I rode my sisters silver surfer w/clay wheels when I was eight, also in our garage was an old silver surfer w/ metal wheels. I used to "catamaran" with my buddy down the "horeshoe" a huge hill/parking lot that had a big switchback halfway down. I really found bliss on My fibreflex w/bennet pros and roadrider fours. Yellow deck, maroon bottom. The big option was whether I wanted the camphered deck or the "new kicktail" design. I opted for the kick-tail. Any idea (outside of garage sales and flea markets) where to find the old seventies skates? I also had a z-flex w/ mid tracks and o.j.s and a Logan Earthski. I heard a rumor that there are warehouses stocked full of stuff from then that never sold. Got any leads? I want to attack the So. Cal. canyons again, but the new trucks just don't turn like the old bennetts and trackers. Please send me any info regarding this. Skater for life. Justin.
Subject: FINDING ANTIQUE EQPT.
FIRST OFF THIS IS MY RELATIVES WEB TV, MY NAME IS RICHARD, I AM 35. MY SKATEBOARDING STARTED IN 73 (GOD WHAT A LONG TIME AGO). LIKE YOU I HAD STONEAGE EQPT. BUT I LIVE IN SOUTH CAROLINA. GETTING THE NEW STUFF ON THE EAST COAST TOOK AN EXTRA YEAR PLUS. WHEN I FINALLY DID GET A QUALITY BOARD IT COST ROUGHLY 150 DOLLARS , AND WE HAD TO TRAVEL 75 MILES TO MYRTLE BEACH TO GET IT.ON CHRISTMAS DAY IN 1975 I TOOK POSSESION OF A 26 IN. G&S FIBRE-FLEX KICKTAIL WITH TRACKER TRUCKS AND SIMS COMPETION WHLS. I BEING A BIG GUY (6 FT. 200 LBS AT AGE 14) SOON CRACKED THE BOARD DOING SLALOM. I WENT THROUGH A SERIES OF BOARDS THEREAFTER , BUT TO THIS DAY I STILL HAVE THE TRACKER TRUCKS AND SIMS COMPS. THE TRUCKS ARE STILL ON THE LAST BOARD I EVER PUT TOGETHER A SIMS TAPERKICK 36 INCHER WITH THE ORIGINAL TRACKERS AND A SET OF 70 mm KRYPTONICS ORANGE (SOFT) WHLS. I RODE THAT BOARD ALL THROUGH COLLEGE AND EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE I TAKE IT OUT NOW AND SHOW SOME KIDS A SKATE THAT IS OLDER THAN THEY ARE. I AM INTERESTED TO SEE IF OTHERS LIKE ME HUNG ON TO THEIR OLD STUFF. I WOULD LIKE TO GET A SET OF ROAD RIDER 6 AND A SET OF KRYPTONICS 70mm ORANGE FROM SOMEONE IF ANYONE OUT THERE HAS THEM. I ALSO RECENTLY FOUND SOME 79 ISSUES OF SKATEBOARDER MAGAZINE . I SHOWED THEM TO A COUPLE OF 12 YR. OLDS AND THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT THEY SAW WENT ON WAY BACK THEN. YOU WOULD GET THE IMPRESSION THAT SKATING WAS INVENTED BY THE ESPN X-TREME GAMES PARTICIPANTS. YOUR PAGE BROUGHT BACK LOTS OF GOOD MEMORIES AND I THANK YOU FOR THAT...ONE DINOSOUR TO ANOTHER. THANKS AGAIN. RICHARD F.
Just found your page, and, to use one of the old terms, it was rad.
Here's my story. At 35, I've been skating for over 33 years, Geeze. I started at 18 months when all of my brothers and sister were riding clay-wheeled board and got on my stomach and started pushing with my hands. I rode off and on until about 1975, when I got my first set of Cadillac wheels. I was about thirteen then and practically lived on a skateboard until I graduated high school.
In college, I rode to class everyday. For a while, I even started riding long distance. I think the farthest I ever rode was about 30 miles in a day. I've been riding long boards since high school, mostly home-made jobbers made out of old water skis.
For the last few years, I hadn't ridden much, maybe a handful of times each year. About a month ago, I was in a shopping mall and wandered into this store that sold skateboards.
