INTERVIEW WITH STEVE ALBA
By John R Gleason
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The king of the Badlands and the master of insane terrain continues showing us what hard-core punk/rock concrete assault is, with every carve, grind, and point of no return. I met up with Steve for a sit down one-on-one, but not before a two hour session in the new Upland pipe. At 41 Steve still rides with power and flow that I would compare only to that of a master-craftsman. With three decades of pool and pipe riding, winner of the first ever professional pool contest in Spring Valley California during the height of the Dogtown/San Diego rivalry with a come from nowhere upset, Steve stamped his seal on pool riding from the early stages, and established a cult following by just being Alba. There is always a price to be paid, with over 250 stitches in his head, broken this and broken that many times over, and still living life past vert, puts Steve Alba in the highest ranks of skateboard royalty.
Steve AlbaJG: What does skateboarding mean to you personally and why do you continue skating after all these years?
SALBA: Skateboarding is pretty much my life, you know, that’s the way I look at it so it’s kind of like the whole culture you’re into and every thing kind of revolves around it. Skating is hanging with your buddies, playing music and whatever, so I guess I have skate on the brain.
JG: Was there ever a period when you pulled completely away from the sport?
SALBA: No, I mean there was a time when I just got out of high-school and all I did was skate back yard pools more less, but I got kicked out of Upland for a while so I just started playing in bands and didn’t really skate, I just rode pools that popped up here and there. That was like 83 or 84 right in there.
JG: Who are your current sponsors?
SALBA: Indy, Hurley, Spitfire, Smith glasses, I guess Vans; I don’t know how that works right now. Factory skateboards, and Pro-Design pads.
JG: Who are some of the current vert riders that you admire as all around skaters?
SALBA: I think pretty much Omar Hassan is one of the best guys for sure. Tony Trujillo is really really good, I mean, basically he’s probably the best guy right now all around in my opinion, no one can even touch that guy.
JG: Do you partake in modern street skateboarding?
SALBA: No, I just like skating what I skate you know, just because that’s what I’m into and I don’t really have time to try and learn something new, even though I think I could do it if I put the effort into it. It’s not where I get my rocks off you know. I like the roller coaster sensation.
JG: Do you enjoy watching modern street skateboarding?
SALBA: Ya the shit they do is phenomenal, I mean for that matter even the shit I do these days I would have never thought I could do on a skate, let along half the shit people do now days. So I mean they do some crazy ass shit and you’ve got to give them props, it’s definitely skating, just a different genre. There are so many different types of genres in skating now it’s kind of cool, but at the same time it’s like every-one has their own little camp, you know what I mean, if you skate you skate.
Salba - Clairemont SkateparkJG: Right on. Do you still like to compete or do you show up at skate competitions just to hang out with the guys and have a good session?
SALBA: I don’t know, there’s no way I can compete with a lot of the younger guys, so when they have like the, Soul bowl deals at the beach I kind of delve into that but either way you skate or hang out with your buddies, so it’s a win-win situation anyway you look at it.
JG: Competitions were a big part of skateboarding in the 70’s and 80’s. Do you have some found memories of those days?
SALBA: Ya, I mean you don’t want to say those were the best on one hand, but on the other hand you kind of do because it was a new period of time that skating was coming alive, it set the whole format for what’s going on today; the way tricks were being invented. I basically got in it from the ground up, where there were no tricks realistically you know, except on the flat ground where you had like 360’s, nose wheelies, and high-jump and that kind of deal, but as far a vert goes I was there since the very beginning and it’s really changed a lot and is still crazy, but the thrill is still there for sure you know what I mean, you can’t get enough of it in my opinion you know. Growing up with all the people you grow up with, their all you friends and even though there’s like these rivalries say between us and the Variflex guys it’s just good American clean fun you know what I mean.
JG: You won the Spring Valley Hester Series contest at the height of the Dog-Town/San Diego rivalry. Did you have any idea that you could win that contest?
