Robert Brink - Writer

Milestone: Omar Salazar

March 16, 2009 | Skip To The Comments (4)

Milestone: Omar Salazar
By Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag, March 2009

Nearly a decade ago, when Alien Workshop’s Photosynthesis was released, Omar Salazar was busy with part time gigs at JC Penny and a Mexican restaurant where he’d hide out in the refrigerator smuggling free chips, salsa and whip-its. He was also just beginning his life as a sponsored skateboarder, riding for Foundation.

“Back then,” Omar recalls, “Foundation was as good as it gets. Never in my dreams would I even think about riding for Alien because it would bum me out when it didn’t happen, you know? They were my favorite company, the first board I ever got and Photosynthesis was obviously, like, the best video ever.”

Today, Omar woke up at 7 am and is driving six hours, round trip, from his home in Sacramento, to Santa Cruz, to get his last trick (after almost three years of filming) for Alien’s highly anticipated follow-up to Photosynthesis, entitled Mind Field. He’s also on the phone with me, wrapping up this “Milestone” interview during the morning commute.

“This is just a one trick spot,” Omar explains, “But I don't usually plan the skating out like this. I kind of just go somewhere and get it if I get it.

“Greg [Hunt, Alien Workshop filmer/editor] recognized how I work early on. Working with Greg is the shit ‘cause you can just tell if he likes something or not by the way that he reacts to it. I’d do something and just look at him and he wouldn’t even have to say anything. I’d see it in his eyes. But other than this trick, it's pretty much been pure and raw—going to spots and doing what I do.”

The release of Mind Field is undoubtedly the biggest moment of Omar’s career thus far.

“It's my dream,” Omar exclaims. “I don't want people to be like, ‘This video sucks’ or ‘This dude is fucking whack’ or whatever. It means a lot to me. I know it sounds corny, but it's like my new baby.”

Really though, not much Omar says sounds corny because it comes from his heart, and, well, because he’s just Omar. To know him is to love him. You won’t find anyone acquainted with him who’ll speak an ill word about him. Sure, adjectives that might be considered insults to some, like “insane,” “spaz,” “crazy,” ‘clumsy” and “scatterbrained,” will be thrown in the mix, but when referencing Omar, they’re purely terms of endearment.

And everyone’s got an Omar story or three. From him paddling out at North Shore his first time on a surfboard and blowing the minds of legendary pro surfers, to skating gaps with acupuncture needles embedded in his shoulder, to countless Macgyver-esque escapades, like escaping the police in downtown San Diego while handcuffed and eventually sawing off the cuffs, to climbing the Great Wall of China and scaling the outside of hotel buildings to switch rooms instead of the much-safer hallway method, to near death choking-on-gummi-worm experiences—Omar’s existence mirrors that of a Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner or Tom and Jerry cartoon.

While most pros are judged by their last video part, newest big-money endorsement deal, choice of wardrobe or how annoying they might be to go on tour with, Omar seems to get unconditional love—kinda like your younger brother or kid next door you’re scared to see something catastrophic happen to even though he perpetually puts himself in harm’s way. His presence is injected with pure energy, entertainment and a lot of things you most likely never expected to witness on that given day.

He works hard and earns what he gets and people respect that—and they love watching him skate.

“Maybe because everything I do is like everything everyone else can do?” Omar ponders. “I'm not a natural. I try hard and figure stuff out. I just learned 360 flips the other day. But I think people get psyched is because it's stuff they can do. That and they like to see people go fast.”

“Omar is like an exposed, raw nerve, says Kevin Imamura, Nike SB Communications manager. “It’s just all out in the open with him—full throttle, all the time. He lets it all go as he sees it coming. Nothing is mellow. It’s like he has a Dez Cadena-era Black Flag song playing in his head at all times.”

If you’ve ever been around Omar for more than five minutes, you’ll know that most of what you’ve seen of him in a video or magazine is refreshingly authentic. Kind of like, “Wow, he really does scream ‘Wooooo’ a lot and skate around like a maniac!”

The spontaneity, the hyperactivity, the energy, the positivity, the balls-out sketchy-in-a-good-way skateboarding is all there... in fact, much like a John Cardiel-type of dude, Omar Salazar might be the most quintessential example of a individual’s personality transcending into his skateboarding and vice versa—his skateboarding is a direct reflection of his personality.

“A long time ago at the skatepark,” says Omar, “I'd just keep trying to do something and Cardiel would just be like, ‘You gotta want it dude! Fucking get it!’ And it would get me so psyched. That shit is the best thing that I've heard from anyone. If you don't want it… fucking don't bother, you know? I want people to be psyched and I want to psyche people up.”

“Omar is not only a fucking amazing skater, he's also an amazing person who’s able to make anyone feel really good no matter the situation,” says Jim Thiebaud, Vice President of Deluxe Distribution.

So how exactly how did Omar find himself riding for his favorite company alongside some of the most respected skateboarders and creative minds in the industry? For starters, some tough breaks and lots of patience.

As Omar tells it, after Foundation, he joined Reese Forbes, Nate Jones and Matt Field on the then-newly-formed Rasa Libre board company. His pro model debuted at the September 2005 ASR trade show and Rasa Libre sent out a press release announcing the end of the brand two months later. Soon after, a loose offer for Omar to ride for Habitat through his good friend Stefan Janoski was on the table. But time passed, the roster was filling up and a spot on Habitat ended up being false hope after all.

