📝 Intro + Interview by Greg Navarro
📷 Photography by Greg Navarro

It was a windy day in Maspeth, Queens when I found Alim, 17 years old, fingerboarding at New York’s only D.I.Y. fingerboard park. “Yo, imagine I film a whole fingerboard street part, but it’s on VX1000? Ima’ change the game with that one,” he said to me. I laughed, thinking about all the tape he’d have to waste. “What you laughing at, poser?” he said to me with a grin on his face. Alim is the type of kid who says what he wants.

As we got to know each other, Alim invited me out on a few filming missions with his best friend Elisa Martini, 20 years old, a skater from Jamaica, Queens. Elisa and Alim are the youngest new members of the Bronze 56K crew. For a whole year, as Alim recovered from his ACL surgery, Elisa and him invested in a VX1000 and set out to film a video. On the morning of their video premiere, I sat down with the two friends at the Brooklyn Banks to learn more about the making of “On The Corner.”

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Why is it that every time I call Alim, he’s doing laundry?

Alim: The way I grew up, before I go film skating every day. I’m just doing laundry. Like one load of laundry here, one load of laundry there. It’s going to keep the house moving.

Elisa: Listen, we both have Balkan parents. I’m Albanian and Alim is Bosnian. You can’t leave the house without doing something. What are you leaving the house for if you’re not doing something? Sometimes I have to make sure my room is clean, pick up stuff off the floor, maybe wash the dishes or something.

Also Balkan people wash their clothes every time they wear it. That’s a really important thing. We won’t wear something two or three times and wash it. Like if they even wear denim once — wash it. Shirts once? Wash it. Sweaters once — they’ll wash it. They really go through a lot of fucking clothes.

“I’m really trying to get outside and do something. I have a lot of goals for skating and filming. I really feel hyped on it.” – Alim

Elisa Martini, Switch Blunt

How did you two first meet?

Elisa: I feel like everybody knows each other in New York, especially the youth. Alim was trying to film a new video. And I was like, if you ever want to film, I’d be down and get some clips. Since then, we’ve just been friends. Off the record, I always thought he was a little shithead.

Alim: I don’t blame her. It’s on the record.

Elisa: When you’re a young New York City kid, you’re always going to be a shithead. Then you meet someone in person and realize they are cool. Alim would come to all the KCDC [Skateshop] events and do 5050 treflip and kickflip.

Alim: It’s the party pleaser trick. This was in the eighth grade when I had a big ass pair of Stevie William DC shoes.

Elisa: I never thought Alim would be one of my best friends. It changed my view of him a lot when we’re just chilling at [Williamsburg] Monument. He was just like, “I’m really trying to get outside and do something. I have a lot of goals for skating and filming. I really feel hyped on it.” I told him just to keep at it because you never know where you’re going to end up.

Tell me about your video part in “On the Corner.” How did that come about?

Elisa: Alim said he’s filming another video, only VX1000. I’m so hyped on that shit; I haven’t filmed VX, so that’s something super new. He just had [ACL] surgery. In April, he would be cleared to bike and walk. We didn’t have school, so we were both outside almost every day filming, making spots, hanging out and getting it done. And honestly, it was such a fun summer. When you film with someone enough and you guys know each other well, there’s a really nice flow.

At 17 years old, what sparked you to make a skate video on VX1000?

Alim: When I was in bed [healing] I just kept watching Wade Desarmo’s part from Top Dollar (2004) and I was like, “Yo, this boy got the tall tee on and the big baggies, that looks nice on VX.” And I already knew the homies Jack and Whit. All they wore were I-Path and DC. I was like, “We could make something happen here.” And I just think VX looks cooler, you don’t have to do ridiculously hard stuff on VX for it to necessarily look cool. People are definitely hyped to get the VX out to get a clip.

Elisa: I think something important to mention: Alim did not go tapeless, he was using all tapes. So that makes it even harder.

Alim: When you film with a tapeless recorder, the quality goes down – there’s a visible difference.

Josh Handfus, crook on broken Pyramid Ledges

I heard you both are getting hooked up by Bronze 56K.

Elisa: That sounds so crazy to hear. It’s pretty much one of my biggest dreams. The first video I ever watched, truly, was It’s Time (2018) because my friend from Queens showed me the Bronze Instagram. He’s like, “These heads are from Queens, they’re like us. We could do this shit too.” I remember seeing this clip of Mark [Humenik] doing the longest backside feeble ever.

I didn’t know I would even get sponsored. I started skating at 15, I had no aspirations in skating. When I got that box from Bronze, I’m not gonna lie to you, that hit so close to home. That was something that made me think, “Damn, can I really do this?”

When I first met Peter [Sidlauskas] I remember him saying, “You have something. Just keep going. I see something in you.” I hope I can pave the way for more women and more people to also feel like they can make that happen for themselves.

