JAY ADAMS AND CONTRAST MEET AT MIDNIGHT

Text: Daniel Ikaika Ito
Image: Lancifer Visual


It’s the middle of the night at the North Shore Banzai Skate Park and action sports living legend Jay Adams is visibly uneasy. Hungry mosquitoes are dive-bombing the 48-year-old’s tattooed skin. Two of the insects become Kamikaze pilots with each swat to his arm, but they still try to make a buffet out of the skater/surfer’s exposed body. However, it’s not just the swarm of Kamikaze insects that’s making Adams feel agitated and exposed.

Most likely, the thing that’s bothering the original Dog Town Z-Boy is the brutal memories of addiction and solitude that occurred in this nocturnal hour. Contrast brought Adams out here for full moon portrait shots to capture the effect of an empty childhood playground. Since the North Shore of O‘ahu — especially the skate park and the beaches — is usually crowded from sunrise to sunset, we chose to shoot Jay by himself at the Banzai Skate Park with the full moon as one of our main light sources.

The photo concept, though well thought out and organized, seems to be backfiring because we didn’t take into account the “ghosts” of the past that maybe lurking the photo shoot. You can almost hear the apparitions of Jay’s history spitting rhymes in the moonlight:

Punk rockers, pill poppers,
Show stoppers, crooked coppers.
The substance abuse, marketing misuse
And please wear the signature shoes.
From the highlife to the nightlife
Comes pain and strife with no wife.
People suiting up for shooting up then looting up. 
Chemical fumes, emergency rooms.
Unmarked tombs. Addiction consumes.

Some might dismiss Jay’s discomfort for fear of being a native Californian alone in the dark on North Shore’s heavily localized coastline. On the contrary, he is extremely comfortable in The Country. Adams has called the North Shore home since 1989 and has been coming out here since he was a 12-year-old super grom who skated and surfed equally adeptly.

He first visited The Country with his step-dad who was born and raised in Hawai‘i. Later, Jay would move to the North Shore for a couple of years during the mid-seventies, attending Waialua High, cruising with Kalani and Marvin Foster and witnessing the Bustin’ Down The Door Era. The Fosters took Adams out to V-land and Backdoor — two of his favorite waves in the world to this day — where he saw Larry Bertlemann, Dane Kealoha and Buttons Kaluhiokalani change the face of high performance surfing. This experience eventually led Jay and the other Z-Boys to change the face of high performance skateboarding in the years to follow.

“It was cool being a kid during that time on the North Shore. It was crowded back then, too. To me it still feels the same,” reminisces Jay. “If anything, it’s a lot less violent now because back in those days you couldn’t really go surf V-Land if you didn’t know someone or if you were some haole guy from Maryland. Hawai‘i was a way more dangerous place for people who got out of line back then.”

While the lineups were a lot gnarlier back then, the North Shore can still be a sketchy place, especially at night with an abundance of homeless people. Some areas are filled with addicts. All of us keep a close eye on our gear because camera equipment fetches a good price at pawnshops for thieves to get drug money. Adams is well aware of this and encourages the local youth to get help if they’re grappling with addiction.

“Whatever kids are struggling with drugs. I hope they can turn their lives around. They don’t have to go to jail or end up killing themselves,” says Jay. “They shouldn’t be afraid to seek out some help from friends or some people who have been through it that can offer them some advice.”

We hear a twenty-something girl and a guy who looks twice her age partying in the corner of the skate park. She is chain-smoking and guzzling a Mickey’s 40 oz. like it’s New Year’s Eve. The young woman is trying to be helpful by throwing mosquito punks our way and speeding off to get a mirror to use for the shoot.

We don’t really need the glass prop, yet we’re all grateful that she’s on our side. She has the best of intentions and moves with high-energy, despite looking like she hasn’t slept in a while. Adams eventually goes to talk to her while we setup our flashes and test shots. After their conversation you can tell he’s bummed. Not because Adams misses the days of drugs and alcohol, but more because he realizes the pain and suffering ahead of this young woman’s life if she continues to live this way.

“You’re not living up to your full potential if you’re using drugs. You’re just taking away from what you could be doing and you’re not living life to the fullest,” continues Jay. “I don’t care if it’s weed, alcohol or whatever you’re just cheating yourself. I don’t care who you are it’s going to effect you eventually.”

Despite meeting me for the first time, Jay is very candid about his former addiction to heroin. Maybe because he’s found his sobriety and peace with Ke Akua (God) and realizes if he hides his past, it won’t benefit his or others’ futures. His survival tales are a testament to the ugly side of action sports and an example for crossover groms, like Kalani David and The Florences, not to follow in Jay’s footsteps.

“I want to change the way I acted in the past and be a more positive role model for kids,” says Jay passionately. “I want them to learn from my mistakes and hopefully help kids not to follow the same path that I had to go down.”

Adams’ path down the dark road of drug abuse is well mapped out by the silver screen in Lords Of Dogtown, Dogtown and Z-Boys, and most recently, D.O.P.E. The acronym stands for “Death Or Prison Eventually” and chronicles the rise, fall, abuse and rehabilitation of legendary skaters Bruce Logan, Dennis Martinez, Christian Hosoi and Jay. There are heavy Christian themes in D.O.P.E. and despite being extremely thankful to Ke Akua for his sobriety and peace, Jay realizes that the documentary’s message can’t be shown in public schools because of its religious subplot.

“They’re trying to make a 20-minute version of D.O.P.E. without the stuff about Christianity so they can show it in public schools,” states Jay. “The D.O.P.E. movie has a good anti-drug message and offers a good solution or another way for you to stay off of drugs. You know? To help kids out.”

Adams now spends his days of sobriety surfing Backdoor and skating Cholo’s Bowl– his two favorite spots on the North Shore. His quality of life is steadily improving with every new, sober day and Adams is reveling in the joy of, “Surfing when the waves are good and skating when the waves are bad.”

The North Shore has the power to kill you with giant surf, gnarly locals and a steady stream of illegal substances. The Country also has just as much power to sustain you with a healthy beach lifestyle, local food and youthful exuberance to ride something all the time.

“The beach just keeps you young. If you’re going to the beach you need to be pretty healthy. There were some years when I wasn’t at my healthiest and those were just mistakes I made in the past,” says Adams. “I just plan to not make those mistakes again and surf, skate and enjoy life here in Hawai‘i.”