{"id":32407,"date":"2022-11-30T09:23:25","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T17:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000028967"},"modified":"2022-11-30T16:23:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T00:23:25","slug":"ronnie-sandoval-dickies-sand-pedro-channel-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/news\/ronnie-sandoval-dickies-sand-pedro-channel-street","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Channel Street saved my life\u2019: Ronnie Sandoval’s path from San Pedro kid to pro skateboarder"},"content":{"rendered":"

When he\u2019s not traveling around the world looking for new spots to film tricks, 26-year-old professional skater Ronnie Sandoval can be found flying around on a skateboard under the 110 Freeway in San Pedro with headphones on, trying to find his rhythm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling of doing the tricks, it’s kind of hard to explain, I kind of just do them,\u201d Sandoval said in a phone call last week from his hotel room in Toronto. \u201cBeing upside down and doing airs, it’s a really exciting and surreal thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandoval was 6 years old when he got his first skateboard. It was \u201ckind of a mess,\u201d he said, and a little rough around the edges.<\/p>\n

But his father, Mike, refurbished the board, sanding it down and applying some new grip tape.<\/p>\n

Three years later, Sandoval visited Channel Street Skatepark for the first time, not knowing it would help shape him into who he is today.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ronnie Sandoval does an eggplant at Channel Street Skatepark. Photo by Sam Miller courtesy\u00a0Dickies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although the park back then was just a few bumps, one pool to skate in and a fridge to use as a rail, Sandoval had found a new home.<\/p>\n

The park was first opened in October 2002 by the San\u00a0Pedro Skatepark Association, a nonprofit made up of a group of skaters who were looking to build a place to skate after city officials rejected a number of their attempts to get a skate park in San Pedro.<\/p>\n

Inspired by other abandoned lots in the United States that had been transformed into skate havens, such as Burnside in Portland and Washington Street in San Diego, the skaters decided to take matters into their own hands and adopted the lot under that freeway that would become the popular Channel Street.<\/p>\n

For 12 years, skaters at Channel Street like Sandoval were unbothered by authorities, until the California Department of Transportation closed the site in 2014 for the construction of a freeway overpass, which damaged the park.<\/p>\n

Legalizing the skate park proved to be difficult because the land was owned by multiple entities including the Port of LA and the Port of Long Beach<\/a>, but seven years later, the site became an official, full-fledged skatepark and one of the country\u2019s only DIY (do it yourself) skateparks to become legal.<\/p>\n

In August, the San\u00a0Pedro Skatepark Association, which is now made up of skateboarders, local businesses, dockworkers, artists, musicians, parents, city council members, neighbors and advocates, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the official opening of the park. Since then, skaters from all over have visited Sandoval’s hometown to experience Channel Street for themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a pretty location where it’s at, but the skatepark itself is very unique,\u201d Sandoval said. \u201cWhen I went down to the Channel the first time, I saw (pro skater) Robbie Russo and I told myself I wanted to be that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ronnie Sandoval at Channel Street Skatepark wearing a shirt from his Dickies collaboration. Photo by Sam Muller courtesy Dickies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sandoval attributes much of his style and success today to Russo and another friend, Oscar Navarro. He describes his style as vert or transition skating.<\/p>\n

As a kid, Sandoval was at Channel Street Skatepark practicing every day from 6 a.m. until the street lights turned off at night, but it wasn\u2019t with the goal of becoming a professional skateboarder.<\/p>\n

Back then, he said, skateboarding was a way to stay out of trouble and stay away from any personal issues that plagued his household.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot going on there for a kid and skating was an easy way to escape that,\u201d Sandoval said. \u201cIt was nice to meet up at Channel every day and just skate with my friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

He soon found success, getting sponsored along with his friend by Transition Skateboards, a skate shop in Carson, by the time he was 12.<\/p>\n

As he was leaving the skate shop with a couple of boards, stickers and hats on the day he was sponsored, he realized that he could make a career out of skateboarding if he stayed on the right path and kept pushing himself.<\/p>\n

But outside of skating, Sandoval said he was headed down a \u201cweird path.\u201d If he wasn\u2019t skating at Channel Street, he was looking for the next adrenaline rush.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when he started getting in trouble for \u201cdoing stupid stuff,\u201d a road that he said would have ended with him either joining one of the gangs in San Pedro or getting a dead-end job somewhere.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Sandoval\u2019s talent landed him a sponsorship with Krooked Skateboards and at 16 years old, an opportunity to get his first photo inside Thrasher Magazine, the same magazine he carried around throughout middle school and high school.<\/p>\n