{"id":1909110,"date":"2026-04-29T17:20:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T14:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1909110"},"modified":"2026-04-29T17:20:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T14:20:50","slug":"the-return-of-lurknyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1909110","title":{"rendered":"THE RETURN OF LURKNYC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>\n

photo: charles deschamps<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Many filmers have made their mark on New York City skateboarding throughout the years, but very few were as prolific in the 2010s as Lurknyc<\/a>, AKA Nick VonWerssowetz<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through New York Times<\/em>, Mean Streets<\/em>, and full-lengths like Strangers<\/em>, Nick launched careers while documenting the characters, random run-ins, and chaos that attracts people to NYC.<\/p>\n

But that was five years and two kids ago. <\/p>\n

Now, Nick is in Portland, Oregon, reestablishing roots on the opposite side of the US. And after years of haphazard updates about Lurknyc, \u201cULTRAMAN\u201d<\/a> dropped, turning a fresh page in Nick\u2019s filming career.<\/p>\n

Notoriously elusive, the video arrived with little explanation. Luckily for us, Nick answered our call. <\/p>\n

Below you\u2019ll find an honest chat about industry politics, getting older, and Nick\u2019s undying love for lurking the streets.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

You recently relocated to Portland, Oregon, right? How is it skating there compared to NYC?<\/strong>
\nYeah, I moved out here in December. I\u2019m not going to lie, Portland is so much crustier than New York, I couldn\u2019t believe it. Algae grows on the streets here [laughs].<\/p>\n

Since I moved out here, my goal has been to avoid being a hater. If somebody wants to film and is cool, I want to be down to go skate.<\/p>\n

The new video you just put out is dedicated to your kids. How did having kids change your perspective on skating or what you create? <\/strong>
\nWhat\u2019s funny is, my oldest kid thinks my job is filming skating, but I think I made $11 on YouTube in the past month. [laughs] Honestly my wife has been holding it down and I\u2019ve just been living off my savings and skating. It\u2019s fried, I\u2019ve got two kids and I\u2019m like a skate rat bum. I feel so bad, but shout out to my wife. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u200bWhy wouldn\u2019t you work for a brand and film? You\u2019re near all these shoe brands being in Portland.<\/strong>
\nGet me the deal man [laughs]. It feels like nobody wants to pay anyone now. I\u2019ve made almost no money filming skateboarding. That\u2019s the truth. I think I made like $250 from Converse one time for some clips. Sometimes I look back and I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat did I do wrong?\u201d Obviously, it wasn\u2019t for the money, and I\u2019m still not doing it for the money, but it never evolved into anything for a bigger brand. <\/p>\n

You did some shit with Transworld<\/em> too back in the day, no? <\/strong>
\nYeah, Transworld<\/em> would pay me a little for an episode of Mean Streets<\/em> or New York Times<\/em>, but I was rushing to get them episodes every month and truthfully I was making videos that I didn\u2019t actually like sometimes just to get the money. I was going to bring back Mean Streets<\/em> in Portland, and I was talking to Transworld<\/em>, but I decided to do my own thing and not feel pressured. The money wasn\u2019t worth it to me. I didn\u2019t want to pass over my brand and aesthetic at that price. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve made almost no money filming skateboarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bTo make you feel better, not many people make money off the videos themselves, but the products. You had the brand Hotel Blue, did you sell a lot of clothing?<\/strong>
\nYeah. Hotel Blue did pretty well, but I just reused that money right back into it. For a little bit I had some big orders, but then every order started getting lower and lower. I think that\u2019s how skating is, people always want what\u2019s new. I was also running the whole company by myself and definitely was not doing a great job at it. <\/p>\n

