DILLON MENTZER INTERVIEW

Andrew sent me this video of a kid hard-flipping the fish gap in New York.

“ who the hell is that?! “ - me

Come to find out, that kid was in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

 I guess that’s how you can say we found out about Dillon.

Dillons a real creative person. You can see it through his photography and in his skating.

 We asked him if he was interested in helping us do a couple board graphics with some of his work.

We’ve been sitting on these boards for awhile, so I'm hyped to help share some of his story and interests.

Andrew and I got on a FaceTime call to see what he’s been up to lately. - bb

BLAIR: What up? How we doing? How’s the weather?

DILLON: Dude, it's raining like a shit storm out here. It's like twister, bro. It's been off and on. It's also so humid. I just came back from WV. I went down for Father's Day. 

BLAIR: That's nice. So you back in New York? 

DILLON: Yeah, yeah, I'm back in the city. I got back last night.

BLAIR: I just got a couple of the questions. Obviously, name, age and where you're originally from?

DILLON MENTZER: I'm 24 years old. I'm from Frederick, Maryland. 

BLAIR: You got a a birthday coming up? 

DILLON: Yup, I'll be 25.

BLAIR: Where are you currently living at in New York? 

DILLON: I'm living in New York City right now. Ridgewood, Queens. Ridgewood's a quiet area. It's nice and really chill. To live out here and then also have the ability to access Brooklyn and Manhattan. It’s got decent train access.

BLAIR: How long have you been skating for? 

DILLON: I started skating in high school around 17. On the cusp of 18. I just started skating with my one friend, Alex, dude. He kind of just gave me a board one time and had told me about Ghetto spot. So I started skating there with him. I picked up skating late.

ANDREW: Wasn't your Dad cool with some Pit Crew guys?

DILLON: Yea my Dad grew up around Frederick in the late 90’s/2000’s and mentions some back in the day guys from time to time. Him and my uncle Tommy are good friends with Brent Porterfield who went on to open Embark Skate Shop. Frederick and PitCrew showcased a lot of good skaters out of the area in the 90s. DC too.

BLAIR: With all the photos that we used for the boards, what's your favorite format or camera to shoot with? 

DILLON: There's so much to learn about it, so I can never kind of stay one medium. I prefer shooting film. I think black and white photography was kind of like the first thing I was introduced to as a kid, because my mother shot a lot and film was just like a cool idea to me. But, I'll shoot with a bunch of cameras, to be honest. Recently I've been into Super 8. Ive always enjoyed how they look aesthetic wise + they’re just timeless. They add a great touch to skate videos as well. It’s always interesting to see what’s being shot off on seshes.

BLAIR: What do you do for a living?

DILLON:  I work in Manhattan. I'm a barista right now. I had originally moved up here, though, to be an electrician. I'm over in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan 

BLAIR:  Is it like a local joint? 

DILLON: Nah, they’re a huge chain of furniture galleries with select restaurants. I started there as a runner. I'd actually gotten that job through my good friend Tristan.

BLAIR: What are some of your other hobbies outside of skating besides photography?

DILLON: I like cycling. Growing up I was always doing something bike related. I rode dirt bikes and raced dirt bikes growing up. Also downhill mountain biking, that's like the ultimate thrill. It just correlates with jumping in general. I like to fish also. I’m interested in something new every week it seems lmao. Right now I’m actually mad into video games and retro stuff. I found an old CRT TV outside of my apartment recently and ditched my Xbox for the ps2.

BLAIR: Do you always keep a camera on you for the most part? 

DILLON: Oh, yeah, for sure. I’m always trying to remember it’s better to have it than to be lacking.

BLAIR: How did you guys link up and how did you hear about Apartment Skateboards? 

DILLON: From Mark Peacemaker. 

Mark had hit me up and sent me a video or an instagram post of some decks. I was like, oh damn this looks like it’s ran well. It was cool to see a locally ran company out of West Virginia happening. As well as having real support behind it. Mark then introduced me to Andrew then I think we had chatted through Instagram a couple of times. 