Well, actually, they mostly sold shoes and bathing suits. They had the coolest board. It was a Sector 9, Cosmic Rider--sort of a cross between a long board and a G&S Fiberflex slalom board. I asked how much the deck was, but they said they could sell the deck alone. They also didn't want to trade out the wheels for the Kryptonic Red 70 mm's on another board. That'll teach me to try to buy a skater at a place that sells bathing suits.
About a week after my 35th birthday, I bought a new board, a Sector 9, Cosmic Rider II, Independent Trucks, and Gravity 73 mm wheels. Come to think of it, it's the first time in my life I've had a totally new board. Before I always got new trucks or new wheels or a new board, but never all at once. I had my two-year-old with me, and of course he wanted to ride it, so I put him on the front, and we took off.
The next day I got a chance to ride it for real. Within about a hundred yards of starting, some eight-year-old kid saw me and said, "Whoa!" Before long, I was cutting turns like on my old Fiberflex. That weekend I dug an old skateboard out of the garage for my two-year-old to ride, oddly enough on old G&S Fiberflex that my brother had picked up at a garage sale a few years back. Yeah, I know, it's probably worth money, but it keeps him off my new stick. I showed him how to ride on one knee, hey it's a start.
In all of these years, I've made one concession to safety, wrist guards. My hands are always the first thing to hit the concrete anyway. Besides, they look kind of cool in a Billy-Idol-Rebel-Yell-fingerless-glove sort of way.
Hell, I might even learn to do an Ollie. With practice, I might have it down by the Millennium.
Keep up the good work.
Chris Sturhann San Diego
P.S. Feel free to put this in your feedback section. I also have a web page. It's a humor page, http://home.earthlink.net/~sturhann.
Hello, my name is Michael Little. And I just began to skate again this summer. I had some prior experience as a teen or preteenager I can't quite remember which. What I do remember is that I had this really cheap old style skateboard that was made of bright orange polyurathane. ( the deck that is) It had a large tail that I believe was refered to as a kicktail, but at the time I never knew what the heck it was for. ( I suspect the board designers didn't either.) It was real small and tapered to a point at the front end. Other than that I don't remember too much about it.
During a couple of summers I rode it a lot and learned a couple simple tricks. I think it may have been during the 1st great skateboarding boom during the 70's. I was kind of a fad at the time to ride or have a skateboard. The suprising part is that I really haven't touched a skateboard until this summer. And now that I've started again I really enjoy it quite a lot. This time I ride a standard modern board made by a company known as California Classic. It's like night and day compard to the old board I once had. Anyhow, I thought I would take the time to write....Its interesting that we both were born in 1964 and of course have the same first names.
One thing I take exception to however is the term SkateGeezer. I don't consider myself a Geezer and probably never will. I know it's done in humor, but because this renewed intrest in skating has made me take a second look and my current age it kind of rubs me the wrong way. On a closing note I have found that far from being a geezer this skating is a great way to stay limber and stay in shape. Let me know what you think... Hope to hear from you.
Michael
I also started skating in the 70's. Now I have an 8 year old son and a 5 year old daughter. I still enjoy skating and am teaching my son about skating. Every friday night in the town of Schertz, Tx., thats a suberb of San Antonio Tx. I help put together a skate jam for the local skaters. It starts at 6:30 pm most the time and ends at 11pm. There are about 100 to 200 skaters that show up every friday night.
Most of the skaters are younger, from about 8 to about 19, but there are some old school skaters that show up. There is mutual respect between all of them and we have a great time. When my truck is running, right now the motor is blown, I haul the props down to the pavillion and set them up for all to skate. I also supply the music, I play old school and new school punk and have found that most of the kids like the old school punk better than the new school. After the skate jam some of us, old and young will pile into whatever vehicles are available and go find places around town to skate....ditches, parking lots, church stairs, whatever looks challenging....and try not to get arrested or hassled by the cops, which around here is pretty difficult sometimes. Its great to know that skating wasnt just a fad. My parents always thought it was just a phase I was going through and that I would grow out of it, NOT, it grew into me as I grew into skating. Skating will always be a part of my life. I just hope that as I get older that the skating scene will still embrace me as I always have it. By the way I'm 34.
