New Rip Metropolis Skates Documentary Seems to be Into Survival of Santa Monica’s Oldest Skate Store ~ L.A. TACO
Opened on April Fools Day in 1978 by two polar-opposite cousins, Rip Metropolis Skates has ridden the assorted waves of recent skateboarding in Los Angeles because the early days of skating.
From the time that they offered their first skateboard to now, the skate business has advanced tremendously and so has Santa Monica.
However in opposition to all odds, Rip Metropolis has remained the identical.
As we speak, almost each inch of the partitions on this shack-like retailer are plastered with skateboards, photographs, and different skateboard memorabilia, a few of which is as previous because the store itself.
It’s “one of many solely locations in Santa Monica that hasn’t been rearranged and decimated,” Dogtown legend Tony Alva says in ‘Kinda Loopy,’ a brand new quick documentary movie exploring the legacy of Rip Metropolis Skates and their house owners, Jim McDowell and Invoice Poncher. The movie was directed by music video director and documentary filmmaker Daniel Pappas.
“It hasn’t modified,” Alva says within the movie, referring to Rip Metropolis’s previous allure. “Just like the cracks within the pavement are nonetheless the identical. That is Santa Monica.”
“The shop has at all times been mainly the identical,” legendary skateboard pioneer and artist Steve Olson advised L.A. TACO in 2020. “Simply completely different gear from the completely different generations it has survived.”
“Once you take somebody right here, it’s such as you’re taking them again in time,” Santa Monica native and Birdhouse professional skater Lizzie Armanto says in ‘Kinda Loopy.” “It’s such as you’re taking them again in time to this gathering place the place skateboarding began.”
On any given day you may run right into a skateboard deity at Rip Metropolis or a mom looking for their child’s first skateboard. It’s a spot that draws extra than simply skaters.
“To me, Rip Metropolis (is like) a bar with out alcohol,” Jordan Schwartz says within the movie.’ “And Jim and Invoice have been the bartenders.”
Jim is the quiet household man who likes to fish and just lately retired. Invoice is the wild long-haired surfer. Collectively, the unlikely pair have discovered success in an business that’s constructed extra on ardour than earnings.
Whereas virtually every thing is drastically costlier than it was ten years in the past, the worth of a skateboard deck has remained comparatively flat for many years (round $60-$80). Add to that elevated competitors from company giants like Walmart, Zumiez and Goal and it’s straightforward to see why there are extra skate retailers closing than retailers crossing the 45 12 months mark.
“The longer you’re right here and other people are available which were right here as kids, they’ll’t consider that you just’re nonetheless right here,” Jim says in ‘Kinda Loopy.’ “And it nonetheless seems to be the identical… and I additionally get this ‘it nonetheless smells the identical.’”
Regardless of retaining the wheels rolling for almost 50 years, Rip Metropolis’s long run future is unsure, since neither Jim nor Invoice personal the storefront property that Rip Metropolis operates out of.
In the course of the pandemic in 2020, Rip Metropolis almost closed their doorways at 2709 Santa Monica Boulevard when their landlord sought to demolish the tiny constructing this skate store has referred to as dwelling for almost half a century.
The information sparked worldwide outrage, leading to a petition that garnered greater than 15,000 signatures. Plans to demolish the constructing in the end fell via, however Rip Metropolis’s future stays on shaky floor.
“When your lease expires and also you’re on a month-to-month, you don’t know when the plug goes to get pulled,” co-owner Invoice Poncher says in ‘Kinda Loopy.’
For now, Rip Metropolis is secure, in accordance with the movie’s producer, Chris Sweet, who confirmed as a lot in mid-November.
Sweet’s motivation for making the first-of-its-kind quick movie got here from virtually dropping the shop he loves. “If the doorways have been to totally shut, I felt it will be an enormous loss to not have a movie like this.”
“The shop has performed an enormous function in my life, and I might see that was obvious for lots of different folks,” Sweet advised L.A. TACO. “I didn’t need to miss out on the chance to doc that influence.”
‘Kinda Loopy’ is a 12-minute quick documentary movie directed by Daniel Pappas that includes skateboard pioneers Tony Alva, Mark Gonzales, and Eric Dressen in addition to professional skater Lizzie Armanto and a number of Rip Metropolis associates. Watch the movie now on under.
