Elijah Berle

Okay, we have Elijah Berle here. Half of me is here; the other half is still in China.

- Tony Alva

How was your trip, though?

It was sick. It’s a culture trip. It’s a whole different world out there. You don’t even really realize it until you get back home to what you’re used to.

Cool thing is you have a really tight crew with you though, right?

Oh yeah, for sure. We had a tight crew and everyone kept it together. No one lost their mind or anything.

It’s easy to lose your mind in Asia. 

Yeah, seriously! You will be munching on some food and then find out it’s pig tongue! The eating situation out there gets rough.

I really enjoy Asia but if you’re over there skating you really gotta keep your balance. Can’t go too far out there. It’ll throw you off. 

Definitely. Don’t get me wrong; I love it out there but you’ve got to keep your mind sharp and focused or you can get lost in a different world.

Well, I’m glad you made it back, man. The thing that I really wanted to talk to you about was being from the West Side of LA. You’re the young generation that’s come out of the area where I grew up. I just wanted to touch base and get your perspective of the new Venice and how it’s affected what you do in skateboarding and also life. 

Growing up out there was amazing. My mom would take me skating and even catch some scratches with me. She just saw the fire in my eyes and if I wanted to go surf she would take me surfing. If I wanted to go skate she would take me anywhere.

You can tell if someone grew up surfing in their skating. You can see a certain flow that’s not stiff and square.

Yeah, I think so. Whatever you do on a surfboard you take it to your skating and when you’re out surfing you take your skating to that. It’s a certain kind of flow.