a clean-cut haircut, popping. I didn’t know what the trick was at the time. I didn’t know it was a bigspin flip, but then that’s the one trick he had in Yeah Right.
“when I saw that photo, I can’t even describe how it made me feel”
Full colour Guy Mariano bigspin flip on a Colin McKay board shot by Mike Blabac
The photo ran as a Royal Trucks advert, and again, just everything about it. We all wanted to look like Guy Mariano and Mike Carroll. We all rode Royal Trucks. We all wanted to learn the tricks they did. And fortunately for us, we were locals at the spots those guys actively skated. So Guy Marano, just another massive influence on me and all my friends then and now. Just one of the sickest people, such a good person and such a sick skateboarder. He’s another dude, like that Greco part. If he put out his Mouse part today, it would hold up. It’s unbelievable the shit he was doing so long ago, so ahead of his time, and making it look easy. Just a rad, stylish skateboarder. I didn’t know the story with the board graphic being photoshopped from the original for this advert; they changed the graphic because Colin McKay parted ways with the team before this went out. Colin McKay was the vert dude on Girl at the time. I remember this is when Girl boards were all 7.3”, 7.56”, and maybe some bigger ones were 7.75” or 7.78”. Colin McKay, because he was like the vert guy, his board would have been a bigger size, so Guy Mariano here would be riding a bigger board, which was an eight.
Girl – Guy Mariano “Modern Chair” by Tony Larson (2001)
The significance of this board is just going into Rip City Skateboards, a skate shop near the Courthouse, which is still there, seeing that board and buying it. I don’t really think there was too much significance other than I remember feeling really good with that board. I just felt cool. As lame as that may sound to somebody, I just felt cool with it. I really loved the clean-cut Girl/ Chocolate look at that time. You had a pair of DCs, some khakis, a white T-shirt, a Dodgers hat, and that board. I look back now that I’m older, and I can see significance in it. It captures a very special moment in time for my friends and me. Not really caring too much about anything other than Girl and Chocolate and being able to watch Robbie McKinley and those guys skate in person. Again, all those guys were friendly to all their fans, us kids, when we would see them. They would give us used boards if they had extra boards in their car. They were all cool as hell. That board, I remember it being very flat and very small, and I remember learning frontside flips on that board. I think that’s another big moment for me; I learned how to frontside flip on that board. I always liked their art direction, super clean-cut. Some of the boards had simpler designs at that time, I just couldn’t get enough of it. They were the only boards I rode, the only boards I liked, sporty-looking boards. That board exemplifies that perfectly. Just clean. Just clean-cut; then to even put a fancy chair on the bottom of a skateboard was funny in a way. Not trying to be funny, but it just embodied something to me as a kid.
“I look back now that I’m older, and I can see significance in it. It captures a very special moment in time for my friends and me”
When buying boards, I always remember I would usually try to find a Guy Mariano board or a Tony Ferguson, and to this day, Tony Ferguson remains one of my favorite skateboarders of all time. I was talking about this not too long ago. I don’t have too strong a memory of the shape of skateboards as a kid, or the shapes I liked. I think I was probably, shit I still do this sometimes- I just get it based on “I want that guy’s skateboard”. I didn’t care too much. Obviously, I wouldn’t go crazy wide or too small, but I think back then, with all of the boards. I was like, 7.75”, that’s perfect, or like 7.5”, cool. I didn’t care as much. I think the only time I remember being young and seeing a board that I just didn’t like, no disrespect to this company or anything, but I never liked Alien Workshop boards. They had a more round nose and tail, very pill-shaped, and I just remember that being not my thing. Funny enough, that’s how FA and Hockey boards look today, very full noses and tails. I just liked the pointy little tail, and Baker still makes shapes like that; so do Girl and Chocolate, I think. I always felt it was better for flip tricks.
