Rodney Smith discusses skating in the 80’s, meeting Tom Groholski, starting Shut Skateboards with Bruno Musso, going to the Cow Skates contest in Ohio with Mike Vallely, creating new shapes for skateboards out of necessity & hand making boards when Shut first started, starting Zoo York with Eli Gesner & Adam Schatz, selling Zoo York in 2001, the opportunity to work with Dave Chappelle but instead having to work with Ashton Kutcher, finally saying goodbye to Zoo York and much more! Timestamps 00:00:00 Rodney Smith 00:01:52 Where Rodney grew up 00:10:43 Finding skateboarding 00:16:35 Our Supporter: AG1 00:18:13 Meeting another skater in his town - David Sadler 00:27:36 Meeting more skaters 00:35:57 Skating in the 80's 00:36:35 Meeting Tom Groholski 00:52:01 Starting Shut Skateboards with Bruno Musso 00:56:19 Going to his first trade show in California 01:00:19 Going to the Oceanside street contest 01:05:25 Living in California 01:12:11 Missing the East Coast and moving back 01:14:41 Doing Shut Skateboards out of necessity 01:15:59 Going to the Cow Skates contest in Ohio with Mike Vallely 01:20:25 Rodney vs. Rob Dyrdek "skate-off" 01:24:05 Creating new shapes for skateboards 01:33:21 Hand making boards when Shut first started 01:35:15 Billy Waldman stepping to Bruno & Rodney at the Brooklyn Banks 01:44:16 Shut partnering up with Cow Skates 01:50:02 Getting a call & an offer from Brad Dorfman 01:58:01 Jimmy George from Cow Skates tries to sue Shut Skateboards 02:01:58 The downfall of Shut Skateboards 02:04:08 Quickly bringing Shut Skateboards back in 1992 02:08:17 Putting Shut back to bed 02:09:33 Doing something new with Eli Gesner 02:13:22 Naming his new brand Zoo York 02:25:08 The origins of the Zoo York name 02:29:16 Selling Zoo York in 2001 02:38:22 Linking up with Ecko 02:49:20 Internal sabotage at Zoo York 02:52:52 The mass exodus from Zoo York 03:00:14 The opportunity to work with Dave Chappelle, instead working with Ashton Kutcher 03:03:05 Finally saying goodbye to Zoo York 03:10:14 The Zoo York mixtape video 03:14:03 Advice for the bedroom brands Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.