NORTHWEST SKATEBOARDS

Head Honcho Skateboards by Northwest Skateboards Vancouver Harry Greenberg CalStreets Skate Hoarder CanadaI landed my first job in Vancouver at Northwest Skateboards, working under Harry Greenberg. Harry, a Black Belt in Karate, saw I was also training in Tae Kwon Do, he recognized my dedication, and hired me right after I graduated in 1977. I moved from Cranbrook to Vancouver to become Northwest’s warehouse manager, handling shipping and receiving for skateboards throughout Canada—a dream role for someone who lived and breathed skate culture.

Although I oversaw the warehouse, I also assembled thousands of ACS Trucks that came in disassembled. Harry’s plan was to import them in pieces to get a better distributor discount, and I took on the task of putting them together. If you had ACS Trucks back then, there’s a good chance I was the one who built them! On top of that, answering the phones gave me a chance to connect with all the major movers and shakers in the industry. With Northwest’s innovative in-house brands—Juice Boards, Head Honcho, Command Trucks, and Planet Wheels—and even an Olympic license under its belt, the company was thriving.

After a while, I branched out and opened my first retail shop, SKATEBOARD CENTRAL, at 338 Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver. From there, I launched CalStreets, which has now been serving the skate community for over 45 years.

Looking back, my experience at Northwest—shipping skateboards across Canada by day and building ACS Trucks by night—was the perfect foundation for everything I would accomplish later. Rick Tetz – CalStreets Founder. 

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