Seven skateboarders living in one house. What could go wrong? Apparently, very little.
Itās like a teenage fever dream ā seven professional skateboarders living together in one enormous house, a home base while they travel the world for contests. Friends, from time to time, crash in the spare bedroom when they come to SoCal to skate.
It sounds like a sequel to Grind, but the scenario is very much real. Pro skateboarders Alex Perelson (27), Sam Beckett (26), Clay Kreiner (21), Mitchie Brusco (21) and CJ Titus (18) live together under one roof in Vista, California, coming and going as they compete in contests and film projects. Recently, Josh Stafford (27) and Norwayās Mats Hatlem (18) joined the crew, maxing out available space in the house.
Sound like a landlordās nightmare? Maybe, but not when the landlord is Perelson, himself, who bought the house back in 2012 and has since assembled a roommate dream team.
āHeās pretty much the most badass landlord ever,ā says Kreiner, who took a break from practicing his skateboard park line at X Games Minneapolis to tell me more about his unique living situation.
āWhatās mine is his and whatās his is mine.ā

After San Diego native Perelson bought the house, Beckett, who originally hails from Great Britain, moved in. Kreiner, who moved to California right out of high school in 2015, was next.
The transplant from South Carolina had his living situation fall through a month after he moved to the state, and he was faced with the prospect of living in his car as he scrambled to find a place. Beckett gave him Perelsonās number, and the two exchanged texts about potentially shacking up.
āI didnāt even know Alex [Perelson],ā says Kreiner, ābut I had always looked up to him.ā
Kreiner stopped by the house to meet Perelson, and the two sat on the porch to have a chat. Perelson stressed that this wasnāt a party pad; the guys who live there are, if anything, looking for some downtime when theyāre home, which isnāt often. About 10 minutes later, Kreiner was making a copy of his house key.
āHeās pretty much the most badass landlord ever.ā
A little less than a year later, Brusco joined the assemblage and then, most recently, Titus and Stafford rounded out the group.
Their ages span a decade, and the skaters are all at different levels as they try to make their names in action sports.
Until Saturday, Beckett was the only one with a gold medal to his name, which he earned at the 2016 X Games Austin skateboard vert contest.
But Saturday night at X Games Minneapolis 2018, Brusco brought honor to the house when he took gold in the skateboarding Big Air contest with an eye-popping 1080. Kreiner took silver, and the housemates celebrated together on the podium.
https://twitter.com/XGames/status/1020873940602892288
Kreiner won his first piece of hardware, a bronze medal, in Minneapolis in 2017 in big air.
Brusco is the most decorated inhabitant of the house, with six medals (four bronze, two silver) across the vert and big air disciplines before adding two more this week to make it eight.
And the unofficial head of the household, Perelson, is still looking for his first medal to hang on the wall of his room. Twice heās finished just off the podium in vert at fourth overall.

Though he has 10 X Games appearances to his name, Perelson is really just getting started; after all, he was the youngest athlete in the field in every skateboard vert contest between 2007 and 2011.
Then thereās newcomer ā both to the house and to the skating world ā Titus, who is still looking for his first X Games invite.
The house has seven bedrooms, so everyone certainly has his own space. However, Beckett created a little more of it for himself when he renovated the old goat barn ā yes, goat barn ā in the back of the property.
Now, the tricked-out shack suits Beckettās āhippie dudeā personality, with solar panels on the roof and everything.
And what about the goats?
āWe do not have the goats anymore,ā Kreiner laughed.
With seven professional athletes living in one house, one might assume there would be some disagreements. And, certainly, all the guys are āso different,ā Kreiner says. But for the most part, itās a harmonious arrangement. āSomehow, we all mesh super well.ā
They even train for contests together. Well, kind of.
āItās a really nurturing environment for all of us,ā Perelson told FanSided in Minneapolis. āIām really stoked on how itās been going.ā
Sometimes, even more personalities are thrown into the mix. āWeāve got a guest room that people come and stay in all the time,ā Kreiner explains. Most recently, it was Franceās Eddie Damestoy and Rony Gomes of Brazil.
Just call it the International House of Skateboarding.
