Tré brings passion for skateboarding to his community
By Matthew Becerra, April 21, 2026
Born and raised in Leimert Park, Tré, who doesn’t use a last name, said his youth was spent moving around on skateboards, bikes or just on foot, observing his surroundings and hanging out with as many people as possible.
But after skating through Los Angeles in the 90’s and growing into adulthood, he realized Leimert Park needed a safe space for youth to skate in the community.
Tré opened Neighbors Skate Shop in Leimert Park five years ago with nothing more than a vision and the support of his surrounding community.
Tré’s mom, Pat Mitchell, said he didn’t have a plan B when opening Neighbors. Since he was a child, he wanted people around him, and when the opportunity presented itself to have a place in the community to share his passion and give back to kids who reminded him of himself, it wasn’t a question.
When Tré was young, he saw an older skater pass his grandmother’s house. The way he dressed, carried himself and the music he listened to all influenced Tré’s first idea of skateboarding. He wants to be the same influence on the youth in Leimert Park.
Tré’s friend, artist Cletus Strap, said Tré and Neighbors are helping eliminate some of the weirdness kids feel outside their community, and that it’s amazing to see younger kids grow up in the shop and eventually work behind the counter.
When Tré picked up skating, there were no shops in his neighborhood. So, getting boards meant traveling across the city toward places like Venice or Marina del Rey, California, and skating meant his mom taking him to places like the valley to different parks.
On one of these trips across the city, Tré bought a skate video on VHS, which introduced him to the documentation of different styles of music, personalities and ways of skating.
Then, photography became his next outlet. Platforms such as Instagram gave him a place to share his community, friends and the overlooked corners of LA.
After getting a following on Instagram from photography, he guided and worked with emerging artists and brands around him, like Crenshaw Skate Club.
But as more creative opportunities presented themselves, he felt something was missing. He wanted to work on a project for himself and his community.
The idea for his own skate shop started in 2019 after attending a pop-up event in Leimert Park where he felt the same energy that helped the west side of LA thrive at the time.
“I saw the dormant stores,” Tré said. “Nothing was open, and I was like, ‘Man, I could have a store in here.’”
So, he went home and built a plan in a matter of days.
When he presented the idea of opening a skate shop, it impressed the people he spoke to enough that it was passed along to the landlord, which then landed him a spot in the building. The store is currently located on Degnan Boulevard.
The opportunity was real, but the resources were still a question for him. So, Tré sold his car for $10,000 to help start the business. Most of the money went toward rent as the COVID-19 pandemic started right before the shop was about to open, leaving him with a lease on a store he couldn’t open the doors to.
With no storefront, no product and no official launch, Tré focused on building awareness the only way he knew how: through community. Him and his friends made a game of sticking stickers across the city and surrounding cities. He spent hours online each night engaging with people in and around Leimert Park or LA.
When Neighbors finally opened in April 2021, it already had a presence, a following and a sense of identity from his work in the community.
But for Tré, just owning a skate shop was never the end goal. What matters to him is the way people feel when they walk in without needing to change who they are, the way culture is shared, passed down and reshaped.
“It ain’t really about the skateboarding; it’s a meeting place,” Strap said, calling the shop Tré’s effort to give back to the community.
That sentiment shows in how those closest to Tré describe him.
“He cares about people,” his close friend Jahki GT said. “That’s when we resonate at. … We all care about the people in the community.”
That same mindset continues to shape how Tré runs the shop today. Rather than chasing trends or expanding new locations, he said his focus is on keeping the space open and connected to the neighborhood that inspired it.
“Keeping the doors open and keeping a safe space for the kids, that’s been my focus,” Tré said.
