Via Skateboarding
August 19, 2024
"If you can't solve the mystery, become the mystery."
Brian BlakelyAug 19, 2024
Well, this could certainly be classified as a "full circle moment" if you ask me, at least for Mr. Dan James Rodo (and well, of course, Tony Hawk).
If you were following along earlier this year—around April/May—then you know that The Birdman and Dan sort of forcefully fell down the rabbit hole while attempting to identify the iconic, now legendary "Central Park Mystery Skater" from a 1965 issue of LIFE magazine.
They went above and beyond and truly put in some pretty impressive work to investigate this mysterious, dapper skateboarder from the mid-60s, but what actually came of it was something none of us probably expected. Take a look:
"If you can’t solve a mystery, become the mystery...?," Tony wrote as the caption on the post. "Thanks to @danocracy & @joshuapbrown for meeting me in NYC to recreate the photo that has provided so much entertainment. And to Adrienne Aurichio for sharing the moment while giving us a glimpse into the magic of Bill Eppridge (the original photographer)."
He tacked on, "Watch Dan’s latest edit to see the process of putting this together." And if you haven't seen it yet, check it below!
As someone who was personally pretty invested in the search, this was so insanely cool to see—for multiple reasons. For one (as if we needed one), it's just another reminder as to how rad Tony is as a person. He's always having fun and the fact that he can do stuff like this is so cool to see.
And secondly, I just love that this entire investigation ultimately turned into Tony, Dan and a random photographer (@joshuapbrown) who simply commented on the post to come together and recreate this timeless moment.
Hats off once again to Dan for spending countless hours trying to track down this mystery skater; a mysterious man who has now become this legend in skateboarding in his own right. And of course to Tony for all the support and interest. Both their efforts are unbelievably admirable. This has been so fun.
Plus, the fact that they brought out Bill Eppridge's wife (Bill was the original photographer) tied it all together so perfectly, I'm almost at a loss for words. Watching the video literally gave me chills.
At any rate, I think we all just found the perfect Halloween costume, right?
While the "mystery skater" still technically remains a mystery, everything that has sprouted since the investigation—and really, since 1965 when the original photo was shot—has been so rad. It brought the skateboarding community (and beyond) together in such a cool, unique way. Just another reason to remind ourselves why skateboarding is simply the coolest thing ever.
And even though it's a big stretch, I'm going to say it anyways: who's going to fork up some dough and turn this into a proper Netflix/HBO/Amazon—whatever!—documentary? Fingers crossed. Until then, I think we can all agree this is as close to some closure as we'll get. As Tony mentioned, "If you can't solve the mystery, become the mystery."
But the mystery remains...
