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"D Spot" By Motor Lobby Skateboards
We're hyped to help showcase a brand new full length skate video out of St. Petersburg, Florida by Motor Lobby Skateboards, a young brand that supports a rad and growing skate scene in the smaller city in the Tampa Bay area. St Pete has been home to some classic Floridian skate talent like the Conklin brothers and Rickie Dixon, to name a few, but the city has never had such a large and thriving skate scene as it does now and this new video really helps prove it.
Brandon Knowles-Frontside Flip: Photo by Adam Hadden
Our friends at Motor Lobby gave us the exclusive honor of hosting their very first full length on the TOA Youtube channel so we wanted to help introduce you to the guys behind the brand and the video. We caught up with Jeremy Leyva, one of the guys behind the brand, and Matt Conner, the man behind the camera and editing software. Check out the interview below to learn more about Motor Lobby, St. Petersburg skateboarding and what went into making this project happen....and, of course, enjoy the video!
For those who aren't familiar with Motor Lobby, Jeremy, can you give us a little introduction and tell us how it came to be?
Jeremy: Motor Lobby started in 2021 when our group of friends went down to Miami for Brandon's bachelor party. The explanation for the name is a story for a later day. In a nutshell, the trip was so epic it spawned a brand based around our skating and our friends. I mostly run the daily operations of the brand, but everybody involved plays a roll in ideas/graphics and videos.
Jim Dwyer-Gap to FS 5-0: Photo by Adam Hadden
What's the best part of living and skating in St. Petersburg?
Jeremy: St. Pete is an awesome city because we can just get on bikes and be out all day and not get bored. There's always different groups of homies out skating and always something going on. We have a ton of great skateparks including the Campbell skatepark that we call Hell. I think there's a stat out there that says Saint Petersburg is the sunniest city in Florida. So, there's that.
Nick Barwick-Backside tail slide : Photo by Adam Hadden
Do you guys feel like St. Pete gets overshadowed by Tampa? Or do you kinda like that it has kinda helped to keep St Pete off the radar over the years?
Jeremy: Honestly at this point I don’t think anyone minds. Aside from our friends at skatepark of Tampa and the Busted Mic guys, there isn't much going on over there. We have kind of formed a giant squad from Tampa to Saint Pete and Bradenton/Sarasota.
Matt, being that you relocated to St Pete from New York....what have you noticed are the biggest differences between skating/filming in a small city like St. Pete vs NY.
Matt: It’s so easy to get around St Pete. Sometimes in NYC someone will have an idea for a spot uptown or deeper in Brooklyn but it takes 30-45 minutes to get there and nobody wants to make the trek. People tend to stay in their zone and not branch out as much. Down here everything is pretty much 15 minutes away or less which makes things easy. Also, being able to skate comfortably all winter is a huge difference. That was probably the most difficult thing about growing up skating in New York. The summer heat lasts quite a bit longer down here but we were sweating it out and filming the whole time.
DJ Brown-Heelflip Flip: Photo by Adam Hadden
Filming a full length is quite an endeavor these days. Did this start off as a smaller project that blossomed into a full length or did you set out from the beginning to go the distance?
Matt: The initial idea was to bookend a video with parts from Cris Lesh and Brandon Knowles with a team montage in between. As time went on a few more people were added to the mix so we extended the deadline. Once I began putting the footage in a timeline I saw the potential for a full length style of edit, and in the end everybody came through.
Haha...sounds familiar. Well, now that it's finally live, what aspect of the video are you most proud for people to see or gives you the most satisfaction for the world to finally recognize about the scene or skaters here?
Matt: I’m hyped for people to be introduced to the skating and personalities of our squad, they deserve the shine for putting in a ton of time and effort.
Sergio Quijano-Kicklip to Frontside Tailslide: Photo by Adam Hadden
Jeremy, you guys turned Brandon Knowles pro at the premiere...how did that feel and does it kinda make things feel a little more serious now?
Jeremy: Brandon has been pro at life for a while now. I just put his name on a board. The Porsche board is a celebration of his crazy hard work with his plumbing company and how hard he worked on this video part. Brandon means so much to this area and has done so much for all of us! We’ve tried pretty hard to not let motor lobby get too serious, but I definitely hope this legitimizes the brand more moving forward.
Jeremy Leyva-Switch Flip: Photo by Adam Hadden
I think it will...it's a pretty solid project. And I think it's going to introduce a lot of people to Motor Lobby for the first time....so how can they find you moving forward? How can we buy a Brandon Knowles deck? And what's next for you guys?
Jeremy: Our Instagram is @motor_lobby. That’s where you can find out what we're up to. Our next drop of products will be hitting shops in the next couple weeks. We will have everything on our webstore shortly. (Motorlobby.bigcartel.com) We'll just be down here riding around making videos with the squad. Thank you for everything Josh and Pat! Theories of Atlantis is the shit and has been a huge inspiration for us. We’re glad to be friends with you guys!
Cris Lesh-Ollie Rail to Bank: Photo by Adam Hadden
Joshua Stewart
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Posted on February 14 2025
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