This interview with Jon Julio appeared in the March 1999 issue of Box Magazine. It is an interesting snapshot of his career at that point. This is several years after his profile in “VG4,” and by this point Julio was established as a top professional. He had recently left Fiction and founded England Clothing, and left his long-time sponsors Roces and Cozmo for USD and the short-lived United Urethane*. At the time he was under some scrutiny from the kids on the Sequence Magazine message board for what was perceived as selling out. Julio speaks about his frustrations with competitions at the time, and the need for more grassroots events. The seeds for IMYTA had already been planted in his head. He makes a lot of points that are as timeless as his skating. Check out the interview. — Ben Rogers
Thank you to Matt Mickey at Intuition Skate for snapping pictures of the pages that I was missing because I had ripped them out as a grommet and put them on my wall.
*Jon noted riding for United Urethane was one of the few mistakes he’d made in his career during his interview for ONE Issue #8.
And here’s Jon’s section from “One Love,” mentioned in the interview:
Wow! That whole thing came back to me as I read it, just the way I wrote it. And the pictures. We shot the first metro station in LA before it even opened. I still have the oil painting that Pat Parnell did of Jon. It’s in my library right at eye level. Jon has always been the soul of skating, ever since he came on the scene. Some things truly don’t change.
Chris Mitchell
Wow that interview takes me back!!! I remember that issue so well because it was my first box magazine I ever picked up and I remember reading that thing over and over. I also wish I still had that issue but just like ONE said I also ripped out all the pages and put them up on my wall. I may still have them around.
Amazing to see this. Jon Julio, Arlo, Cesar Mora, Tasha H, Chris Edwards, Brooke Howard Smith, Randy Spizer, they are gods. 1995 to 2000 were awesome years. I miss it. Thanks for the memories.
Very good read!
Back then the future was wide open and promising!
Little did we know, although Jon was hinting at the industry’s demise.
It’s a shame that quality content like this doesn’t get produced in the blading scene anymore. I love magazines. Sigh.