Skate or die Troy Hatfield AKA, T-Bone
Michael, great page. I live in England and during the 70's in a city called Bristol. We had two purpose built skateparks nearby , Ashton Park and Bedminster. I would spend hours and hours at Bedminster and then skate 3 - 4 miles back home. During the summer of 77 I won the city Freestyle Championships and also took the record for the highjump. Later in the same year I went on to become Regional Freestyle Champion in the UK. In 78 and 79 I ran two boards, one with tiny Tracker Trucks and Red Kryptonics and an unknown wooden rocker deck (my freestyle board) and the other with Green Kryptonics , Californian Slalom Trucks and a wide wooden deck (for bowlriding). I guess my fave tricks of the time were handstands that went on forever and "bunny hops" over 10 or 12 boards. Nigel, (age 32, married with son !!)
Hey Man- What's up? Great to see your web page, I've been wanting to set up my own "old skater web site" if I can figure out these damn computers! My name is Rick McCurdy, I started skating in about 1968 in Florida on a prototype wood deck/rollerskate wheels (metal, of course) that my older brother set up & let me use. I had some fun but it had a "non-turnable curve to the right" problem. Used them a little on & off after that, then started surfing in 1960 at age 10.
In 1973 urethene came along and I was 13 with some experience and "surfing balance" so I was in the right place at the right time. I ended up in California for 15 years (Upland, Del Mar, pools, ramps) but now live in Birmingham, Al.
Last week I stumbled upon a local shop demo and like any skater had my board in the trunk. They all did "new school" while this 37 year old went for the frontside airs, inverts, varial inverts, fake and rolls, rock and rolls, and "inventions". It was my best session since I left California 2 years ago because there was a real ramp to ride. Just a reminder to myself, gotta keep skating! I'll check out some more of your page now even though I scored a sorry 41 points on the geezer test - Later - Rick rmccurdy@earthlink.net
Hey Michael! I enjoyed your article @ Dan's World. I'm just a year younger than you. I got my first board in 77 (I think). It was a yellow plastic board with the urethane wheels and those rattly, loose bearings. I loved it. I went everywhere with my board. I skated on it for 2 years and dreamed of the day I'd get to go to a skate park (there was one in Minneapolis but we lived 100 miles away). Anway, winter of '78 I put my board up on a shelf in the garage and it fell off at some point (probably at -30F) and broke in half!!! In January, my parents moved to a farm and that was pretty much the end of my skate career.
I have been on various boards since then (including a jaunt down a hill in front of my apartment in college that culminated with an unintentional encounter with a mailbox!), but never really got back into it.
Then, 2 years ago, I decided I was going to learn how to surf. I spent 3 months of the summer @ Virginia Beach (work related) and got hooked. Then, last winter, I learned how to snowboard. All the while, I kept thinking that I needed to get a skateboard again.
So, I took a road trip to San Diego over this past weekend (I live in Phoenix now) for a surfari and was so pumped when I got back that I went out yesterday & bought a Powell longboard. I took the dog for a walk on it (just to get the feel back) & then cruised over to an industrial research park & rode the roads/p.lots/&sidewalks for a couple of hours. I brought it with me to work today so I can hit some spots on the way home.
Anywhoo - I feel like such an old fart, but I don't really give a #$@! 'cuase I'm having a *great* time. later - Daniel
Just passed through and heartily enjoyed your page!!! I was curious as a while ago I did an article for my homepage (which ...ahem...is still not sorted yet !!) about skating when old skool actually meant your old school...so old school trainers would be those black things with the elastic that your mum got you from Woolworths :o)
I wasn't particularly hardcore ... I had one of those boards that a couple of other people have mentioned ... the red pebbley topped plastic boards with a nose and kicktail, and huge rollerskate-esqe polyurethane wheels ... that kind of board that you had to totally loosen the trucks to get anywhere other than a straight line on!!! I got mine from a boy at school whose dad had a job-lot of them!!! Oh, and the tricks ...wow... catamarans, daffy ducks, christies, handstands ... need I go on!!!
I read a lot of the previous emails and was chuffed to see a lot of ..hmmm how shall I put it ...'mature' skaters, and female skaters still going. I'm in the process of buying a board now at 27 (after a flippant remark by Matt Stuart, Cheers mate!!) so it's blinding to see all this encouragement Jean
Mike, I too am a dinosaur from the 70's and 80's. My first real board was a G&S Fibreflex Bowlrider with Bennett Pro trucks (yes the baseplates broke), and Sims Comp Wheels.