Salba - Spring Valley 1978SALBA: You know, I didn’t go into it thinking I was going to win that’s for sure. Basically I was just a grom, and growing up around here in the Badlands you know we had crazy terrain, actually some of the best, if not the best terrain people had to skate at that time. Dogtown had Gonzales pool, Dog bowl, and OC had the fruit bowl, but out here we had Baldy pipe, we had L pool, we had 25th and Euclid pool, we had the Skull bowl down by Ontario Airport. So we learned how to ride really big vert, crazy shaped deals that in essence kind of gave us I don’t know, like an edge over other people because all the crazy people we looked up to where coming out here like Rick Blackhart, Doug Schnieder, Greg Aryyes, and Kevin “The Worm” Anderson was another guy, Stacy Peralta. We seen a lot of these guys ride a pool and that is kind of how we got our connection with you know, Schneider and some of the guys in the South Bay, so that’s kind of how we got our clue into the whole history part of it, you know. Basically Dogtown guys started it all and a lot of them were really good guys, but I still think the Badlands was just as rad if not radder, and took things further than they did once things got going and they don’t give credit for that you know.
JG: How were you treated by the established pros before Spring Valley and after?
SALBA: I don’t know a lot of them couldn’t believe it; you know I was just like a no-body more less before the contest even started. The only guys that really knew me were the guys I just mentioned and some of the Badland guys and most every one at that point had entered the contest because — you’ve got to remember that those contests weren’t made for skating in general, but it was more of a park thing. 
Eddie Elguera - FontanaAll these park managers had this little idea to get together and have skate park teams compete against other skate parks. That’s more less how the whole thing happened, because the amateur circuit we all did, you know I skated against, Bowman, Olsen, Arab and whoever else was at like Skatopia, or Anaheim’s Concrete Wave, guys like Ronny Houghton. All these parks had locals you know like Pipe-line had me and Tay Hunt, Scott Dunlap, and Lee Gahimer. Down south at Spring Valley you had guys like Pineapple, Martinez, and Steve Cathey. Then you had all the Dogtown guys out in L.A., Santa Monica. So you had all these groups of people that came together. You really actually only knew who were in the magazines at that time. So you knew who Alva and Jay was, you knew Stacey, you knew Pineapple, and Dennis, but outside of that there were a lot of no namers, not no-namers but like Mike Weed was there and every one from that time period was there too, but like I said I was a no-body and even after the contest Dennis Martinez cracked his head open when he fell on a backside air and hung up. He was saying, “I want a rematch” and “you don’t deserve to win,” It was like a big deal in a sense, it was like some form of punk-rock just came in and destroyed this whole deal and just took over every thing that people thought was going to happen and what direction skating was going. A lot of guys called me a flash in the pan after that but two contests later I won Big O you know, which I think after that I kind of put my own stamp on things and let people know this is for real and I’m someone you have to watch out for and compete against. You know that two year period before Eddie Elguera came around I was pretty much the top consistent guy you know. I won either top 3 or 4 in just about every contest. Then Eddie came into the picture and did some different shit than people did and a little bit more tech and at that point we were like tech is not were it’s at. Skating is about flow and speed, fast you know big. How far you can grind and not only how high your air is, but how far you travel. So that was the whole Santa Cruz/Variflex deal. But to give those guys credit, they were super rad and the first time I saw Lance Mountain I thought this guy should ride for us and he should ride Indies. That was kind of funny because Lance was the only Variflex guy on that team that rode Indies and they let him get away with it because he was Lance and pretty much the raddest guy, you know. Every one else had to ride those crappy Varibot trucks which were the biggest joke (laugh).
JG: What trucks?
SALBA: Varibot, they were Variflex trucks, they had to ride Variflex boards, Variflex risers, Variflex hardware, Variflex bearings, Lance was the only one on that team that rode Indies and then after awhile Stevie (Caballero) did too; I think he also rode Trackers for awhile, but he didn’t really ride for those guys that was a little different deal.
Salba - Winchester 1978JG: Do you think the Hester and Gold Cup series were important to skateboarding and should those types of competitions return to the sport?
SALBA: Ya, I think so for sure, because I mean I think it definitely put skating on the map as far as the contest circuit and different establishments, like the old one, that stupid Sally Fields or some Sally something that ran the International Skateboard Association, then you had Kona. So these different organizations where kind of whacky and stuff, but I think as far as pure competition and just the whole vibe of the time you had to have those contests to make it work. So I think in essence when you have a lot of those contests with the kids; I mean come 41 anyone under 20 is a kid to me, more less. You have major contest now for those guys in the street and vert you know, Rune, Bucky, Andy McDonald and those kinds of guys, Bob (Burnquist). They have like the soul bowl thing once or twice a year. They have one in Manhattan and one in Huntington, so it’s like a full on concrete circuit again with some of the old guys like a master’s thing, just like they do in the masters of golf. So these guys are still in there and their making decent money. You know your never going to make as much as the younger guys that’s just the nature of the game, but I think it would be rad with all the skate parks coming up now that why couldn’t someone make some kind of contest somewhere. 
