It’s a Tuesday night in mid-May, and dozens of people are rolling into a parking lot just south of the Santa Monica Pier. Most are on skateboards of all shapes and sizes. A few are on roller skates, scooters and bicycles.
One dude rides in on a mountain bike armed with a toy gun that blows bubbles, enveloping the woman on skates he’s pulling behind him with a rope. It feels like a party is about to start. The sun is still high in the sky and the breeze blows off the ocean.
Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” is bumping from a knee-high amp as women, men and nonbinary folks congregate and coast on the pavement on their wheels of choice. Most are 20-somethings and 30-somethings. A few minutes before 7 p.
m., a lean 29-year-old with shoulder-length dirty blond hair, a backward turquoise ball cap and a pink tie-dye shirt, cuts the music and speaks into a microphone. “Who’s living their best life? That’s what we’re here to do,” Brandon DesJarlais says to the crowd of 50 who are here for Vibe Ride, an event he created to skate, dance and connect with other people.
Tonight they’ll travel together for about 1.7 miles to the Venice Skate Park, stopping along the way for bursts of revelry before turning around and heading back as the sun dips below the Pacific. DesJarlais is a pro longboarder who created a nonprofit called Beyond the Board in 2021 to empower people and build community through skateboarding.
His desire to share the joy of the sport tracks with th.