Loyal Pawn Interview: Michael Pagani @ Joker's Skateshop

Interview by Tyler Culbertson

An absolute loyal pawn himself, Michael Pagani has help breed a legion of loyal pawns behind the doors of Joker's Skateshop by wielding his bloodsucking influences as the shop's overlord. This legacy of brainwashing is purely instinctive, being that Jokers is located within the birthplace of Toy Machine. Indeed, Michael is a veteran skate rat building and contributing to the legendary skate scene of Huntington Beach. He is a key component in our brainwashing efforts, so we delved into the mind of Michale Pagani and returned with this Loyal Pawn interview and Top 5 Q's about the HB skate scene.
How long have you been pushing on 4 wheels and 7-plys?
I started skating in 1991 when I was five years old. My first board was a SMA Mike Conroy Crystal Ball deck.
How many years have you been slave driving at Jokers?
I’ve been working at Jokers as the shop manager since we opened in 2006, this December it will be eight years. Currently, I run the day to day tasks as well as all the purchasing, shop website, and shipping of online orders. Running a skater owned and operated skateshop is really a labor of love and I look forward to going into work everyday.
You're a quite an ambitious skate rat. We've called the shop in the past and there was talks of receiving a higher education. 
I am about to graduate with a Business Management degree from California State University Long Beach. When I am not working at the shop, I’m at school so finding time to skate these days is sometimes hard. After I graduate this spring, I plan on traveling for a while and figuring out what I want to do with my life. My goal is to be able to apply my knowledge of running a skateshop and use my business degree to hopefully find a job somewhere in the skate industry.

Photo: Devin Briggs
 Skate Spots in Huntington Beach
1.Newland School red curbs
2.The Wave AKA Olive Garden Banks
3.The parking block out front of Jokers
4.Manny pad at Edison Rec. Center
5.Don Jose Wallride
 HB skateboarding legends
1.Ricky Barnes
2.Skip Pronier
3.Ed Templeton
4.Erik Estrada
5.My punk friend Andy Jackson

Photo: MRZ
Things you do at Joker's.
1.Grip boards for guys who have been skating longer than I’ve been alive
2.De-code Christmas lists and birthday wish lists for moms coming in
3.Listen to the best “back in the day” stories about how skating used to be
4.Try to keep the shop rats under control
5.Answer hundreds of questions everyday like what board has the most “pop” to what is my best trick and everything in between
Lurkers at Joker's Skateshop
1.Grosso
2.Luke Ward AKA Flood Pants
3.Frankie Lopez AKA Frankie Lopiss
4.Zak Grove
5.Brian Vu AKA Chunk
Favorite things about Joker's Skateshop
1.Skater owned and operated since day one
2.We focus on stocking the best brands in the skate industry
3.Being able to walk into a skateshop and not get cool guy’d
4.Giving the local skate community a skateshop they can call home
5.Setting up skate events for all the shop rats and local skaters

Photo: Kris Kirk
Things to do in HB when off the board
1.Hang out at Jokers Skate Shop
2.Go to Vinyl Solution
3.Body womp
4.Go to Bagelmania
5.Make the rounds at Savers
Favorite Toy Machine Skaters
1.Ed Templeton
2.Donny Barley
3.BA
4.Mike Maldonado
5.Chris Senn


 Sketchy situations that happened for skating in front of Jokers
1.Cops busting kids skating out-front of a skateshop
2.Lady from the “Massage” place yelling at kids to keep it down
3.Frankie breaking his wrist skating the hydrant out-front, luckily Mike V was there to save the day and carry him out into his mom’s car
4.The landlord having us pay for the broken tiles
5.The old man that lives behind the shop calling the cops and getting our first Go Skate Day event shut down
Top 5 Most Played Videos at Jokers
1.Toy Machine - Suffer the Joy
2.Santa Cruz - Streets on Fire
3.Black Label - Label Kills
4.The Sandlot
5.411vm Issue 30
Top 5 Most Played Video Games at Jokers
1.Tony Hawk’s Underground 2
2.Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland
3.Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3
4.Tony Hawk’s Underground 1
5.Transworld Surf

Photo: MRZ
Top 5 Random Items at Jokers
1.Lucero’s left behind Pistachio shells now up on the Wall of Fame
2.Brian Brandon’s (JFA) left behind Gatorade bottle now up on display
3.Black/Grey Osiris D3’s size 8.5, Display only AKA N.F.S. (Not For Sale)
4.Ryan Reyes’ butt hairs in a Ziploc bag also on the Wall of Fame (NFS)
5.Sealed copy of 411vm issue 11, NFS\

Do receive a healthy dosage of the bloodsucking skateboard co, visit Joker's Skateshop at:
9606 Hamilton Ave,Huntington Beach, CA 92646

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