INTERVIEW BY: BERTO
The phrase is often overused, but in this case it fits effortlessly: Mike Maldonado is your favorite skater’s favorite skater. Humble, grounded, and relentlessly powerful on a board, Maldonado has always allowed his skating to speak for itself.
A true East Coast original, Mike represents a generation built on raw terrain, heavy spots, and real style—never chasing trends, only the feeling. As he steps into a new chapter with his own brand and a renewed focus on what matters most, Frank 151 caught up with Maldonado for a reflective conversation on skating, legacy, Philly, and life beyond the spotlight.
FRANK 151: Yo Mike! What’s good?
MIKE: What’s good, sir?
FRANK 151: Plain says you been skatin’ a lot lately.
MIKE: Ahhh… yeah man. You know, been always skatin’. Just makin’ the time to do it a lil’ bit more, ya know? Life is life when you get into bein’ an adult. It’s not that there’s some life-after-skateboarding type shit. It just gets to be what it is. You know how this industry is and shit—especially now. It’s so watered down. Like, if you’re not riding for some big-time stuff, you’re not gettin’ that money we made back in the early 2000s and shit like that. You know what I mean? So you gotta pay the bills—for your family, ya know? The plans you have for your future and things. So sometimes you gotta tone your skatin’ down a lil’ bit. It’s not that you’re not skating; you just can’t go out and kill yourself the way that you normally would ‘cause you have things in life you kinda have to focus on, ya know?
FRANK 151: Differences between bein’ in Philly and West Chester?
MIKE: Big difference, ya know? Not to say that there’s as much to skate—it’s just that it’s a small town. It would be like skatin’ some lil’ spot in Philly all the time as opposed to havin’ the whole city to skate. Plus, the scene up there is so much bigger and—it’s just live! Philly is just LIVE! West Chester is cool, but I like to be away from all the chaos and shit like that. Yeah, I got this lil’ spot out here. I don’t wanna say it’s out in the country, but it’s a lot more wooded area. I still love me some city, but I like my peace at the same time, ya know?
FRANK 151: Speakin’ of Philly—yo! I remember years ago you talkin’ about bein’ the first to ollie the LOVE Gap… technically. But you didn’t like how sketchy the landing was. All these years later, do you still feel the same way?
MIKE: Yo!!!! It’s crazy, like the story that goes with that. I wasn’t the FIRST to do it. So here’s how it goes, as I’ve known. I believe it was the bull—his nickname was Choppy—Rene Gottesman. He was Ricky Oyola’s homie. Supposedly he was the first one to do it. I think he did like a mute grab down it—an ollie mute grab. Then Vinnie Ponte did it after. I think there was a LOVE contest and there were people tryin’ it that day, and he ended up landin’ it. Then in the Eastern Exposure video, Dan Wolfe had put me ollieing it first try. So I guess that’s how it made it look like I was the first to do it, but I was one of the “first-try” type things. I just came out the box.
I had tried it years ago when wheels were like—you know—your wheels were chunked out, like 37s (laughter), and the ground was this weird—not like clay. Hard to describe. Super soft ground. So if you were ridin’ some big-ass wheels, it was tough to ride away from it. But then they redid the fountain proper. It had that pool-kind of stuff to it, ya know? That gritty cement—concrete—I don’t know what to call it. That’s when it was a lot easier to ride away from it. So that one time in that Eastern Exposure video—that’s why Dan put that in. That’s where it kinda came from. I can’t claim I was the first. I gotta give credit where credit is due.
FRANK 151: Finally we got an IG to connect with you. AND you have a lil’ somethin’-somethin’ in the works. Yo! Tell us about this project—Frank 151 is beyond hyped to have the exclusive!
MIKE: So…I’ve always wanted to do my own clothing and stuff like that. And I just came to the conclusion that I was gonna do this clothing line. Originally—it’s kinda crazy—I wanted to call it this one name. I’m not gonna put it out there. I’m not gonna put B on blast or nothin’. But I wanted to call it this one thing. Come to find out, as I was tryin’ to put everything into the works—the name was taken!
It was completely crazy because the idea that person had when they made it was nowhere NEAR what I was comin’ up with. I don’t wanna shit on him, but I was like, “Yo! You slackin’! You’re this big name, and you’re not doin’ it!” (laughter) I don’t wanna say it’s bad, but you could be doin’ so much better. So I had to change the name up.
I was talkin’ to one of my homies, John Banes—this bull I skate with. We got these sessions at the skatepark close to me, WaWa Park. We skate at 9:30 in the morning—like a bunch of old heads that show up at 9:30 on Saturdays. So we were talkin’, and I gotta come up with a new name, and this is BS. He says, “You know what would be a cool company? If somebody like KAYO did a company called Loot.”
That’s pretty sick, I thought. Then we’re talkin’ more, and I don’t remember if I said it or he said it, but: “It would be cool to have wax—cakes of wax—like Loot Cakes!” Yeah! Loot Cakes! Like in that Tribe song: This honey ripped me off for all my loot cakes! Yo! That’s the name. That’s the name I gotta use. That replaces what I wanted. That’s perfect.
Then it just became this whole buildup. Met up with my homegirl Kymberly, and she hit me off with stuff that matched my ideas. She’s like an award-winning advertiser and got her own clothing line and all this fuckin’ shit. Basically, she’s like RZA of Wu-Tang—like Voltron. She’s the head, we all form together—but she’s the head. That’s where Loot Cakes started.
FRANK 151: I hope it’s an overwhelming success, my friend.
MIKE: I appreciate that, man. I appreciate it.
FRANK 151: Back to the very beginning—first sponsor?
MIKE: Very first sponsor? Like, board sponsor? My very FIRST sponsor was Fairman’s Skateshop (RIP). There was Toxic Skateboards—that was my first board sponsor.
FRANK 151: Did you ever get to know Kyong Kim?
MIKE: Naw, I never got to. Rode many of his boards. There was also Eric Connor and Danny Mayer, but I never got to meet those dudes. We were strictly East Coast, and I didn’t make it out West for years. I was a big fan. Those dudes killed it! The sickest thing was Toxic made videos that came with everybody’s boards. So when you bought a board, it came with a video. Kyong Kim was sooooo sick!
FRANK 151: The career you’ve had has been nothing short of incredible. How do you feel about your legacy in this thing we do?
MIKE: It’s surreal. It’s crazy. I always considered myself just a skater. When you’re younger, you get cocky—like, “Yeah, I can do this, I’m that.” But when I started climbing the ranks and getting on better teams, it humbled me.
When Ed Templeton first wanted me to go pro, I didn’t feel ready. Then I thought about it—this is someone who knows talent. If he says I’m ready, maybe I am. Now people call me a legend—that’s crazy. Gonz is a legend. Those are legends to me. But I appreciate it.
FRANK 151: Now that you’re starting your own brand—anything left on the bucket list?
MIKE: I take things day by day. There’s still a lot of skating I wanna do. Right now my son is my main focus. He’s turnin’ 15 next week. Great kid. I’m proud of him.
FRANK 151: Shout-outs?
MIKE: Gotta start with Plain—Mark Brandstetter. Always had my back. Pete Eldridge. Kymberly Robinson. My crew in the Dub C. You, my brova. Angel—ride or die since day one. Much love to everyone.
FRANK 151: Any last words?
MIKE: Your time is precious. Humble yourself. Use it wisely. Don’t waste it on people who don’t appreciate you. Put your heart into what you love and don’t apologize. That’s what you do.
So there you go. Mike’s always been skatin’. He just wasn’t out there the way people expected.
Gracias, brova. Much love. Brovas por vida.
Photography by: @plainandementertainment