How To Have A Good Time in Detroit — An Interview with ‘Minted’ Videographer, Justin Bohl

📝 Words by Mike Munzenrider
📷 Photos by Justin Bohl, Daniel Stelly & Max Garson

Could your skate scene use a Justin Bohl? The 39-year-old Detroit skater and filmer, whose most recent video is called Minted, says he improved 88 spots while filming the video, and no, a simple bondo job doesn’t count. Bohl’s total only includes spots that required an hour or more to fix – his most involved jobs, like, replacing dirt with brand-new sidewalk squares, could take upwards of 40 hours. Some 41 spots he fixed for the video had never been skated; he says he spent $3,500-plus to make it all happen.

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Bed, Snacks & Beyond

📷 via @mariosk8

Zered is the latest subject of the Lookback Library’s “Cover Discussions” series, chatting about his three Transworld covers and three Skateboarder covers. (Crazy he hasn’t had a Thrasher one before, especially given the Massachusetts connection with Phelps.)

“Caller 10” is a crustaceous journey by Pittsburgh’s Radio Skateshop through one of the roughest cities for skate spots. Includes a great Zach Funk part to close it out.

While we’re on the topic of crust, peep Adam Meuller’s part in Justin Bohl’s Detroit video, Minted, which includes everything from lines on broken boats through abandoned buildings to polejams out of snow piles.

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Midtown Sundays, Museum Mondays

Antonio via Paul Coots. The footage of this one was in the 2018 “End of Summer” edit, but felt worth reminding everyone how insane it was. This photo does it great justice ♥ Just observe the height ;)

Jawn Gardner uses his gifts to do what nobody else can in an incredible new Earth Day part. The line at CBS is maybe the most third-eye-open choreography that place has ever seen.

What an amazing idea for a feature… “‘Perfect Days’ will interview familiar faces in the Boston and Northeast scene, and pose them with the simple question: what was one of your favorite sessions ever?” The Orchard Skate Shop blog is following the footsteps of the Slam City Skates blog in creating good, old-fashioned web content outside the Insta-sphere. Kevin Coakley is the inaugural edition. (Fwiw, all-time favorite skate day around here is probably Yume Farm with *literally everybody* in fall 2018 ♥)

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What It Do Babbyyyy

Photo via the tumbleweeds. Tumblr in 2019 is like that one ledge spot that was popping five years ago. Everyone used to meet there, get clips there, get stuck there. Now it’s chunked up, the bevel got as round as Blubba, and it sorta just sits there. Maybe a group of guys in their 30s will skate it for 20 minutes before they go to the bar. Maybe a pair of kids in #curated thrift store finds visiting from out of town will film each other do two-trick lines for their trip edit on it. The solitary man who shows up after work once every two weeks to ensure that he hasn’t lost his back tails is always a fixture. But sometimes, all three of those end up there together, and it’s fun — not fun like the old days, but enough to remind you that they existed ;)

NBC visited Tompkins to speak with Zhu and Yaje about how much that square of asphalt means to the community. Please sign the petition to preserve Tompkins Square courts as an asphalt space, if you have yet to do so.

The Canal boys have a new video coming out this fall :)

Medium has an awesome feature with Justin Bohl, a guy who has been the go-to tour guide for skate teams visiting Detroit over the past eight years. He put together a twenty-minute video entitled Mint, which features a bunch of behind the scenes footage of all the traveling skaters who have come through the city as it became sought-after skate trip destination in the 2010s.

Ultra” from Chris Burt is up there with the Bos brothers’ “Wide Open” for 2019’s best videos outside of the Thrasher/Insta content spiral. It’s a Minnesota video with three parts, mostly filmed in the suburbs, yet somehow feels all the right ways different than a lot of the other stuff you’ve watched this past week. Ender part from Frog’s Pat Gallaher.

The New York Times has a quick profile of Alexis Sablone.

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