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Original Portland skateboarding shop Cal Skate Skateboards has a new owner for the first time in 50 years. Founder Howard Weiner passed the torch of the Old Town business to its longtime manager Chris Nukala on Jan. 1, meaning the shop will stay in the hands of the Portland skating community.
“This has been my dream since I was 8 years old, the first time I came in to Cal Skate,” Nukala says. “I belonged virtually nowhere until I found the skateboarding community and the culture it created. I’m going all in.”
Nukala, 35, asked how old he needed to be to work at Cal Skate that first time he came to the store with his dad. Over the next few years, he helped out by cleaning the glass of the display cases, breaking down boxes for recycling and taking out the trash until eventually he got his first official job there at age 16. He’s been managing the business, located at 210 NW 6th Ave., for a decade.
Weiner, 74, has been a community leader in Portland for decades, involved in Portland State University’s anti-war protests in the 1970s, founding Cal Skate in 1976, and advocating to legalize skateboarding and build more public skateparks ever since. He’s been part of the effort to build a skatepark under the Steel Bridge since 1999; the latest target completion date is fall 2029, according to Portland Parks & Recreation.
As owner, Nukala hopes to put a greater emphasis on community building and outside events, such as the store’s annual Oregon Skate Swap. The third installment, held Dec. 13 at Lloyd Center, brought about 4,000 skaters together with a free, all-ages event with DJs, tattoo artists and plenty of skate decks from about 50 vendors.
Cal Skate has always been a welcoming place, in which we share all of our joy and our knowledge of skateboarding, so it’s more than just buying a product,” Weiner says. “Chris embodies that.”
