On September 27, 2026, Elaina Montoya shared an Instagram post that her sister, skateboarder Yvette Montoya, went missing and was last seen at La Bandera Skate Park in Tijuana, Mexico.
On Oct 3, 2026, at 9:15 PM, I received the following message from Mike Bricke, a Ron Jeremy lookalike and owner of House of Vista skate shop, located at 637 S. Santa Fe Ave San Diego, CA 92083.
For those who might not realize, the following is completely optional behavior and not recommended, especially when asking a favor of a stranger:
"What's up dude how come you're not reposting stuff like this thought you were an alley and had journalist integrity or does this not fit your bias narrative of calling out white boomers that wronged you in an industry you obviously highly value praise from
"Weird ass boy
"Careful don't hurt yourself when fall off that high horse
"You're just as bad as the problem you advocate against
"No integrity no compassion no empathy just looking to fuel whatever personal fire your so entitled to feel important.
Note that the post Mike shared wasn't visible to me because it was from an account I blocked. There was no way to discern what he was talking about, nor did I know anything about the fact that a young woman was missing and a search for her had ensued. Bricke went on to tell me he was concerned about Yvette and wanted me to post about it to help. That part I liked.
Who the fuck is Mike Bricke? Why is Mike Bricke going full Karen and scolding me in my DMs? I've never heard of Mike Bricke. I've never met Mike Bricke. Mike Bricke seems to think he knows a lot about me. I don't know a goddamn thing about Mike Bricke.
But Mike Bricke went on to call me a "bitch" multiple times (strange word choice while being concerned about a missing woman) and mocked my mental health, before telling me to "come to the shop". And we all well know that an antagonistic man (probably drunk and alone on a Saturday evening) asking another man to "meet up face to face" is thinly veiled threat of physical violence—a challenge.
Unless he has a crush on me. Then it's something different entirely.
Mike Bricke is a business owner. A representative of skateboarding and the community of Vista, California. A skate shop owner who requested my help because he knows the work I do and knows my work gets reach ... but with a full-blown verbal assault on my character, my work and my intent—as well as harassment and the strange conspiracy theory that I "only report on white boomers from the skateboarding industry who wronged me".
This is bizarre, completely erroneous fan fiction disseminated by Gifted Hater. Almost no one I've ever reported on (Chris Cole, Jamie Thomas, Mike Carroll, Megan Baltimore, Dane Burman, Nyjah Huston, Ryan Lay, Jerry Hsu, The Nine Club, Sci-Fi Fantasy, Zero skateboards, Warsaw footwear ... and the list goes on) has "personally wronged" me. In fact, I've befriended, worked with or interviewed many of them throughout my career. They have, however, personally wronged others by being abusers, rapists, racists, enablers, and company owners or executives who engage in unethical business practices, and that is what I'm interested in exploring.
But when someone has personally wronged me (like Don Brown of Sole Technology, Bryan Ridgeway of USA Skateboarding or Corey Duffel of racist and getting beat up fame) and their actions, which have broken the law, are of public or consumer concern, I will happily report on the matter so the behavior is known and people can avoid working with, affiliating with, or buying their products, if they please.
Skateboarders, in general, are stupid—as evidenced by Mr. Bricke's message above. They are, in my experience over the last 30 years writing and broadcasting about skateboarding, generally incapable of comprehending how actual whistleblowing or reporting or journalism works, because skateboarding is an industry based on marketing, rather than investigative, content.
The work I've been doing for the last four years is, for the most part, new to the skateboarding community. Despite witnessing journalism and reporting like this day in and out for most of their lives in everything but skateboarding (sports, politics, the news, etc.), they're still trying to wrap their little heads around what's happening and why—and waiting to be told how to feel about it by someone they think is cool. I find their aimlessness kinda cute.
Speaking of vendettas ... when a person dislikes me, the agenda is pre-determined. He generally just needs an excuse to let me know how he feels about me, for some strange reason. It doesn't matter if they understand, or agree, or disagree my work or the subject matter, because they've chosen willful ignorance and want a fight before even hitting "send".
I get unsolicited messages, like this one from Mikey Bricke, leveraging current events as a means express their long-running disdain for me, all the time. Most often, they come from my legion of hate followers or trolls doing a quick drive by, but rarely do they come from a business owner.
Anyway ... the amazing, more important news is that the search for Yvette Montoya ended on October 8, 2026, and her sister Elaina shared that they picked her up in Mexico in this Instagram post.
I'm happy to hear of Yvette's safe return. For the record, I did make a post about the ongoing search for her On October 4, as I'm always down to help those in need. My hope is that she remains safe and happy from here on out.
That said, if you choose to support a skate shop, in a vast sea of struggling skate shops, with an owner who behaves accordingly and doesn't use the tragedy of a missing woman whose family and friends are worried sick about her, as an excuse for personal attacks on journalists he has pre-existing contempt for ... here plenty of alternatives and some of best skate shops in North San Diego County (Oceanside, Carlsbad, San Marcos, Encinitas), near House of Vista, that I recommend instead.
Don't be a "weird ass boy" like Mike ...
North County San Diego Skate Shop Directory
1019 South Coast Hwy.
Oceanside CA 92054
442-266-8002
McGill's
140 Encinitas Blvd.
Encinitas, CA 92024
760-943-7730
209 N Coast Hwy.
Oceanside, CA 92054
760-547-5700
945 W. Valley Parkway
Escondido, CA 92025
401 Mission Ave.
Oceanside, CA 92054
760-722-7675
2978 Carlsbad Blvd.
Carlsbad, CA 92008
442-500-2295
3310 Via De La Valle
Oceanside, CA 92058
442-266-8434
629 S Rancho Santa Fe Rd.
San Marcos, CA 92078
760-798-9051
3045 Roosevelt St.
Carlsbad, CA 92008
760-884-8833
204 N El Camino Real
Encinitas, CA 92024
760-652-5521
413 S Las Posas Rd.
San Marcos, CA 92078
760-583-1063