At age 20, Alva became the first skateboarder to open his own skate gear company. That company, called Alva Skates, was the first to be entirely owned by a skateboarder, and it celebrated its 20th anniversary in December of 2006. Alva can also be seen in the documentary about the Z-Boys entitled Dogtown & Z-Boys, and in the popular video game Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland.