“I’m a Tompkins Girl”: An Eight-Minute Cig With Efron Danzig

TUESDAY 10:51 PM SEPTEMBER 9, 2025 LOWER EAST SIDE

Have you ever seen a pair of Old Skool Vans sneakers encased in an ice sculpture? Us neither, until we rolled up to the Interview x Vans NYFW kickoff dinner hosted by Mel Ottenberg and downtown skater Efron Danzig. Inside, Dissensus played live free jazz while friends of Interview including Lily Allen, Jordan Firstman, and Jemima Kirke signed Danzig’s new Vans shoes. In the lounge, skate legends Troy Gipson and Cass Lopez sipped cool drinks while Colin Jones sat for a caricature. After salad and steak frites, partygoers hit the bar for a nightcap, while Mel slipped outside with Efron and her roommates for a very enlightening smoke break.

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MEL OTTENBERG: Do you want a light?

EFRON DANZIG: Oh yeah, thank you.

OTTENBERG: What’s your name?

KATS: Kats.

OTTENBERG: I’m Mel. 

RONNIE: I’m Ronnie.

OTTENBERG: What’s up, Ronnie?

RONNIE: Nice to meet you.

DANZIG: This is my other roommate, Sage. 

OTTENBERG: Where do you guys live?

DANZIG: A six-floor walk-up.

RONNIE: A couple blocks that way.

KATS: Very close to everything.

DANZIG: And I’m not complaining about the six-floor walk-up because my butt is amazing.

OTTENBERG: Your body is really, really good. Respectfully.

DANZIG: [Laughs]

OTTENBERG: I see abs in the skate videos. I guess it’s a good workout?

DANZIG: Oh my god, yeah. The skating plus the sixth-floor walkup.

DANZIG: Do you need a light?

OTTENBERG: No, I don’t light it. I quit.

DANZIG: Remember when I saw you at the secret society? I said you’re like the guy from The Living End, the Gregg Araki movie.

OTTENBERG: I remember that. That’s a deep cut. I saw that movie when I was like a teenager.

DANZIG: I’m a movie nerd.

OTTENBERG: What music do you listen to when you’re skating?

DANZIG: No music when I’m skating. I like to hear the world. 

OTTENBERG: Where is the right place to skate in New York, or does that have to be gate kept? 

DANZIG: I’m a Tompkins girl. 

OTTENBERG: What’s it like there these days? I’m a Washington Square Park person so I don’t know Tompkins. 

DANZIG: It’s chill. You just pull up, and all of your friends are there.

OTTENBERG: Are you a skater, too?

RONNIE: I just like skaters. I’m a skater by association. [Laughs]

OTTENBERG: What’s, what’s the worst skate injury you’ve had?

DANZIG: I tore my ACL, MCL, meniscus. I fractured a vertebrae, I tore my achilles, cracked a rib, sprained both wrists multiple times, sprained ankles, concussions. That’s it. [Laughs]

OTTENBERG: Do you ever come to Funny Bar?

DANZING: I used to hook up with a guy who would always come here. So kind of, yeah. I’m a jazz nerd so I love the live jazz. We walked in and I was like, “I play this song at home all the time.”

OTTENBURG: So what were you thinking about when you designed this sneaker?

DANZING: The influences are like punk and nu metal. 

OTTENBERG: It has a sort of S&M feeling to it, am I right?

DANZIG: [Laughs]

OTTENBERG:  I see y’all with your leather shit and your spikes and stuff. Have you guys ever seen cruising? There’s moments when the fashion is going to blow your mind. 

DANZIG: No!

OTTENBERG: So the idea is there’s a gay serial killer in the meatpacking district, and Al Pacino is a cop and he goes undercover as a guy on the leather scene to find the killer. He’s doing poppers and getting a little weird and it’s like, “Is he or isn’t he?” And the club scene is the best thing that’s ever been shot in New York. 

DANZIG: Oh, we’re watching that tomorrow. 

OTTENBERG: Sick.