Somehow I missed the skateboarding trend as a teenager. Any other adult male or female I know can pick up a skateboard in casual company and try to ride it and maybe even do an ollie or two. Perhaps Tony Hawk’s grasp on culture in the early nineties into the early 2000s is to blame for this–who knows! I’ve always had a fear of skateboards as I’ve never been able to effectively (and safely) ride them. I’m fascinated by them and by people who’ve mastered this means of locomotion because it scares the shit out of me. Skateboarding site The Berrics and Quiksilver teamed up to make a little Los Angeles skateboarding video that has Austyn Gillette travelling super quickly across the city in a palm sweat inducing dash across neighborhood sidewalks and busy streets, all caught from a moving car.

The five minute video is just about Gillette skating across LA. It’s that simple. It also touches on sidewalk and street culture and who populates and doesn’t populate these foot traffic lanes. He coasts past Silve Lake Reservoir and across Downtown’s bridges, into neighborhoods of families and corridors full of busy stores. He does this all super quickly, without a helment, skateboarding on the sidewalks of LA.

It’s a good five minute cross-section of the city as seen by a skateboarder. It’s directed by Colin Kennedy, too. Watch the video below and get some behind the scenes of it here. I’m still mesmerized by anyone who can skateboard. This is one of those, “How is he doing this–and without a helmet?!” videos.