Vans Syndicate X Shut Skateboards

Since it’s almost summer skate season, we’d thought we’d give you a look at the Vans Syndicate X SHUT Skateboards Rodney Smith cruiser deck and shoe to be released on June 3rd. The pack is the result of SHUT Skates founder Rodney Smith’s lifelong dedication to New York City skateboarding.

Rodney Smith has a long and storied history in New York — after creating the original SHUT street skate decks, he went on to co-found Zoo York and build a virtual skateboard empire. With the massive mainstream success of Zoo York, Rodney eventually sold the company and returned to his roots to bring SHUT decks back for New York’s core street skaters. They now operate out of their flagship shop on 158 Orchard St. in New York’s Lower East Side, with every product sold proudly designed and manufactured in the United States of America. Not a claim most skate brands can make…

Check out more pics of the deck and the shoes below.

Party With Vans in NYC

We’re about to throw a rager. The House of Vans New York is an invite-only exclusive events spot opening its doors for the first time on October 16, 2010 in Brooklyn, New York. We’ve got a skate park. We’ve got super secret musical guests that you won’t want to miss. You’ve got one chance to be there. Enter now, and you plus a guest could end up with 3 nights in a New York hotel, airfare, a $1,000 gift card to the Vans store, and a VIP night of partying your face off with us. All you have to do to enter is check out our facebook page and follow the links!

Damn Good July In The Great Northwest

Another couple shots from the twitter files. Mt. Hood in the afternoon sun and Windells new concrete skatepark. This place is no joke. Johnnie Paxson and I had the whole place to ourselves.

Don’t Trust Anyone in Venice, CA

If you’ve ever watch Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory on MTV, chances are you’ve seen him wearing some t-shirts from Los Angeles-based Rogue Status. Originally founded by snowboarder/skaters/sneaker heads Jo Esbensen, Jasper Watts, and Rex Hollway, the brand got a huge boost when Dyrdek and Famous Stars and Straps founder and Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker signed on as partners. Soon after, the Rogue Status crew opened a flagship store on Main Street in Venice, CA, proudly reppin’ AWOL status all day everyday.

After starting out small the brand, quickly gained notoriety with their infamous Gun Show Print, voted #9 by Complex Magazine’s Top 100 T-Shirts of the 2000s. Today the Easy Company boys have their hand in everything from snowboard clothing to a full-blown motor sports division, and have become fixtures in the Gumball 3000 rallies.

Oakley Factory Tour With Bob Burnquist

Oakley Headquarters in Southern California was the site of the latest Frank151 + LikeMe Launch Contest giveaway last week, as our winner and LikeMe user Bret Price and his buddy met up with Oakley pro skater and 15 time X Games medalist Bob Burnquist for a private tour and autographed Oakley prize pack. Oakley led us deep into the heart of the factory to check out all the behind the scenes action at the massive compound.

Frank151 + LikeMe Present The Launch

Agenda 2009 in Huntington Beach

The 2009 Agenda Tradeshow took place in Huntington Beach, CA on July 22 and 23 to coincide with the US Open of Surfing. Skaters, surfers, shredders and streetwear kids of all shapes and sizes descended on the Hyatt Resort and Spa to rep the latest fashions from progressive labels like Supra and Rogue Status to classic brands like Vans and DC. Tons of personalities (like DJ Muggs, shown above) from the hip-hop, action sports and street fashion worlds collided for a celebration of the lifestyle and a productive two days of fun in the sun.

As the first time it was billed as a stand-alone show, at a separate time and place from the ASR (Action Sports Retailer) tradeshow in San Diego, Agenda has furthered its purpose and created its own identity. The location was ideal: virtually smack dab in the center of SoCal and almost equal distance from San Diego and Los Angeles, the Hyatt played a perfect host to the fortunate few that were lucky enough to attend. Feeling more like a vacation resort and less like a conference center, the beachfront setting lifted everyone’s spirits and made for a good all around vibe.

Skating, Sweating and Snickers

Summer is definitely in full effect in Portland. With temps climbing above 100 degrees this week, P-Town is unusually sweltering right now. You’d think it’d be a good time to go snowboarding right? Cold slushy snow, the cool breeze kicked off the glacier and more than a few swimming holes to jump in make Govy a good bet when it’s this hot out. But no…instead, I decided to go skateboarding. Man, I’m dumb.

Here’s the deal. The Rover and I made plans to go skate weeks ago, and Saturday was the day that he was coming to town. The Rover’s real name is Jacob Levine, and he’s the guy Snickers chose to roll around in a Hummer for a year and be the “ambassador of board sports”, update his blog, help out with an MTV2 show and stuff like that. I’m not quite sure what they expect to achieve from this brilliant marketing scheme, but Jacob’s a pretty nice guy and I figured I’d show him around town. This is SNOWBOARD’s home base after all.

So we hit up Burnside first since Jacob had never been there before. At least Burnside’s in the shade, and there was some local dudes there killing it as usual. Burnside’s OG, I remember going to skate there back in the day all the time. It was the spot. Hadn’t been back in years though, Burnside’s a little too hesh for me and now there are better places to skate. But, the nostalgia remains, and the park’s actually in the best shape ever.

Then we went to Newberg (which to me is still one of the best parks in the country), and rolled around until we couldn’t take the sun no mo. Man, it’s hot. But it was nice to get out of my house for once, since I’ve been sidelined from virtually any activity with my broken rib that I’ve been nursing since April. I think it’s finally good to go though. Skated all day with little pain, so at least I got that going for me. Too bad I suck now from not skating in months.

The Rover’s navi system in the H-thrizzy.

After the day’s skate sesh, we hit the town proper with Beames and his homie Taylor who are back in town from Breck. We ran into MYG of course, rollin’ real summer like in the drop top. A few of his boys from the Sandpeople were performing at the Bus Project fundraiser, so we stopped in to check it out.

Sandpeople doin’ their thang.

This was the crew: Beames, Taylor and The Rover. Ghetto.

Rocket 1 with the shout out.

We closed out the night at the Tiger Bar, which is like the Portland version of Bob’s in the LES. Brick walls, tagged up johns and all that. Stay tuned for more action from the Hood, as I might actually go snowboarding at some point here soon.