At the beginning, there was a link. That’s where it all started. A reader, Tony Halik, simply wrote to me saying, “You’ll find this interesting.” And he was right. I spent over two months working on this article, constantly adding new pieces to the puzzle. I began with 411 and ended with the Łódź-based film Prospekt. What could possibly connect these two productions? You’ll find out in the text below. Before we dive in, I’d like to take a moment to thank Kuba Perzyna and Aaron Suski for sharing their memories of those events, as well as Filip Nowak for his invaluable help in digging through old skate magazines.
Prologue
In the early 2000s, the Polish skate scene was practically unknown territory for Western skaters a real terra incognita. Sure, Powell Peralta skaters hit Poland in ’91, and Miki Vuckovich visited Warsaw in ’92, capturing footage that made its way into Transworld, but even with those connections, Polish skating rarely saw visitors from overseas. The scene was completely different in Western Europe, where major comps regularly pulled in pros, filmmakers, and photographers from the States. Events in places like Radlands, Marseille, Munster, and Prague formed a skate circuit, almost like a modern-day pilgrimage. However, things in Poland were about to change in a big way, thanks to a chance meeting at the Mystic Cup in Prague. This meeting set off a series of intense skate tours to Poland, starting with a crew sent by SLAP and 411 Video Magazine, made up of skaters with Polish roots. The resulting trip led to a deep dive article on Poland’s skate spots from the American pros’ perspective and a featured segment in 411 Around the World 2. Finally, skaters from the U.S. could get a glimpse of Polish street spots and see what skating there was really like. But to understand how it all went down, let’s rewind a bit.
The 90s – Europe’s Skate Haven
As Joe Brook, an American photographer of Polish descent, put it in an interview with North magazine, “My friend Anthony Claravall filmed for 411 and he would live in Europe for three months every summer, and I just went to Europe and followed him around. He knew everybody, and we followed the contest circuit, going to Radlands and going to Germany and Marseilles and Barcelona and Prague and all over the place. (…) The world suddenly got really, really small!” Europe shrank fast; Brook and Claravall traveled across contests in the UK, France, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Skating mags and video outlets were riding high financially, easily able to send reporters on these trips, and their European stories drew tons of attention back home.
Munster and Prague comps were especially popular with Polish skaters since they weren’t too far to reach. At one Mystic Cup, Kuba Perzyna spotted Anthony Claravall in the crowd, handed him a copy of INFOvideo, and filled him in on the Polish skate scene, extending an invite to come over. “I had actually met Jakob, or “Cuba,” two years before in Prague where he had told me how good Poland was for street skating. It’s a pity it would take me two years to find out he wasn’t lying.” Claravall later recalled in a 2001 SLAP feature.
A few of tricks shooted by Joe Brook, SLAP, spetember 2001
2001: The Polish Oddysey
“All motivated and arranged by our very own and talented photographer Joe Brook’owski” Aaron Suski reminisced. Joe convinced SLAP to gather a crew of Polish-descended skaters to film a story in their ancestors’ land. Through the California Distribution in Łódź, he reached out to Jester, aka Bartek Błażejewski, who had already written an article on the Polish skate scene for Transworld the year before. The trip took place in late spring 2001, covering a two-week tour through selected Polish cities, which ultimately included Warsaw, Poznań, Katowice, Kraków, and even Oświęcim. In Transworld’s May 2001 issue, they teased, “Justin Strubing and Mike Rusczyk are in Poland filming for SLAP. Is skating possible in Poland? Guess we’ll find out. Aaron Suski, Kristian Svitak, and Stefan Janoski are also on this wild trip.”.
When they landed at Warsaw’s Okęcie Airport, Svitak noted that Poland looked a lot like Ohio. From there, Jester picked them up and took them to their hotel. He later met up with them again in Poznań and Katowice, where he snapped a powerful fs boardslide by Kristian Svitak.