Salba - Upland SkateparkYou could have 4 or 5 contests maybe once a month and you could had like a point’s winner, like overall winner kind of deal. Not only could you win every contest at the end but whoever had the best standings could win something too. Have the longest carve, or the longest rock-and-roll slide, and best air and best doubles, just kinda like the old days. It would be interesting for different people to watch and also give things a different vibe you know, so stuff like that would be really cool.
JG: It would be great wouldn’t it?
SALBA: Ya, some of the crazy parks they have now like Upland and you know Palm Springs, and the Etnies Park, and Clairemont has a good pool, there’s one in Glendale. There are so many crazy places you can have a contest now, so like why not. There is some underground pool contest here and there I mean basically the clover base thing was like an underground thing for a long time. It’s kind of established now, but they have one up in Tahoe every year called the Strawberry Lounge. You know you just gotta get it together.
JG: Tell me about your first trip to Mt. Baldy.
Salba - Mt. Baldy PipelineSALBA: To tell you the truth I don’t really remember my first trip it has been so long (laugh). I have gone there so many times. As far as the whole atmosphere, we were totally blown away when we got there and really couldn’t believe it. Like I said we were younger when all the guys started, we were 12 or 13. Most of the guys like Weedman, Jeff Lorrigan, Buddy Allred, and Harvey Hawks, those guys were probably 15, 16 and 17. So they had a good three or four year jump start on us, but I basically rode Baldy probably the summer of 75’. You know we heard about it and heard these rumors and we checked it out here and there you know basically right when the skateboard thing first came out. You know basically a lot of us weren’t allowed to ride it because it was super hush hush. It was like an honor for the older guys to even tell the younger guys and when you first go up there you don’t really ride because you are so awh struck by the whole deal anyway. So you get all scratched up by the bushes running across there, but at that point we went a different way, we went in the Clairemont way and dropped down this road into the pipe. In those days you had to take a rope and climb down because we really didn’t know how to get through the regular way.
JG: If you could revisit any skate spot for one session, where would it be and who would you want to session it with?
SALBA: It would be Pipeline Skatepark for sure. Just because the old bowl at Pipeline Skatepark was insane. The combi was insane too, but I liked the pipe. The pipe bowl was insane because you could go real fast in the pipe carve around the whole bowl and do lien air back into the pipe. That to me was one of the best things I ever did, so that’s what I would want to ride again for sure if I had like one session. I would just want to ride with the pros who ride here (The new Upland). These guys used to ride, Mike here was just a kid then but I rode with his dad at Pipeline, my little brother, Chris Robison, Grosso, Mike Smith.
JG: How about Blender?
SALBA: You know I never really rode with Blender that much you know, I mean he’s definitely rad. I just don’t know him all that well and he’s not maybe one of the guys I want to skate there with because I never really skated there with him that much you know. I mean not to dis the guy, I like the guy for sure you know what I mean but I skated like I said more with guys like Jake Piaseki, Smith, Olsen, and Grosso lived with us for awhile so he skated there a lot, Roskoff, and Chris Robison when he was alive. Lossi used to skate there a lot and even Lance Mountain skated there a lot with us you know. So those are the guys I would want to skate with back at the Pipe.
JG: Whenever you skate you go through a stretching ritual. It seems most skateboarders just show up and immediately drop-in. How long have you been doing this and how important is preparing your body for skateboarding?
SALBA: I don’t know, I’ve done it forever man. I’ve done it as long as I can remember skating (laugh). Everyone makes fun of me.
JG: Do you always wear safety gear and is that the key to longevity in this sport?
SALBA: I don’t know, it’s just because I ride vert, you know you don’t have to wear pads I just kind of grew up doing it and that’s what makes it easier for me to get do stuff is by wearing my pads. I don’t think it’s a big deal if you don’t want to wear you pads. People think like it’s not cool, you know, it’s the whole vibe were kids don’t wear pads because it’s some old school deal but I don’t even care. If I didn’t have my pads I couldn’t ride (laugh) that’s for sure. One slam on my knee and I would be done. I’ve tweeked my knee so many times, ripped my ACL and just about every thing else you could do. I’ve broke my knee cap you know, so I have to have my pads dude. I could just wear my knee pads and feel comfortable but basically I don’t want to brake my wrists any more, I’ve broken them three times. I broke my elbow, had stitches in my elbow, I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to get stitches in my head anymore, that’s why I wear my helmet. Just before my kid was born, literally four days before he was born I cracked my head open again in this pool. I’m just sick of getting stitches man; I mean I don’t mind getting them it’s kind of cool getting them or whatever. I’ve had over 250 stitches in my head now but the point is I don’t want to deal with it anymore so that’s why I wear my helmet you know.
