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The writing below was done by a young man on Skaterscafe. The full thread can be seen at http://skaterscafe.com/showthread.php?t=21146 . He has it broken down by year. I suggest reading all of it but you can jump to : 50's&60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000, and beyond. The History of SkateboardingBy Reuben Hively Foreword: dropping in…. Skateboarding is something that has for many years been part of our culture. Not many know of its beaten, scarred and battered journey from the early 60’s until now. “Skaters” as the kids that ride skateboards have termed themselves, have been arrested for their love of a pastime, but still the fire burned on. This is a brief, but interesting look at some highlights in the journey of my favorite pastime. We will look at each decade of skateboardings history from the time it was invented, until now. The 1950’s to the 60’s: A pastime created Surfing has always been a big part of California. Their coastline is full of great spots to catch waves. In the mid to late 50’s someone created a way to surf on the odd day when the tide was down. It was called skateboarding. No one knows who exactly made the first skateboard, or how it was invented. Maybe they took a two by four and attached some roller skate wheels or they took a handle off a scooter. Who knows? The skateboards anatomy is pretty straight forward and hasn’t changed much, except in appearance: there is a wooden or plastic board that you stand on called the “deck”, two axles mounted on the bottom called “trucks” (these are what let you turn) and four clay wheels mounted on the trucks. The wheels used open ball bearings, meaning you could see the bearings sitting in on the lip inside the wheels, a major problem because debris would get caught in them and lock up the wheels. As surfing gained popularity the inland version did too: “sidewalk surfing” or skateboarding. Many people did not have access to the ocean so skateboarding was the next best thing. In 1959 the first skateboard was commercially made. Several companies jumped in and started making skateboards, but due to lack of technology, the boards were hard to ride, and only the brave took to the “concrete wave”. The “fad” of surfing and skateboarding quickly died in the late 60’s. The skateboard passed like hula hoops and yo-yos and was quickly forgotten as a fad. The major problem with the 60’s boards was the clay wheels and loose ball bearings. The wheels wore down very quick and had little if any grip, the most you could do was ride in a straight line, and maybe add some careful turns. If you tried anything else your board would slide out suddenly and you’d get a nasty case of road rash. The bearings could at any time explode out of the wheel, so that also got old and presented a problem. However even through this, a few kids kept at it. The 1970’s: The Glory days Skateboards started changing, sometime in the early 70’s, when urethane wheels were created. They’re made of a mix of rubber and plastic and originally were designed for indoor roller rinks. They offered better grip, were much faster, and didn’t wear down as fast. So someone came up with the idea to use them for skateboarding. They were far superior to clay; you could now ride much faster, and could do tighter turns and carves with your skateboard, without fear of the board sliding out. They also started using closed ball bearings. The bearings now sat inside a ring with a case around it to protect them from dirt. Boards also started changing when someone in 1967 created a thing called a “kicktail”. The rear of the board was turned up slightly. It provides a pivot point so that you can turn easier, and do tricks like wheelies, kickturns and space walks. The 70’s were also when the Zephyr skate team was formed. In a run down section of Venice beach there was a gang of kids that enjoyed skating and surfing. They were the best in town. They were called the Z-boys. The most notable were Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, and Jay Adams. No one thought much of them, just a couple of surfers. Jerry Schuller said this about his mom “The Zephyr skate team was formed in the area we know as "Dogtown". As a matter of fact, in the late 60's, my mother lived in Santa Monica and used to drive past the old pier every morning on the way to work and see them surfing there! That's where they got started! She had no clue that she was watching history in the making!!!” Their sponsor was Skip Emblom, a hippie surfer, who owned Zephyr skate shop. The boys got their hands on some of the new wheels and were instantly pulling insane moves on their boards, things that were not possible before. They had strong surf influences in their skating. They did many low, fast, and flowing slides and carves on walls and banks. They are noted for being the first ones to skate in a