A lot of people today still see skateboarders as delinquents and vandals or an otherwise urban nuisance, even though most of them have a far more intimate understanding of their city than the people capping ledges and chewing them out on staircases. Skateboarders have delved into the city’s deepest nooks and crannies, noted every detail, scoping out the neglected backways and byways that nobody else ever finds reason (or courage) to visit. They’ve also left scraps of skin and blood scattered across the pavement citywide. Their devotion to Vancouver is on a completely different plane.

True to form, Michelle Pezel, owner of Antisocial Skateshop, works as hard for Vancouver as anyone in city hall. By day she runs Antisocial, which has become a community hub for Vancouver’s skateboarders. At night she rallies support for East Van’s famous DIY skatepark, Leeside, or collaborates with city officials as president of the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition, or heads her not-for-profit, c.s.k.a.t.e.c.

It all started with her first board at age 15. Her love for the sport was quickly eclipsed by her love for its people. Skateboarders rarely just skateboard. Although some people today like to dismiss them all as burnouts, skateboarders are among the leading artists, musicians, writers, designers, and creatives of all kinds. It seems paradoxical, but it’s both a solo and social sport, something you can do in complete solitude while surrounded by friends. Michelle loved the social aspect of it without being accountable to anyone else.

Before running her own shop she worked at Boarding House. After that she took a year-long road-trip around the States. In most new cities the local skateshop was her first stop, a sort of info booth for four-wheeled visitors.

When she returned home, she enlisted two friends to help her launch her own store. One was an old friend, Laura Piasta. The other was her then-roommate, legendary Vancouver rider Rick McCrank. She had some vague ideas of how the store should look.

From day one she wanted to incorporate a space for the arts. Many of Michelle’s friends, Laura included, were attending Emily Carr at the time. This was before every block had a DIY gallery, when the best place for a student to show work was in a coffeeshop. To this day, Antisocial still keeps a small gallery in the back and regularly holds shows, and a rack near the window displays art books. Aside from the visual arts, they also host afterhours music shows and film premieres. “We’re paying rent,” Michelle says. “We might as well have fun.”

Antisocial has become the centrepoint for skateboarding in Vancouver, a hub for locals and a first stop for visitors. It’s equal parts shop and gathering place. “You feel like you’re doing something right if people want to meet up at your place,” Michelle says, and she’s happy to have visitors. She remembers hanging around as a kid at the Swamphouse in Burnaby. Now she provides the same sort of safe place for kids to hang out, as evidenced by the paper and pencil crayons spread out at the front of the store.

Michelle keeps plenty busy outside of shop hours. First, there’s Leeside. Michelle is the driving force behind maintaining the park; without her there’s no doubt that it would fall into disrepair, or have been reconstructed after the multiple arsons that have razed it. “Leeside is that thing that’s gonna be with me forever,” she says.

Leeside is named after its founder, Lee Matasi, a young skateboarder who found a dry, well-lit space beneath an overpass near his East Vancouver house and started building obstacles there. He brought friends, word spread and the park grew. Then, at age 23, Lee was shot and killed outside a nightclub. They held the memorial at the park, which the city had buried under 18-inches of gravel.

After the memorial dozens of skateboarders returned with shovels and pickaxes and painstakingly cleared the gravel out, channelling their grief into this communal project. They began to rebuild, building DIY obstacles of wood and concrete and moving in old ramps used in the annual Slam City Jam contests. Michelle wades through the paperwork required to keep the city happy, she organizes the crews to haul bags of concrete and hold mass construction sessions, and generally motivates the community to keep Leeside running. The park has been twice burned down by arsons. Right now Michelle is working with the city and raising money to rebuild after the latest fire. This year they hope to put together a book celebrating the park’s 10th anniversary.

In a more official capacity she heads the Vancouver Skateboard Coalition, a liaison group that works with the city on behalf of skateboarders. When problems arise the VSBC helps smooth them out, and when money appears (less often, Michelle says) they consult on the best way to use it. Right now they’re rewriting the Vancouver Skateboard Strategy first drafted ten years ago, a roadmap for the future of skateboarding in Vancouver.

She rounds out her resume with c.s.k.a.t.e.c., a not-for-profit she founded after a volunteer trip to Afghanistan for Skateistan. Through the organization she’s sent skateboards to remote northern communities like Alert Bay and Fort St. James. Ultimately, she hopes to open a space for youth of all ages, somewhere, she says, “where kids can have fun and make noise.” It would incorporate much more than skateboarding – things like dancing, all ages shows, art, music – essentially giving the kids plenty of options to try out and see what they enjoy. It’s critical, she says, to build the space alongside the kids, to ensure that their voices are heard and they’ll actually want to go there.

If Antisocial is any indication, she’ll have no problem creating a space that people will feel compelled to visit.

Antisocial Skateboard Shop

Neighbourhood: Main Street

2337 Main St

(604) 708-5678