The full-length shop video is the purest undertaking in skateboarding. Having been in operation under various names since 1994, Richmond’s Venue Skateshop is thus one of the most O.G. shops in the country (is FTC the oldest?), and has at its disposal a wellspring of lore to tap into.
From the intergenerational opening shared part between shop owner Maury Blankinship and his son, to the farewell to the 50-year-old Richmond Coliseum currently slated for demolition and co-opted into D.I.Y. usage by the city’s skaters, to appearances from the greater Bust Crew and Quasi-verse that have helped Richmond become a globally recognizable skate scene — there is plenty to smile at in this 34-minute labor of love. (Though you’ll be a lil’ disappointed a certain somebody’s part gets intro’d and then …yeah, you’ll know when you see it. Hopefully a teaser for something otw though.)
Video by Will Rosenstock, Thomas Goldman and Kevin O’Dell.
Filmed in what feels almost exclusively the Richmond metro area. The two-ish NYC clips almost jar you out of the narrative a bit ;)