pool. They were the pioneers of today’s pool and vert skateboarding. In the mid seventies skateboarding was exploding in popularity, and the Z-boys had become overnight heroes. Stacy Peralta commented on their jump into fame “We never knew that those little wheels underneath us would carry us so far, we just had no idea, we were really taking a leap of faith, because we were the first pro skateboarders.” Many new tricks and names were made. The skating then was divided into a few main categories. Pool, bank, or “vert” riding: The Z-boys were the first to experiment with riding in pools and on steep drainage ditches or banks. Vert riding is a fast and slash style of skating. Pumping is an essential skill since it helps you to gain and keep speed. Pumping is hard to explain. It’s best described by saying that it is much like how you would ride a swing, you just use your body to “push” against the ramp and gain speed. Falling while riding vert can hurt pretty badly. There’s nothing really under you, you’re skating on a wall, so you really defy gravity for a short time and at times gravity doesn’t take too kindly to the idea. A 6 foot bank ramp doesn’t seem like much, until you catch your wheels on the coping and fall that 6 feet into the ground, then it sure is a lot. And the bigger pipes, like the ten, thirty, or fifty foot ones can do a major number if you fall the wrong way. Snake runs (a long curving ditch) were another favorite. They’re set up in a way that you can drop into them, pump the first wall, then with the speed you have, go to the wall on the other side, ride up that and pump back down, then go back to the first side, and work your way down the snake run carving back and forth. Experienced riders were able to get lots of speed and “get air”. Getting air is when you ride fast enough to ride up and out of the lip of the terrain you’re riding and fly through the air for a short time, then land back on the wall and ride down and away. The company Vans trademarked phrase was “off the wall” one of the terms for getting air. Vans is notably one of the oldest skateboard companies that has been around since skating started. They are skateboarding at its purest. Freestyle skateboarding: Freestyle was the figure skating of skateboarding; it consists mostly of footwork, as well as handstands and low to the ground slides and flips. Rodney Mullen is considered one of the most advanced freestyle boarders today, he has invented more tricks than anyone else. Longboarding: Sidewalk surfing, or longboarding is what a lot of the hippies could be found doing. Most skateboards only come up to about halfway up your hip, or a little lower, Longboards come up to your hip, or higher. Most longbards only have one, or no kicktails, and some don’t have griptape (a sheet of sandpaper like material that helps you to grip the board). They have wide trucks (axles) and big wheels. You mostly just “bomb around” (cruising around with no real purpose to wear your going, think of joyriding in a car) on them. Some people can do different walk moves on them, or handstands, but mostly they’re just a form of surfing on land. Slalom riding: Slalom is a race, usually against the clock. The idea is to get to the bottom of the course in the fastest time possible, while weaving in and out of cones or some type of markers. Slalom boards were generally short, had grippy wheels, and very loose trucks for tight turns. In the early 70’s because of the clay wheels that would slide out from under you, skating slalom was highly regarded as a very difficult form of skateboarding. The slalom riders were probably the most thankful for the new urethane wheels. It was an awesome time to skateboard. There were a few different skateboard oriented magazines, or “zines” for short. All of a sudden “Professional” skateboarders were raking in the money. Teenagers turned into rock-star heroes. The Z-boys were at the top of the list, some of the other pros were: Duane Peters, Alan "Ollie" Gelfand, Bobby Piercy, Doug Schneider and the list goes on and on. It was a great life. Some companies of the time were: Vans, Tracker trucks, Variflex, and Comps wheels. A noteworthy event was when Garry Scott Davis or “GSD” invented a new trick. It was a footplant done frontside with your front foot, quite the tongue twister, so one of his friends came up with the name “the boneless one” as something much easier to say. You could get much higher, much easier with this trick. GSD became know as “the bone man”, or “the boneless one”. But then skateboarding took a nosedive, as GSD put it, “the generation of kids that had started skateboarding got older and discovered girls, cars, and partying, many left skateboarding in droves.” A very select few hung on though. Hope was not yet lost for this strange new pastime. The 1980’s: street, punk rock, skate videos, and pool skating The 80s were the underground days of