DEFGRIP

DAVE ORTIZ.
Interview by Nuno

RELATED LINKS:
www.davesqualitymeat.com
www.nikeair.com (check out the air max 90 section)

Dave Ortiz. Formerly of ZOO YORK and currently of Dave’s Quality Meats, a butcher shop themed store. With a shop name like Dave’s Quality Meats, the last thing you would expect to find is clothing, footwear and skate products, but that is exactly what you will find. Dave was kind enough to talk BMX with us and much more.

Read on.

Dave, how's things?

Shit with me are cool. I’ve been working like a dog trying to get everything done before the years end. Speaking of dogs, my new pup is getting fixed. She’s going to be bummed.

How is New York treating you?

New York is good, it’s starting to get nice and cold. Good thing I got my supply of Fox racing polar paws. Those are the best when you have those Wind Chill Factor days. When you hear the weather man say the words “wind chill factor”, you know it’s going to be cold that day.

Let's go back for a little history. Brief us on ZOO YORK, how did you start there and what was your position?

Well Zoo Started out pretty funny. My Friend use to live with Rodney, the owner of Zoo. Well Zoo’s warehouse was a loft type of spot, it was kinda ghetto in the early days, anyway I would go see my homeboy and Rod, and he would hook me up with shirts and decks if I wanted one. We would always talk about BMX cuz Rodney rides bikes, believe it or not he does. They asked me if I’d be the warehouse Mgr and do shipping. I agreed like any smart person would. Why not work for a skate board company, how hard could it be? From there I worked my way up doing Sales, Office Mgr, Team Mgr, Marketing Dir, all sorts of stuff. What ever needed to be done, I help get it finished. I became Mr. Every ting…

At what point did BMX come into the picture there and did you have a direct influence on getting that started?

Well it was 95 or 96, I can’t remember, but I was talking to Rod and was like, we need to spark it up a bit. Skating is dope, but why do we have to stop there? He then asked “what do ya got”? I told him this city is diverse, why can’t this company be the same, everybody does everything I said look at you. You’ve Skated for years, and now you mountain bike, you down hill race and you dirt jump, why can’t we do that as a company. The next day I ran into Rob-o and the guys from Standard bikes. I took them to the Zoo office, we talked for a few hours and it ran from there. We put Rob-o as our first rider; we took out an ad in Big Brother Magazine with him and started up the engines. It all fell into place; it was dope and still is. We hand picked the guys that suited us as a company, and boom look at it now, it’s pretty cool even though we aren’t there, but it’s something that came from my brain to you guys. Zoo York BMX squad.

For a skate company venturing into BMX, was it difficult getting the right team together, or did you guys have certain riders already in mind?

We knew what we wanted from the start and Robo was a big part in getting the guys we needed.

At what point did you decide to leave ZOO and open Dave's Quality Meats?

After Zoo sold to Ecko brand, I knew my days were numbered. I felt it was time to build something for me and not for anyone else. I did that and it worked, so why not put that effort towards me.

You obviously don’t sell any meat, was that name scary to commit to?

The name and where it comes from. Ok, even before I started working at Zoo, which was located in the meat packing Dist., I use to hang out at the clubs in that area, so one day walking around with my homeboy joking about nothing I said, what if my Tag was “M3AT” how funny would that be? He was like that’s kinda dumb, but it is funny. He said I need something to go with it cuz the word by itself was corny, so I drew this chicken (leg/wing thing) that look like something out of the Flintstones and there it was, I drew that thing and the word “M3AT” all over the meat packing Dist. That’s how I came up with the tag. Now back to the store name. Downstairs from the Zoo Office there was this place called Dave’s Quality VEAL, I walked past that every day for 10 years and every now and again I would tag the word “M3AT” over the word VEAL. The guy who owned the veal place would get pissed and I’d laugh telling people I had a store, then one day I said that isn’t a bad idea no one has done that yet. So I planned it out, wrote out all my idea and shaved it down till it came to focus a butcher shop that sold clothing skateboards and sneakers. I knew Meat would never go out of style, so why not have a spot that was sort of the same.

Do you still have people calling up thinking your an actual butcher? If so, any funny stories?

Yeah, I get it all the time cuz I’m listed as a butcher shop in the yellow pages and I won’t change it cuz its mad funny when you get an old lady asking for lamb chops or beef what ever and they get mad at you. That’s the best. Little jokes like that make my day…

The AM90 you did with Nike was an excellent project; did you enjoy the process of getting that done?

