We are happy to present a new Video by Paul Hermann titled: “Transit Ride” filmed in the US – New York and LA to be exact. Since he’s been traveling for quite a while, we thought to ask him about the recent project and everything else he’s been up to lately.

Interview by Moritz Alte
Photos by Paul Herrmann

Hey Paul, what are you up to right now?

I’m in Frankfurt right now, for my sisters birthday. I just got back from Rome and I’m going to fly back to Berlin tonight.

Happy Birthday to your Sister!

So, looking at the video it seems like you guys had a pretty good time. Where did you go and which parts of the cities did you stay in, for how long?

Anton (Jäger) and I had an room in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We stayed there for over a month. Even though our area was more or less calm, I feel like New York was really loud and hectic.
After that we flew to LA, where we got lucky and stayed in West Hollywood for another month.

I can imagine…Did you feel a different vibe after going to LA?

Yeah as I said. It is a whole different vibe over there. It is almost like going to a different country. It was way warmer and sunnier than New York and it felt even bigger because we spent ages in the car, as everyone does.
In New York you were able to go street skating almost every day. We could just push around and just find spots. Compared to NY, LA was the exact opposite it was pretty chill. We checked our skate map and tried to hit about 2 or 3 spots a day around the same area. Sometimes only one a day.

Okay, so who’s part of the video/who came along on the trip?

Actually, the main part is with all the boys from Germany. They came out to New York for about two weeks. We skated and filmed every day. The first weeks of the whole stay in the US, were the most productive. After the guys left, we still went skating, but it was rather chill. We crossed ways with a lot of skaters from all over the world. Almost everyone got a trick too!

Who would you say has standout appearance in the video?

Luis Waterkamp, Tim Thomas. No cap!

We can agree, always good to see some Wulle (Luis) footage.
Steffen (Grap) told me that a car crashed into a Deli, right next to the place they were staying at. Do you have a similar story like that?

(Laughs) What? I didn’t even hear about that!
Actually, it was the whole time that stood out. If I think back now the small things that I enjoyed the most come to mind. For example, the day the other boys left we went to a rooftop and had a slice of pizza at our local spot before they left to the airport. I also loved the trip to Vegas from LA that we did. Even though Vegas itself sucked and I had to drive the whole time, it was sick. We stopped whenever we wanted, in the middle of nowhere. One time we even found an abandoned Motel and skated the pool.

That sounds pretty sick…Any place you would like to go next?

I’d love to go to Valencia with all the homies, but I have to work, unfortunately. Besides that, I don’t have any plans at the moment.

Any projects planned for the future that you can tell us about?
You’ve got an exhibition coming up? Tell us a bit about that!

Yes, that’s right. I’m working on an exhibition, including a super 8 video. The whole project is called “I THOUGHT I WAS YOU” and is about my time in the states. I will be finished by the beginning of April or May hopefully. Besides that, I want to keep on traveling, creating and doing what I love.

Sounds really good, we’ll be there. Thank you for being in touch Paul!