‘That’s A Crazy One’ | Reliving the 90’s N.Y.C skate scene on film
The nineties skateboard scene in New York City, the same one that gave inspiration to the movie Kids and many other skateboarders, is probably something that will be looked back upon more fondly than in reality it actually was. Maybe not though, as we weren’t there. High and Melstones were there and they have the photos to prove it. Beautiful photos of bonds that can’t be bought and will give you chills just looking at them.
Quartersnacks got some words from the girls behind That’s a Crazy One….
Sample:
A small group of guys skated then, but there were no girls in skating. There was never anything to being a girl in that crew. There was no separation even though it has always been such a male sport. Harold and Justin generally just brought all types of people together, and it was very inclusive. They were so hyper-sexualized in Kids and that’s what everyone always associates them with. They were just boys, and they had sisters and mothers. That movie changed a lot of lives: it brought the industry to skateboarding in New York. These guys were cool already, but it brought a different brand of cool. After the movie, it became a bit more exclusive and only some people could only get into the club and things like that. It changed a lot of people’s directions in life. There was a glimmer that they could be rockstars, but it was a bit of a false hope.
This book was really an attempt to memorialize the friends that we lost. We wanted to show the real side of their lives and the comfort that we found in each other as a group. People forget that Kids isn’t a documentary, and it often feels like it is perceived that way.
I was protective over the images because they’re so dear to me. I didn’t want to commodify them, there had been enough of that — which is why we are donating all the money. We made it for our friends and our crew. High and I re-lived all these nights as we went through the photos and it was cathartic for us. We wanted to give something back to their memory. People have a lot of open wounds from those days, and this was our attempt at healing them.”
Click to QUARTERSNACKS for some words from the founders High + Melstones.
Click to THAT’S A CRAZY ONE to purchase their photography book.
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