Skategeezer Feedback - Page 3

Hey mang, nice to know I'm not the only rebourne out here. Born in '62 and went from steel wheels and one of my sisters skates nailed to a board to a Brad Logan and Rider trucks. Now I'm back despite my joe corporate daytime job with a Sector 9 longboard with B-52's and some blind 45's and a new Alien Workshop with Venture's and 52 Fireballs. Trying to find others like myself to skate with as well as some of the new talent that won't mind teaching an old codge' some new tricks. Any info on contacts would be mucho appreciated.

From: Damian Torres


Very cool Page you got here, I'm gonna send that dude in Slovakia some skate stuff, were all so fu**in spoiled here, but I'm sure some sticker's and pics he'll be stoked. Good things come from a good page.

It's all about that weak red stick with metal wheel's, I think it was actually a Radio Flyer, what ever it was one rock the size of a flea and it's time for a sidewalk beating. Then came a succsession of skate's I would pay alot to have right now. Black Knight with Cadillac wheel's and Chicago truck's.(Bombing the smooth hallway's of my school kicked ass, who needs grip tape, barefoot rules) Then a Bardeen red plastic flex deck(kicktail too) and simulated grip tape, California Slalom Trucks(One of the first wide boy's out) and in front Califonia Smokers and Targa's in back.(These replaced the much liked Stoker Wheel that proved steam roller sized wheel's could crush those pebbles in your path). Then it was various Flex deck's, then grip tape came along, let us not forget the dreaded pizza tape(note book paper with gravel the size of flies glued to it).

Then came the day that would change the way my skeletal structure would look forever. Just a couple of miles down the hill's of Playa Del Rey the stoking Marina Skate Park was poured. My friend still has a magazine page of my 13 year old self in the backround of BMX Action mag. I'm proudly holding mybrand new Allen Gelfand"OLLIE" deck with Independent 159's and purple Powell's making it roll.

The FRONT KEYHOLE 16 or 17 ft. of tight vertical hell, the DOG BOWL, the MINI CLAY BOWL'S, the BACK KEYHOLE, the BABY BOWL, the SLALOM RUN/DISH PAN BOWL, AND WHO WAS THERE TO SEE OLD SCHOOL'S TRYING TO GO ALL THE WAY AROUND IN"THE TURNING POINT". Well i still bomb Hermosa Beach hill's with a 44" powell so NEW SCHOOL GET OUTTA MY WAY, Punk's not dead, it just takes us a little longer to get up in the morning.

From: WILLIAM GILLETTE


Hey, yo, fellow skategeezer bro--

Just a note to say thanks for creating a site that reminds us that *we are not alone* out there. I started skating in like 7th grade, so about 1975, first on a piece of shit Grentec GT (remember those? Puke flourescent green with little polyurethane wheels. But, shit, it rolled!), then on a Hobie fiberglass little board (the blue one with yellow Hobie really big across the top) with Bennett trucks and big ol' red Hobie wheels. Wish I hung to it. You see them hanging on the wall at skateshops sometimes.

Then I stopped in college (stupid move) and picked it up again at age 26 when I moved out to SF. Rode a Santa Cruz 43, Indy 166mm trucks, and Powell blanks, pretty big. Board ripped so smoothly and tail slides and little ollies like a dream.

Now (back in hometown Boston) just picked up a big Think Duane Peters, moved the wide Indys over cuz they're still in really good shape -- just ground some on the axles. Shopping for some new wheels for it. Maybe the biggish Spitfires, or one of my email bud's from alt.surfing and rec.skate-board or whatever said Bones (Powell, too, right?) Bombers would be good.

Anyway, like I say to my fellow early 30-something riders, good things come in threes!!!

Nice work and keep rippin, dude, John W. johnw@cpg.com


Hey I dug your page, I was looking up Skateboarder mag and it showed up to your page. I have been skateboarding and been in Skate Rock bands all of my life, Los Olvidados, Drunk injuns, The Faction,Odd Man Out,etc. My newest and favorite band is Clay Wheels and we are all old Skaters!

