LOS ANGELES — Taking things apart and putting them back together is integral to skateboarding, and it’s a practice 16-year-old Carl Lunkewitz knows well.
On a recent afternoon, he was preparing a new board.
“I’m taking the wheels out of this old deck and putting them on that new one over there,” he said.
He has been skating since he was 9, but now rebuilding has taken on a whole new meaning.
“If I skate, I can concentrate for like five or six hours, until I learn a trick,” he said. “After the fire, my house burned down, so I was pretty sad I lost community and my skate store burned down too. I was pretty sad about that — I just went skating every day.”
Lunkewitz’s family lost their home in the Palisades Fire and the skate store Paliskates — a hub in the Pacific Palisades where he and his friends would meet up to buy boards, clothes, skate gear and practice tricks.
In December 2024, Paliskates celebrated its 25th anniversary with a party at the store on North Swarthmore Avenue. Just days later, it was reduced to rubble by the wildfire.
But Erica Simpson, owner and founder of Paliskates, said the spirit of the store is still standing.
“I mean, no matter what it’s going to be, Paliskates forever, we are not going away. Paliskates, just like certain places in the Palisades, to people it’s not just a place it’s a spirit it’s a state of mind, it’s a whole world that we can share with others,” Simpson said.
When she founded Paliskates, Simpson said she wanted to create a place where local kids felt comfortable to be themselves.
“The minute we opened up we were busy, people were so excited to have a store they thought was cool and was for the kids,” she said.
In the wake of the fires, Simpson has moved operations for Paliskates to a temporary space in downtown Los Angeles.
They’re selling shirts, hats, hoodies and more through their online store.
They received a major boost in February when the artists Avril Lavigne partnered with Paliskates for a Grammy’s commercial and this week a clothing collaboration between Lavigne and Paliskates was announced and is now available online.
Simpson has said she’s also seeking a temporary space on the westside of Los Angeles, where she could reunite some of the Paliskates community. In the meantime Paliskates regulars, such as Carl Lunkewitz, are practicing their skating and turning to it during a time of immense transition after the fires.
“Skating taught me just to never give up. Taking the long way of the short way, you’re going to get what you’re working for,” Lunkewitz said.