I would still ride Girl boards years later. That hardflip you just mentioned, I was riding a Girl Guy Mariano; that was when Guy just got back on Girl after not having a board for a while. I didn’t think about it too much at the time, but yeah, that’s a Guy Mariano board, LA Dodgers hat; I would always be wearing Four Star clothing. I think the T-shirt I have on is either a Girl or a Fourstar shirt. What was cool is I grew up skating with Alex Olsen, and Alex got on Girl, so then the ultimate dream came true. We got to fucking go to Girl and Chocolate down in Torrance; we would go, and they’d be like, “Yeah, take some shit”. I just remember thinking, “No fucking way”, walking through the aisles, and getting a Fourstar bomber jacket and wheels. They made everything; they had Fillmore wheels, Royal Trucks, Girl boards, Chocolate boards. It was just the ultimate, ultimate dream come true whenever Alex would bring us down to Girl and Chocolate.
As far as keeping boards, the Guy Mariano board that I hardflipped the double set on, I do have one of those brand new that I saved. The furniture series board, no. I’ve had to whittle down my board collection over the years. When I had a skate shop, it was awesome to have a huge collection because we actually got to display them and have people enjoy looking at them. But afterwards, they were just sitting in storage for too long. I knew there were people out there who would not just let them sit in a storage bin. They would actually put them up on their wall or something. So I sold quite a bit. I still have a decent collection, but nothing like I had maybe 10 years ago.
When it comes to boards that I have designed as favourites, there are some boards that I’ve put out where people who see them might not think that it’s all that special, and that’s fine. There’s been some stuff that I’ve done for Reynolds and Elissa that hinted at an OG Baker vibe, cartoony-looking boards mixed with a new vibe to Baker. I’m trying to think of like a single board, though. I did a board for T-Funk maybe three years ago, or two years ago when he was one of the top Skater of the Year contenders. I mean, he is every year, but I did a board for T-Funk where it’s this cartoon character with a lighter, and behind him is San Francisco on fire. I guess at the time these big fires were going on. T-Funk moved up to San Francisco, and he was crushing every spot he came across. I think he’s one of those skaters who, at one point, people maybe didn’t get. I mean, he’s always been gnarly; there’s no disrespect, but I think there was a big shift for T-Funk. There was this weird point when he started skating up in SF where people who maybe didn’t pay attention to him, all of a sudden were like, “Oh my fucking goodness, this dude is insane”. That board came out around that time, and everything about it is very Baker, like referencing some OG cartoon character. I intentionally made sure it was a low-coloured board, only six colours. Maybe that board to date is one of my favourites.
You are in-house over at Baker now; how much time is wrapped up creating for Baker?
Yeah, a lot, not because anyone is telling me I need to do shit all the time, but because it’s so much fun. I’m at Baker quite a bit. I’m there full time; that’s who I mainly do art or graphics for. There’s no schedule; you don’t have to go into the office if you don’t want to. So I mainly do a lot of my artwork from the house, from my house, but there’s a skate park there, and Reynolds is there all the time, and Spanky is there all the time, and my friend Jay Thorpe is there. This dude, Cooper, who does all the layout at Baker with a lot of our art, he’s there. So it’s just so much fun. My buddy Trevor works for Baker, and he’s there all the time. All the guys who work in the warehouse are all skateboarders. Everyone who works at Baker skates, and we’re always sitting in the art room or eating lunch together or skating the skate park together. It’s just so much fun.
I’m over there quite a bit, and we’re always working on new stuff. I’m always trying to talk to team riders about whether there is a certain style of board they want, or a certain look they want. Something I’ve always enjoyed about Baker, similar to the team riders, is that it’s not just one style. I think Baker benefits in that way; as far as their art goes, there’s not just one look. They’ve had all types of artists and styles of art there. So it’s really fun to work in a place like that. Somewhere that’s open-minded. There are constantly creative people coming in and out of there, so it’s super sick, and having the park is great. I skated there yesterday, It’s always a good time.
Have you been skating many spots outside of Baker Boys recently?