āWhether theyāre just coming out for a trip or to skate, theyāll just hit us up,ā says Kreiner. āBefore an event, like this [the X Games], a lot of the dudes like to come out to California.ā
āAlex has definitely been super open to all of this,ā Kreiner says.
An interesting note about the houseās backstory; Perelson says it actually used to house a golf academy for aspiring golf pros. āI honestly thought it was, like, a halfway house when I bought it,ā he said. But he said itās cool to know the house has been home to other athletes in the past. Itās almost like he was meant to assemble this group to live there.
SoCal is the skateboarding epicenter of the country, and even though the house is at capacity, the guys live near plenty of other pro skaters, such as Elliott Sloan, whoās about two miles away. In nearby Cardiff reside some of Perelsonās closest friends, Jimmy Wilkins and Tom Schaar. āJimmy lives in a way nicer area,ā Perelson laughs.
https://twitter.com/Elliotsloan/status/935328158131240960
A majority of the house traveled to Minnesota to compete in this yearās X Games ā Perelson, Kreiner, Brusco and Beckett in vert; Brusco and Kreiner in Big Air.
International houseguests of honor Damestoy and Gomes were there, too.
Brusco kicked the week off by representing the Vista House on the podium, earning bronze in the vert final before his gold in Big Air. Needless to say, the boys are bringing home some shiny new decor.
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The guys donāt spend every waking moment together ā theyāre busy traveling and honing their craft at the nearby skateparks when theyāre back in SoCal.
But they do hang quite a bit, and itās not only for āwork.ā Sometimes they just enjoy ākickinā it with each other,ā watching movies and enjoying their limited downtime.
āThey spend most of their time in the living room, watching skate videos and playing video games,ā says Perelson. āIf I lived by myself, I would never be this immersed in skateboarding all the time, so itās good for me in that aspect.ā
To wit, I asked if theyāve built any features on their property ā most of the guys skate vert, so perhaps a halfpipe?
āWeāve definitely thought about putting something at the house,ā Kreiner says, though he explains that it would require a lot of work with the way the land sits.
āWeāre all super busy, and when we are at home, we like to be lazy.ā
Then thereās the aspect of not wanting to turn the house into a skatepark 24/7. āWhen you build something to skateā¦I mean, people are always coming in and out now,ā Perelson says. Build a pipe? Theyād never leave. But Perelson likes the idea of a small concrete bowl or mini ramp, and those improvements may be in the houseās future.
As for the specifics of the dudesā domestic bliss, when I asked who cooks the most, Kreiner only laughed. āOh goodness. None of us cook.ā A beat. āProbably Sam, when heās in town,ā Kreiner says. āBut heās hardly ever in town.ā
Take-out it is!
And who is the messiest? āMitchie?ā Kreiner says. āIām gonna catch some hell for saying that, but yeah, Iām gonna go with Mitchie.ā
āMitchie lives in another reality than all of us,ā Perelson adds. āBut heās a genius, so we tolerate it and we just watch him do his thing.ā
https://twitter.com/XGames/status/1020872376613945345
Maybe itās just hard for Brusco to keep his eight X Games medals tidy.
Perelson admits that he has a new appreciation for staying in hotels, when thereās only a mess if youāve made one yourself and you donāt have to nag people to clean up.
āBut honestly,ā he says, āI think Iām making up for years of never doing anything around the house when I was young and my parents probably did everything.ā And he stresses that everyone is āvery respectful,ā only leaving an odd mess here or there or a dish in the sink when theyāre, say, rushing out the door.
As for how long Perelson wants to keep his house open, he says as long as the other guys want to it, heās down. āIām not in any hurry to be isolated,ā he says.
āI hope when Iām forty that I donāt live with seven dudes, but other than that I donāt want it to end anytime soon,ā Perelson says. Who knows ā maybe heāll raise his kids in a skater house?
āSometimes I feel like I have kids already,ā Perelson laughs.
Somehow, this unique living arrangement has, mostly, flown under the radar in the media. At contests, reporters will ask one of the guys what they think about another. The bemused response will be something like, āWellā¦we live together, so.ā
Thatās pretty much all you need to know.
Next: From Hawaii to X Games: Pro skaters, close friends
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