Why do you think you got the Bronze crew’s attention?

Alim: I feel like we’re doing it a little different. We’re getting the street footage, and I have a lot of friends that aren’t getting street footage. They’re just going to the skateparks. I think street footage looks better. It does better for you in the long run. I feel like people don’t want to see skatepark footage anymore. There’s just too much of it.

Elisa Martini, crook tail grab

Is Bronze invested in the younger generation?

Alim: Oh yeah definitely. It’s kind of a genius idea by them. I feel like everyone knows Bronze is an old head brand; all the guys are older. There’s not anyone 17 or 20 like me and Elisa. I’m still in high school and classmates are asking me where do I get these graphic shirts from? They’re crazy.

Elisa: I feel like every company has a point where there’s a little bit of a gap. Everyone there is in their late 20s, early 30s. What I’ve realized is everybody’s friends. It’s really not as business as you think. They want to pick people that fit. We really care about New York City street skating and that’s Bronze’s thing too.

So are the rumors true? Is skating aging, or is there a new wave of kids getting into it?

Alim: I’m seeing little kids skate the nine stair at the Brooklyn Banks; it’s fucked. They’re five feet tall skating a nine stair — I feel like you didn’t used to see that. I need to see a little kid varial heelflip the nine.

Elisa: I’m super grateful for Alim making this video because he really shed light on a lot of the New York City youth here. This video really shows skaters they have never seen before.

Elisa Martini, 5050 and kickflip

Are there too many uncs in skating?

Alim: Maybe there’s not enough? Like you get old, you start doing the slappies, you’re doing your thing on the 10-inch Heroin boards, it happens. I filmed an old head for the video, it was lit. They get clips, I’m hyped.

What’s your obsession with the lottery?

Alim: My parents always played Powerball. We never won. But you know, I can’t say “never” before I win. So we’ll see. I’m probably going to win it.

Back to the video: there isn’t a single rolling clip in this video. Do you know how to skate and film at the same time?

Alim: Man, I got ACL surgery. I wasn’t cleared to push on a board until literally two weeks ago. And I still haven’t pushed on a board. I just thought it’d be different if I filmed a whole video on foot. You can really see how raw some of the spots are when you see a little camera shake, because you’re on foot.

Elisa: Alim will take my board to try some bullshit ass flatground trick, but God forbid you ask him to film a follow line. Suddenly he says, “My doctor didn’t clear me to skate.”

What was the reason for Elisa smashing the VX in the opener of your video?

Alim: It was [from the Bronze video] It’s Time. I saw it and I was like, “We gotta buy a beater VX and just break it.” A little bit of rage bait. I gutted the motherboard out before we actually broke it.

Elisa: I was super nervous because it was a one take thing. But it was actually really fun. It gives me the same vibe as The Flipmode Video; they’re just super young kids just filming and skating around the city.

Why did Elisa get the first part in the video?

Alim: She was the only one that wanted to stack. Everyone was trying to go to the skatepark. I was over it. Halfway through summer I have people who haven’t even started their part. “We gotta lock in bro, it don’t work like this.” That’s why she’s doing so good for herself now, because she’s getting street footage anytime.

What’s up with that dude, Jack? Why does he look like he’s straight out of 2000?

Alim: I met that boy on TikTok, I’m not even playing. I saw his edit at Tompkins. I was like, “Yo, we need to get outside, bro.” And he’s the only one I see online actually skating good with those bigass clothes. We linked and it was just story from there. Bro is so dope.

Jack Lepre,front noseslide by Joshua Cotto

“Whenever I see a crew enjoying themselves, looking like they’re just all friends, and skating together, I feel like that’s the shit that moves me.” – Elisa

What’s your favorite borough to skate?

Elisa: Queens obviously. Come on now.

Alim: Queens, for me too. I still love Brooklyn, but I think there’s more undiscovered crust in Queens than in Brooklyn. Like everything’s been done in Brooklyn. But then you got all these little shitty spots that are untouched and I really like that in Queens. There’s potential in Queens.

Elisa Martini, wallride

What are your plans after high school?

Alim: I’m pretty sure I’m going to community college. Then hopefully trade school. I still definitely want to be skating, but skating is not going to pay the bills, bro. It doesn’t work like that anymore. I’m not Jereme Rogers; he was making $60K a month back then. That’s a ridiculous number. New York doesn’t need another filmer.

What do each of you want to see more of in skate videos?

Alim: More clips over handrails fisheye. And just double angle VX.

Elisa: More people looking like they’re having fun. I know that probably sounds so corny. Whenever I see a crew enjoying themselves, looking like they’re just all friends, and skating together, I feel like that’s the shit that moves me. I’m like, “Damn, I want to do that too.”

Support Alim & Elisa, buy “On The Corner” on DVD here