Mark Gonzales

Born in 1969 Mark Gonzales or "Gonz" is know for being one of the pioneers of modern street skating. Gonz came on the scene at age 15 with a new more modern take on skating. He made the cover of Thrasher Magazine in November 1984, where at the time he was sponsored by Alva. He was soon scooped up by Vision skateboards who were a new company with big ideas. Mark made Embarcadero in SF a popular spot to skate by doing the first major gap there in 1986 and was featured in the September 86 issue of Thrasher. This gap was soon after nicknamed the "Gonz Gap" because of mark. Not to long after this gap was done Mark and Natas Kaupas were the first two skaters to skate handrails in 86 and Mark was the first to ride in switch stance in 87. In 1989 Mark created Blind skateboards, influencing skateboarding even more with Blind's 1991 video "Video Days. In 93 Gonzales made a trip back to his self title gap and was the first ever to kickflip the Gonz Gap. Mark then left Blind and started two new companies, the first being ATM Click and then 60/40 Skateboards which are now out of business. After this Mark skated for Real Skateboards and then launched Krooked Skateboards. Although Gonz is a skater he also took on a career in Art. His art has been shown at many galleries worldwide, including Alleged Gallery in New York. He also had a collaborative exhibit with fellow skater Christian Hosoi at The Journal gallery in New York. Some of Mark's fans/collectors include people like Donald Trump and Sean "P-diddy" Combs. These two careers aren't the only things Gonz has done. He has had lead parts in short films like "How They Get There" in 1997 and published a book called "Broken Poems" in 2006. He was awarded the "Legend Award" by Transworld Skateboarding and in 2007 he published a skate film named "Gnar Gnar" and was released with only 1000 VHS copies made and was shot with an old VHS camcorder. And you think he stopped there, Mark has been featured in Skate, Skate 2 and Skate it, just so you can be as good as him(in a video game of course). Mark is truly one busy skateboarder.

Now for the videos

Gonz when he was with Real


More of Gonz


Mark in "Krooked Kronichles" 2006