Later Skater Dater, RS2
From: Pep Armstrong


Dude!! I can't believe this page!! What memories!! Stroker, Bennett, Road Rider and Logan are names I thought long forgotten. I'm 30 years old and haven't skated regularly for 9 years. Some 18 year-old skater I used to work with dragged me to the local skatepartk here in Dallas (Jeff Phillips'old park) and I remembered why I quit. I got the wind knocked out of me and almost broke my ankle. But I still get a knot in my stomach watching all this skating from time-to-time on ESPN2. I started skating when I got my first board on Christmas day 1975. It was all downhill from there. I didn't quit until I was 22 due to a back injury.

I had a subscription to Skateboarder and Jay Adams was my hero. Even though I lived in dreary Wilmington, DE, I always escaped in my mind to LA when reading Skateboarder. In junior high I wrote all the dogtown graphics all over my school books. There was one skatepark in Wilmington that operated from '78 to '80 and an even smaller one about 40 miles south in the middle of nowhere. From 80 to 84 there was nowhere to skate except drainage ditches that were hard to access for a kid with no car and no skating friends with transportation. That all changed when I came to Dallas to go to college in 84 and skated the old Clown ramp every weekend.

Got to see Jeff Phillips many times and got to speak to him only twice. He was really nice and even gave me some pointers. I was really upset when I heard about his suicide. I've got some stories if you give me some time to rack my brain. I only rollerblade now and when I get time for a life, I plan to go back to the park. It's embarassing as hell though when these little kids are blowing you away. Oh well, time marches on!!

Thanks, Kurt Sermas, @imagin.net@mail.imagin.net


Guy/girl skaters take up the hobby for different reasons, only they know why. In my own case, I lived in the foothills above Pearl Harbor on an island & most of the Hawaiian and Filipino kids skateboardedfor the hobby. Back then, in the late 60's, you couldn't go to a skateshop and buy a custom board, you had to build one yourself & have it aerodynamically designed to travel fast down steep hills.

Fortunately, my brother built me a skateboard and I skated w/him and is friends. In doing so, other girls copied me to have their brothers and friends build a board for them to skate. We all skated together.There was no grest bickering, critizizing of skating skills, name-calling, but we DID try to outdo each other in being the best skater.

That was the late 60's, the good old days.

A. Wood


Hey! Found your homepage in search of the answer to a question...if anybody knows the answer, seems like it would be you!

I'm doing a project for a Business Systems Analysis class that involves researching project failures. One of them, so I've heard, was the hoverboard of "Back To The Future". Was it really ever put out on the market? If so, could I get a little background from you? I'd certainly appreciate any input you could give me on the subject. Everyone knows of such failures as the Edsel, but I thought I'd do something a bit more interesting and less-known.

E-mail me back at your earliest convenience...Thanks! :)

Email: noelle@libra.tvi.cc.nm.us


Hey, just thought I'd say "hello' - I'm 34 & still poolriding and can't think of anything better to do. We're building a free skatepark in Philadelphia that is psuedo-retro w/bowls & 3/4 pipes & stuff.

Later Skater Dater - wrogers


I liked your page a lot because it seems that it was people like you who invented all the tricks that we do or that I TRY to do.

This page reminds me of my old nash that I had in fifth grade and the Power Parelta that I always wanted.

Right now I use a SMA deck with Tracker B-2 trucks and all my other friends also use double nailed boards, but I sometimes wonder if it would be more impressive to see some decent old school skaters doing the same kind of tricks that we do now days.

I still have never seen any old school skaters do a grind of any type but they seem to do a lot of railslides.

Oh well.


My name is Randy. I am currently in a college class on the history and rules of sports.

I was wandering if you knew when the first skateboard was made, when the first competitions were held, where skating originated, and what kinds of professional competitions there are today, and the rules of those competitions. I live in Texas, and you can't find too much info around here. Hell you can't find much concrete around here. I and a couple of my friends skate, but it is not all we do so we are not real knowlegable about skating's history and the layout of the competitions. Thanx.

From: Randy S.
Email: sixman@tenet.edu


I live in Hong Kong, and the skate scene here sucks! There aren't many good places to skate round here and everyone gets busted. There have a skatepark here but it's only 500sf. I've been skating for about 2 years.

David


At age 35 I still ride hills and mostly slalom down mountains here in the Tucson area. I have two custom slalom boards. One 43 in wheelbaser for myself and on a couple inches shorter that I loan out to the local teens.

William R.


