New Jersey is #1 in many things: K-12 education, population density, bar pies, skaters who go on to be more synonymous with Philly or New York. But one thing people have historically not looked towards New Jersey for, is manuals. It makes sense that a style of skating born on cement islands amid SoCal parking lots would not necessarily incubate as well in a place whose state emblem features Fred Gall.
📷 Photo by Sammy Levy
“you*re amazing don’t forget it” is a New Jersey scene video by Connor Cloonan, combining the crews from Branded Skateshop in Long Branch (right next door to Wenning’s hometown), and Travel Skateshop in Rahway (…someone or other’s hometown.)
Though Jersey (and by this same token, Long Island) is famous for producing skaters that go on to be more closely associated with the mega-scenes just across the state lines, the Jersey videos that exist in an insular Jersey-fied world always feel like their own genre. Sure, there’s a couple out-of-state clips, but like, you could substantially pad the runtime with a few more day trips up to New York or down to Philly — but wouldn’t it be better to dig behind every gloomy industrial park, around every state college campus, and under every highway for morsels of gold that Freddy, Petillo, Derm and them missed? (Or revisit a NJ classic with the world record for longest running sticker?)