Omar’s friend and Team Manger (then Quiksilver, now Analog), Mark Oblow, mentioned the possibility of Omar riding for Alien a little down the road, following the addition of Dylan Rieder. Excited, but careful not to get his hopes up again, Omar decided it would be worth waiting for, turning down other offers along the way. Still sponsorless almost a year later, Omar was finally presented an am slot on Alien Workshop, with no chance of turning pro for at least a year. He gladly accepted.

Four months later, after a barrage of calls from shops demanding Omar’s model, Alien turned him pro.

“I was so stoked dude!” Says Omar. “I guess good things do happen to those who wait. I saw Chris Carter [Alien Workshop founder] and he put out his hand and I grabbed his it and give him a big-ass hug. He was like ‘Whoa!’ I think I kinda made it weird for a second, but I just wanted to thank him and shit!”

“Now I just love that my graphics are sick as shit,” Omar gushes. “I love the diversity of the team. I love the fact that Workshop is out of Ohio and not down in SoCal, not that there's anything wrong with that, but its cool… it's just The Workshop, you know?”

In February 2008, when Burton Snowboards acquired DNA Distribution (Alien Workshop, Habitat, Reflex) many feared the beginning of the end of Alien Workshop as we know and love it. The “sell out!” accusations flew. But for someone like Omar, Chris Carter, Mike Hill or any of Alien’s riders, it was the beginning of being able to continue being The Workshop.

“It didn't change shit man!” Explains Omar. “Carter and Hill put fucking everything into this shit. They've been true and they've been through the struggle. Workshop is like, half the size of these other companies and they had to work extra hard, especially coming out of Ohio. Eventually they were putting more time and money into the company than they got back. So when people were talking shit about them selling it, I was like, ‘Fuck you, man. You guys are selfish! This just means they get to do more with The Workshop—way more resources!’ I'll go to some shops and I'll notice that they don't carry Workshop ‘cause they think they're all core and shit, and then I’ll see some of the shit on their wall and wonder if they have any taste at all. Skateboarders need to understand that Workshop is still raw.”

Fully aware of the “critics” and enduring the nerve-racking countdown to premiere day, Omar is optimistic about how Mind Field will be received by the skateboarding community.

“Shit man, I think the skateboard world will receive it as it's child—a fuckin’ beautiful baby about to be born, as lame as that sounds. I think it's gonna be one of those videos that people think of as a gift. It's raw, it's unique, it's one-of-a-kind—it's everything. Few people in skateboarding, if any, are doing something like this.”

But that doesn’t mean he’s not feeling the pressure.

“I have mixed feelings of excitement and total fucking fear,” he confesses. “But it’s cool because Greg’s a filmmaker and a skater. He loves this stuff. Not just like the VX, but the 16mm, the 8mm and all that stuff. That's what's so beautiful about it. He wanted the video to consist of a lot of US skate spots so kids who’ll be watching the video can relate. A lot of people go to Spain, Europe, China and Japan to film. Dude, most regular American kids aren’t gonna be able to go to Russia or these places to skate.”

Omar’s worked to ensure his part in Nike’s Nothing But The Truth and his Mind Field part give off a totally different vibe. While Nike was more of a “fun” project for him, with the skits and all, he’s trying to keep his Alien part grittier.

“Nike was a really fun video for me, but I knew I wanted my raw shit for Alien. Just from talking to Greg and knowing Alien’s history I just wanted everything to be really gnarly,” he says.

But no one can get through three years of travelling and filming for more than one video without inspiration and support. And Omar credits Hunt, Anthony Van Engelen and Jason Dill as being particularly influential to him during the filming of Mind Field. Apart from acts of heroism like saving Omar from choking on gummi worms, Greg’s been in solitary confinement and editing like mad.

“He’s been in that editing room in Ohio in the snow working his ass off and I can call him at five in the fucking morning to talk and he'll be up,” says Omar. “He's so on point. He knows how to make shit look good and he even knows how to do the Heimlich maneuver!

“On trips, every time I'd do something, Dill and AVE would be like, ‘Fuck yeah brother, that's sick!’ Just to hear it from the OG Alien guys means a lot to me. I'm not one to do a lot of technical things and I'm not a natural. I work hard for what I do. Sometimes I’d wonder if what I was trying was fucking stupid and Dill would go, ‘It's fucking sick, man! Your video part is gonna be straight from the ‘80s!’”

Then there were the injuries. Like many of his Alien teammates during filming (Mikey Taylor, Arto and Jason Dill to name a few), Omar was no exception. On the first filming trip in Australia, Omar slammed attempting a tailslide into a ditch, pulling back, ripping the skin apart and fracturing his thumb while simultaneously breaking his other wrist.

“Omar gets hurt a lot because he’s less scared than the people are who are watching him try scary shit,” says his friend and Habitat pro, Tim O’Connor.

“I had two casts on and I looked ridiculous,” explains Omar. “Tim was feeding me. I couldn’t even wipe my own ass. So I’d get my pants past my hips with my elbows and wiggle my ass ‘till my pants came down all the way, then sit on the shitter and do my thing.

“The way I'd wipe my ass was kinda fucked up. I’d grab the toilet paper with my casts, and try to fold it into a thick square. Then put it at the tip of the seat so it was like folded up and I would turn sideways and wedge my ass around the toilet paper and clench my butt. That sucked man! Sometimes I would just pull my pants down and piss out of control ‘cause I couldn’t use my hands. But the shitting worked out. I also split my knee open one time and fuckin’… well lots of shit happened, man. But it all worked out in the end.”

“Work out in the end” indeed, because less than a day after this conversation with Omar, an apologetic Greg Hunt emailed me that he was just too swamped with editing to give me any good Omar gossip for this story, but told me Omar got his final trick in Santa Cruz and was in great spirits now that his Mind Field part was finally in the bag.