PAT LANGLITZ
WRITER / PHOTOGRAPHERABOUT:
My name is Patrick Langlitz. I’m a writer from New Jersey currently living and working in New York City. I like to share and hear good stories. Like other writers, I subscribe to the importance of place, and hold a firm, self-deluding belief that where I’m from is special. I grew up in a suburb outside Philadelphia, where skateboarding was colored by the radiant influence of Love Park and Muni, both just a short drive away. I recall my world being peopled with Kerry Getz worshippers, perhaps because of their love for actual hockey tempers.
I didn’t know Bam Margera had that accent until I went away to college in the South. As a first-grader, I bore witness to Tony Hawk land the first-ever 900 at the Philly X-Games in 2002, until years later when I found out that that never happened and he actually landed the 900 three years earlier, in San Francisco. Who told me that? We had a shop called Bad Boy Club where the owner gave my mom a copy of Mind Field when she cluelessly asked him what her kid would want for Christmas. I saw that former owner in a bar a few years ago and tried to tell him that this gift meant something, to which his drunkard buddy responded, “gay”. But I guess that’s South Jersey for ya.
My neighborhood pals and I learned to skate using cracked X-Factor ramps on more-cracked driveways, and by flipping old decks on side-yard trampolines. Maybe that’s why nobody went pro? My small-world aperture has expanded quite a bit since those days, but I find it important to carry it close to the chest. I’m from a generation who filmed wannabe Jackass videos on Handycams as the MiniDV tapes captured (among other things) a budding love for telling stories. I’m interested in stories about skating, travel, music and art (surfing too, but I can’t surf for shit - sorry Monster Children). I’m interested in other stuff as well, like why that bleachy smell in the bar makes you thirsty, if this still counts as a Bio, and how come I’m pacing around my apartment. Most of all I’m interested in people. What they do, and why they do it. For better or worse, I write about this. I hope you enjoy my work and I hope it helps you enjoy your own.
