Video, photos, and words by Esteban Campos
January 2023, I managed to get ahold of my first ever Hvx200, thanks to the local homie Logan Healy. We had been skating for years and never knew he had a camera the entire time. The second I got my hands on it though, it was over, I knew a video was getting made.
These spots have history in Stamford, we’ve been skating them for years, the OGs before me had just the streets before Scalzi Skateparks construction in 2007. I’d sit in school repeatedly watching OG vids such as Nolan Zangas’ MERICA, Conor Holliday’s CHOPPPER, Aaron Randi & Sean Dahlberg’s (Ronnie Dings) MAMA’S BOY, and Frank Gentiles “Clips of the day”, watching skaters such as Alex Braunvon, Eric Hagendoorn (Rip), Matt Anderson, Conor Holliday, Ben Kadow, Mikey Perdomo, Nick Cabrerra (Rip), and more, skate the same spots I’d see around the city. All I could wonder was what those times were like, and where did they all go?
Since then (2013ish), there had been a drought in the scene for quite a while, no more videos, no more crew, no more scene. As time went by, something started brewing up at the local park, Scalzi, new names and some OGs had started appearing and slowly started to reignite that spark. We’d skate the park, throw contests, cookouts, get clips for the gram, etc, but something was missing. We had the whole city at our hands, but were stuck at the skatepark, the streets had been left behind… the spots we’d grown up skating, seeing on videos, or filming at, hanging at, and fixing up, had been untouched for way too long.
That’s where the roots of this project begin. Going back to where it all started, the true place where skating matters to us, the raw streets that were once all we had. To the days where meeting up at the plaza, bullshitting and skating was the move. Cruising around looking for spots, if it ain’t skateable, making it skateable, and dealing with the cranky same security guards or with the hero civilians. Setting up flashes for a photo, finding the best angle or route to film from and debating whether you should film it fisheye or longlens. Going home either defeated or stoked, and doing it all over again the next day, just skating around your city vibing. There was one last thing missing though, a camera to document it all… but thanks to Logan Healy, we was set with a Hvx200.
May of 2023, I land back into Stamford from a 2 month trip to Chile, and we got to work. It was time to put respect on the OGs and showcase our city and show that these spots ain’t NBD, they have history. This is hopefully the beginning of an end – an end to the drought.