And then I made some Lurknyc shit, when I dropped those hoodies I made some money off that, and I made some other product because I thought people would want it, but I didn\u2019t really sell that much. I had boxes sitting in my crib, and I\u2019m like, \u201cDamn, I\u2019m washed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bI heard a rumor that Hotel Blue was doing well in Japan for a while.<\/strong>
\nBro, it was crazy in Japan. That\u2019s why it popped off to begin with. Thanks to Yoshio and Big Wing distro.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Before moving to Oregon, what were you up to? You\u2019ve been gone for a while. <\/strong>
\nI was living in Maine towing cars for four years because I was so burnt out. I thought I\u2019d go up there and be able to skate, but it was not it. I did get to ride dirt bikes a lot though, which was sick [laughs]. And then I was working at my friend Jasper\u2019s shop, called Mocean<\/a> for a bit. <\/p>\n

So you were towing cars full time? <\/strong>
\nWe were trying to buy a house in Maine, and they said I needed a steady income to show. I don\u2019t know if you know, but I\u2019m super into old trucks, like old Toyotas. I\u2019m addicted to that shit. So I thought I would start towing cars. It sounded easy, just driving around, so I got a job with AAA [Triple A].<\/p>\n

\u200bWe got the house, but I was depressed as fuck. I was like, \u201cWhy am I towing cars in Maine?\u201d For me, it just felt like I built this name in skating, and I\u2019m just up here towing cars, like what am I doing? That sounds egotistical, but it\u2019s true. I was just trying to support my family I guess. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt just felt like I built this name in skating, and I\u2019m just up here towing cars, like what am I doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bHow did Portland, Oregon come into the picture? <\/strong>
\nMy wife has family here, and about two years ago we were visiting and i was ready to make the move before i even left and the last day of the trip I\u2019m out getting a coffee, and while I\u2019m driving to the coffee shop I\u2019m like, \u201cYo, I wish there was just some sign that would tell me to move out here.\u201d <\/p>\n

I get to the coffee shop, light a cig, and I look up and there\u2019s this McDonald\u2019s ad that says, \u201cThis is literally a sign.\u201d I just laughed.<\/p>\n

\u200bIt was too hectic to move at the time though, My wife was pregnant with our second child, and we had a house, but then this company hit her up with a job offer in Oregon. She ended up not getting the job, and another year went by, and I was at the point where I\u2019m like, \u201cI need to get out of here.\u201d So we put the house up for sale, and my friend Forest had a place for us to move into, so we moved in. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Once you got there, how long did Ultraman<\/em> take you to film? <\/strong>
\nThree months. It was pretty much January, February, and March. And that\u2019s dealing with the rain here. I met Alex<\/a> [Lobasyuk] through instagram, which led to meeting David [his brother] and Nacho and Marcos. Ironically the first day I was skating with Sebo [Walker] was the first day I really went to film after moving and Alex hit me up and linked up. I guess their filmer had just moved away, so it was perfect timing. Then a guy in New York said I should link with this dude Remy that I didn\u2019t know and through him I met Zan. Wild enough Remy lives on my street. Soon after Aaron and Mace started coming out and it just seemed the stars were aligning with the crew, and for not knowing anyone it was pretty crazy to have all those people in a video. <\/p>\n

Alex [Lobasyuk] is pretty slept on, right?<\/strong>
\nAlex is too good. I\u2019m trying to dumb down his skating, as weird as that sounds [laughs]. He\u2019s so good so I\u2019m trying to focus on what spots he skates and find interesting shit. With Ultraman<\/em>, that\u2019s what I tried to do when we skated and I think people noticed.<\/p>\n

\u200bThat is something people overlook. You\u2019re not just pointing a camera, you\u2019re helping create the world. <\/strong>
\nSome people call me the spot nazi, and I claim it at this point [laughs]. There\u2019s a lot of shit where I\u2019m like, \u201cThat\u2019s just not going to look cool.\u201d It can be a sick spot, but it just doesn\u2019t do it for me. Obviously, a good filmer should be able to make anything look cool, but some stuff just aesthetically isn\u2019t pleasing, like a grey wall. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u200bDo you notice anything different about the 18-year-old you\u2019re filming with now versus an 18-year -old back in the day?<\/strong>
\nHonestly, I\u2019m more scared of what these kids think now than anyone else. This new generation is so different, like how do I make something that is cool to them but also cool to a guy that is 35? I don\u2019t know what is cool to these kids. Ultraman<\/em> was supposed to be three minutes long, and I was losing my mind editing. I was trying to make everyone happy, and I just kept putting off releasing the clip. That\u2019s why it became like a ten minute video. I couldn\u2019t get my shit together.<\/p>\n