My skating (especially vert) really took off when I got a new Alva Skate with Gull Wing Pros and Green Krypto 65mm's. I was able to skate a lot of ramps, do a lot of freestlye, and skate parks in Texas, St. Louis, and Ohio.
The best park ever, by far, was Apple Skatepark in Columbus, Ohio. Totally indoor, totally rad. The 3/4 pipe was rad. I remember that I used to think that Henry Hester had a lot of nerve to put his fat butt on a skateboard and ride in all those California Free-former slalom and downhill contests. Now, I'm built just like he was. Sad circle of events. However, the memory of being totally weightless with one wheel on the coping will never escape me.
Grace and Peace, Mike Lawlor, Wichita Falls, TX
Not having skated for so long, it felt like coming out of hybernation this summer when they opened the park. The sport is very different, some of it I like, some I don't. In the two months I've been back at it I've already gotten better than I was as a kid. Of course learning tricks is a lot easier on a 4' mini than the days of big vert ramps. At any rate it's fun and I'm glad I've rediscovered it!
The other day I had an idea... Do you think a Skate Geezer Convention would be possible? I had a vision of a bunch of us meeting somewhere in California, meeting, reminiscing and then invading a big skatepark unannounced. I'd love to see the reaction of those kids if 50 thirty-somethings showed up doing all these old school tricks! Just an idea...
Take care,
John Haley III
I am definitely a skate geezer....who constantly confounds the neophytes at the park with their world boards and droors t-shirts and dc shoes when they ask me "how long have you been skating" and I reply "oh, about 22 years now!!!" Ha Ha Ha. I've outlasted all of my 70's crew from the Longwood Pipeline skatepark in Longwood, (orlando area) Florida, and my 80's halfpipe crew (you still skate???) losers. I'll never quit!! I even spent 89-97 learning how to kickflip. Yes, old skaters never die, they just keep on keepin' on.
A cess slide on a big wall still messes up the kiddies, and my "newer than new school" friend can't frontside grind the 7' vert "pool wall" at the park near us. Hell, he can't backside grind it either. I do have to say something for the pros, there are a lot of really cool new pros who really skate everything. Matt Hensley and Pat Duffy from Plan B kick ass, they skated a pool with me ( and about 20 others ) at a park in orlando, and were ripping, Danny Way and Tony Hawk keep the dream alive. I'm just so glad to see skating progress, and still, keep it's roots.
I'm looking into getting a longboard, and messing kids minds up even more with long drawn out grinds! I'm so glad that your site has grown so much, and I would love to contribute to your book!! I have so many fond memories of the 70's era, even in the 80's when I got to meet Tony Alva at a contest! It was really cool, just me and my friend knew who he was, he had a Thrasher sweatshirt on (hooded) with dark shades, but there was no mistaking the hair! We quietly went up to him and introduced ourselves, and he was really cool, down to earth. It was a blessing to me, to meet one of my idols.
I can't believe the celebrity response! I had a Inoyue pool service T-shirt (wish I still had it!!!!) and ... wow. Thanks for the page, and keep it up, and if there's anything I can do, please let me know!!! Go for it, Kevin Farley
Do you remember GT skateboards(GrenTech) they had 2 models at first .One was a little stubby one about 20" long with a tiny kick tail and the other one was more like a surfboard shape.With a really narrow pintail. They retailed for like 15 or so dollars in 1976. Also Franklin skateboards (my second board ,with loose bearings and ACS 430 trucks) made some models roughly surfboard shaped, but the kicktail model had a little bent kick nose.All these boards were polypropelene.Franklin also made a fiberglass model the same shape.But my first board was a roller derby 1/4 inch thick wood deck about 18 inches long with non adjustable trucks and red clay wheels,It was like $8 in May of 75or6 don't remember the exact year.Also ACS (American Cycle Systems),430's 4.3 inches/500's 5 "/650's-651's6.5 ".Great site by the way. It's not often someone talks of the old days/vintage products.Thanks for stirring up some long forgotten memories,John Turner NYC
My background? In the summer of '75, when I was 14, I got a cheap k-mart stick and almost killed myself. By November, I had a 27" Bahne with Stobies (Man, how long has it been since I saw that in print?)
By then we were all buying SKATEBOARDER every month and really getting into skating. But, as my friends were digging on Jay Adams and Steve Cathey, I ripped through every issue looking for pics of Big H and Skoldberg and Piercy and Yandall.
