Louis Pilloni, enjoying an epic San Diego sunset. Photo: Bandy.
Louis is a skateboarder’s skateboarder—his love for skateboarding runs so deep that it has taken over his entire life. This dude sleeps, eats, and shits Skateboarding. Although Louis’s main style of riding is downhill, he is at home skating anything and everything. Mr. Pilloni is also one of the hardest working dudes in longboard skateboarding: He has a full-time Marketing/Team Manager job at Sector 9, he actively manages Skate House Media, and somehow he still finds the time to travel the world and ride his skateboards.
Dude is busy for sure, but if he’s not in the office, out filming, on the road, or editing a video; he’s most definitely down to go skateboarding. And that’s exactly how we met. We were both working at Loaded at the time and he called me up and asked if I wanted to shred this bowl he knew about. I replied with a “hell yeah!” and the rest is history—we’ve been skating hills and whatever else we can find ever since.
Anyway, we’ve been trying to do this interview right here for a while now, but we never finished it because we always end up going skating instead. Such is life. Ultimitely, I decided that we had to finish this interview because Louis is a rad skater, a homie, and an inspirational dude. better late than never—please enjoy.
Let’s open this thing with the boiler-plate essentials: Where are you from? What’s your favorite color? And why do you push Mongo?
Why do people always bag on the Mongo push? What is with that? Actually, come to think of it, it does look goofy, but so do tiger claws. Maybe we should stop doing both? But this is skateboarding and nobody can tell you what to do, so I guess we’re both gonna have to deal with it. Ha ha! On the note of Mongo pushing, Kody “No Play” Noble was making fun of my shit-push before we raced at Giants Heads, but when we kicked off, his “normal” push was lacking some power. The race was no competition after the kick. If Kody pushed mongo he might have had a chance, but he is too “street” to ever do that . . . back to the questions: Louis Edward Pilloni II (born on my dad’s birthday), born in Los Angeles, raised in the hills north of Los Angeles. My favorite plant is Green, and Yes, I am Mongo and proud.
So you work at Sector 9 fulltime, you travel the world skateboarding, and you also run SkateHouseMedia. How do you do it? Is Meth a part of the equation?
Passion is a drug that consumes you. We all can get buried deep, whether it is work or life in general, but when you love something you just make it happen. I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by motivating and helpful family/friends/coworkers that help make things happen. I have no complaints and very blessed to wake up smiling everyday.
The Skate House Apt has been around a while now. I’m sure you have a rad story or two you could share with us here at Wheelbase? Something gnarly please—something raw-dog.
There is a lot of history behind the building of Skate House. One gnarly story can only give a glimpse into the true mayhem. It all started back in 2008 when James Kelly, Brent ‘Dubes’ Dubendorff and I got a place together. Once we got settled in, the flood gates opened for skaters to pile in. For two years we lived in scummy conditions and then SkateHouseMedia started and now we live in even scummier conditions. We went from 3 housemates to 6. When you’re living in a two bedroom apartment it can get cramped and when it’s that cramped clean is pretty much out of the question. I don’t know about a ‘raw’ story, but I can warn future guest that James got his mattress out of an alleyway and one night Kody slept on it he got a rash. This has lead to James gaining super human abilities and an incredible immune system.
Let’s shift gears a bit. Who are your top 3 skaters of all time, and why?
That is such a tough question as many skateboarders have had major influence at different times in my life but if I have to pick three it has to be: 1. Mark Gonzales for his creativity and not giving a fuck about what other think 2. Danny Way for his passion for progression 3. The Skate House Crew for the constant reminder of why I skateboard.
You’ve been all over the world for skateboarding. What’s the best place you’ve ever skated?
Home is always home and I’m very blessed to have the world’s best skateboarding terrain at my doorstep. Hills, parks, street—whatever you want, we got it. Traveling to new spots is also a huge part of the skateboarding experience as well. The more terrain you skate the more you’ll grow as a skater, not to mention all the amazing people and cultures you’ll encounter on your travels.
Longboarding is definitely growing right now. There are a lot of different things going on in this culture. As a skater and as an industry insider where do you see things going, and where do you see yourself in the next few years?
Longboarding is skateboarding. I see the longboard community continuing to grow and spreading its wings to come full circle with the current “core” skateboarding community. There will be different market segments but the future skateboarders will have the quiver mentally and downhill will once again be viewed as skateboarding just as park and street are today. As for where I see myself in a few years, well hopefully not under a car for one. The reason I say that is to give myself (and everybody) a reminder to always skate safe and within your limits. There is a time and place to test your level, but live traffic roads are not the place. It’s important not to make yourself a traffic hazard while also making sure to obey traffic laws. Just as you wouldn’t drive in the other lane, we can’t skateboard in it either. Practicing safe riding will only help to grow of the next downhill generation. But when you find yourself in a controlled environment LET IT RIP! Ya got to find out your limits somehow (which is why you don’t take a newbie to traffic roads).
I agree for sure, but this starting to get a bit serious. Let’s liven things up with some word association:
Chics. Where?
Mullets. Chic magnets.
Kelly. Raw.
Peck. Smooth.
Noble. Tech.
Kienzle. The Bird.
Dubler. The Eye.
Dubes. Homie for life.
Dude. Jeff Budro, Man of the Century.
Doobie. Sticky Icky.
Tigerclaw. a boneless with too many steps.
Mega ramp. MEGA JUMP.
Slappy.Happy.
Glide. The essence of skateboarding.
Sarsaparilla. Dave Angelus where you at dawg?
Juggs. Fun Bags.
Hell yeah!—That was fun! Yo, thanks for doing this interview brotha. I say we wrap this puppy up, then go skate. Any last words, shoutouts, callouts, or wisecracks?
Big shout out to all the homies at Skate House Media—you guys are the shit. Big thanks to Sector 9 and Gullwing for constantly listening to riders and for working to make skateboarding better and here to stay.
Watch out for kooks, but appreciate what they have to offer as skateboarding is what you make of it. If someone tells you otherwise they obviously don’t get it.
The End
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