\u200bHow did it feel to release something after so long? <\/strong>
\nI feel good. But I will say, after uploading the video, I think it\u2019s ok. I\u2019m my own worst enemy. I\u2019m just so out of touch with skate videos, like one of the songs I used had already been used in a Daniel Dent video, and that pisses me off that I didn\u2019t know, but it\u2019s whatever. At least it was someone sick. I like that dude. Sorry, Daniel<\/p>\n

\u200bIt sounds like you\u2019re pretty critical of your own work. <\/strong>
\nOh, for sure. I haven\u2019t watched Ultraman<\/em> since I put it online, and if I watched it now I\u2019d probably want to change it. Especially knowing about the song. I feel like when artists finish paintings, and are like, \u201cI\u2019m done,\u201d it\u2019s like, \u201cIs it done? Isn\u2019t there more that could have been done or something you wanna change?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to immediately put my camera in people\u2019s faces.
\nI want it to be authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bWhat about your work from like 10 years ago? Can you watch it? <\/strong>
\nThat shit I\u2019ll watch now. But I\u2019d probably still hate it. I think you always hate your younger self. Maybe it\u2019s because I have the worst self esteem. I always think what I\u2019m doing now is better than what I used to be doing, but then I\u2019ll see a photo of me from like four months ago and be like, \u201cDamn, I look like an idiot.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u200bI like that in the credits you listed the extras, like Anarchy Girl and Tweaker 1. It felt like an old Baker video. <\/strong>
\n[laughs] I don\u2019t know why I did that. I was just writing things out thinking who else was in the video. I didn\u2019t think people would read that far. I realized I missed Tweaker Three, but it\u2019s all good. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Many LurkNYC videos on Youtube have a very high view count, higher than your average skate vids. Why do you think that is?<\/strong>
\n\u200bI think people really appreciate the documentary style filming, like getting the random shit, more than just skating. I was actually holding off on putting out Ultraman<\/em> because there was too much skating, like I needed more random shit. I\u2019m still learning this crew of people though, so it will come. I don\u2019t want to immediately put my camera in people\u2019s faces. I want it to be authentic.<\/p>\n

\u200bHow was it filming Aaron [Herrington] and seeing him in his natural habitat? <\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s funny, Aaron and I never filmed in New York, and even when I moved here we weren\u2019t immediately boys. Maybe it\u2019s because he filmed with Paul Young, and I don\u2019t think he really fucks with me. A lot of people don\u2019t fuck with me and that\u2019s fair. Anyway, we went to skate one day because he was trying to get Polar clips, and I ended up being able to use every clip we filmed. But it\u2019s sick skating with him, he knows a lot of spots and always has bondo and tools and anything to fix a spot. That\u2019s really important in Portland, I think everyone\u2019s got a rub brick, lacquer and bondo in their trunk [laughs] <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t fuck with me and that\u2019s fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bI didn\u2019t know there was filmer beef.<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s so fried. Me and Johnny Wilson had filmer beef a long time ago, maybe we still do, I don\u2019t know. But it was because I was filming with Cyrus [Bennett], I think. I guess he felt like I was stealing his crew. But it was just one of those things. I met Cyrus, and he was down to skate together. I understand why Johnny got bummed though. Cyrus is sick. I was hyped to be filming with him [laughs].<\/p>\n

