San Diego skater Marius Syvanen shows us his hometown's hidden corners
- Text by Shelley Jones
To celebrate the launch of our Skateboarding Special Volume II, in collaboration with Levi’s Skateboarding, we visited Finnish skateboarder Marius Syvanen, in his adopted hometown San Diego, and got a whistle-stop tour of all his personal favourite spots.
If Marius’ name doesn’t give away his Nordic roots, his blonde hair and piercing blue eyes are an obvious nod to the country he grew up in until the age of five. “My parents moved here for work back then and we were meant to stay one year. It’s been twenty now,” he laughs. Not that he’s complaining. San Diego, and the US skate scene, has given him a life that would have been hard to come by back in his native land.
In this video, directed and shot by Jesse Cain and Jake Magee, Marius shows us the corners of his adopted hometown that have helped him along a prolific skateboarding career and the passions and interests that keep him progressing.
You can find The Skateboarding Special at select skate stores around the world and a selection of stories and videos inspired by the issue will be published at huckmag.com over the next month.
Latest on Huck

Meet the trans-led hairdressers providing London with gender-affirming trims
Open Out — Since being founded in 2011, the Hoxton salon has become a crucial space the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Hannah Bentley caught up with co-founder Greygory Vass to hear about its growth, breaking down barbering binaries, and the recent Supreme Court ruling.
Written by: Hannah Bentley

Gazan amputees secure Para-Cycling World Championships qualification
Gaza Sunbirds — Alaa al-Dali and Mohamed Asfour earned Palestine’s first-ever top-20 finish at the Para-Cycling World Cup in Belgium over the weekend.
Written by: Isaac Muk

New documentary revisits the radical history of UK free rave culture
Free Party: A Folk History — Directed by Aaron Trinder, it features first-hand stories from key crews including DiY, Spiral Tribe, Bedlam and Circus Warp, with public streaming available from May 30.
Written by: Isaac Muk

Rahim Fortune’s dreamlike vision of the Black American South
Reflections — In the Texas native’s debut solo show, he weaves familial history and documentary photography to challenge the region’s visual tropes.
Written by: Miss Rosen

Why Katy Perry’s space flight was one giant flop for mankind
Galactic girlbossing — In a widely-panned, 11-minute trip to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere, the ‘Women’s World’ singer joined an all-female space crew in an expensive vanity advert for Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. Newsletter columnist Emma Garland explains its apocalypse indicating signs.
Written by: Emma Garland

Katie Goh: “I want people to engage with the politics of oranges”
Foreign Fruit — In her new book, the Edinburgh-based writer traces her personal history through the citrus fruit’s global spread, from a village in China to Californian groves. Angela Hui caught up with her to find out more.
Written by: Katie Goh