Five Favorite Parts With Grant Yansura

🔑 Intro + Interview by Adam Abada
📷 Photo by Cade Meyers

A lot of times, when we first ask people to partake in this series, they clam up; they can’t narrow it down to their actual five favorites. The spirit, however, is not to pin down everyone’s all-times, but get an understanding of influences.

By his own admission, videographer and WKND head honcho Grant Yansura said that if he were to actually pick his five favorites, it would be the same ones everybody says (you could probably guess em all – yes, Jake Johnson in Mindfield was one.) Without any further prompting, however, he coughed up a different set of five parts that he loves equally as much.

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Daniel Shimizu – Foundation: That’s Life (2004)

I grew up watching that video so much. I know every single clip; me and my friends would dissect it. I’m friends with him now, which is insane to me. I know him well, but whenever we’re skating, I can’t believe it. I remember when me and my friends back home thought he was the fucking steeziest guy.

That part means something extra to me now living out here [in Los Angeles], because he skates so many spots that are in East L.A., Montebello, Alhambra, El Monte, whatever. The long curving manual pad he skates – that nollie nose manual – so sick. Him skating a bump to barricade in the warehouse at night… I love the idea of that so much, and I wish we could get away with that nowadays. I love that part because it just seems like he filmed it around the neighborhoods he grew up in with Jason Hernandez, who he is still friends with. And then a couple trips to like – what, Japan?

And where’s that hubba he back smiths? Berlin or something?

Stefan Janoski – Transworld: Subtleties (2004)

Another part filmed by Jason Hernandez. I wouldn’t say Subtleties is my favorite Transworld video, but to me, it meant something more because there’s a lot of Miami in it and I’m from Florida. I’m from West Palm Beach, which is like an hour-and-a-half away, so it was a lot of the same spots. To me it was: “Holy shit, this pro skater is skating spots that are basically in our backyard.” He’s skating ADP, which is the white hubba that he switch flip back fiftied. We were skating many of the spots that he’s skating in that part, like a three flat to road in South Beach, and we were like, “Wait, that’s a pro spot? We can get away with tricks over that?” It helped me realize that spots in our reach were cool enough to be in pro videos. Not everything had to be in California or in, you know, New York or Europe. It was filmed really well and edited clean to that Modest Mouse song. It was a perfect age for me where Modest Mouse was the coolest shit I’d ever heard.

Pat Stiener – Static III (2007)

This one might be damn near first place. I love that part so much. Static III came out when I was in high school, and that’s when I started to understand skating more. That video, specifically Pat Stiener’s part, was eye-opening. That still is the perfect part to me. He’s from Lakeland, Florida – near where Reynolds is from. It’s so many lines – constantly moving – and it seemed like such a curated part. This dude knew how he wanted the part to look and he did it. He’s another person that I’m friends with now, and it’s so cool to know him before and after. I’ll never tell him, but I was definitely wearing Half Cabs and flannels after that. He has glasses, though, so he’s probably reading a lot of these articles and might see it here.

Reese Forbes – Nike SB: Nothing But The Truth (2007)

It’s such a good part because it looks like he didn’t even know he was filming a part. It looked like he just went on trips, and they’re like, “Get the camera out, he’s skating!” The spots are – like, he’s skating over a wheelbarrow in China or something. There’s skatepark footage in it. I don’t think he’s necessarily skating the sickest spots, but the way he’s just constantly skating and the Johnny Cash song is just constantly going, something about that part makes me want to skate more than any part that has ever been put out. I watch it and I think, “I could film a part.” I’m not saying I’m comparable to Reese Forbes, but it’s just relatable: go fast and do simple shit. He’s never slowing down for any moment until Brad Staba comes in, and the part mellows out for a second. And then Reese Forbes comes back in and goes. It’s not filmed like a traditional part, so I’m surprised that it hits so hard for me.