I rode my first skateboard in 1964 in the small town of Sweetwater, Texas. My dad made that first board from some scrap plywood and a pair of steel wheeled shoe skates. I also have a vague memory of what I think was the Hobie team performing a demo in our town. I didn't really skate again until 1969 when I found that same board in an old chest in our garage, at this time we were living in Anchorage, Alaska (I was amilitary brat).

My real involvement with skateboarding began the day after I graduated from Morro Bay high school in 1974, when I found an old Hobie laminate in my best friend's backyard. At this point I wasn't even aware of Cadillac wheels. So me and my pals put together some clay-wheeled wonders and began skating the local hills. After seeing a Bahne/Cadillac ad featuring Gregg Weaver in Surfer Magazine, we jumped in a car and drove 150 miles to a surf shop that sold these new "wonder rollers".

Skateboarding soon became my life. My very first contest was the Bahne/Cadillac Nationals held at the Del Mar fairgrounds in 1975. I entered the slalom event, placing 18th. More importantly I got to meet skaters like Denis Shufeldt and Chris Yandall, and to feel the tremendous energy of this new sport. I soon began organizing contests in my local area. In 1976 myself and two friends decided to become the first skaters to cross the country by skateboard. We sent a letter to Roller Sports asking for sponsorship.

They responded by offering us all the equipment we needed, t-shirts and $500.00 each if we finished the trip. Well to say the least we were stoked, grabbed an old road atlas and mapped out a route from Lebanon, Oregon to Williamsburg, Virginia. Three weeks later found us somewhwere in eastern Oregon wondering what in the hell we doing. The trek took 32 days and was full of adventures and wonderful people.

After the cross-country trip, I continued to compete in local contests and organize shop teams. I was also working for Good Clean Fun Surf and Skate at this time. In 1978 I helped to design the Solid Wave skatepark in Arroyo Grande. In 1977 I had attended the Signal Hill downhill race, after seeing the skatecars I knew this was something I had to try. With the help of Vetter Motorcycle fairings, Independent, Santa Cruz and Cycle Magaine the Vetter Streamliner was born (this skatecar is now on display at the HB Surf Museum). In the '78 Signal Hill race I tied with Henry Hester for 2nd place, two weeks later at the Akron Soap Box Derby track I placed 2nd to Nick Leonard in a race that was filmed and aired by CBS Sports Spectacular. I also raced slalom and stand-up downhill that summer on the Another Roadside Attraction Pro Tour in Colorado.

About this time I was being sponsored by Flite Skateboards, they happened to send me one of their early snowboard designs, which along with my friend, Gary Fluitt proceeded to our nearby sand dunes. We totally immersed ourselves in the development of sandboarding.

Some of you may remember our articles in SKATEBOARDER, ACTION NOW and SURFER. We used to joke that we were the only professional sandboarders in the world. We were featured in surf movies, a television commercial for Arnold Palmer Sportswear of Japan, That's Incredible and some lame kid's show called We're Movin' featuring Willie Ames. We even started a little sand/snowboard company called A-Team (we had the name before the stupid TV show). I remember being at some of the early snowboard events and seeing Jake (Burton) Carpenter trade boards for his motel bill.

In 1984 I once again skateboarded across the country, this time with Bob Denike, Paul Dunn and Gary Fluitt, with the improved equipment and a little training we were able to complete the trip in 26 days.

During the early 90's I was heavily involved in collecting old skateboards and memorabilia. Dale Smith and Todd Huber along with Stacy Peralta and the guys from Screamin Squeeges now own 99% of my old collection.

Over the years I have had the pleasure of working for/with people such as Dave Dash (Skateboarder, Action Now), Larry Balma, Peggy Cousins(Tracker,TWS), Rich Novak(NHS)and meeting skaters from all over the world, including Beau Brown who remains a true friend and confidant to this day.

Sometimes it's hard to believe that it's been 32 years since I took that first ride. And now as I turn 40 I look forward to skating with my two sons, and sharing the wonders of that "Magic Rolling Board".

Jack S.


Hi, just read your skate 76 piece, brought back memories. I have skated for the last 27 years and am not about to stop....much to my wife's dismay. A newly aquired all terrain board has her diving for cover as I carve up and down neighbours nice banked lawns on our downhill street!