In June of '76, almost a year after I started skating, I got my first set of Road Rider 4s. That day I carved my favorite hill, cut a turn to the right (I ride Goofy Foot,) and felt SOMETHING. Almost like acceleration. So, that's what those guys were talking about. You could PUMP a skateboard and go faster. And having Road Riders meant you went FORWARD, and didn't SLIDE sideways (ah, yes, it's all coming back to me now!)
I never looked back. I spent the next 20 years skating regularly. Never tried to do a 360, carve a pool or do a handstand. All I wanted to do was GO FAST. My dedication to racing finally was complete when that same summer I graduated from a Bahne to a FibreFlex.
I skated at the Amateur Level all up and down the Eastern Seaboard for five or six years, until racing petered out in around '81 or 82. But, I still set up my cones and rode on my own. (By the way, my race record was 56-1 in those years.) And I also continued to dowhill. As a matter of fact, (and no, I can't prove this, it's just me saying so,) I was in the mountains around Boone North Carolina and reached a top speed of 89.65 mph. sustained. Clocked by radar. I missed a mile-and-a-half per minuted by tha-a-a-a-t much. Oh, well.)
And, another milestone was in the summer of '78. Remember when Turner finally broke down and spent some money to advertise in SKATEBOARDER? Those beautiful full page black layouts with the multicolor arrangement of photos of cutaways? Well, those ads also finally revealed to us kids on the East Coast what a Summer Ski cost: $80.00? They may as well have been a million. Oh, well. Anyway, I finally had an address, so I wrote a letter to TSK and asked if they had a brochure or a catalog or something detailing the boards and the different configurations.
Well, nothing. three weeks went by with no response. Then, one night while eating dinner with my family, the doorbell rang. There stood UPS with a box. I signed for it and brought it in. No COD, no Bill, No Invoice. But inside was a 28" yellow medium cutaway Summer Ski. I was flabbergasted and screamed at my mom and dad, "I swear I didn't order this!"
But, there was also a letter ( which I still have) from TOMMY RYAN. Tommy sent me a free Summer Ski as a sample. 16 years old and I owned a Turner Summer Ski. Who woulda thunk it?
Suffice it to say, I was the envy of the neighborhood (actually, I was the envy of the state of South Carolina, but that's another story entirely.) And I continued to ride and continued to go fast and still am.
My current quiver is three Summer Skis' (that I DO NOT ride), one Santa Cruz H-Bomb (what I still ride) a freestyle board I haven't touched in years, three Ick Sticks (two cutaways and the downhill board) plus I still got my 27' Bahne. My only problem now is my weight. I don't ride the Summer Skis or Icks anymore because I am way too heavy to ride. I'm petrified of breaking one of those antiques, so I leave them be. Also, my boards are set up exclusively now with Kryptonics, Park Riders (still), Tracker Halfs, Full, and Independents.
And that's my story (and I'm stickin' to it!)
Thanks for the info and maybe I'll look Bob up.
Sincerely Wesley Tucker Wtucker567@aol.com
You got something really great for every true old skatedogs! Something visceral hapenned when I began to read all that memory related tribune. I'ts kinda like an old sect remembering great feeling of something called skateboarding. The first turn,the first slam, the first trick acheived, the first fear,the first pain of skate injury,the first handstand... etc...
My first skate was,beleive it or not, a TONKA truck. So,I learned to kick turn before simple turn. I learned sidewalk jump on it. Right after this, ( it was totally broke after 3 days ) I got a promotionnal Adidas North Star plastic skate. (Adidas are back now in skateboarding ) Then I will remember all my life, my first handstand. And a little later,we began to ride banks at the local Shopmall and go to some rare skateparks and private ramps . All with the progress and fun of new challenge in mind. And so on,I kept skating till my job got me far from all my preferred spots for a while (5 years).
I never quit any interest in skateboarding trough all these years. (22 years) Hopefully,you will see an old guy grind the coping of an old little ramp somewhere behind an old small house and riding along the street on a longboard. (I hope the health will follow). Still love skateboarding...David.
