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In the early 1980s, teenager Peter Ducommun moved from Nanaimo to Vancouver to open PD鈥檚 Hot Shop with his late brother Rick, who later moved to Los Angeles for a career in comedy and acting.

Now world-renowned, Skull Skates produces skateboards in smaller runs by choice.

鈥淥ur stuff is made in Canada,鈥� said Peter Ducommun. 鈥淚t鈥檚 worth saying because unfortunately the majority of the industry, I鈥檓 talking sort of 90 per cent now, make their skateboards in places like China and Mexico. We don鈥檛 necessarily care where they鈥檙e made. It鈥檚 just that when you take something offshore and produce it in a large quantity, as most of the other brands do, it鈥檚 very difficult to maintain any kind of quality control at a level that we鈥檇 like to keep it at.鈥�

PD鈥檚 Hot Shop has two locations in British Columbia, in Vancouver and Qualicum Beach and one in Japan, said Ducommun.

鈥淲e鈥檝e always been connected with the music scene,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hich is how we got into putting out boards for different bands, but that鈥檚 something that our Japan shop has really picked up and run with. They do, I think, two to four major national tours a year with several bands. It could be six to eight bands and half-a-dozen different dates.鈥�

Host Peter McCully asked Ducommun if still takes the occasional ride on the board at age 60.

鈥淎s long as I鈥檓 breathing, I鈥檓 going ride a skateboard,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of those things that once it enters your system, it鈥檚 a hard thing to shake. I like to skate as much as I can. I don鈥檛 skate in the rain and I don鈥檛 do the kind of things that I used to do, but it doesn鈥檛 matter, man.鈥�

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