I have taught both my girls to skate (they are 9&7) and even my wife has got into longboard skating, as I have just started making and selling longboards (like the Topps ones) .....gee the future is bright, only the stacks take longer to recover from, eh?

R. Jones


Hey there,

I'm a skater who started around 1975 on a Lotus skateboard (remember PLASTIC ?) with loose bearings and 4" trucks... It was fun for a while. But only for a while... I changed that real soon for an all fiberglass New York made Bunker board that weighted half a ton. Full equiped with green Kryptonics and ACS 500 trucks.

I'm now in my thirties and still have a skateboard... Not socially acceptable.

That's it for now, thanks for the page.

CIAO,
Louis (LoCo) C.


I am not a skategeezer of any sort. I am a girl so I am a Real Old School Skateboarder, and proud of it. I used to skaterace with the island kids (half-Hawaiians, Japanese, Filipino, etc.) and with my stupid brother Mike, who used to make my aerodynamically designed skateboard for me. Actually, he is smart because he is stationed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, in Civil Engineering.

He could design a good board for me for skate-racing. I cant find any shops that sell them (when we call each other stupid, it is just sibling rivalry). Hope someone knows where I could find a skate-racing board, or doesn't anybody care about that old sport anymore, besides me?

Ruffian(AW)


Hey, My friend in Holland put your link up on our Sidewalk Surfing page.

I'm from NorCal and am one of those skate geezers from " Back-in-the-day". I started in 1974/5 on a Super Surfer, then Fibreflex Bowlrider. I still skate pools and have been around in the skate industry. Check out my attempt to bring back style with my own brand of board: Deplo.

Here are a few of my memories from life and the pages of Skateboarder:
Sims Pure Juice * Sims 42" * Carlsbad * Larry Bertleman * Rick Blackhart * Bombora Pipe * OJ Radial Juice * PowerFlex * Tunnel * PowerPaw * IKS * John Hutson * RAD PADS *---

Skate Tough__________[]=^=[]

Steve


Reading your stuff is like coming in from the cold! I guess I fit in with the rest of the 'geezer gang': 39 years, started mid-70's, kind of stopped begin 80's, and now riding again (oh so carefully!).

I won't go on about the hardware, (actually I will: G&S, Tracker, red Kryptonics), I still use it now. The helmet, the gloves, the Rector pads: left 'm in the attic. Last summer, I started a homepage (in Dutch) about skateboard-sites in Noord-Holland.

Seems like a lot of us guys are using our kids, and/or internet, as an excuse to take it up again. Well, as long as we have fun, anything goes. And man, do I have fun! Not as rad as I used to be. But, by lightyears not as 'arrived' and 'responsible' as a whole bunch of other people of my generation.

Skate on!

Max Faber, Groet, Netherlands
Email: mfaber@vegro.nl


I enjoyed reading your synopsis of Skateboarding in the 70's. I was also an eleven year old skateboarding fanatic in 1976....I was sitting in front of my computer with my 9 year old son (Joey - also a skateboarding fanatic).

It was interesting to read your opinion as to how the sport has evolved over the last 20 years. My son keeps talking to me about "ollies", rail-slides, 50/50 grinds, etc..., and I always tell him about empty pools, handstands, and downhill skating...

Reading your information proves to my son that skateboarding was like I described back then. Since I am a 31 year-old mother he questions my expertise on skating, and now you have confirmed everything that I have told him....Way to go!!!! By the way, enjoy teaching your little girl. I (unlike you) to a lot better job describing how tricks are done, rather than demonstrating...

You would make my son's day if you respond!!!!


I have been skating for over 22 years and when I saw this web site, I just couldn't resist. It is great to see that people from the mid 70's and who remember the great skateparks and teams of that era are still doing it.

It has been a life long passion for me and I still am looking for empty pools to ride and occassionally a few ramps pop up here and there.

TCurro


Wow, what a great page...makes me feel really old....

You may want to add "California Slalom" to the list of things to remember. My first board was a Logan Earth Ski with California Slalom's and a set of Road Rider 4's. After that, I graduated to another Logan Earth Ski (this time laminated) with a set of Tracker mid-tracks and some Road Rider 6's with German racing bearings.

