INTERVIEW: Jordan Hoffart

Interview by:AdamSullivan

Sometimes, the best interviews are the ones that happen spontaneously. That’s what happened with this one. Jordan and I were out skating, and after he beat me in four consecutive games of SKATE, we got into some heady topics. After a while, I remembered that I have a voice-memo recorder on my iPhone. So I hit record, and we did the interview as we drove. Incidentally, the iPhone lets you record an hour’s worth of conversation, but for some reason it won’t let you open, export, or otherwise listen to anything longer than 5 or 10 minutes. My wife, who is much smarter than I am, eventually figured out a way to listen to it in preview mode. 

And I should tell you—this is a lot longer than an ordinary interview. Turns out Jordan’s got a lot to say, and doesn’t mind saying it. He’s a good guy with a good head on his shoulders, which is more than you can say for most people his age. The fact that he’s amazing on a skateboard is just gravy. And so here it is—Jordan Hoffart, talking about pretty much everything—except skateboarding. —Adam Sullivan 




Okay, we’re recording…I think. Wait, what were we talking about? Why did we want to turn this on?
Ummm… Interview?

Oh well, we’ll come back to it. Oh, Avatar!
Yeah, Avatar! 

Did you go see it opening night?
No, I saw it on a whim, actually. I thought it was gonna be a kids’ movie. When I walked out of that theater I thought it was amazing. I was blown away. I thought it was casted well, directed well, and there were layers….I mean, the guy didn’t have to be a quadriplegic, you know?

Well, it’s that classic story model, but it’s the details that make it new.
And it goes back to that saying: “It’s in the valleys where you grow the most.” ‘Cause in today’s world, let’s face it—you don’t suffer major consequences for your actions. And that’s where you start making stupid choices. But like you were saying, it’s that Pocahontas story, or in history, when the white people came into North America, and there was this prosperous native culture that lived—

—and they were doin’ just fine.
Yeah, it was a sustainable lifestyle, and they were so in tune with Mother Earth, and they respected the land they lived on, and we came in and …

…put up a shopping mall. 
Yeah, tore up all the resources.

In the movie, they were going for some sort of mineral, right?
Yeah I think it was a metal. They wanted to mine it, underneath that tree, it was the most precious metal, and they’d do anything to get it. But it made me think. I like that saying: “Hate can’t drive out hate. Only love can drive out hate.

That’s the core moral for a lot of those movies, it seems—hate begets hate.
Yeah, and it’s really hard to swallow your pride and your ego when someone betrays you. And does something that evil. You have so much anger back, but doing something’s only going to make the problem escalate. I don’t know… It hit me pretty hard, made me reassess some decisions…

Really?
Yeah, I’m pretty open to that sort of thing. When I’m in a mood going into a movie, I’ll take it deeper. My mind will take it and make it way deeper than maybe it needs to be. My family—we’re super deep and look into everything. That’s just how I was raised.

What do your parents do?
My mom volunteers and works at the church, basically. She’s a director for this program called Out Of The Cold, it’s like a shelter for the homeless. 

In Vancouver?
Yeah, at her church, and she also does other, secretary kind of stuff for the church. And then my dad’s an architect. But they’re divorced now. In fact, my dad remarried one year ago last week.

You said Romeo And Juliet is another movie you like. The Leo Dicaprio one.
Yeah, the Leo one. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it.

I don’t think I ever even saw that version. 
Yeah, I can’t even really recall it now. It’s not as fresh in my mind as Avatar is. 

Did you like Avatar enough to get a tattoo?
(Laughs) Yeah, that would be crazy. That big tree? 

Or the blue cat flying on the bird. Oh, that reminds me—I saw a kid at the park just now, he had a dollar sign tattoo on his finger, right where you have your diamond. 
[Earlier, before we turned on the recorder, we were talking about tattoos. Jordan had a diamond recently tattooed on his finger—Ed.]
Aw…

Yeah, but just think—a diamond is like a step up from a dollar sign. It’s more valuable.
That’s true. Diamonds are forever. 

You like James Bond?
Yeah, I can get down with James. I don’t know, though. His character’s so shallow. 

Have you seen the new ones? They’re trying to make him less of a womanizer, and more of an antihero. He’s flawed, and tragic, and sympathetic now. 
Yeah, I like that better. As long as he’s trying to make progressions with his life and his choices. My biggest pet peeve is when people make bad choices, but they don’t learn from them. And they continue… it’s almost like they use it as an excuse. “Oh, I make bad choices, I’m no good.” You know? Get your head out of your ass and start making some right ones. You know what I mean?

Yeah, every bad choice you realize is a lesson to learn. 
Yeah, for sure. 

Speaking of bad choices, did I just miss the exit? 
It’s the last one before the 5. 

Okay, I took the wrong one. 
No, you can take this one. 

Maybe we’ll find a spot to skate. Okay, what else do we need to talk about? Avatar, tattoo regret….
Oh God, okay you want that one? So I met my sister and her boyfriend out in Las Vegas

They came down from Canada?
Yeah. I went out with my girlfriend, and my best friend Jared and this other lady and we all cruised out and got hammered. You know, I never get to see my sister, we’re in Vegas, I don’t think that’s too much bad behavior.

I think it’s pretty much par for the course. Try doing Vegas sober. 
So we all got diamonds. But I just remember waking up in the morning with my girlfriend. We looked at our fingers and were bummed. 

Hey that’s the 2-flat-2 Adrian Lopez used to skate. 
Really?

Yeah, he back tail shoved it in Thrill Of It All.
Oh, yeah. 

(we creep by to look at the rail. It’s capped)

Okay, so you wake up in Vegas and you and your girl have finger tats.
Yeah

Where is it?
It’s on the ring finger of my right hand. Does that mean I’m gay?