skateboarding. In the early eighties “pig” boards started being made. These wider boards allowed for more control, more foot space, and a better ride. As the skateboarding fad died, most of the companies died with it as did the magazines. But one zine did start, “Thrasher”, an underground black and white magazine. It was there for skateboarders when no one else was. During this time, to keep the skateboarding grapevine alive, Thrasher encouraged kids to make their own zines. Pool skating was still a favorite, freestyle was practiced less, but then a new form came around… Street skateboarding: This new style took skateboarders into the streets, alleys and sidewalks. You were skating on something not intended for skating. Curbs, hand rails, parking blocks, and stairs were now being used for tricks. Boardslides, grinds, and ollies became some staple tricks to learn. The drawback on this new style was since you were using public property, you were trespassing. Skateboarding started getting attention from the law. Many kids started getting arrested for skating. Arrests have been the norm ever since. Companies of the time were mostly small and stretched thin. Vision/Vision street wear, Santa Cruz, Independent, and Powell/Peralta were some of the major companies of the time. The punk movement started during this time. Instantly punk and skateboarding went hand in hand. The two outcast groups had finally found a friend, neither wanted to follow the crowd, and each accepted each others differences. Everyone hated skaters, everyone hated punks, so they naturally felt at ease in each others presence. Many punk shows had skating demos and many skateboarding demos had punk bands play. Even today you can see punks at shows messing around on boards for something to do. Many pro skaters had their own punk bands. The Faction had Steve Caballero for their frontman, Ice Cream Headache was Kevin Staab’s band, and Brian Brannon was in JFA. Other favorites of punks and skaters alike were: the Germs, Adolescents, Black Flag, the list goes on and on. Sites like www.Teamgoon.com still offer this mix today. A top pro of the time was Duane Peters, an old school punk, who loved to skate. Another amazing pool rider was Lance Mountain. Tony Hawk (who started skating in the late 70’s) who would later become a huge part of skating’s history, was shredding pools with fellow bones brigade members. A big event in the eighties was Allan “Ollie” Gelfand, inventing a new trick called the “no handed air” or in honor of him “the ollie”. He used ollies to get extra air out of a snakerun or ditch. Rodney Mullen however got a hold of the trick and started using it in his flatground runs. It was a wildly popular trick that everyone wanted to learn. It allowed you to get air, without riding up off a ramp. You could now jump over a curb, a gap, a crack in the sidewalk, or for some, even a car. It’s considered a staple street skateboarding trick and it is still popular today. Another major event was Powell’s skate team, “The Bones Brigade”, making the first ever skate video in 1982. They went on tour and had photographers tape them skating different locations, put all the videos together, stuck music in, and then they started selling it. It was called “The Bones Brigade Video show”. It was the first ever skate video and was wildly successful. Other companies followed suit and the practice is still done today. The eighties were an era ruled by punk rock, neon colors, and mismatched wheels; everyone had their own unique style. Boards had signature flairs and curves. Sadly skateboarding lost that over time. The 90’s: baggy jeans and street skateboardingIn the early nineties skateboarding was still a dead sport. But then somewhere in the mid nineties a new show started covering extreme sports, including skateboarding. It is called “The X games” and still goes on today. It is probably one of the reasons that skateboarding is still alive today. Skateboarding was suddenly discovered again; new companies started. Birdhouse, Anti-Hero, Plan B skateboards, and World Industries, are just a few. Skateboards themselves also changed. Instead of using the old pig boards as they had in the eighties, skateboards started being made symmetrical, both ends had kicktails, instead of just one, and there were no flairs or odd points anymore. Wheels also changed as they got smaller and thinner. A common wheel size for the first skateboards was around 60mm, now they were shrinking down to 50mm or below. They were only about an inch and half wide now, instead of two inches. The trucks shrunk down a bit to suit the width of the skateboard deck. The boards were much lighter and more maneuverable now. As skateboarding was brought back from the brink of extinction, street skateboarding started to take over. The reason probably being almost all the skateparks had closed up over the eighties due to insurance rates. Pools were