Photo by Emilio Cuilan

Sorry this took so long, but here’s an interview with the always talkative Jake Johnson. Some of the answers are long, and took a different turn from the questions, but you can treat it as an open-ended thing. Not having to worry about space is one of the good things about the internet. Read it in two sittings if you have to. Enjoy.

Just to backtrack a little bit…Everyone seems to move to L.A. or New York, why did you move to Pittsburgh?

After I messed my knee up, I just decided to get away for the recovery. In New York, you’re paying for your ability to move everywhere fast, and share space with tons of people. It just wasn’t worth it for me. My ex-girlfriend and my brother lived in Pittsburgh. I was seeing doctors there, I just felt comfortable moving there and hibernating. I think I work better in New York, but there’s a lot of value in having more space and you save a lot of money living out there. I don’t want to be a victim of rent forever.

You’re trying to buy a house?

Eventually, but my rent is really cheap as it is.

Is that where you’d most likely settle at?

I don’t know yet. I just signed another one-year lease there. I actually have a pretty sick skate house out there now, because I live with two young kids, Justin and Zach Funk. We have a mini ramp in our backyard, a whole house to ourselves, and central air.

You think you’re going to stay in Pittsburgh after this next lease runs out?

I do need to move back to New York, but I’m going to be traveling so much this next year. Right now, I’m paying $400 a month to have a whole house and a mini ramp.

Since you’ve been posted out there, do you want to talk about the scene they have in Pittsburgh a little bit? It seems like New York, Philly, etc. are nowhere near as rough as Pittsburgh is spot-wise. How was it adjusting out there?

It’s really small, I adjusted well. There’s One-Up Skateshop, and a crew of guys that skate for that shop. It’s like a dozen core skaters of all ages. There aren’t lot of people out there that are skating for any image, and most of the skaters out there are from very rural areas around the city. They’re just resourceful, country-type people. In New York, there’s a “scene” to everything, and you’ll bump into skaters everywhere. Being a skater puts you into a scene, like a network, night clubs, this and that. Out there, there’s nothing to skating except gnarly rugged street spots and a small skate shop. They drink just as much as people do here [in New York] or anywhere else, but there’s no scene to it. I relate to people from those sorts of areas real well.