Working with Nike wasn’t anything like you’d might expect. They sent me the line art and that was it. I sent back what I wanted and they agreed, boom it was done.

When you work with a company like Nike on something like that, do you have free reign, or are there some restrictions?

There were no real restrictions. I did my thing, gave it to them and they made it. It was real smooth.

If you couldn't do an AM90, what would have been your second model choice?

If we couldn’t do the AM 90, I don’t know what shoe I would have done. Not a dunk, that for sure. I didn’t want that to be the first shoe. That shoe is too easy, people would have liked it only cuz it was a dunk and lease with this shoe (am90) we made something comfortable and fresh and the same time. The reason we picked that shoe was because of my partners Chris and John Keefe, that is there favorite shoe and I asked them first what shoe we should do.

Do you have any projects your working on that you are at liberty to speak about, or willing to spill the beans on?

I’m doing something very big with one of the Major companies that will be out March 1st , it’s so hot you guys are gonna freak out. It beats the AM 90. Then I have something with VANS to come out in April or May.

I saw Ralph Sinisi from Animal creeping around Vegas with a DQM shirt on, do riders often swing by the shop to chill? If so, who?

Yeah we get our share of guys, but it’s everyone not just BMX. I’ve had Ron Wilkerson, Spike Jonez, Kevin Martin, Brian Foster, all the guys in that Red Bull DVD, Edwin De La Rosa, Vinny, Worms, Eddie Rios, Tyrone, LB, MYIA, Pookie, not to mention all of the pro Skaters that we hang out with.

Speaking of Animal, did you check out the Animal jam at the Brooklyn banks?

I missed the Animal Jam at the banks, I had to work. Too bad for me.

There's no doubt that the "BANKS" have a rich history in both skate and BMX, do you have any memories from the banks that stick out for you?

The Banks got history. One of my favorite contests was a “MEET THE STREET”. Joe Johnson did a fakie on the light post at the small side of the banks, Dave Volker no hander over the box and Dennis McCoy’s run was off the hook too.

Can you ramble off a few riders your into?

Riders that I like are anyone who still rides, and all of ya new school niggas. It’s so dope to see this sport grow from the grown up, I mean, I started riding BMX in 84, I got my fist Ross MX and at the time it was banging, and I seen this sport go from goofy to fly and I love every minute of it.

Why are 24" BMX cruisers so popular in the city?

I guess when you get older you want to ride a Cruisers cuz it’s comfortable and still feels and can perform like a BMX bike, that’s why.

Do you have any good stories of any skaters trying to jump something (or whatever) on a bike only to fail miserably?? I've seen it happen with mountain bikers.

I do have a good story, this summer I've seen Mark Gonz, he's been riding BMX, well 24 inch cruiser but anyways, he's come close to something I never seen any real BMX rider try. He's done a KICK FLIP, not the peddle spinning backwards thing, no he spins the bike as if it was a skate board and came real close. We have it on Video. Also I’ve seen him do an ILL wall ride on a girls 10 speed with a basket on the front, I also seen him try and Bunny Hop a store front sign with that bike and go over the handle bars. I give him mad props cuz he's a true skater, but he can do anything he puts his mind to that's for sure.

I was caught off guard when I saw you in that RED BULL/MEAN STREETS video, how did that come about?
I know the cats at Red Bull and they know my friend who owns the bars where we did the show, and since it was in the city they wanted an old school Bmxer to host the gig. They asked me and I said yeah, no problem. I even did the limited edition tee for that.

What bar was that filmed in?
That was my friends bar. It’s called Epstein’s and it’s my hangout. I’m there everyday, even when I’m not drinking I just hang out there like Norm from Cheers.

Besides DQM, skating and BMX, do you have anything else you are into??
Yeah I do other stuff. I’m a painter and I love movies and how they are made, and photography..

QUICK INFO:
3 magazines you like.
1) lowdown magazine 2) skateboard mag 3) penthouse

3 websites you visit often.
1) DQM site - www.davesqualitymeat.com 2) My space 3) UXAlab.com

3 favorite skaters.
1) Jeff Pang 2) Zered Basset 3) Todd Jordan

3 musical artists your into.
1) Red Hot Chili Peppers 2) Bad Brains 3) Foo Fighters

3 stupidest questions you've heard recently at the shop.
1) Hey does this come in my size? 2) I know you don’t have them in yet, but if you did would you hold it for me? 3) What makes this sneaker cost so much?

Thanks for your time Dave.