Ricky Oyola is one of the all-time great skaters. His casual lines down city blocks helped define an era and he's one of the people that put Philly on the map in the early '90's. Needless to say, Ricky's got a few stories to tell. The following interview covers OG Love Park, Matt Reason & Serge Trudnowski, OG Zoo York, Illuminati / Silver Star, the orgins of Traffic, and a whole bunch of other stuff that you can read about below.

48 Blocks: When and how did you first get into skateboarding what are your earliest memories?

Ricky: I have three older brothers and they had skateboards around, but it was in 1985 that my neighbor got a board for his birthday. It was a Nash Executioner. A few months later on my birthday I got my first board, a Town & Country Zoner. We would have tic tac contests around the neighborhood. My first official trick was a boneless.

48 Blocks: When is the first time that you went to Love Park, who were the locals there at that time?

Ricky: In 1988 was the first time I went to the city in general to go skating. We took a bus from our town and got dropped off at 6th and Arch, a block away from the Afro banks. Love was another spot on the list but wasn’t what it would eventually become. I didn’t know the locals back then but Roger Browne, Ari, Scott Slim, and John Burke were some of the good skaters at that time. There were these two twins that were insanely good, better than anybody good; but I didn’t know their names. I would see them sometimes but they were two of the biggest dicks. We referred to them as the dick twins. They were like Gonz good. I don’t know whatever happened to them, nor do I care.

48 Blocks: You are one of the people that helped put Philadelphia on the skateboard map in the early '90's. Can you describe the vibe in the city back then. Who were you skating with back in the Sub Zero days and what was life like?

Ricky: Roger Browne was obviously a player but he moved away to SF early in this stage so it was Matt Reason, Sergei Trudnowski, and myself that did a lot. There were tons of people that played a part for sure. John Puca was one of the few skaters actually from Philly that skated Love a lot. It was a tight little scene where we ran the show, gangster style in a way. If we didn’t want you around then so be it you weren’t around. I liked it because we ran it.

48 Blocks: Who was your first official sponsor and how did that happen?

Ricky: I guess my first official sponsor was Z Products. I went out to Cali for almost two months, visiting some random skater I met at a skatepark in Connecticut. I stayed with this kid Colby Brown for almost the whole time with me visiting my aunt for a week or so. In that week I went to this skatepark in East LA called Lipslides almost everyday. My first night there I was skating and got noticed by George Wilson, who was the team manager at the time for Z. He gave me a huge box right then and there. The funny thing is that I got sponsored for my mini ramp skating, he was surprised that I skated street.

48 Blocks: How did you end up on Zoo?

Ricky: After going to SF to visit Roger Browne, I split from Fun. Roger put in a good word to Rodney from Zoo and I was put on.

48 Blocks: You later went on to form Illuminati, which became Silver Star; both of those companies are remembered fondly by skaters from that era. How did that come about and what influenced the general image and direction?

Ricky: Basically after being on Zoo for awhile I eventually got Sergei and Matt on the team. With Zoo being small and having small company struggles they started not showing respect to Matt and Sergei. Eli who created everything for Zoo came up with the idea and image of Illuminati. Everything that Eli did was like gold, we all were so hyped that we started to learn about conspiracy theories to feel more in tune with what our brand was about. In 8 months it had to end because somebody in the Midwest had a trademark on the name. A problem that Matt, Sergei and myself had was that nobody at Zoo was telling us what was going on. We were always like when are we getting this or that, as in products but got no answers until it was too late. East Coast Urethane was blowing up and offered me to do a company with them. I was already riding for Nicotine wheels and then later started First Division with them so I was comfortable with the decision to leave Zoo. We all were really stoked on Illuminati and the graphics that we wanted to keep the vibe going. I was leaving for Australia and left the naming of the company to Matt and Sergei. When I was in Australia, I got a call from the owner of ECU saying that I needed to give him a name right then and there because Matt and Sergei failed to do so. I started reading some things from a book I was into and The Order of the Silverstar is what the author referred to the Illuminati as. At first Matt and Sergei didn’t like the name but I guess it grew on them as time went on. I was stoked on the name from the get go. The original team board and logo came from the Baltimore Sun newspaper. While skating in Baltimore I saw the logo on a newspaper box and it reminded me of the Illuminati logo.

48 Blocks: What ultimately happened with Silver Star?

Ricky: The demise of Silverstar and the rest of ECU for that matter is still somewhat of a mystery to me. Things were going good and then all of a sudden the owner of ECU pulled the plug on all the brands. The rumor is that the owner Mike Agnew had a gambling problem and that he fucked everything up. I was never told by him what the real story is so that is what I got for you. Fucking asshole. I had two amazing companies that I feel would still be around to this day if it wasn’t for him, but it is what it is. Live and learn.

48 Blocks: Dan Wolfe credits you as being one of the first people that he filmed lines in the streets with on the way to spots in Closure. Talk about how that style developed and what made you decide to take your skating in that direction.

