Andrew Reynolds
Reynolds is my favorite skater. This sum info about him.
Reynolds backside tailing a ledge.
Andrew Reynolds Bio
The tall, light and lanky Andrew Reynolds hails from Lakeland, Florida, about a stone's throw from Tampa, where he started skating in 1987, at the young age of nine. Old Powell videos of the time fueled Andrew and his friends with inspiration to construct little launch ramps for early-grabs--improved later by ollies to late-grabs. Sometimes, they would carry their little wedges up to the local schoolyard for some barnstorming ramp-to-wall hi-jinks. They even cobbled together an ultra-sketchy, ghetto mini-ramp pile supported by a tree.
Raw Info: Some early sponsors for Andrew included G&S, Birdhouse, Airwalk, Independent and Ezekiel Clothing, Nowadays Andrew resides at Baker and Emerica.
Later on, The Skatepark of Tampa would provide occasional fun for Andrew--even a little vert-ramp action now and again. In 1995, he turned pro for Birdhouse at age seventeen back and promptly racked-up a couple of 1st places at Northampton and Tampa. These days, Andrew doesn't like contests (or enters them) as much—even though he's done well in them over the years. "It's more just like a test for yourself. It's not really all that much fun, I'd say. Well, it's always fun skating, but it's just like, "I wonder how I can do?"
Andrew made the big move from the sticks of Florida to Huntington Beach, California in 1997. It was there he encountered the "hey, bro" lifestyle of So Cal surfers, neo-rockabilly greasers and other random bits of tattooed, pierced flotsam and driftwood in all their glory. Andrew lost his Southern accent and slowly migrated to Hollywood, California where the lure of the constant nightlife nearly swallows up a skater's desire to session: "It's fun. There's a lot more places to skate and lots of things to do, but you gotta weigh it all out, you know? I could see people easily getting to where they can't even skate from going out so much. Every single night there's something to do," Andrew told EXPN in 2000. He also used to party hard with Jim Greco, Erik Ellington, Ali Boulala and The Piss Drunks, but now he’s totally clean, sober and skating better than ever—frontside kickflipping his six-foot, two-inch frame like a there's million more tomorrows.
Raw Info: Andrew gave away his 2000 Cadillac Eldorado to friend and Baker teammate Mike Maldonado—who had no driver's license and was in dire need of a car. Andrew also loves diamonds, collecting jewelry, shopping for clothes and DVDs and editing video footage of himself and his friends on his PowerBook.
These days, Andrew has bought a new condo in his hometown of Lakeland, Florida and divides his time between there and his apartment in Los Angeles: "My family's here—my parents, and stuff. I don't know, it's just good to be in a different place than LA. This is where I grew up. I know everywhere I like to go skate. It's more laid-back than out there in LA—I can just relax. I got people to skate with. If I want to go out and film, I got people to do all that stuff, so I can still do my job and take it easy at the same time."
Stay on the lookout for the brand-new Reynolds 2 shoe—sure to be another popular one. Also watch out for Andrew in his favorite environment: far from the contests, videos, magazine shoots and hype—just a simple session on a parking lot curb or flicking the latest move down a huge gap with friends. Andrew Reynolds: a top pro-skater, for sure. All rights reserved www.Emericaskate.com
Reynolds shoe 1 Reynolds shoe 2
Reynolds switch flip