Kristian Svitak fs boardslide, fot. Bartek Jester Błażejwski, Ślizg, Janurary 2002
“I remember the hotel we stayed at as kind of empty and strange. It felt like we were the only people in that three-story building – no one else was on our floor. The rooms were simple, with old transistor radios. I fiddled with the dial, and just as I was about to give up, I hit a clear signal: Dave Brubeck’s ‘Take Five.’ That jazz echoed through the halls and set this surreal tone,” Suski shared. He also recalled a nearby fountain with a ten-step staircase leading down. It looked promising from a distance, but the surface was rough. No one had skated there before, but with some wax and grit, he managed a bs 5-0. “The footage came out epic,” he said.
Most of their time was spent hitting Warsaw’s spots, led by local skate hero Kuba Perzyna. “He’s the man. He has a skate shop called DSK right in the city center and runs a skate media project called ‘INFO’ with his friend Skrobański – it’s like the Polish version of 411,” Claravall explained. Whether they needed skate spots, rental cars, a good restaurant, a bowling alley, or an internet café, Kuba had them covered. The INFO crew didn’t leave the skaters’ side, knowing they had a rare opportunity to film. And before footage from Poland made it into 411, it premiered in INFOvideo issue 9 and the Łódź-based Prospekt.
After Warsaw, they hit the road for other cities. Kuba borrowed a large Volkswagen van from Adam Malita, allowing them to get to Poznań, Kraków, and Katowice. Poznań’s Plac Wolności and Armii Poznań Monument saw tricks they’d never witnessed, and at the hubba by the Silesian Library in Katowice, Polish skater Tadeusz “Gutek” Szymański made his mark. His tricks ended up in INFOvideo, 411, and SLAP. Impressed by his skill, Joe Brook, who was then at Thrasher, got Gutek hooked up with Real Skateboards through the Łódź distribution run by Tomek Frant.
While filming at the Katowicie library, there was a loud screeching sound in the background. Anthony spun the camera around just in time to catch a car accident. “Suddenly, I see this kid flipping through the air. He must’ve flown over the car’s roof and hit the ground, looking like the car just rolled over him,” said Kristian Svitak. Later, Kuba Perzyna explained that the skater was Tomek Adamczyk from Gliwice, who’d just landed a trick near some steps and rolled into traffic. “He flew like a ragdoll,” Kuba recalled. Fortunately, there were no broken bones.
Tomek Adamczyk vs cars, scene from 411 Around The World 2, 2003, shooted by Anthony Claravall
One of the stops included a visit to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The experience hit the crew hard, and they filmed their reflections as a closing segment for 411 Around the World 2. Notably, the team got their history right, avoiding terms like “Polish death camp” in both SLAP and 411. Though, interestingly, the intro to the 411 feature mistakenly described Poland’s geographic position as lying “between rival empires, with Russia to the north and Germany to the south”.
The Impact of a “Polish Odyssey”
This journey was unique for two reasons: it was a homecoming of sorts, an emotional return that would shape how Poland’s skate scene was seen overseas. But it also proved that Poland had top-tier spots worth visiting. This trip finally put Poland on the skateboarding map. Soon after, Poland began to host European-scale events, such as the Mentor Skateboarding Session series and the 2005 Etnies European Open, drawing pros from all over the world. As Anthony Claravall predicted, “In the next year or two, you’ll see other mags and videos coming to Poland. Just remember, you saw it here first”. And he was right; teams from The Firm, New Deal, and Cliché visited Poland within a year. Anthony even invited Gutek and Tomek Kotrych to join him on a filming trip to Kyiv, which ended up in 411 VM Europe in 2003.
Epilogue
“One of coolest things about this trip is I was the first in my family to go to Poland since my grandmother came over on the boat when they were little. It was really great to sit down with my grandmother afterward and share stories.” Suski reminded. „Joe’s family name had been accidentally changed to “Brook” at Ellis Island because the original sounded too foreign. Suski admitted that going to Poland felt like a big leap into the unknown; they had no connections, not even knowing if there would be anywhere to skate. But skateboarding gave them an instant connection, turning the journey into one of his best trips ever”, summed up Anthony Claravall.