I had a set of Kryptonite Greens for a while, but they were way too hard for my tastes. This board sported a kicktail skid plate and a nice set of urethane risers. I was quite the skateboarder in my time. No empty swimming pool was safe! Thanks for bringing back the memories!

Carl


I was just checking out your geezer site! WOW, other people who still remember the old days. Skateboarding was my life from 76 - 84. I still have a Skull Skates Dave Hackett model that I occasionally take out for a spin! Most of my time is spent working, family and Mt. Biking, but I don't think a day goes by where I don't think about skating. I'm glad when I step on my board and I still have the ability to still ride!

Joe C.


Glen E. Friedman is a photographer whose work has been seen in Skateboarder. He has also taken photos of many, many bands including Black Flag. Check out more about Glen at the:

  • Books page
  • Friedman page
  • Souther n page

    What's up Ye Olde Sk8 Bro's,
    WOW! I don't know where to start, I guess that's how ya' know you're qualified to be here, eh? Anyhow, I'm fully stoked there's an outlet like this to give a BIG what's up to anybody who's been into sk8boarding for a good while, and by all means give me a shout back, whenever ya' want. I'll always respond to what ya' got, and we'll just have an "OLD SKOOL COMMUNE" goin' on anytime it's to cold to skate, or whenever you or anybody's got something on their mind.

    Everybody on this page seems to have their own story, so here's mine....... I started sk8ing in '84, on my cousins G&S skate I would borrow whenever we would go to vacation down to Florida. Then, when we went back home I would have withdrawls fiendin' for the fix that only 7-plys of wood, 2 metal axles, and 4 urethane wheels only can give you. So the next trip we took down to Florida I begged my dad to buy me the cheapest board in the shop, a freestyle "SUREGRIP", which after a while delaminated in the rain, oh well.

    The next board I had was a "VISION" leopard print deck, with "SIMS" wheels, and generic trucks.(after about 6 weeks worth of lunch money) The list goes on.........SKULL SKATES" DAVE HACKETT" IRON CROSS, ALVA FISH, SKULL SKATES "DAVE HACKETT" STREET SICLE, ALVA "BILL DANFORTH", SMA "NATAS", ALVA"JOHN THOMAS", SIMS "ERIC NASH", (ONE OF THE FIRST BI-DIRECTIONAL BOARDS) DOGTOWN "BRYCE KANIGHTS",( A SLEW OF NEW SCHOOL DECKS WOULD FOLLOW, ALL TO MY DISLIKE)all of which I lost or gave away, all except for that totally thrashed "HACKETT" IRON CROSS!

    My favorite place to skate(where I learned to sk8) and where I will always make a pilgrimage back to every year is a local ditch called "THE WEDGE"(campy, no doubt). This was where all the loc's use to go back in the day to shoot the proverbial tube. Many of bert, and slide revert, and dues getting hurt were paid there, sound familiar?

    These days I ride a CREATURE"RETURN OF THE MUMMY" board with INDY"166'S" and 63mm SPITFIRES! ( WITH OTHER NEWER OLD SCHOOL DECKS SET TO THE SIDE FOR FUTURE ABUSE) I still wear hi-top cons, or the occasional low-cab.

    Tony Alva is the O.G. to sk8ing, like Iggy and The Stooges are to punk rock. Also Duane Peters is to sk8ing, like Orville and Wilbur Wright are to flight.(PLEASE ADD HIM TO YOUR DISTINGUISHED LIST, THANX) Sk8 history should always be preserved for the future, that's why"SKATEGEEZER" is the best thing goin' on the web. So whoever you are out there, keep those old juices forever flowin'(GERITOL ENTACT) and never loose an interest in sk8ing, so the cool history we make today will not become mere nostalgia. Mouldy pads and all.

    SK8FULLY YOURS,
    ERIC B. SK8TOAD@aol.com


    I was rather surprised to see a web page devoted to what was, by allaccounts, the best time of my life! As a person born in 1960, I literally grew up during the introduction, evolution, and refinment of "sidewalk surfing".

    Yes, I owned a clay wheel board in the late '60's. Yes, I spent more time on the ground than on the wood (due to the incredible unpredictability of clay wheels, which I now refer to as "Flintstone tires").Then in 1972 the world changed for me, I obtain a Bonsi alunimum board (twin kicker) with composite wheels! The wheels would stick well in hard turns, hold well in vert situations, and were relatively predictable in terms of performance. I rode everywhere, to school, to my girlfriend's house, to football practice... Life was good.