Hi there fellow oldtimer, I truly enjoyed your little sentimental piece on skating. there is a lot I remember from my old days, Plastic pinner boards, Banzai skates,Free former, Sunspot wheels, G&S a "christ centered company" :-) Alva, Shogo Kubo. etc etc Alan Gelfand, Powell. ahhh are we that old ? but it was great. wouldn t want to have missed it. incidentally, if you do the freestyle thing, let me know something. I like to think that i was a not too bad freestyler myself. would be interesting to see where freestyling is now or if people still do it ??? take care Michael "an old rug rat "
Hey all you skategeezers out there, I'm only 27, just a young buc in your eyes, but I got to tell you about the "Bomb King!" He kills the new Ocean Bowl. Good concrete! Something the East Coast has needed for a long time! Can't wait to skate with all of you in Ocean City, MD. Thanks to all those that made it happen...Tom G, can't wait to see you there... TZ & Wild Bill I already heard rumors of you skating there...CIA what's up Brewce, so you're finally going to go to Rio, wish I could come...What's up to all the East Coast boys lets keep it happening! ...Thanks for the pool Omar & Team Pain...
Keep on carving the round wall
Jaime(hime')Northern VA
you gotta great list of ancient skate. do you know what happened to schimtt stixxs? one of my best boards was a hosoi hammerhead, when it broke I got a hosoi vert it lasted until recently, though thoroughly thrashed. I' ve been looking at the new boards- theres a lot of new companies, but it seems like only santa cruz and powell peralta are left from the old days. What's up with the cookie cutter boards, I can't find anything I like, it seems only the graphics are the difference between boards. do you know of anyone that sells a concave blank about10'' x 34''( like JBA used to) so i can cut my own board. remember when you could tell what someone was riding long after the graphics were thrashed? like the fish tailed santa cruz roskop, or the double bulged nose on the hammer head? what happened? glc797@ bellsouth.net
Hello.
Age 33 (dob 3/10/1965).
Started skating: 1970s. Metal wheels nailed to botton of 2x4. Then clay
wheels off my sisters skates, then a Bonzai board. Then added OJ Super
Joice Wheels. Coned out real quick. Then got Kryptonics 70mm Orange.
Then Tracker trucks, Sims Pure Juice. etc.
Now 24 years later. Riding again. Riding Element Board + Titan trucks + Powell Minilogo wheels, also still ride my Orange 70MM Kryptonics on a Powell mini-logo. Also have my Sims Piere Andre freestyle board i love it!.
Built a small halfpipe in backyard. I AM TOTALLY HOOKED AGAIN ON SK8ING!!!!
I still CANNOT Ollie (YET).
Skateboarding is not a life style, but a style of life! Live it, love it, be in it. Get involved. Take risks, and HAVE FUN, regardless of your age. I NEVER READ A AGE LIMIT was in affect for sk8ers!
Peace
Frank E.
Hi, I live in the past when it comes to skating because it was such a big part of my life while growing up. Now I help run the skatepark at the Salem Family YMCA in Salem, OR and both my kids (9 and 11) are skaters! Anyways, stuff I wanted to contribute is the following:
1. "Astral" boards and "Astro" wheels
2. Soquel Skatepark in Santa Cruz, CA
3. "Haut" Skateboards and Surfboards (A friend of mine was on the demo team) 4. "Van's ankle guards" for those of us who wore the old multi-colored deck shoes
That's about all I can think of at the moment, but I'm sure I've got more info stored somewhere in the recesses of my brain. Thanks for a great sk8 geezer outlet!
Sincerely,
Kirsten Swanson
e-mail: drumhead@mailexcite.com
How you doing? It took me a while, but I heppened upon your page by searching for "road riders".
Your site strikes a chord; I'm a little younger than you, (born in 68) so by the time I was old enough to know how much fun it was, skating was already undergoing it's first demise. The good part was, I got to buy a bunch of great stuff of a of my older brother's friends and my friends' older brothers--including 2 G&S Fibreflex's w/Trackers and Road Rider 6's that I still own and treasure (one is a pretty rare Henry Hester swallow tail that they will have to pry from my cold, dead fingers). I also owned a couple of very cool Dewey Webers (one of which was sold to me in about 1980, in unused cond, which my mom promptly rode over with her car. Worst day of my pre-teen life.) Me and my best friend looked pretty weird riding those little sticks when the big decks got popular. We could give a shit. It was all the need for speed, anyway.
I just wanted to say 'what's up' and cool page.
