It’s 11 a.m., and Brie “like the cheese” Ford is cautiously making her way up Talmadge Street in Los Feliz. It’s the first time the 22-year-old blond has hit the streets on her skateboard, but she’s been preparing for this moment her whole life.


“I’ve always been into the skate-punk scene. When I was in high school, I thought it would be the coolest thing in the world to be a girl skateboarder. They were always really cute, and the boys really liked them,” says the Connecticut-born Ford, who is wearing black Dickies, black low-top Converse and a black tank top. Her shoulder-length hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and she wears black eyeliner on an otherwise makeup-free face.


You have your skater gear on.


“This is how I dress. I pretty much already have the look, so I was like, ‘I might
as well learn how to skate.’”


How’s it going so far?


“I would say I’m doing pretty good for
my first day actually out on the street,”
says Ford, who has only been out for about
three minutes.


This isn’t exactly the first time the freelance makeup artist has ever skateboarded. She tried it back in high school, but she “sucked” and her friends teased her.


“I think I was too aggressive, I would skate like 10 feet and fall.”


Today, the 5-foot-5, 120-pound Ford, who takes a boxing class at the Hollywood Y and studied ballet and gymnastics when she was
a kid, looks up to the job. She’s in good shape. She’s also been practicing in her living room.


Are you scared?


“A little bit,” she admits. “’Cause I can’t go fast enough so that the cracks I hit don’t stop the board. I think if my velocity was
better, I could just go over them, but I’m too scared to go that fast. I’m just trying to build up my confidence. I just have to psych
myself up.”


Ford, who got her Enjoi 2001 with Destructo trucks and thin, Supernatural wheels from her 32-year-old boyfriend,
psychs herself up by reminding herself, “I’ll be fine. I’ve got good balance.”


Is your boyfriend a good skater?


“I’ve never actually seen him skate. We just started dating a few weeks ago. This is all pretty new and exciting,” says Ford, who is on her way over to his house right now. He lives just 10 blocks away.


Ford’s boyfriend is in a band called Silver Needle. She met him at Zen Sushi’s Tuesday night Kiss or Kill club, right here in the neighborhood. He was playing with some friends of hers in another band called Bang Sugar Bang. They play there every week.


Do you like Avril Lavigne?


“Avril? Oh, God no!!! She’s cute, I’ll give her that; she’s very, very cute.”


You like skate-punk bands?


“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘skate bands.’ I don’t know if there are really any bands that categorize themselves as skating. I just mean, skaters usually like punk music, I suppose, things in that vein. I grew up really liking Bad Religion.” Ford also likes Joan Jett, NOFX, the Vandals and the Pretenders.


Did you date the cute skater boys in high school?


“I did. They were mostly assholes. They had no idea how to have a girlfriend.”


Did you go to college?


“I went to SMC when I first moved here.”


There are a lot of cute skaters who go there, aren’t there?


“Yeah, there are, but at that point I was totally over the whole skater scene, and I wanted nothing to do with them for a while,” explains Ford, who sometimes wears vintage clothes that make her look like, in her words, “a ’50s housewife.”


So who did you date? Musicians?


“No. I normally abhor musicians. This is the first one I’ve ever dated. I like quiet, shy nerdy boys who are really good in science. I always like them. The skater thing was sort of this visceral attraction. I kind of knew that was not a good idea. I’ve pretty much always generally gone for nerdy types. My boyfriend now is a nerdy type.”


A nerdy type who skates?


“Yeah.”


What about snowboarding?


“I’ve never tried it. Skiing scares the shit out of me.”


It’s all about the skating right?


“I guess.”

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