Raymond Molinar - October 2006 interview

Raymond's interview from the October 2006 issue of Skateboarder. Words by Tim O'Connor and photos by Brian Gaberman.

North By Northwest: Habitation of the Northern Coast

This December 2005 Skateboarder article covers a Habitat Skateboards trip through northern California and Oregon, when they were starting to film for Inhabitants. Words and photos by John Bradford. I really like the photo of SBN's front blunt gap out on the last pages.

Popwar - 2004 Eastern Europe trip

This October 2004 Thrasher article covers a Popwar trip through Eastern Europe. Words by Cairo Foster and photos by Luke Ogden. I chose to scan this one almost exclusively because of how much I like the sequence of Cairo's backside nosegrind 180 out.

The Amazon: The Ayahuasca Made Me Do It

This article documented a Jonathan Mehring-led trip through Brazil with stops in Belém, Santarém & Manausa. Highlights included a three-day boat ride on the Amazon, a tour through the jungle, and an intense Ayahuasca trip with emetic aftershocks. This was the feature article of the oversized run of Skateboarder which lasted from 2011 to the end of the magazine's print run in 2013, and it was a great example of how the change in format benefitted their content. Print was dying anyways, but it was cool to see Jaime & Co. still putting in the work to make the coolest issue possible each time. Words and photos by Mehring. The video series they made to accompany this article can still be seen on their YouTube channel, too! All videos by Josh Stewart.

¡Guadalajara Guey!

A short-but-sweet article by Jonathan Mehring about a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico. He and Rob G, Danny Montoya, Raymond Molinar and Jose Rojo (and later Steve Nesser, who had been visiting Mazatlan at the same time) stayed at Rob's grandfather's house for a bit, skating the city and eating some of the delicious local cuisine. Mehring ends the article by saying it was "one of the best trips any of us had ever experienced".

Raymond Molinar: May 2007 interview

In this interview, Raymond talks about going pro for Popwar and quitting two weeks later to be am for Habitat, and then going pro for Habitat. Alex Chalmers is the only other skater I can think of who has had that happen to them. Words by Paul Zitzer and photos by Anthony Acosta and Jeff Landi.

Shanghai Surprise: Vans trip to China

Below is the feature article for the October 2005 issue of Skateboarder, which was a documentation of a 2005 trip that the Vans team took to Shanghai. It features photos of Van Wastell, Dustin Dollin and Jon Goemann, amongst others. Dustin also got the cover of this issue with a switch crook popover on a popular rail. Words by Ohio Dave and photos by Brian Gaberman.

Killing Cairo: Popwar trip to NYC

An August 2004 Popwar trip to New York City was documented in a long article written by Brian Gaberman for the January 2005 issue of Skateboarder. He also shot all of the photos. There's a couple of tricks down the Fish Gap here, including a backside flip by Raymond Molinar. 18 years later, Tyshawn Jones would backside flip up it.