​Words by Gabe Tennen:
There is a stark difference between being “old” and getting “older.” My niece is nine. She has gotten older. She has not gotten old. Among skateboarders of my generation- that is, millennials- there is an impulse to chalk dwindling pop, shrinking trick vocabularies, and a dearth of free time up to being “old.” Why not? Between hours spent working and juggling responsibilities, we comb through our hair searching for grays. We cover bald spots with ball caps. We feel our joints creak with every push, every grind, every flip trick. But in the grand scheme of life, we ain’t “old.” Just… older.

​Our good friend Sean Coates decamped New York for Los Angeles in the fall of 2023 and wanted to bid a heartfelt adieu to the five boroughs before he left. Eschewing a tried-and-true literary tradition, Sean opted to say “Good-bye to All That” by filming a part with videographer extraordinaire (and my short brother) Max Hull. He wanted guest clips from his boys, so we got a steady crew together and went out on some missions. It was really, really fun. Max, who hadn’t actively filmed skateboarding in years, felt a spark, and we kept it going even after Sean had safely settled into his new paradise on the Pacific.

​Over the next two-and-a-half years, a bunch of us “older” heads got together when our schedules permitted. And we stacked. The video’s roster matured into a veritable “who’s who” of N.Y. Metro regulars – none household names, but all perennial fixtures in the scene. Ask around McCarren or Tompkins or Borough Hall about Luke Koch or Dylan Goldberger or Zach Baker or Conor Prunty, and their legends precede them. Rightfully so. They, and the rest of us, have been around for more than a minute.

The irony (and peril) of filming a video when you’re “older” is, of course, that you are no longer anywhere near the top of your game. (The exception to this rule is Luke.) The spots are lower impact, the trick lists less ambitious. But, shit. The sessions are as fun as ever.

So this is a video for everyone who, despite the pressures of adulthood, despite the nagging injuries and declining skillsets, just fucking loves to go skateboarding with their friends. For those who, despite getting “older,” refuse to hang their SB’s up for good.

​A lot happened in the few years since we started filming. A couple of us had kids. Others got married. Max’s production company blew up. Joe became a (low-) tech mogul. Dylan is a famous artist. Marcus churned out the Jawn. Luke switch ollied the Manhattan Bridge gap. Roland became a structural engineer (and looks great in a hardhat). I finished my doctorate. Those milestones came with getting older. But even if we can only get out once or twice every few weeks, even if our ankles are fucking killing us, we aren’t old yet. And maybe, if we can manage to keep riding our useless wooden toys, we never have to be.