Brian Clarke – Outdated (2012)

Outdated is a New York video made by J.P. Blair. I’m good friends with Brian, but that part made me like ledge skating. I grew up liking your classic rail and gap skating. I was a Zero baby. A Zero baby turned into an Alien Workshop kid, but I never really cared for ledge skating at all. Brian Clarke in Outdated came out, and it was really tasteful ledge skating where he was doing not even the most tech tricks on ledges, but two ledge tricks that paired really well together. Not to sound pretentious, but it was just super tasteful, classic tricks – that were still hard ledge tricks. It was more about how one trick led into the other. That switched my mind on ledge skating.

Now, if you look at WKND, we have a bunch of ledge skaters on the team. Brian Clarke was one of the first people I asked to ride for WKND when we started it. He still brings it up every time we have drinks. He already knew he wanted to be a firefighter. He didn’t want to be a skater. He was like, “It wouldn’t be fair to you guys.” He was smarter than the rest of us.

Honorable Mention: Jason Adams “Profile” Segment in 411VM #52 (2002). That was my first 411. Dude’s skating curbs, handrails, pools; it’s crazy to think that now, he’s still skating. That’s a career right there.

Bonus Mini 5 — Grant’s Favorite Movies

Raising Arizona (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1987): It’s cartoonish. Every aspect of that movie is exactly what I wish I could make. I love the way it was shot.

Drop Dead Gorgeous (Michael Patrick Jann, 1999): I do not understand why more people don’t know it. It’s an all-star cast. It’s so fucking funny. Everyone in it became a star. That movie is like the best comedy of all time in my eyes.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975): It resonates as a dark movie because of how it goes towards the end, but when I watch it, there are so many funny moments.

The Truman Show (Peter Weir, 1998): It was shot in Florida. My parents had a friend who lived where it was shot, so we would get to stay in a house in this little beach town. I feel really attached to that movie.

Joe Dirt (Dennie Gordon, 2001): Slept on comedy. When you think about it, it’s so stupid. It’s so good the whole way through.

Previously: Ryan Lay, Nikolai Piombo, Hayley Wilson, Frank Gerwer, Gus Gordon, Max Palmer, Etienne Gagne, Jacopo Carozzi, Nicole Hause, Matt Militano, Evan Wasser, Ryuhei Kitazumi, Sarah Meurle, Vitória Mendonça, Andrew Wilson, Ben Kadow, Chandler Burton, Pedro Delfino, Johnny Wilson, Nick Michel, Wes Kremer, Jordan Trahan, Ariana Spencer, Elijah Odom, Greg Hunt, Zered Bassett, Neil Herrick, Trung Nguyen, Nick Boserio, Elissa Steamer, Casper Brooker, John Gardner, Bobshirt, Brandon Turner, Shari White, Nick Jensen, Tony Hawk, Naquan Rollings, Jack O’Grady, Josh Wilson, Maité Steenhoudt, Jahmir Brown, Una Farrar, Chris Jones, Mason Silva, Beatrice Domond, Mark Suciu, Justin Henry, Breana Geering, Sage Elsesser, Bobby Worrest, Nik Stain, Anthony Van Engelen, Dom Henry, Bing Liu, Andrew Reynolds, Cyrus Bennett, Jacob Harris, Jamal Smith, Paul Rodriguez, Gilbert Crockett, Ben Chadourne, Tom Knox, Louie Lopez, The Chrome Ball Incident, The Bunt, Lacey Baker, Andrew Allen, GX1000, Brian Anderson, Gino Iannucci, Josh Kalis, Sean Pablo, Wade Desarmo, Chris Milic, Chad Muska, Hjalte Halberg, Danny Brady, Bill Strobeck, Aaron Herrington, Jerry Hsu, Brad Cromer, Brandon Westgate, Jim Greco, Jake Johnson, Scott Johnston, Josh Stewart, Eric Koston, Karl Watson, Josh Friedberg, John Cardiel, Pontus Alv, Alex Olson, Jahmal Williams