Skateboard Utopia

Skatelab in Simi Valley provides a comprehensive destination for skateboarders. The complex features indoor and outdoor skate parks, classes by pro skaters and even a Skateboard Hall of Fame. Founded by Todd Huber and Scott Radinsky in 1997, the 25,000-square-foot sports facility, located at 4226 Valley Fair St., long anticipated the skate park craze. “When we opened, there were only four skate parks,” Huber said. “Now we have free skate parks all around us.” It was unforeseen, Huber added, that skateboarding would become so mainstream that city-cultivated skateparks would give his business competition. However, Huber considers the San Fernando Valley region the global skateboarding capital. “It started where we are,” Huber said. “The very first skateboard shop in the world was in North Hollywood: Val Surf. It’s still there. That’s kind of notable. Another reason why this area of the world is popular for skateboarding: It’s kind of our sport. Malibu has surfing, the Valley has skateboarding.” He said Simi’s bedroom community became the perfect hub because suburban kids needed something to do without easy access to the beach. After Huber — whose father Bob Huber has served as Simi Valley mayor since 2010 — and Radinsky — a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher drafted by Chicago White Sox from Simi Valley High School and who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians — opened the facility, they enlisted top pro skateboarders as instructors, headed by Steve Badillo, who went pro at age 19 and amassed IMDb credits in the mid-2000s working as a consultant on Hollywood films such as “The Lords of Dogtown,” “The Bad News Bears” and “Herbie: Fully Loaded” teaching actors how to skate and choreographing skating scenes. Every few years, a wave of Skatelab pupils turn into masters. In the past year, “four original Lab Rats,” as Huber put it, emerged as professionals. At 17, Alex Midler just went pro, Huber said, while Tom Schaar has become the first person in the world to do the 1080 stunt (one-upping skateboard legend Tony Hawk’s 900) and has appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Tristan Funkhouser has also gone pro while Max Klein is rising fast. “We’re really proud of that,” Huber said, as Skatelab’s Skateboarding Hall of Fame turns 10 this year. “That’s our second generation of kids. Some of the biggest names throughout the 2000s also started in our facility.” Skatelab currently has a payroll between six and 10 employees. Huber remains enterprising, currently looking for a partner and a new Hall of Fame venue, which he would like to see running as a nonprofit in Los Angeles proper. He also wants to separate the skateboarding museum from the indoor skate park because “the kids don’t really appreciate the history.” With skateboarding going legit this year as an Olympic sport in Japan, Huber hopes to see his museum established before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Huber admits that Skatelab’s finances rise and fall in tandem with the popularity of the sport. “It has been a struggle compared to 1997 when we were actually making money,” he said. “Now we’re just (breaking even). … Video games have been a factor.” Yet he has no regrets and he and Radinsky continue to invest their energies into Skatelab. “The kids and the families are why we do what we do,” Huber said. “The feedback that we get. I feel like we’ve touched so many lives.”