I go to the Courthouse a couple of times a week with this dude, Louis, Rasta Lou, a dude who I grew up skating with. I live pretty close to the Courthouse, so I go there quite a bit, and then I’ll go to this spot down by the beach in Santa Monica that’s like a newer kerb spot. I don’t really love skating the kerb at the Sand Gaps, the old Natas kerbs, just because I don’t love the vibe down there. But there’s a kerb spot at the Civic Centre in Santa Monica where you don’t get kicked out. It has good manual pads; there are some ledges there, really good flat ground, and slappy kerbs.
Mike Gigliotti treats us to a noseslide bigspin on home turf
Has having so much of your work come to fruition or translating to products made you more productive, or do you think you’ve always maintained the same level of output? It must be motivating.
Absolutely, especially because I think that might not be the case if I were forced to put out a certain thing all the time and it was much more regimented. Maybe that would hurt my creative flow a little bit, but because it’s on my terms and I have a lot of free time to do artwork that has nothing to do with skateboarding and skate graphics. I think you need that balance so when I’m not doing stuff for Baker, or maybe I’ve done some stuff with New Balance and stuff like that. I have time to do my pottery; I make books, I sell a lot of pottery. I have outside work that definitely makes everything within skateboarding not feel stale or boring.
This interview coincides with, or will coincide with, a standalone “Dawg Shit” series you’ve created for Antihero. Are you happy with how that’s turned out?
For sure. Absolutely. I won’t lie, I was a little nervous because the first iteration of “Dawg Shit” is so good. Todd Francis is one of the greatest skateboard artists of all time; I really was hesitant to follow in his footsteps because how do you beat that? Not that it’s about winning, but I just didn’t want the fans of “Dawg Shit” to see the new stuff and be like, “What? I like the Todd shit.” So there was a lot of pressure I put on myself to make the best stuff I could possibly make for it, and I really like the way it turned out. I’m really happy with it. My buddy Sam over at Antihero, he’s the best. He’s an amazing artist, and if you give him a drawing, he can put it on a skateboard and make it look a thousand times better than anything I could ever do. So I credit these boards turning out the way they did to Sam Davidson’s help.
How is it creating graphics for those guys? I guess from working solidly for Baker to then having another project, do you have a different approach? Is it more challenging, or do you just switch into a different gear?
A little bit, because most of the stuff I had done for Antihero in the past were ideas directly from Julien [Stranger] that I’m executing. Whereas that happens at Baker, but a lot of the time at Baker, it’s just me making shit. It’s not an idea from somebody else. So, yeah, absolutely. It’s different. It’s challenging. Julien has high standards for how he wants Antihero to look and feel, which is awesome. That’s why Antihero is still the Antihero we know it as, because Julien keeps it very real. Julien is, to me, one of the definitions of a skateboarder. He’s a lifelong skateboarder and loves all types of skateboarding. I think maybe some people who don’t know him would be surprised to know some of the people he thinks are really sick. They’re not all Antihero type vibe. He is just one of the sickest street skateboarders to ever live, and what he’s created with Antihero is amazing. So I don’t ever want to let him down. He is also doing it super open-minded; I always appreciate that about him. But yeah, as far as executing his ideas, I just want to make people stoked and make people happy. I just want to make the best shit possible to stoke out the fans of that company, and definitely make the riders happy. I trust when Sam and Julien say something’s good, that it’s good. I’m a big fan of all the dudes who ride for Antihero, so being able to make graphics for those guys is awesome.
Who is involved in the series? They’re making a video to coincide with it, too?
There should be, I think Rye Beres has been making a video, and it’s going to be Grant Taylor, Raney Beres, Gus Gordon, and Cody Chapman. Those are the four guys. Gus is the new pro over there, so he’s in there. I was always a fan of when Antihero would make their own little side project companies: Grimple Stix, Dawg Shit, and all of them. Dawg Shit was always my favorite, that and Grimple Stix.
