I find myself on a gloomy winter Saturday afternoon, home alone, facing the sadness of not being able to go out and skate.
This kind of syndrome is called “being old”, and at some point in your life, whether you like it or not, it embraces you.
Bored, I decide to watch some skate videos, and among many, YouTube’s playlist suggests The (917) Video, their first video.
Filmed by John Wilson and Logan Lara, the video dates back to 2017—not too old for my taste, but considering modern times, for the new generations, it probably feels ancient.
Call Me (917) is Alex Olson’s company, founded after he left Girl Skateboards following the release of “Pretty Sweet” and the failed launch of 3D (a company by Brian Anderson that included Austyn Gillette on the team). The filming and editing of that video sparked quite a bit of debate.
With (917), Alex brought together the best of New York City’s emerging skateboarding scene, featuring rising stars like Nik Stain, Cyrus Bennett, and Max Palmer. Most importantly, he had the intuition to incorporate everything that John Wilson had been capturing in his sort-of-weekly blog footage.
John started filming this group of unknown New York skaters, who over the years would become NYC’s ultimate crew and the foundation for Limousine Skateboards… but that’s a story for another time.
Let’s get back to the video. It all starts with a series of prank calls to Alex Olson after his phone number (which started with 917) was leaked as a joke. Voices of skaters of all ages overlap with the opening titles.
I won’t go part by part, but what made this video special—what turned my afternoon into something different—was its raw editing, without the cinematic ambitions of some of today’s major skate brands.
You can feel the essence of NYC in its purest and rawest form: the long days filming together, the tricks pulled off in spots that make you think “HOW THE HELL DID THEY DO THAT?” once you actually see those in person. All of this crowned by a soundtrack that ranges from ’70s radio classics (I Saw The Light), the kind of song your dad or that one uncle you saw once a year might have played in the car, but also staples skate tracks like Millencolin.
Add to that the aesthetic vision of two filmers who, in the years to come, would make a huge impact, working on projects for brands like Nike SB and Supreme. If you haven’t watched it yet (a shameful mistake!), I won’t spoil anything. You can watch it at the link at the end of this so-called article which—without any particular ambition—has stolen ten minutes of your time (maybe on a skate-less afternoon) and hopefully introduced you to one of the best videos from the new generation of skateboarders and filmers out there.
Enjoy the video!
