Blog 5, January 2012

Skateboards have wowed me since 1985 when I gasped at Michael J Fox’s long swooping ride in Back to the Future.  It seemed somehow connected to roller-skating, which was my passion as a kid (on the street, with skates that fastened to our shoes and could be extended with a key as our feet grew). We used to court danger by hanging on to the bread wagon or ice truck for a free ride.  Courting danger isn’t so much my M.O. these days, so imagine my delight when I found a way to connect with skateboards without risking life and limb and to connect skateboards with art.

Longboard Living is just one of many imaginative enterprises located in Toronto’s Kensington Market. Ryan Rubin, who operates this open door spot, just past Funky Junky and tucked between Roach-a-Rama and Ali Baba Discount Shoes, welcomes people from the neighbourhood and tourists from near and far.  Longboard Living carries hand painted custom designed skateboards with images created by local artists. As well as selling quality boards, they serve as action central for boarders and many artists as well, offering a showplace and market for the work of mural and graffiti artists or people with work that has value but doesn’t fit in conventional galleries.

Sometimes customers request a special image or a work by one of the regular artists, profits are shared and terms are worked out individually.  Boards can run from $150. to $400.depending on features like special bushings on the trucks for better suspension and to make turns easier.  Ryan is using higher quality boards now to make them more durable and also to make them worthy of the art.

.I also enjoyed talking about boards and boarding with Jordan Prentice, originally from Haiti, who grew up north of Toronto in Flesherton.  He has his facebook photo on his board so it's always with him as he cruises around the city..

Local artist Adrian Mayles has not only done one of the most recognizable murals in the Market (Miles Davis at the northeast corner of Oxford and Augusta)   he’s also done the signature board for Longboard Living featuring Toronto landmarks.

The possibility of losing quirky local icons like The Real Jerk and Casa Mendosa to development makes me appreciate small corners of connection and innovation like Longboard Living. This post is in the true spirit of how I imagined my blog, discovering art in an unusual place and encouraging us to value it.

Skateboard art gives a variety of people the opportunity to express their creativity in a unique and useful way and earn a bit of money in the process.  It’s a low-tech business, offering productive work to young people with a low-tech product that gets people active and on their feet

Smart economists forecast that small businesses are going to be a key element in our financial recovery.   So, a shout out to Ryan Rubin and the gang at Longboard Living for their contribution to the Toronto community.