“I’m a big fan of all the dudes who ride for Antihero, so being able to make graphics for those guys is awesome”
Mike Gigliotti’s “Dawg Shit” series for Antihero will be arriving soon
Am I right that, growing up, Julien Stranger was someone sort of in your sphere? Do you have any formative memories of seeing him out skating?
Not really, no. I mean, to be honest, similar to Guy Mariano, he was this ghost. He was someone you would hear about, but never saw. Someone that you would see if you were in San Francisco or something; you might catch him bombing a hill by you, but would never stop to talk. I think for a lot of people that remains true. I just became friends with Julien maybe 10 years ago or so, just through skateboarding, doing art there, but then also skating together. So I’ve gone on some trips to Spain with him and Sam Davidson. We’ve gone to Spain, New York, kind of bounced around, definitely skated San Francisco a bunch.
I don’t have any memories of him as a kid. He’s sort of the generation above me, maybe a generation or two above me, but I definitely heard about him just being one of the sickest skaters ever. That’s like kind of all you would hear. When people would talk about one of the great street skateboarders, the older guys would always be like, yeah, that guy’s good, this guy’s good, but… Julien Stranger. Julien and Natas, so knowing they were from the Venice, Santa Monica area definitely made us want to seek out footage of them or see them even more. To this day, if you go and skate with Julien, he’ll do some shit that’ll blow your mind. Most likely no one filmed it, and you just kind of have to be there. I’ve filmed like quite a bit of footage of Julien, and all the stuff I’ve filmed wasn’t half of what he did on those sessions. You just can’t catch it all. Unbelievable skateboarder, very good person.
Do you miss having the shop as a base, and has Baker Boys filled this void somewhat?
I miss the people at the skate shop; that’s about it. I miss the locals, but I still see all of them, so I don’t miss them that much because I still talk to all of them and I still know what they’re all up to. I still skate with all of them. As a matter of fact, I was with a couple of them last night. So no, I don’t miss it, Is that bad?
“I went to London at 16 years old, and our first stop was Slam. That’s 2002, pre-internet… Find the skate shop, get a board, ask them where to go”
I love skate shops, though. That’s the thing, I love skateboard shops! And I want more people to open skate shops, and I love them. Honestly, man, I told you this in an email, I went to London at 16 years old, and our first stop, me and my friend, Jeff Spiegel, first stop was Slam. That’s 2002, pre-internet, not knowing where things are. Find the skate shop, get a board, ask them where to go. We didn’t know anything at that time; they pointed us to go to Southbank, and that’s how we found out about that. They told us that there are these ledges over here. I think they’re massively important. Prior to opening a skate shop, a dude I knew loosely down in Venice, Jesse Martinez, a legendary dude, he had a shop, and he was like, “I just wanted to do it for five years or so.” he did it; that’s it. So when Lotties closed after six years, I was like, cool, we went a year after I said I would. That was fun, moving on; that’s kind of it.
You did a lot in that period of time.
Man, again, so much of that was not due to anything I did. It was all Daniel Wheatley, who’s an amazing videographer and skater, who made sick videos. That helped us massively. Obviously, being an artist, you have to make your own stuff, and I largely credit some advice. I remember Palace had a pop-up in LA, before I had Lotties and myself, and a couple of skaters here worked at their pop-up for them. I remember talking to Gareth [Skewis]and Lev [Tanju] and Torey [Goodall] about how I really wanted to open a skate shop here. They told me that if I did, we could carry Palace stuff because no one could get Palace in LA at the time. But they also said if you do it, make sure your shop stuff is the most important thing. They gave such good advice, basically, and we were so lucky that before Palace had a store in LA, you couldn’t get Palace in LA. Being able to open Lotties and having Palace available was a massive draw for a whole other crowd of people that wanted to come in. So I had a lot of help, and I’m super proud of everything we did at the time. As I said, I still talk to all the people who are important, so I’m grateful for that.
How important do you feel it is to support skate shops right now?