You both got diamonds on your ring finger. I think you might be married now. 
She actually sold the crew out. All of us got diamonds, she turned hers into a black heart. Sellout. I’m just kidding. But we were bummed. I mean not only is it a diamond, but it’s on our fingers.

You can always cover it up with a ring, though.
Yeah, a big-ass ring (laughs). So yeah, that was Vegas. Hey, can I touch on Vegas for a second?

Sure. Touch away.
So, basically I can think of four things you do in Vegas: Gamble, drink, drugs, and sex.

...which is also a gamble. 
Very much so. It just doesn’t seem… you add those things up, and—I don’t know, I guess it seems like a good time, but…

It’s a good time for certain people who are at that place in their lives. Most people grow out of it after a while.
Yeah, I mean it’s nicknamed “Sin City.” Maybe it’s different when you have kids. I don’t even have kids, but when you think “sin” you think “bad.”

Well, like you said, there’s not as much repercussion anymore. 
I don’t know. I find constantly, as I get older, I like talking. For one, I notice I’m becoming a sensitive guy. Two, I like talking to people older than me, who have had all kinds of different experiences. I like to hear what they have to say.

How old are you?
I’m 24.

Oh, God. What else should we talk about?
Whatever you want.

It would be funny if we did the whole interview and didn’t talk about skating. 
Yeah.

You were saying earlier that you have a plan for after skateboarding?
Yeah

You’re taking some classes now, right?
Yeah, some automotive classes. Okay, here’s one of my bad choices. Well, maybe it’s a good choice. It’s definitely not good for the planet, or my bank account. I purchased a ’71 Nova SS. And I got it for a real good deal, and I’m getting it restored right now. The gas mileage, for one, is terrible. And I think I always wanted to experience like a muscle car like that.

Oh, so you’re an eco-terrorist. 
Yeah I totally am. (laughs) And now that decision is bugging me, because I’m really not an eco-terrorist, and I want to do something, and that’s where Avatar kicks my ass.

So the reason I wanted to take those automotive classes is so I’d know more about my vehicle. But now I’m thinking, I’m getting some work done to it, and I got it for a real good deal, I was thinking of shipping it up to Canada and trying to sell it up there. Because a California rust-free car is unheard of up there.

Would you drive it up?
I’d probably ship it, rather than add 3000 miles. It would be a fun trip, though. And so I was thinking about buying a Prius. And I was thinking about school, which is another reason I should be money-conscious.

School does get expensive. 
Yeah, and I was thinking of something along the lines of becoming a counselor, or therapist. Just a position to be able to help people. It’s tough, though. You think you have an idea of what that profession will be like, but then it could be so draining and depressing.

Well if you think about it, you’re constantly talking to people all day that are troubled, but the good part is that they’re there to be helped, and you’ll have the tools to help them. But yeah, I can see how that would be draining. I don’t think I could handle it.
Yeah, and I’m trying to be honest with myself right now, like is that something I could handle on a day-to-day basis. I mean, a therapist would have to have his own therapist to deal with it…

So you’ve got a plan, some good decisions. 

Yeah, the immediate plan is to try to buy a house, down here in California.

Well, now is the time to do it. Do you skate everyday?
I’ll at least go outside and go to a spot and mess around. But I live with a filmer so we film all the time.

So you’re saving for a house. Have you been putting your checks away?
Yeah, well, I own a home in Canada, I bought it almost six years ago. I rent it out to this couple right now. And it’s doubled in value since then.

That’s good. For a 24-year-old, you’ve got some good decisions under your belt so far. 
I like to think I’m doing all right. If anything, I think my downfall is learning to just be content.

How do you mean?
I always feel it’s never good enough.

Well, there’s a good and a bad side to that. It’s ambition, really. You can always try to do your trick better, or you can always try to get more out of something, and if you lose that, you kind of stagnate and you’re not progressing. That’s just boring, and you’d start to hate it. 
That’s true.

It’s like anything else. There’s an extreme at either end. It’s a matter of balance.
Lately there’s been a lot of transitions for me. I got my working visa, I moved to California.

How long ago did you move here?
I’ve been here since March. I did a lot of trips, so I was always down here. But now it’s my home base. And it’s weird, this is the first year where I haven’t seen my parents—I think I’ve seen them twice this year. It’s for real now, I feel actually on my own. And the phone’s cool, but I’m really tight with my family, so it’s just not the same, you know? That’s definitely a transition that was hard to deal with .

So where do you want to go to school, when all is said and done? 
It’s up in the air.

Well, don’t buy a house down here just to flip it, that kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore. 
Yeah, I know. For at least the next 5 years I’ll be here. I just know that in skateboarding, all it takes is one gnarly slam and you’re done.

Well if you’re banking your checks, you’re doing better than a lot of people. 
I’ve never been the guy who wanted the nice car. Wait—I should take that back, in high school I was the dumb kid who wanted the pimp whip, which back then was just a crappy car with rims on it, because that’s what everyone did back then. But I got that out of my system early. I just want to drive something that I don’t give a crap about.

I read an article a while back, about personal finance. It was like “Ten theories for success.” And one of them was pretty much: “if you care what kind of car you have, you’re losing.” 
Yeah, maybe I’ll keep the Nova. I wanted to use it for, you know, catalog stuff, just cool stuff like that.

Put it in an ad, you can claim it as a tax write-off. 
That’s what I’m saying.

Grind it. 
Can you write off the whole car?

I think so. 
And if you get really eco-conscious, you can retrofit the engine so that it runs on vegetable oil.

The interview ended then, because my iPhone couldn’t handle any more. But don’t worry. This isn’t the last you’ll hear of Jordan Hoffart.