Jeff Gipson
BMX and abandoned mansions
““These luxury/mansion homes were where people had these glamorous lives.. partying.. laughing.. and living the hollywood lifestyle in the 50’s 60’s onward. I don’t think the former owners ever thought that years later I would be walking through the dilapidated house and riding the pool.””
Name: Jeff Gipson
Hometown: Trinidad, CO
Current City: Los Angeles, CA
Current Job: Lighting Artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios
Passion: BMX biking in abandoned locations
Meet Jeff
As a kid he grew up in Colorado with a passion for riding mountain and BMX bikes. He loved it so much that he graduated with a degree in architecture in hopes of designing skate parks. With that degree he was able to work for years designing in ground concrete skate parks in San Diego. Perfect, right? Perhaps like any young human being figuring out how to adult and what the meaning of life is, Jeff felt something was missing. Despite all the hard work and actually getting to where he wanted to be with his career, the decision to follow a new calling was made. He took a leap of faith and left architecture grad school to pursue animation. After only having a semester of computer graphic schooling under his belt, he applied for an internship at Pixar and was accepted into the program. What a decision it was, because it led him to a job at Walt Disney Animation. With all of that said, the passion of riding BMX had died off, but began to resurface for pleasure only - the simple joy of doing what you love, with no attachments.
Why BMX
Growing up in Colorado meant mountain biking all over as a kid. What inspired him to switch over to the BMX world was his cousin John, who was obviously the coolest guy ever hitting jumps and hopping around on obstacles on his bike. Somewhere in 1997 Jeff also discovered the magic of what is the X games. This BLEW HIS MIND. From there on out he decided he needed to learn how to do all the tricks no matter what. He asked his grandma to lend him $250 for a BMX bike (awwwww) and worked all summer mowing lawns to pay her the money back. Ever since then it was BMX or bust.
““I think one of the beautiful things about action sports (skate, bmx, etc) is that the activity — in this case bmx — has been a tool for me to experience life. I have met so many people, traveled, pursued my dreams, laughed, loved, and had a sense of purpose because of my bike.. “”
Abandoned Pools
Now working a desk job at Disney Animation, Jeff chases the feeling of needing to be outdoors in his spare time. Sitting at a computer for hours a week can be so draining, as many of us trying to "adult" know. So on his lunch breaks and on weekends he turns to scoping out abandoned buildings/homes to ride the pools. Jeff started off looking for pools by watching skating videos. He would watch and pause on a place that had a pool he was interested in and try to find landmarks or something memorable that would give away the location. He now also applies the same method to instagram. He will follow and look for accounts of skaters to see if he can figure out where the pool in the photo is. Word of mouth is not an option because the pool riding scene is pretty secretive. People are hesitant to share their finds as it may draw too much attention to one spot. Now Jeff searches on his own by using the wonderful technology of satellite maps. "I have spent way too many hours late at night doing this.. I get in the zone and before I know it I have been searching for pools for four hours and its three AM. I usually find them and save a pin for that location on my phone. I have a ton of pins in LA. Some which are good to ride and some I still need to check out." On weekends he will also cruise around with his friends looking for run down houses, fences, etc. and peek in the yard to see if theres a forgotten pool.
Pool hunting hobby
Stories from doing this hobby
What keeps him motivated to keep doing it/why he does
Van
Hopes for future/what he likes about himself
one piece of advice for anyone struggling to stay inspired and true to themselves
