Soul Skating of Los Angeles

Soul Skating LA celebrates the heart and soul of the inner-city. As a Los Angeles-based skate company, its mission is to connect the energy and movement of LA's art, music and skateboarding culture to the local, national and global community. 

Soul Skating LA is all about living in and loving LA's barrios and ghettos. It offers classes and hosts events, community workshops and art exhibits to support the energy and vibrancy of LA's creativity and soul. It's target audience is those from age 5 to 96½.

It's much more than a skate shop. Armando Gonzalez, who previously worked as a social worker, attributes skate boarding to saving his life -- diverting him from the gangs and crime that have taken so many of his community. He chose to invest in the neighborhood in which he grew up by buying a home and creating a business that can help the youth of his community. He's now a mentor and role model and his business has become a kind of leadership academy for the youth of Boyle Heights.

Read this blog entry titled "Skate Owner Fuses Thrashing with Social Work" by Jesse Torres, president and chief executive officer of Pan American Bank, and listen to his interview with Armando Gonzalez and his partner Raoul, who is also an artist in Boyle Heights.