The neighborhoods we’re raised in play a big influence on how we talk, our personality, and even things like our diets. While those may seem like obvious truths, skaters are especially susceptible to becoming products of their environments compared to the average joe.

Skaters will always be more likely to explore nooks and crannies and discover everything their communities have to offer, especially compared to kids who just sit around at home playing Minecraft. You can learn a lot about someone by taking a trip to their original stomping grounds, so we decided to revisit skaters’ old neighborhoods to see what the streets and spots can reveal to us about their early lives and maybe even their current selves.

In this episode, we took the ferry into Staten Island to meet up with pro skater Leo Heinert and photographer Marco Hernandez. The two “forgotten borough” natives took us on a tour of some of their childhood spots and introduced us to some new faces making it happen in the car garages and schoolyards of Staten Island.

Video by: Greg Navarro
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