Ricky: I guess I give most of that credit to Roger Browne. I used to drive into the city, park my car in West Philly where he lived and skate through the city all day. I am talking many, many blocks worth of skating of just hitting things along the way. I took a liking to that style and ran with it. I don’t have any fears of moving cars or being in Traffic. Plus I think that the way Philly is laid out played a good part in it too.

48 Blocks: What impact did the shut down of Love Park have on you personally and skateboarding in the city of Philadelphia?

Ricky: The scene kind of dwindled away because most of the skaters in Philly only skated Love. I cared because it was our secondary home but for my skating it didn’t make that much of a difference. I was already skating more of what the city had to offer. My flatground and ledge skating definitely took a hit though. It forced more skaters to skate the stuff that our crew was skating.

48 Blocks: You were on New Deal and then faded off the skate radar for a bit, can you give us a brief timeline of then till the start of Traffic and what was going on in your life?

Ricky: I was just skating. I guess I wasn’t confident in my skating to go out and try to film. I was being a dad, which takes a lot of your time. By the time Traffic started I had two kids, Olivia and Owen.

48 Blocks: How did you go about starting Traffic, what was your original goal for the company?

Ricky: I wanted to do something and the name Traffic was really slated for a wheel company. I went up to Rhode Island I think for a contest maybe and there were a lot of notable East Coast heads in attendance. We were at a bar afterwards and I was talking to Robbie Gangemi about a company. He wanted me to ride for his wood source and start up an idea he had called Free Agent. Dope idea but I thought if it worked I would miss out on a few things so I told him that I had a name that I liked and he could supply the wood for it. This only lasted 4 months or so and I realized it wasn’t the best situation so I pulled out and started doing wood through Pennswood. I wished I were a better businessperson with some capital because maybe Robbie and I could of done things better together. I would have been stoked to have created something with him.

48 Blocks: You've developed an amazing team and Traffic is one of the most respected underground companies in skateboarding. What's been the hardest part?

Ricky: The hardest part is trying to keep it together with no money. People put time in and need to get their money on time. I am always waiting on checks and that shit blows. You need to have some working capital. I can sell more goods if I had the finances to produce more goods.

48 Blocks: Talk about Vox and how that came together. 

Ricky: After Duffs, I didn’t have a shoe sponsor for two years almost. I got a call out the blue from Mike Henderson for VOX. They were starting something up and wanted someone to represent the East Coast. I had spoken with Ed Dominick before about 88 but at the time I was a little too late and the team was packed. I guess I got my chance after 88 had its problems and VOX started up.

48 Blocks: By the time people are reading this they will have already seen Moving In Traffic. What are your thoughts on the video?

Ricky: Moving in Traffic was a video primarily to promote Bobby Puleo and Jack Sabback. They got on the team right when VIA was going to be dropped and had the opportunity to be in it but they both still rode for I-Path and were supposed to put their footage in their video. Bobby eventually got the boot from I-Path and then the company got sold to a corporation, which put everything on hold. Sitting on footage, Bobby wanted us to put something out to help promote Traffic and the fact he rides for it. It was a little struggle to get the footage from Jack because he wanted it for I-Path in case they were going to drop something but since I-Path sucks ass now and were wasting Jack’s time we were able to convince him this would work in his favor. He could put out a video for Traffic with Bobby and he would have enough time to get something proper for I-Path. The video was meant to be released earlier in the year but things take time and we waited until August to put it out. Bobby was real adamant about premiering it on the site, that turned out to be a great idea and the launch definitely went over well. I was concerned about still being able to sell the video after the premiere on the site but that became a non-issue because people wanted a copy to keep. The quality isn’t as good online as you get with a hard copy. We are into the short videos because our main goal is to make you want to go skating. We had more footage of the rest of the team but we have yet another project in the works featuring the ams so we wanted to keep the focus on our two pros.

48 Blocks: What's the skate scene like in Philly now? Where are you skating lately?

Ricky: The scene is up in the air. I skate with Rich and Ry and I frequent the Mole. Still skating all around Philly.

48 Blocks: When is the last time you talked to Matt Reason and Serge Trudnowski, what happened to them?

Ricky: Too long to actually remember. They disappeared like they wanted to.

48 Blocks: What's your favorite era in skateboarding and why?

Ricky: I like the mid 90’s because we ran the show. Also because in that time period no way would Ryan Sheckler or Shawn White be who they are in skateboarding today.

48 Blocks: You are a family man, how has it been juggling home life with running a company?

Ricky: Raising a family is just difficult whether I am running a company or not. Time really becomes a luxury.

48 Blocks: What do you do to relax in your down time?

Ricky: Lounge with my wife. Play pool and drink Rich’s home-brew.

48 Blocks: Who are your top five all time best East Coast skaters and why?

Ricky: For obvious reasons why but in no particular order, Jahmal Williams, Robbie Gangemi, Jeff Pang, Roger Browne, and Sean Sheffey.