Jon
Mike, Thanks for carrying the torch. I'm 48 years old and started out on steel wheels in the mid 60's. I worked part time in a skateboard shop and was a skateguard in a local park in Baltimore in the mid 70's. I always rode a long board. Had a 32" kicktail and a home made 39" board that I used in the park and for downhill. I was never too excited by going straight up and down walls. I much more enjoyed carving. When the park closed, I got into racing BMX for a few years. Raced 25-34 year old Cruiser class and was National #11 in 1982, NBL. Had a lot of fun with that.
After 1983, I quit and started working a lot of overtime and bought a house. Kind of burned out and became a couch potato. Bought a 48" board in Feb. 1997. Put some old trucks and an old set of Alva wheels on it. Rode it a few times, but felt a little sluggish. I picked up the recent issue of LONGBOARD magazine and saw an article on long skateboards. WOW!! It has fired me up. I've been out walking every day and loosened the trucks on my board and it carves much better. I fell yesterday for the first time in a long time. Didn't get too banged up, so I'm stoked. It's great to be back. I've missed the "soul cruising." Glad to see the resurgence. Thank you for the effort you put into your site. Pat
Mike,
Your site is one of those great examples of how the web can capture the feelings and essence of an era far better than movies or books. True interaction between the people that were there, who lived the lifestyle.
Sitting in a box under my desk is my own last piece of memorabilia from my late 70's skate period: an 8mm home movie of the top skaters at the Markham skate park made as a class project in high school. "Hogtown Sunday" was the title. It's completely amateurish; repetitive, poorly framed and pathetically edited but until I can get it transferred to video it will remain a prized posession.
Greg.
I've been visiting your site off and on since my 40th last year & figured it was time to contribute my story to your annals. I've been skateboarding since 74 so qualify as a geezer and can tick off all the cliches on the geezer checklist. For example, my first boards were all handcrafted chunks of ply with mauvish clay wheels and open bearings, which if you weren't careful would liberate themselves midway through a session - the rest of the session would be spent hunting for them in the gutter. This was when I was a teenager living in Jersey in the Channel Islands, sometimes venue for international surfing competitions. I was into surfing, but a long way from the surf, so took to skateboarding.
Since then I've always owned at least one set-up, but I'm probably into it more today than I've ever been. I currently live in Newcastle upon Tyne, in the North East of England. Anyway, resuming my skateboarding CV... I graduated on to Roadrider 4s and Tracker Trucks that I got by mailorder from California. (Then and now I nearly always skate on my own and devote sometime each session to getting something new wired.)
So on my heavensent urethane I soon got proficient at the classic old school stuff, emulating Alva, Yandall, Ty Page from snippets caught on tv, or parts in surf movies, and of course Skateboarder magazine. I won't reel off a list of tricks, you know them all. Basically, you name it, I did it and still do. Sometimes I feel like a living museum when I hook up with some local kids, go into a long spacewalk, rail flip it fakie, spin 10 360s & throw in a handstand or a nosewheelie. Its the 360s they usually want to see again.
So. Late 70s. The craze happens and I land in Coventry on the mainland to go to Art School. A TV show holds a national championship, and I win the Midlands heat to join 10 others in the final in Skate City near London Bridge. Psyched out, I came last. I think riding transitions for the first time and eating it did my head in, I felt like a gremmie again. Later, I moved to London to continue my studies. All the energy in skating then was in vert and bowls & I got into it at the earliest opportunity but by then I had some catching up to do.
By the time I was getting four out and grinding the coping all the venues were closing!
In the 80s I cruised around on my red kryptonics unaware that an underground scene existed. I moved to the North East in 1990 and for years just occasionally rode around in the park, blissfully unaware that there was a resurgence going on.
Then, visiting a friend in London, whose son had just started to get into it, I saw my first new school skate video. Talk about culture shock. Since then I've been getting more and more into it and become a hybrid old school/new school animal.
I'm a total skatehead again and I love it. I can't believe I'm going to be 41 and can pop a respectable ollie and land kickflips over obstacles. It just gets better and better.
It's great to know that you're out there and all the other geezers worldwide. I've never been to your side of the pond but it's great to feel part of it all and share in some nostalgia, too.
Thanks for the site - Add me to the Contacts if you can.
Get back to me if you've got the time.
Seeya
Nigel Villalard