A Face In The Crowd
If you’re looking to buy a pair of $2,000 custom-made in-line skates, you could do one of two things: reexamine the priorities in your life or head to the Asphalt Beach skate shop. In the shadow of the arena on Seventh Avenue, the shop sells nearly 40 different models of recreational skates ranging from a solid, no-thrills $99 pair to a sleek and competitive get-up priced north of your first car. Founder Steve Larios, whose bleached-blond hair and baggy shorts help him blend in with his predominantly teen clientele, opened the skate shop in January after more than a decade of working as a certified instructor. (Apparently, you can be certified in just about anything.) A native of Kingston, N.Y., Larios graduated from Vanderbilt in 1972 with a major in philosophy. After college, he lived the life of a traveling musician, playing steel guitar and harmonica for such ’70s country acts as Tom T. Hall and Donna Fargo and even served as the musical director for Lost Highway, the acclaimed Hank Williams musical. In the late ’80s, Larios bought a pair of in-line skates, buying into a new career in the process. “There were only a few people doing in-line skating at the time,” he says. “But my daughter was young, and this just became something we could do together.” Larios says that while the in-line skating business has leveled off in many cities, there’s still a growing market in Nashville. In fact, his shop is Tennessee’s only “core skating shop”—meaning, the only one whose primary product is in-line skates. “As the city is finishing up more and more greenways, people want to take advantage of it, and skating is a lot more fun than running,” he says. Larios’ shop is also a hangout of sorts, featuring a skating lounge for teen customers that includes a television, skating videos, juice and cookies. He also offers in-line skating classes for the uninitiated. You can drop by his Web site at www.asphaltbeach.com.
—By Matt Pulle