Massively, massively important. know I can only speak for myself here; I cannot speak for other people, but I know for a lot of people out there, it’s easy to get free shit. That’s not true for everybody, but I know for certain people, maybe in LA, they’re hooked up. But all the dudes at Baker, all my friends, they go to Val Surf, they buy boards, they buy clothes, they buy griptape.
I go to Rip City, I support Rip City, I go to Brooklyn Projects, Humidity Skate Shop in New Orleans. I could go on forever about all these skate shops out there that crush it. It’s super important to support them. And, you know, that goes for even just getting some hardware or griptape. It goes a long way! I don’t think people always realise that you don’t have to go in there and buy a pair of shoes and a board every day. Even just going in there and getting a sheet of grip when you need it, or bearings or something, helps massively. Because I remember having a shop and having really good days, and having days where you made no money. Like we would actually lose money because you’re paying employees and you’re just losing. So every little bit helps; absolutely support that.
One thing I didn’t ask about is pottery. That obviously has its own sort of much smaller real estate as far as artwork. Is that more freeing?
Yeah, having something to work on, there’s a shape and a size. It just completely changes your brain waves. It completely makes you think in a different way than you would with a flat piece of paper. Both have helped one another so much. All this stuff I’m doing for pottery has helped me so much with illustration and painting, and vice versa. The pottery I make with my mother and having that tight relationship with my mum is extremely important to me. With all this stuff, you have got to be patient. You have got to make it; you have got to wait for it to dry. Then you have got to put it in the kiln. Then you have to take it out of the kiln, paint on it, put it back in the kiln, and hope that it turns out good because with pottery, you never know. You might make something and spend three days painting on it, put it in the kiln, and it comes out, and it’s broken. So you have to be willing to let go a little bit more. It is free in that respect because you’ve got to learn to accept that not everything turns out as good as you want it to. Then a lot of times those turn out way better than you could have imagined, so there’s that as well.
You’ve mentioned being influenced by Ralph Steadman and Robert Crumb. Were you a fan of Richard Scarry and Bill Peet?
Oh my god, yeah, Richard Scarry especially, though. I’m still influenced by that stuff. Richard Scarry, there are so many skate graphics historically where people have referenced Richard Scarry stuff. Huge influence on me. Those people’s ability to draw hyper-detailed, and then also very simple, and make it look so good is a feat and something I try to do every day. Yeah, so massively influenced by those two.
What is on the horizon that you’re excited about?
I’m excited about a lot of good stuff coming out with Baker, new videos, new riders, new art. I’m constantly pushing myself there, working with Spanky and Reynolds and Cooper. We have got some stuff planned down the line with New Balance. I’m making more pottery at all times. I would love to get an art show going of not really my illustration work, but mainly just pottery. The Antihero thing is coming next month, and then there is some cool stuff with Palace coming out down the line. I’m very excited about that.
Thanks for your time, Mike. Any last words?
No, man, just stoked to do this. Thank you for hitting me up, and look forward to seeing it.
We would like to thank Mike Gigliotti for his time. Hit us up for boards designed by him rolling in from Baker, and stay tuned for the new “Dawg Shit” series he has designed for Antihero. Thank you to Mike Blabac for sending over the Guy Mariano photo, and Tim Anderson (Bobshirt) and Kevin McCoubrey (@girlcollector) for coming through with the Guy Mariano board images. We would also like to thank Neil Macdonald and Swift Blazer for providing mag scans.
Previous Visuals Interviews: Nathan Clancy , Pat Coghlan , Jacob Rosenberg , Gabriel Summers , Mark Suciu , Hayley Wilson , Mike Sinclair , Tom Delion , Sam Narvaez , Tyler Bledsoe , Daniel Wheatley , Braden Hoban , Jaime Owens , Charlie Munro , Lev Tanju , Jack Curtin , Ted Barrow , Dave Mackey , Jack Brooks , Korahn Gayle , Will Miles , Kevin Marks , Joe Gavin , Chewy Cannon