SwirlJam by Carver Skateboards

“ GRLSWIRL wouldn’t be where we are now without the love and support of the Carver family. It takes a very special company to want to create a bond with the people they work with - a company with soul, love and passion. And that's what Carver is, they're a company with a heart.

We wanted to do something fun with them, something that families and friends could do together, so we decided to throw a BBQ party right in Venice Beach where we all live. And with all of us always wanting to capture moments and experiences, we took the BBQ to a different level and made a mini film. The mini film is a mix of candid moments and preparation, a blending (of) thought-out scenes and spur of the moment shots by Carver filmmaker Gabriel Nakamura.

Once arriving at the Carver house, we were warmly greeted by fellow Carver riders and Neil Carver’s lovely wife, Jen Wolf. The Carver house is the exact Venice oasis that you would wish and dream to have for yourself. The type of home that would now cost you millions of dollars today, but was purchased at a time when Venice was the only affordable place to buy. They are OG Venice residents, the people that have truly seen Venice shift from the ultimate grit and artist community, to the now-gentrified Silicon Valley wanna-be. But its people like Neil and Jen, and the GRLSWIRL members that are trying to keep the true roots of Venice alive.

Once being properly introduced to everyone at the party, we found Neil sitting in his workshop grinding away and customizing some boards. We gave him a warm hug and he proudly showed us around the property. We were happily in the presence of a few Carver DriveWave ramps placed strategically around the backyard, perfectly lined up to allow us to do some runs. He guided us to the back house which was turned into a pizza making station with an amazing pizza chef to feed us all throughout the party. And let’s not forget the piñata that was hanging outside of the pizza zone… we were reminded that you are never too old for a little piñata action!

The rest of the evening was filled with laughs, skating, conversation and most of all, lots of bonding. Neil had turned a part of his shop into a movie viewing room where he had old Carver videos playing. We all sat on the floor and took in the history of the brand and laughed at young Neil on the screen. We couldn’t help but talk his ear off and ask him question after question about the history of Carver and his journey into it. His relationship with the company easily transitioned into questions about his relationship with Jen. We are all suckers for love stories, so we couldn’t help ourselves but to dive into theirs (we’re 9 girls… it’s expected). Jen had some incredible stories about the Venice art scene back in the day and pulled out a scrapbook to show us photos of her painting life-size murals on the ground back in the 90’s. Our friend Patrick, a Venice ceramicist, was taken aback by the scrapbook and recalled that he actually knew her back in the day! It was such an amazing experience to be surrounded by people that wanted to share their lives and experiences with us.

As time was drifting away faster than we wanted, we were reminded that it’s moments like these that we’ll speak about for the rest of our lives. This video is a small window into that magic, but nothing can compare to what we experienced in real life.

THANK YOU CARVER! "

Monroe Alvarez