Tony Hawk is a legendary skateboarder from Carlsbad who was perceived as a professional at only age fourteen. He became “one of the top skateboarders in the world” by age 16 and even won over 70 skateboarding contests before he hit 18.

The pivotal point in Tony Hawk’s career took place at the 1999 Summer X Games in San Francisco, an extreme sports event produced by ESPN. Tony Hawk was claimed to be the first person to land a 900, a 900 degrees aerial spin on a skate ramp, that day.

Flash forward to today and Tony Hawk has just opened his first restaurant.

Guacamigos is the name that Tony Hawk chose for his new Mexican restaurant, located right along the Newport Bay off of the Pacific Coast Highway. The restaurant had been open for a few weeks prior, but the official grand opening took place on April 27, beckoning Tony Hawk fans, along with curious Newport Beach residents to come down to the restaurant to see what was going on, luring them with a ginormous skate ramp in the parking lot and supposedly great Mexican food.

The event consisted of holding a silent auction, auctioning off skater gear, and premium skateboards with Tony Hawk’s name engraved in them. Additionally, there was an area for kids face painting, a section to buy Guacamigos shirts, and a “VIP” area blocked off with suede red ropes where the skaters were going to cool down.

The outside of the restaurant is made up of a variety of different wood textiles, making you feel like you’re about to walk into an old shack-like restaurant of some sort. You walk in and to the left and right of you are the bathrooms, which I must say, I really enjoyed the nice addition of a pink neon sign in the girl’s bathroom.

Moving on, the waiter took us from the area sandwiched in between the bathrooms that overlooked the bar portion of the restaurant, down a few steps to the main platform. As we turned to the right, heading towards the black leather booths, we couldn’t help but take in the breathtaking view of Newport Bay.

As my mom, dad and I sat down at the booth, my dad excitedly murmured under his breath that Tony Hawk was sitting on the other side of the room only two booths behind us. The Tony Hawk. Considering it was his event, you would think that we wouldn’t have been that surprised that he was eating at his own restaurant, but we truly were starstruck.

Our starstruck emotions slowly faded away as we dug into our perfectly-sized juicy, flavorful burritos. Contradicting the 3.7 out of five stars average rating on Google, we thought the food was spectacular. Their chips and guacamole were probably the best I’d ever had.

Halfway through our delicious meal, Tony Hawk left his booth, which was blockaded with the same suede red ropes as outside, to go to the entrance of the restaurant. A few more people followed, so I decided to see where they were all going.

I followed them up the steps to the level of the floor where the waiter would normally be standing, but instead, there were about ten people watching as Tony Hawk and his restaurant’s co-owner Nicole Dahm Kelly were getting ready to cut the ribbon.

The ribbon cutting lasted about five minutes, consisting of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce awarding Hawk with a plaque, as well as Mayor pro tem Will O’Neill making a presentation. Representatives from the offices of Congressman Harley Rouda, Senator John Moorlach and Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris also came to make a claim about Tony’s accomplishments.

Tony Hawk and Nicole Dahm Kelly then followed up by cutting the ribbon. Afterward, everyone went back to eating, as a few people from the outside crowd filed into the restaurant. We quickly finished our meal and went outside to watch some of the worlds most well-known skaters show off their skills.

Standing on the tables of the skate ramp were a hand full of legendary skaters. Tony Hawk, Lizzie Armanto, Kevin Staab, Bucky Lasek, Andy Macdonald, Jordyn Barratt and Elliot Sloan gave Guacamigos a killer reputation with their incredible skills on the skate ramp.

Kevin Staab has been featured in around fifteen skateboarding ads, while Lizzie Armanto, a twenty-six-year-old professional skateboarder, has partnerships with Thrasher, Vans and Birdhouse.

Alongside them, Bucky Lasek, a current Encinitas resident, has won twelve X Games medals, including six of gold, is a rallycross driver on the Subaru Rally Team USA and has worked with prominent companies such as GoPro, Puma and more.

Andy Macdonald holds a very impressive title. Currently, he holds the record for attaining the most X Games medals in vert skateboarding, as well as eight wins in the World Cup Skateboarding competition.

Last but not least, nineteen-year-old Jordyn Barratt is a two-time X Games medalist, while Elliot Sloan is a five-time X Games medalist.

Overall, Tony Hawk had some of the world’s most spectacular skaters representing his restaurant on its official opening day. They pulled off numerous spectacular tricks and left the abundance of people watching, in awe.

Tony Hawk’s grand opening of his new restaurant was a success. Guacamigos served great food, the silent auction and kids face painting area kept people entertained, and of course, the plethora of eminent skaters kept the opening lively. It’s no surprise that everyone left the restaurant that day feeling dumbfounded.