I remember this one time I went to film with Cyrus, and Johnny met up. Cyrus was going to do this like bump to bar on Broadway in Bushwick, and I got my camera out to film and Johnny was like, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d It was weird. It would have been sicker if we just worked together on something. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

photo: charles deschamps<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u200bDo you think those types of filmer beefs won\u2019t happen now that you\u2019re older? <\/strong>
\nI feel like Johnny was such a cool guy<\/em> to me, and then once I started fading out he started to get nicer to me. It\u2019s like he knew he won. \u200bMaybe it all circles back to being seen as a threat. And it\u2019s still like that. There\u2019s only a few filmers in Portland, and I don\u2019t want them to feel like I\u2019m stealing their skaters. I\u2019m so good off drama. [laughs]<\/p>\n

\u200bWhat keeps you coming back to filming? What do you like about it?<\/strong>
\nI just like being out in the streets. I love my routine. Meet up, have a coffee and cigarette, say what up and figure where to skate, that\u2019s the best moment for me. I like people watching and seeing the world and seeing random shit. It\u2019s that New York shit. You can just sit on your stoop and watch shit happen. I love that, there\u2019s a lot to look at in Portland too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just like being out in the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bAre you proud of the work you created?<\/strong>
\nI mean yeah I am, but maybe there\u2019s a lot I\u2019d do differently if I could. It\u2019s probably my own doing but I\u2019ve kind of had this phrase in my head, that I\u2019m a doormat. I got stepped on and walked over, but I was the way in the door for a lot of people. I don\u2019t know, it felt like nobody ever reached out to me to go film once they moved on to bigger companies, but the grass is always greener. I\u2019m lucky that I get to chill with my kids all the time, and maybe if things went differently it wouldn\u2019t be like that. <\/p>\n

\u200bDid people know you were open to working with bigger companies? <\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know, I always thought it would happen naturally. I remember John Shanahan, he was one of my favorite people to film and travel with, but when he got on Bronze he switched it up and just filmed with the Bronze dudes. If we skated it was so he could use footage for someone else, and then he just moved on. It sucked but I get it though. if people had stayed with me maybe nothing would have ever happened. If you gotta get the bag, get the bag, but I\u2019m still here. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u200bSkateboarders are notoriously bad communicators though, right?<\/strong>
\nThere was this time after Covid where I couldn\u2019t get boards made, and this kid who rode for Hotel Blue had clips come out in a different video. I\u2019m like, \u201cYo, you had clips in this?\u201d He never answered, and weeks went by before he hit me back. He finally answered, and he\u2019s like, \u201cDude, I didn\u2019t know how to tell you, I quit to go ride for them.\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cDude, you could have just told me.\u201d It was way worse because he never said anything to me. [laughs]<\/p>\n

\u200bNow this new video, what\u2019s next? Where do you go from here? <\/strong>
\nJust going to try and keep filming and make up for lost time. Maybe I\u2019ll make some product, but I don\u2019t know, there\u2019s so many companies now and the prices are so crazy, not sure I\u2019d even be able to sell anything.<\/p>\n

Should Lurknyc be Lurkpdx now? <\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know, that\u2019s how people know me. I would love to not have NYC as part of everything anymore. I love New York, that\u2019s my home, but shit changes.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think people know this, but when I first moved to New York, this girl Ari [Gil] would call me Lurker Nick. When I made my YouTube in my head it was more LurkNick[NYC] Nobody would read it that way though. <\/p>\n

Honestly, it\u2019s crazy like I\u2019ve never shown my face much, and I remember someone came up to me in New York and was like, \u201cDude, you\u2019re the reason I moved to New York,\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cHow do you know what I look like?\u201d <\/p>\n

Interview by: Ian Michna<\/a>
\nIntro: Ben Komins<\/a>
\nPhotos courtesy of: Charles Deschamps<\/a>
\nScroll your fingers to the bone on Instagram<\/a> and Twitter<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

photo: charles deschamps Many filmers have made their mark on New York City skateboarding throughout the years, but very few were as prolific in the 2010s as Lurknyc, AKA Nick VonWerssowetz. Through New York Times, Mean Streets, and full-lengths like Strangers, Nick launched careers while documenting the characters, random run-ins, and chaos that attracts people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,282],"class_list":["post-1909110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-jenkemmag-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1909110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1909110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1909110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1909110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}