Cowtown Skate Shop

As Phoenix am falls into the past and all the great times and chaos become faded, an experience still stands out in my mind. That experience is my visit to Cowtown...and I mean the shop not a weird farm spot or something like that. The shop was killer...definitely a place I could go broke and staff was welcoming. I decided "hey why not rep the folks who do a bunch for the local scene on the blog." And here we are. Photos don't do the shop justice, but I tried, and the interview scratches the surface of good folks. Hell yea for your local shop!!

Christian

C: How long ago did the shop open?
J: Trent and ED opened the first Cowtown in downtown phoenix in 1996. The first store used to be inhabited by a boot repair shop. the sign in the window was cool looking so they kept the name... "Cowtown" The local street skating scene was strong, and the first customer base was just a large tight circle of friends. It was the first skateboarder owned and operated shop in town.Glendale shop opened a year later and Laura became a partner. Ed, Trent and Laura were all main figureheads in the local skate scene for many years prior to the opening of the shops.


C: How deep is the team that runs the store?
J: Deep. All of Cowtown's employees and team are part of an extended local family of skateboarders. most have been raised in and around the shop and by the local independent skate scene most of their lives.


C: You guys have quite a bit of square footage. Has the store always been as big as it is?
J: The first shops were much smaller. We stayed in the same building, but eventually ended up leasing bigger spaces.

C: I have seen on your web site you guys do some collaborations with artists. Could you talk to us a bit about that?
J: Most of the artist collaborations come naturally, from just working with our friends. The local skate scene has always been intertwined with local art and music. We have been known to have periodic skate art and photography shows.


C: How do you guys help/work with the community?
J: Laura is one of three people credited with getting Arizonans first public free skate park. She, Damon Alire, and Dan Shircliff got the ball rolling with concert/contest fundraisers, and many city council meetings. After the first park was built, the others just fell in line. Those early contest fundraisers were called "The Worlds Greatest shows", and set the building blocks for what would later be Phx Am. We still work closely with our friends, and local communities to throw local contests, demos, video premieres, art shows etc.We also stay close to our locals, offering help, advice, or any spare parts we may have to help keep them rolling, and hopefully in the right direction.

C: Thoughts on how to keep business strong?
J: We just try to be nice to everybody, keep our stores stocked,stay inspired, and stay active! Good Karma helps:)

C: You have multiple locations all in AZ. Ever thought of getting out of state?
J: Az is our home. Well probably just keep holdin' it down locally for now. We do have our online store though for all our out of state homies Cowtownskateboards.com

C: Sweet! Thanks so much for your time and for fielding my questions. Any shout outs or things to look forward to from the folks at Cowtown?
J: Thanks to all of our friends in the skateboard world, past, present, and beyond, for all of their continual help and support through out the years:) We plan on ridin' this thing till the wheels fall off, and momentum keeps building. Keep an eye out for a lesson in progression! Maybe Phx Pro!? And that should do it.

C: I just wanted to inject that the competition was epic, had a great time, and meeting folks at the shop was definitely a high light!

Roughneck Does Phoenix Am

My phone rings about three weeks ago and I'm swamped so I let it go to voice mail. Things loosen up shortly there after and I check it. Chris Jatoft aka Ratface is calling about an "opportunity". Curious I call him back to hear that the Roughneck crew is looking for a photographer to come along on a road trip to Arizona to capture Phoenix am and the little details that come along with. Needless to say I'm hyped. Touch base with the family and get the green light.

Thursday the 8th I grab a few necessity's and my camera gear and get out to the city to rendezvous with folks and get on the road. Myself, Johnny Roughneck, his wife Paola, Jeremey Lavoi, Chris Jatoft, Josh Bozzuto, and Matty Pryor are all stuffed into a Caravan and on the road by about 9:30 p.m. An all niter ensues. A rest stop jam took place at about 10:00a.m. the following day and a change of the guard cuz Matty was seeing "the shadow man" and after driving all night who could blame him. We smashed the last couple of hours to arrive at Rio Vista park in lovely Peoria Az. at about noon.
Vendors galore were setting up and the park was open for the skaters to get familiar and figure out the terrain. Johnny got wind of a bar located in Tempe where some stuff was going down that night so the crew decided to drive about 20 or so mins and get a hotel for that eve. Once all the travel wary troopers got to the hotel few were up for a bar run but Johnny and I rallied ourselves and booked out. Tons of folks at this little spot...got to see a few acts, drink a few beers, and shot some stick. Good times.

The next day was heats and our rider Josh had an early time so up and at em'. As everyone started to get in the van Paola came out and told us Johnny had gotten sick and was in a bad way. We decided to smash out to get the riders to the jam and someone would come back and collect Paula and Johnny a bit later. Got to the park and Josh proceeded to have a killer run, just linking it up and landing everything. Ratface had a much later heat so we chilled and manned our booth and spread the good word about Roughneck and Everyday. A kind of f*#ked situation came about when while our backs were turned, our booth got raided and some personal effects got boosted! The most tragic loss was a blue shirt that really tore Paola up. Luckily there was a tattoo parlor close by and how better to get over a major loss than get a sweet tattoo! Both our riders did a great job at the contest but talk about stiff competition...there were some major rippers there. After a full day of drama, skating, and spreading the word everybody was ready to get back to the hotel and get ready to go to the after party. Yours truly was a total wreck and had to opt out on the party and catch up on some much needed sleep, but I heard it was a pretty dope time.

The next morn I got up kinda early and went down to the van to do a bit of clean up in what was fast becoming a sty. Johnny came out shortly after with kind of a look on his face like things were gonna be bad. Low and behold they were. The key to our rental had gotten jacked up and we were not supposed to cross state lines with the van. Johnny was stressing worst case scenario and started to lose it a bit. Things looked bleak but it all came together in the end and we got a way better and fresh van for the trip home....Booya! Over to the park to peep out best trick and just get a few loose ends wrapped up then off to Glendale park for a quick session and grab a clip or two. We are putting miles behind us by 8 p.m. I have to say I wondered if I could pull pilot the whole way home but I killed it. Take that 10 hour drive!
Thoughts on the trip go like this, don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone cuz these kind of experiences pay off in ways one could never imagine. Everyone out there go get some!!!

Christian