SEATTLE — It was the lead story across Seattle. In February of 2000, a man snuck through a heavily secured Kingdome to skateboard on top of its roof just days before it was to be imploded. The death-defying trick was captured on home video and seen throughout the world.
Now, nearly 25 years later that story is being retold.
Long-time skateboarder and part-time content creator Alex Cooper works at 35th North Skateshop on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Last year his boss approached him with an idea for a new project.
"What's the coolest thing that's ever happened in the history of Seattle skateboarding? And he's like, you know it's gotta be Tom Peha skating on the roof of the Kingdome," Cooper said.
That suggestion became, 'KINGTOM': a documentary highlighting how Seattle skateboarder Tom Peha pulled off the ultimate trick.
"It was made for skateboarders, but it was also made for anyone to understand the story sort of, you know, skaters, non-skaters," said Cooper. "We wanted it to be about him sneaking onto the roof, but it's also kind of like, well, who is Tom here? And kind of more about his character, I suppose. Because he's such an interesting guy."
So who is Tom Peha?
"He's a Northwest legend," said Cooper. "Everyone was excited to talk about Tom, we'd hit up some random person like, I don't know if we're gonna hear back and then they're just like, 'Yeah, of course, we'll talk about Tom.'"
"We wanted to make sure we had a good mix of kind of older people who were around, you know, during Tom's era skaters from the '80s, and '90s, and whatnot," Cooper said. "And then we tried to bring in a few in the younger crowd, kind of like, you know, show people these guys know about it, too."
For Cooper, bringing this real urban legend to life has been an epic experience.
"It was incredibly fun. I was honored to have my hands on it and kind of be allowed to sort of piece the whole story together," said Cooper. "I've never made a full-length documentary like this before. I've been editing for most of my life. So I just felt like I already knew what to do."
It may have happened decades ago, but Alex Cooper hopes people who watch his documentary will learn a little more about the event, and the man behind it.
"Making his way on there, just purely for the love, that's something that can maybe only come out of the Northwest," Cooper said.
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