Upland SkateparkJG: Are you happy with how the Pipe-run turned out and how does it compare with the original Upland Pipe-line?
SALBA: Ya, I mean the whole thing is kind of neat to see your idea on paper and trying to estimate how lengths, depths, radiuses, and transitions, I mean I’m pretty happy but there’s definitely a couple things I would change now. I didn’t really have any control because the city guy had to have so much room for the brick wall, and he wanted it to drain where he thought was proper. I didn’t have a 6% grade originally like it is now, but originally I had a 2% grade which I felt was way better. I felt it should be flat personally but. I don’t really like down hill pipes too much in a sense, but I really like the way it is because it’s super gnarly, and I kind of built it for that purpose, so kids could aspire to learn something so gnarly that when they go to ride other places they can get it dialed kind of like we did at Pipeline. I want to keep that whole tradition alive having some crazy terrain and having like the whole deal with the pipe and I was trying to copy Baldy flat wall, that’s why I have the extensions are on the other side more less so you can fly-out like Baldy. Looking now I would defiantly put more flat and bring more of an angle. The original design was to have the swallow end deep. The whole thing was going to be deep, but then the city wanted to know how they were going to get anyone out if they got hurt, and they had a point. There were definitely some concessions to make you know, but over all it turned out pretty descant, I mean it’s a rush; it’s the raddest roller coaster ride in skating in my book. I love Louisville Park, I would have to say that Louisville overall is better than Upland, but I think Uplands pipe and bowl are better than Louisville because they are so big there. Don’t get me wrong, Louisville is rad as shit I love that place. If I had a choice I would rather have Louisville than this one just because there’s more stuff to it. It’s bigger and better, that place is out of control
JG: Who do you skate with on regular basis?
SALBA: Probably like SSC guys, the guys that where just here, Um, Jake Piaseki when I can, if he is not hurt. Toby Burger is another guy I skate with a lot and all the locals here at Upland. Just whoever pops up, Omar Hassan shows up and Rune Glifberg, Andy McDonald was here the other day. The guys I like skating with a lot is Peter Hewitt, Darren Navarrette, the vertical vampire, guys like that are just f!@king rad.
Bob Burnquist - Baldy Loop Attempt
JG: Is there a loop in Steve Alba’s future?
SALBA: Ya, I mean I keep thinking I can do it maybe, I think personally if you are to try it you need to be in the best shape you’ve ever been in to take that fall. You’re going to fall, your going to slam no matter what, no matter how many times you do it; I fantasize about it, put it that way. My fantasy is to go parachuting at Perris and then drive straight to Bob’s (Burnquist) house and go for it. I think once you get so high on adrenaline from parachuting I don’t think it would be that scary. You put a couple of more air bags at Bobs and I will definitely try it. I’m not going to say I will make it, but I think if all the circumstances are right and I was in the right frame of mind and my body was not as tweeked as it is now. I actually went to Bob’s one day and looked at the ramps, and it was just supper scary too me that day. Lance kind of went for it that day, it was pretty rad man. My whole deal is I’m afraid to fall off the top and get launched into the yard, so that’s why I want a couple of more air bags to go width way as opposed to being in the pipe itself. I don’t know, I have actually been practicing on a trampoline on how to get out of being upside-down, and learning how to flip my body like a cartwheel flip. I actually learned how to do that on a trampoline and land on my feet. I have learned how to do it both ways for that eventuality you know.
JG: Thanks for taking the time and sharing a little of your life with me.
SALBA: No problem.
Steve Alba is skateboarding in the purest form. He lives this sport and continues the tradition of session skating with friends for mere love of the sport. Steve is also an accomplished writer/musician; his contributions can be found in Thrasher’s Insane Terrain, with a great article on municipalities and monster pipelines. You can find investigative missions into the mystery of the behemoth monster pipe of Texas that many thought didn’t exist. After years of research, Steve and a few buds traveled via plane, car, and blow-up boat into the abyss of this monster pipe. To learn more about Steve’s travels and SALBA products, visit SALBALAND.