    In the late 1970's we discoovered the lazy man's guide to scate happyness, yes, we found multi-level parking garages. Seven-to-ten stories high, great concrete, and no walking (for there was an elivator system)! Until the law caught on to what we were doing, each Friday and Saturday night was "Autotopia".

    Thanks for the memories.

    JRFINTEL@aol.com


    Damn mike, Your article is like tripping down memory lane...I was wondering if you remember those plast GT skateboards....you know with the flourescent colors? I used to break those thing in half all the time! Of course it was never my board, and it was usually on the landing end of jumping over bikes, mop handles, even tried the ass end of a datsun pick up truck...got real stoked on that one! I was on the only Skate Team in the Midwest, Sponsered by Pepsi, and RidgeRiders Skate park! They used to call me "Mr. Rad" , man I had the signature down and everything.

    I picked up a new skool deck not to long ago, trying out some of the new street style, but to no avail! sold the bord to a Grom down the street....Anyway, I wanted to let you know that my skate salvation has returned with the purchase of my latest deck! It's a 48" long board Joel Tudor design from Think Skateboards, I have my groove back.....nothing like going out and carving a parking lot, or a parking garage! Stay Stoked, Lance Mr.Rad


    Reading some of the comments on your skate geezers page made me really nostalgic for the 70's. It was my whole life then. G&S Fiberflex, Bennett trucks, Tracker trucks, Road Riders, Simms Bowl Riders, Alva Boards, Z-flex, etc. I spent all of my weekends doing four-hour sessions at the Longwood Pipeline in Florida along with various pools half-pipes. My high school yearbook had a half-page picture of me doing a front-side aerial out of one of the bowls at Longwood Pipeline.

    Anyway, thanks for reminding me of some good things. I'm now 35 and spend all of my time programming computers, being a dad and generally being an "almost geezer". I've just moved to Jacksonville, Florida and hear that the Kona Skatepark is here. Maybe I will have to dust off my board and give it a go one of these days. Greg W


    Hello Michael: I remember those days all too well. That skateboarding essay brought back alot of memories. My body's a little too worked, but I still ride freestyle boards that I cut down:I found a good source of tailplates, and I still have a few F.U. boards left from when I rode for them. Skating in the NSA and CASL contest were a blast.

    I remember seeing Ty Page, and Russ Howell was crazy for spinning that much on metal wheels. I found Russ's e-mail address on the net and wrote him. I was so stoked on seeing him, the guy that had his GT commercial on TV in the 1970's...

    I freestyled with all of the guys in Nor. Cal. No one knew any of us, but it was so much fun skating with Ray Meyers, Ray Gardia, Anthony Sedillo, Curtis, and everybody else. Going to Golden Gate Park on Sundays. I started skating with those clay wheels. Rocks and pebbles were the enemy.

    Do you remember Staton Skateboards, Power Paws, and Chicago and X-Caliber trucks? Or the Henry Hester Road Rider Slalom wheel? Wayne Brown skateboards? I better stop now.

    If you ever find a book called Skateboard, written by Stephen Kane, Anthony and I are the freestylers in that publication.

    By the way, if you know anybody with old skate gear they want to sell, I'm really looking for the old stuff that I sold to finance new boards when I was younger.

    Tunnel Waldo Autry model (Tunnel was cool, they gave me wheels when I was knee high to a cockroach).

    Any Neverflex skateboard

    Primo Desiderio Freestyle model from Madrid. (I know the vision ones are really rare)

    Hans Lingren Freestyle model (New Deal, the crows in the vine)

    These Variflex boards: Lucero Bondage model, Billy Beaugard model,Steve Hirch model, Stuart Singer model(freestyle)

    Don Brown Freetyle model. The last one with the pig graphic.

    Sims/Vision Steve Rocco model with the checkers and beveled edges

    Walker skateboards. Looking for Tim Brown and Joe Humeres models.

    You're right, G-turns are rad. I think the backside ones are harder to hold than the frontside ones. things get interesting when you try to do a shove-it or kickflip out of them. Wally S. sk84beer@ix.netcom.com


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