Whatever your taste in skateboards, whether longboards, cruisers, trick boards, old-school reissue boards, or custom boards, Soul Grind Skateboard Shop in Pacific Beach has it.
Owned and operated by Pablo Smith and managed by his daughter, Jen, Soul Grind at 4645 Cass St., has an exhaustive selection of skateboards and all the conceivable parts and accessories needed for them since 1993. It is their only brick-and-mortar shop with a small online store supplementing it.
“This is our main outlet,” said Jen Smith, noting they have a couple of hundred skateboards on hand. “We sell every style of skateboard. There are at least 100 complete skateboards in here, and then we have hundreds of decks.”
Smith pointed out their merchandise selection is a good mix. “We have people who come in who just want to grab something off the rack,” she said. “And then we do quite a few custom setups, where people pick their deck and every component. That’s part of the draw of our store: You can come in and hold things in your hand before you buy them, pick each and every part. And we’ll put it all together for you.”
Added Smith, “There is a bunch of different approaches to skateboarding, and there is a different style of board for each approach, anywhere from mini cruisers to trick boards to surf skates to longboards, which are super long.”
Skateboarding was probably born sometime in the late ’40s or early ’50s, in California by surfers wanting something to do when the waves were flat. No one knows who made the first skateboard. Probably, several people came up with similar ideas around the same time.
The first skateboards started with wooden boxes, or boards, with roller skate wheels attached to the bottom. The boxes turned into planks, similar to the skateboard decks of today. Because early skateboarders were actually surfers, many skateboarded barefoot. But skaters often lacked traction, which led to foot injuries. This necessitated the need for specialized shoes specifically designed and marketed for skateboarding.
Pointing out that the sport has become “more mainstream now,” evidenced by its joining the Olympics for the first time in 2020, Smith noted there are a lot of public skate parks now, like the one at Robb Field in Ocean Beach. “Which means they’re accessible to anybody, you don’t have to pay to get in,” she noted adding, “Skate parks are more abundant than ever as well.”
Smith said a customer who grabs a skateboard off the rack can spend as little as $100 for the most basic setup. Those wishing to have custom boards can spend upwards of $200, with all the best components, to get outfitted. “The average is about $150,” she said.
Soul Grind started as a tiny 10-by-20 foot “hole-in-the-wall” store by Paul Smith after he sold skateboards at San Diego’s Spring Valley swap meet for over 20 years. His business is selling skateboards but his love is surfing. Growing up in San Diego, he was always looking for a way to make a living and still get in the water every day. Soul Grind has set him up with the right platform to do just that.
Today, Soul Grind is a PB landmark that has evolved into a 600-square-foot skateboard haven, which still provides the same friendly and genuine service it has since the start.
Soul Grind also sells a wide variety of skateboard accessories including helmets, jackets, wrist, elbow, and knee guards, as well as decks with the Soul Grind logo. The store also does skateboard repairs.
Smith noted Soul Grind is definitely a destination store. “We have people who travel here and every year they come back to the shop,” she said. “We also take care of a lot of the locals as well.”
SOUL GRIND SKATEBOARD SHOP
Where: 4645 Cass St., Suite 102
Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays.
Contact: soulgrind.com, 858-581-2468.
