Street legacy in Vista, California runs deep, with so many of our original riders hailing from here. Perhaps most notably Matt Hensley but also Danny Way, Steve Ortega, John Sonner and Brennand Schoeffel.
The OG Vista crew also featured Damon Way, Mario Rubalcaba, Marc Hostetter, Jeff Partain, Mike Crum, Matt Lorenz, Ned Hadden, Tommy Grijalva, Chuck Wampler, James Hit (RIP), Tim Tillman, Dylan Baker and so many others.
We filmed a bunch of the OG Vista spots for our video’s back then. One of those spots was at the Avo Theater that is located in downtown Vista.
There were a number of spots in and around Vista that became destinations for skaters from all over and eventually, quite legendary and part of skateboarding's incredibly rich history. Spots like Twin Banks, the Calvary Chapel, Boney’s Market, Pizza Hut Banks, Allen’s Alley and Warren’s backyard ramp.
This was a time when skateboarding was yet again re-inventing itself with street skating and DYI backyard ramps and that in turn created a unique culture in skateboarding that lives to this day.
Many scenes around the country can identify with a few friends getting together and pursuing their passion for skateboarding and such, creating a super cool local scene, not all that different from Vista.
Vista was unique, partly because so many of these local kids ended up as top professional skateboarders and of course, we at H-Street sponsored half of Vista and were friends with pretty much everyone here.
It is quite serendipitous that H-Street is now actually located in Vista and the town continues to be home to some of the most famous skate spots, like Elliot Sloan’s Mega complex, Hawks vert ramp, the LevelUp Training Facility, Vista Skatepark, MLK Skatepark, Mancha’s super cool vert ramp and a bunch of street spots around here.
Earlier in the year, Matt & Steve came up with the idea of creating a graphic that celebrates Vista skate culture and our heritage, and we had to call on the legendary artist Tim Baron for the job. Tim captured a moment in time straight out of the 80’s, after talking with Matt & Steve about days long gone but never forgotten.
The B Series of this is a Limited-Edition deck which is numbered with the Series on it.
Measurements: 32.3 X 9, with a 7 Nose, 6.6 Tail and 15 Wheelbase.
This graphic is also available in a T-Shirt.
| Material | Wood |
|---|---|
| Printing Method | Transfer Silk Screen |
| Printed in Country | United States |
| Made in Country | United States |
| Length | 32.3 |
| Width | 9 |
| Nose | 7 |
| Tail | 6.6 |
| Wheelbase | 15 |
Matt Hensley started to ride a skateboard in the late 70’s, while all the really great skate parks were still around. His local park was Surf de Earth Skatepark in Vista CA, where many of the legendary San Diego Pro’s, like Doug “Pineapple” Saladino, Dennis Martinez, Shogo Kubo and Dave Andrecht also skated.
During the 80’s, Matt became a household name in the world of skateboarding through his unique approach, style and progressive street skating, in which he and a few other super talented young street riders would change skateboarding forever.
In 2018, Matt got inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame, Matt remains a legend in skateboarding and significant part of H-Street, both past and present.