April 30 2022 Walpurgisnacht New Moon

I woke on my parent's property to the sound of birds singing and pick up trucks driving by in a rural sprawl near Oceanside on Vancouver Island where I’d been living in a small 5th wheel for the past two years. I made myself some roasted dandelion drink with fresh hazelnut milk and toast with olive oil. When I was finished breakfast I went outside and walked down to a small bog near a rugged fence that frames the acreage, running parallel to a busy country spur road. Near the bog is an old wolf den and near the old wolf den is the haunted decapitated remnant of an ancient cedar tree.

I sunk my hands into the fresh slimy bog, wet with spring rain and thick with mud. After some time I pulled out a purple and yellow polka dotted frog and licked it's ribbed and glistening back side. The world started spinning and went black for a moment...

Then I got a notification on my cell phone: the legendary P.D.’s Hot Shop was opening up a location in Qualicum Beach. I was like whaaaaaat???

Back in 1988, when I lived in Nelson, a young couple came by our place to visit my mom, and the dude was an ink artist and a skater from Vancouver. Rather than visit with my mom and her girlfriend, he spent the entire time hanging out with my brother and I, and he drew us this sweet piece of artwork.

I think the guy who visited us might have been working at P.D.’s or doing commissions for t-shirt designs, as he later sent us each a t-shirt and invited us to come down and visit the shop, which was located in a residential neighbourhood at Oak and 67th.

I had always assumed that this was one of the first locations, but upon further research it turns out that P.D.’s Hot Shop had 4 other locations beforehand and has been in business since 1976, making it Canada’s oldest skateboard company. In 1978, P.D. and his brother founded the Skull Skates brand - and with the stark now ubiquitous black and white skull logo that was originally designed by being crudely cut out of grip tape, it became one of the most famous skateboard companies in the world, though has remained faithful to it’s old school misfit roots.

So what the heck is P.D.’s doing in Qualicum Beach? My question was answered when P.D.’s spry, 91 year-old father came walking into the back room of the newly opened store, where I was checking out the jacket shrine and various skateboarding relics. He told me that he had encouraged his son to purchase the Qualicum site for the new store, a large sprawl tucked in from the sidewalk on the main street.

The store has ample room for both PD’s Hot Shop and his wife’s OTO clothing brand; and if the back room keeps getting filled up with memorabilia, maybe it will end up being something similar to the Skateboarding Museum in Santa Cruz?

When my brother and I and his two kids were driving back home my young niece looked over at me and said "you should have been wearing all black", as after joining the milieux outside of the store I ended up hanging out with all of the skate punks that had come over from Vancouver. I explained to her that punk isn't about how you look, it's about something that you carry inside of you, and that I'll always be magnetically attracted to other punks no matter how I dress - and that the true spirit of punk is about living life on your own terms and not caring about what everyone else thinks. She was like oh.

Next month the Black Roses are coming to town...

http://www.skullskates.com/

https://skateboarding.transworld.net/photos/nhs-40-year-anniversary-skateboard-museum-opening/

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/events-and-entertainment/justin-bieber-skull-jacket-3571862

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGgONsxL7ng











the beautiful jay adams