LRM: Do you think photography is headed in the same direction music is headed, in the sense that you don't need to know how to play an instrument anymore and all you need is a computer?
EO: Yeah, it's all cookie cutter, fast food to me. Everything's fast, and everyone wants it done fast. That's the name of the game now. Cheaper and faster is better nowadays, and it's wrong.
LRM: What was the best tour and what was the worst tour you went on?
EO: The Soul Assassins Tour, Napster Tour, and Smoking Grooves Tour were the best. The worst was when we [Cypress Hill] toured with Off Spring.
LRM: What kind of a lowrider do you have?
EO: I have a '64 Impala and a '47 Fleetmaster.
LRM: Are you selling any of them?
EO: No never. I've owned the '64 for over 20 years. I have it tattooed on my arm.
LRM: How has lowriding changed your life?
EO: Lowriding has changed my whole life in many ways. I joined Lifestyle in the early '90s. Being in a car club made me gain 70 pounds and also made me understand the responsibilities we have for the culture of lowriding in a totally different way.
LRM: Do you think lowriding has changed?
EO: Yeah, when I started lowriding it was the thing to do, it was real cool and all the young people were into it. You would go to a car show at the coliseum and it would be mostly young people with a few families there. Now it's all family and not too many young people. They have traded in their hydraulics for air bags and their two-door coupes for four-door Hondas. That's like me trading in my film cameras for digital. If a lowrider doesn't have two doors, isn't made in America, and doesn't have hydraulics, it's not a lowrider to me.
LRM: Who is Estevan Oriol by the laws of life?
EO: Stay in your own lane and be original. That copycat sh*t is no good. Do your own thing and do the best you can.
LRM: How much money do you have in your pocket?
EO: Seriously?
LRM: Yeah.
EO: My daughter is my witness. I have exactly... do you want to guess?
LRM: No.
EO: I have to my name right now this second only 8 cents in my pocket.
LRM: Looks like I'm the one paying.
EO: Do you want me to leave that change for the tip?
LRM: No! You already embarrassed me when you pulled up to the cafe.
EO: You haven't seen anything yet.
As he got up, shook my hand, and walked toward the exit it dawned on me that this was no ordinary man. This was a different breed of human who's on the brink of extinction with no sign of similar species anywhere. Estevan has seen and done more than most people have in two lifetimes, and continues to do it till this day. He documents or tells stories about all walks of life without ever writing about it, he only has to take a picture. Every picture tells a story. He is an accomplished photographer, director, business owner, father, lowrider, and friend.