BLAIR: We started Apartment to really just to support the homies around here that didn't have anything. We wanted something that we can call our own.

DILLON: I think that's the cool part about it. It's really hard to do what you guys do.

BLAIR: Another thing people look forward to is the things that we try to do for the community. Events and contests. 

You eventually meet up with Andrew in New York when he moved there right?

DILLON: Yeah! I had moved out to New York in 2022 and out of the damn blue, Andrew tells me that he lives in in Brooklyn. 

ANDREW: Yeah, I remember coming up to Harlem and picking you up.

DILLON: I remember that day. You bought me a cheeseburger. I was so broke at the time. That cheeseburger meant so much to me. You're so real for that. That cheeseburger in Harlem. He introduced me to the fam too. Andrew's the nicest dude. But that's  just how West Virginia culture is.

BLAIR: Tell us about the photos on the new board graphics.

DILLON: I like this one. It’s probably my favorite. ( CITY SCAPE GRAPHIC) Just because, where I was this day. It was Valentine's Day, and it had just snowed in the city. Not be from here and see a snowstorm here, it's beautiful. Like some winter wonderland shit lol. My friend Sunny and I went to this hotel rooftop. The photo is super crispy. 

BLAIR: Do you remember which rooftop it was?

( We lost connection during the call. With fireworks going off in my neighborhood and a tree frog being loud as hell. I called Dillon back to wrap up the interview. )

BLAIR: Last thing we were talking about was the photo on that rooftop?

DILLON: It was just a random hotel that we thought was high enough to see snowcapped roofs. It was easy to get up there. We just kind of walked behind somebody on the elevator. First try. Sometimes it's easy like that. It was probably 50 stories tall or something. It was surreal feeling the wind blowing up there. The apple billboard with the baby face was odd to me at the time too. 

BLAIR: Tell us about the other board graphic. It’s more of a collage with some other photos of yours.

DILLON: It’s a small collection of some work I’m planning to have apart of a photobook release. Cityscape is included. A lot of the time I’m honestly capturing things that at the moment intrigue me to raise my camera. It’s fun being somewhere surrounded by that. 

The top left photo, was this cross on top of this church. I always try to keep Jesus and GOD firsthand. A lot of it is just an appreciation of the eye.

BLAIR: Who's that dog? Is that just like a random pit bull? 

DILLON: Oh, yeah, dude, that was one of the cleanest pit bulls I’ve ever seen in my life. It It was one of my friends. 

BLAIR: He looked like he was hyped to have you take that photo, though, you know what I mean? 

DILLON: Yeah, we definitely shared appreciation. He was posted for sure knowing that leash was protecting everyone.

BLAIR: We're excited for this drop. It was fun to collaborate and get to see a lot of your photography. 

Last question: Do you have any goals or what you want to accomplish before the end of this year? I know you're wanting to try to see if you make moves with us to Chicago, which would be sick.

DILLON: Just get outside. Make more art. Buy more cameras. See more and experience more places for sure. But all at the same time staying on track with my health and keeping my faith aligned. I’m excited for new career opportunities. Maybe get back to school. Chicago trip is going to be sick. Super stoked to be out there healthy and with the boys.

BLAIR: Have you been to Chicago?

DILLON: I havent, Chicago would be a fresh to me.

BLAIR: I haven't been there yet either, but I've always wanted to go though. That’s something we always try to do as a company. Have the ability to get everyone together and go somewhere we all haven’t been yet.

DILLON: I think Apartment is one of those examples that you don't have to just be in one place, you can really branch out.

BLAIR: You got any shout outs you want to give?

DILLON: Shoutout God. My big 3 mother father grandmother. Shoutout Ghetto Spot. Forever and Always shoutout Sunny & Oeuvre. Sunshine is a master talent. Shoutout Embark 100% Brent runs shit over there and all the shop heads too: They do a ton for the local community. Shout to Mark Peacemaker. Without him I wouldn’t have met you and Andrew. Shoutout Tri State area.

 

You can see more of Dillons work here