Skateboard Legend: Tony Hawk

Welcome to Younghollywood. com.

Hey Young Hollywood, I'm Michelle Hummel.

Today we're here with the man of the hour, Tony Hawk, stand up for skate parks.

How did it all get started?

I saw a need for communities to be supported in their quest for skate parks.

They just weren't getting support and I felt like I could change that.

And last year we raised a million dollars here and uh we've given away $2.4 million to date and helped start almost 400 skate parks.

How many do you actually get to go to visit?

Not as many as I'd like.

Some we go out on tour and just visit unannounced.

We just like to surprise people.

Now, when you first started skating, did you ever envision this?

This wouldn't have seemed like an option when I was a kid because the furthest you could go in a skate career was to maybe get your picture in a magazine and get free equipment.

I mean, really, that was it.

You know, you skate until you reach an age of responsibility and then you go do something else.

I know, I know that you like to do some things in your downtime, Guitar Hero, we just saw an amazing commercial.

It was really fun.

I mean, you know, the idea came to me and they said, hey, we want to do this.

It's going to be the the scene from Risky Business.

And, you know, that's that's raised some red flags like in my underwear, really.

And then they said, yeah, but you're with Kobe, and you're with A Rod, and you're with Michael Phelps and I was like, I'm in.

We all kind of took our own flavor.

I wore a skate helmet.

Michael wore his speedo's obviously.

Kobe got to wear his basketball shorts, which I was a little jealous of.

And I asked the director, I said, you know, Kobe's wearing his basketball shorts.

I could wear it and he's like, Kobe's a basketball player.

Oh, you got me there.

What's your favorite?

The guitar, drums, singing?

Drums are really hard.

Drums have always been hard for me.

So, my favorite is playing guitar.

Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?

I would love to go behind the scenes and and help to get the opportunities for kids that are coming up now and and kids that are sponsored by my companies and and provide opportunities for them that maybe weren't allowed to me.

Now, behind us, we have Jeeps that you guys are giving away for the auctions.

Jeep offered to donate these for auction items.

And then we sort of pimped them out.

Uh custom rims and they did the stitching and they did a whole new stereo audio video system.

What's your favorite part about the event?

That my kids enjoy it, to be honest.

Because I do a lot of stuff that my kids are like, I don't wanna go.

Do we have to?

And this event every time I ask them they're like, yeah, I wanna go.

Something that we like to ask people in Young Hollywood.

What's your definition of cool?

Not putting effort into it.