House Park is a skate park in Austin, Texas that brings skaters, BMX bikers, scooters, and roller skaters to practice their craft and find community.
No Comply is the most well-known skate shop in Texas and a central pillar of the local skating community.
Christian
Christian, 23, is one of the lead film producers for No Comply. He began skating at 12 years old. Until 3 years ago, he had been attending a community college in Houston but decided to take a break and drop out while considering a major direction change. Christian moved to Austin to work in a warehouse and pursue film making, and now lives down the road from House skate park. Christian spends his time after work skating, filming, and hangout at IdleWild.
Verde
Jonathan “Verde” Green is a 24 year old skater born and raised in Austin, TX. He is one of the “O.G.s" of the area and has watched House Park and its community grow over the years. He started skating 11 years ago, and is now sponsored by two local Austin skateboard companies: PurpleWax and Security. He recently got his job back at the same JuiceLand warehouse that Christian works at. Verde, Christian, and other skaters help produce skate videos for companies like No Comply.
Verde says the House Park community has changed from a “cliquey”, harsh, violent community into a tight-knit and open one, attributing this change to the increase in diversity of skaters he has seen over the years.
A few years ago, a boy committed suicide from the top of the parking garage next to House Park. Verde described how the death of the boy affected the area, bringing an eerie atmosphere to the entire community for over a month. The passing of the boy impacted the whole skate park because of how inter-woven and tight-knit the community is.
Verde says the House Park community has changed from a “cliquey”, harsh, violent community into a tight-knit and open one, attributing this change to the increase in diversity of skaters he has seen over the years.
A few years ago, a boy committed suicide from the top of the parking garage next to House Park. Verde described how the death of the boy affected the area, bringing an eerie atmosphere to the entire community for over a month. The passing of the boy impacted the whole skate park because of how inter-woven and tight-knit the community is.
Michael
Michael is the founder of a skateboarding company called "Zsk8tz". While most of his friends in his small farming town joined Future Farmers of America, he was discovering skating through “Thrasher” magazines, ultimately leading to a full pursuit of skateboarding instead. He is currently managing restaurants around Austin and has been doing photography for his own company for the past 6 years.
“Austin has a tight-knit skating community. Skating brings people together by giving them the opportunity to express themselves in unique ways.”
Michael explained that the skating community is very different than the way the world perceives them. Within the community, skaters encourage and push each other in all assets of life with much more positivity than the outside world expects.
“Besides being a great pastime, skating teaches young people to be a part of something bigger than themselves. With my brand I want to promote that positivity of skateboarding.”
Michael also told a story of how the community selflessly supports each other:
“Recently, one of the skaters here broke themselves, and was in the hospital. The community all came together to start a go-fund-me and support him, even if they didn’t know him, just because he was a fellow skater.”
Jordan
Jordan is a skater from Copperas Cove working at a warehouse in Austin. Since the 8th grade, Jordan would skate everyday after school, making skating videos by himself. At 14 he started his own boarding company called “Motivation skate” and at 17 launched a fingerboard company called “Tricky Fingerboards” – which he still runs to this day.
Jordan believes that the skating community is misunderstood by the outside world.
“Every skate park was made from things you see in the streets. They think that we're always trying to vandalize or damage some shit. Were just trying to use the shit that you built to its fullest potential. It's like art.”
Within the community, Jordan sees a level and open playing field that is always a relief from the outside world.
“One of my biggest things about skateboarding is that there’s no racism. There’s literally every race in skateboarding. There’s no stats on anybody here, nobody, absolutely not."
