Brian Mank was a Toldeo, Ohio local back in the day. He now lives in Newport Beach, California and runs Mank Skateboard University, which offers demos and lessons at birthday parties, skate-shops, schools, churches, etc. plus custom-built quarterpipes, launch-ramps, boxes, rails, etc. for sale. Phone: (949) 548-3665. This interview was conducted in-person at Mark Waters' house in Orange, California in early April, 2002.
When Apple was open, where were you living?
I was living in Toledo, Ohio. The skatepark in Toledo was closing down, so we started going to Apple and also up to Michigan to skate Endless Summer. Apple was one of the best parks ever, cuz everything in it was good—there wasn't anything bad about it. I had a good friend, Jay Brentlinger, who used to travel from Toledo every weekend—hitch-hiking, on his motorcycle—any way he could get there. I went down there and saw Steve Caballero and Mike McGill one time—learned a lot from them that day, watched 'em and studied.
What were they doing?
They were just ripping the whole place—especially the pools, because they had the pools out here [in California]. They also spent a lot of time in the halfpipe that had a two-thirds pipe—it was also capsuled at the end and had a channel. They were just doing doubles and riding super-fast up the two-thirds pipe and flying over the channel at the end, working their way back. Cab was doing Caballaerials in the two-thirds pipe, just getting over-vert and weightless so he could get all the way around—getting 'em wired. I saw him doing Andrechts—got my Andrechts better—and just studied those guys. They ended-up being my friends, so it was cool.
Did they ever use that bowl at the end of the halfpipe?
Not many people did, people would carve around it to work their way back in, or just do that channel-jump. Back then, I don't remember anybody doing anything on the top back there. I used to make it down to Apple whenever I could. I'd make money any way I could—saving my lunch money. I used to go to the Toledo stadium—the baseball team—get foul balls and home-run balls and sell 'em. Of course, I'd mow yards, rake leaves—anything I could just to save money to get down to Apple.
How would you get down there?
Actually, I had a non-skating best friend during high-school and he was just into watching. He never got into actually skating, he would cruise around a little bit. I would say, "Man, I gotta get down there!" and he would just drive me down—it was only an hour-and-a-half. It was pretty close, so I got down there whenever I could—maybe once a month, at the most. I loved the L-bowl, it was just incredible—everyone loved the L-bowl.
Do you remember how deep that was?
It was a little deeper, like...was it two levels? It might have went to, like, five to six or five to seven, but then even the little reservoir they had—the rectangular reservoir—off to the side was good.
Was the L grindable?
Yeah, it was—definitely had a grindable edge, and the pools...the keyhole was small, it was only, like, six or seven feet deep. The egg was huge. What was that thing, like, eight feet with three feet of vert—something like that? The pools were pretty big, a lot of vert. I really liked the kidney. The kidney was big, too, but it wasn't as big as the egg—so that's why I kind of hung in the kidney most of the time. The egg was kind of scary. One thing I regret is I never rolled-in frontside into the deep-end of the egg—I could do it backside, but for some reason, frontside...I would do it today. That's what the whole thing is, I mean, I can roll in and out of anything now, either way. Every time I tried it, I just jumped off and hurt my legs (laughs)—even when I was young and healthy.
Do you remember anything else going down?
What was that guy's name? Kenny Mollica—that guy was just a powerhouse. He ripped it. Of course, Dave Bush—those guys just killed it. I'd go down there and just get stoked on everybody—the locals that were ripping it. I'd get better every time I went there.
Do you remember any funny stories?
No. Actually, I was kind of young, so I wasn't into getting crazy yet. I was in high-school and so into skating. I don't think I ever stayed the night down there. I always just drove down, skated, then came home because I was under eighteen. My old man wouldn't let me get around too much (laughs). You ever hear the rumors that Apple is still underneath that stuff?
Yeah, it is. I don't know what they filled it in with, but it's just filled-in. They just concreted over it—you can still see the outlines of all the runs.
Really? You could see the two-thirds pipe sticking up, that was a long time ago—they probably broke 'em down or something. One of the first times I looked in there [after it closed] was while I was going down to hang-out at Surf Ohio or something. We stopped by there and looked in—it was all just flat concrete and the two-thirds pipe sticking out.
It turned into a UPS warehouse. Bryan Ridgeway went in there a year after it closed. He saw all the UPS trucks and the outlines of the pools.
If that's still there at all...
If they filled it with chunks of concrete, it might have cracked-up the surfaces, but if they just put dirt in it...
You never know, huh?
Do you recall anything else from Apple?
Duke Rennie—the rollerskater—was there one time when I was there and that just blew my mind. Who was there with him? Someone else was there with him. I forgot who, but someone else was there.
Did you ever see Rob Roskopp or Marty Jimenez there?
No. I mean, I didn't know them at the time—I don't know if they were there when I was there, but maybe.