being made with liners and jointed walls, so a smooth sided pool was a rare find. The only thing really left was street. Freestyle was only practiced by a very select few (like Rodney Mullen) and this style was passed off as dead. Old school moves like bonelesses and bertslides were forgotten as skaters started moving away from the surf and punk roots. They started the “skater” fashion trend. Baggy jeans, skate shoes, shaggy unkept hair, and skateboard company t-shirts became the skate look. In the late 90’s skateboarding almost everyone skated street or vert. Mostly to make the cut to become pro, you had to be able to do huge long handrails and stair sets. Skateboarding was completely losing its roots of style and flow. If you didn’t do the latest coolest tricks you were considered “gay”. Skate videos once had well balanced teams with someone skating just about everything, but then slowly less and less people were skating with style and slowly everyone was starting to look the same. Skateboarding also started to receive more attention from police and security guards. The punk movement had been classed the same as skateboarders, so they were all thought of as misfit, dropout kids that smoked pot and would never amount to anything. This is not true. In any sport or lifestyle you go to, there are bad apples. There should be a line to draw on what is okay and what is not. In the very late ninety’s, half pipe skateboarding made a comeback. A major highlight of verts history in the 90’s was Tony Hawk doing the 900. It was thought of as the “impossible” trick. It was a two full rotations plus another 180. It showed everyone that no matter what they say, there is no such thing as an impossible trick. 2000 and on What is next? Skateboarding is here to stay! The X-games and Gravity games are sure to keep us busy. There are many skateboarding websites to offer trick tips, friends, places to skate, and much more. Just punch “skateboarding forums” into Google. Two favorites are skaterscafe.com, and teamgoon.com A mark in history of this time was Danny Way jumping the Great Wall of China on his skateboard. He set a new world record for jumping the wall without a motorized vehicle. Vans Warped Tour continues every year and keeps the punk rock and skateboarding mix alive by bringing pros and punk bands to city’s across the nation. No matter what your style or taste there’s a company to suit you. Zero, A-42 Clothing, Victim skateboards, Black Label, Dekline, Volcom, Road Kill Skateboards, Fury, SpitFire, Santa Cruz, Punk Rock Skateboards, DGK, Osiris, Powell mini-logo, Insect, and Birdhouse are only a few that are out there. Many of which are owned by skaters that were pros in the 70’s and 80’s. Black Label is owned by John Lucero and Jason Adams, Powell is George Powell and Stacy Peralta’s company. A-42 is owned by Kevin Staab, and the list goes on and on. Skate parks have been popping up all over the place in an effort to get us off the streets. But no matter what they do, nothing will ever beat bending the rules and taking something that was never intended for your use, and using it for what you want. Lipsliding the rail at the skatepark is always cool, but nothing will beat sneaking down to the 7-eleven, lipsliding the rail, and sketching out (landing really shaking and squirrelly) on the spilled oil at the bottom of the steps. Going to the park and riding the newly built halfpipe is sweet, but going downtown with your friends and finding a drainage ditch and skating that, is much better. If you don’t skateboard, you just won’t be able to understand the magic that comes from doing that. There is no way to explain it. Skateboarding just makes you feel good for some reason. About.today.com had a great article on why skateboarding is so popular. “Simple Self Expression One reason is the simple anatomy of skateboarding. All you really need is yourself and a skateboard. Technically, you don't even need shoes! The skateboard itself is fairly low cost, especially if you don't need a "top of the line" skateboard. Plus, anyone can try skateboarding, It doesn't matter if you are fat or thin, short or tall, young or old - there's a board and a style that will work for you. Skateboarding is all about self expression. If you are a slow, soulful guy, it will show in your skateboarding style. If you want everything fast, that will show. If you're a dare devil, if you're graceful, or if you're comical, it will all come out in your skateboarding. Being yourself, learning the tricks and developing the style that is all you - that's easily one of the biggest reasons that skateboarding is popular…. Belonging But not just punks skateboard. Some skaters are only a little punk, some are jocks, some are nerds, some are Goth, and many don't fit into a box. But they are all "skaters". They have all picked up a skateboard, given it a shot, and loved it. There's something a little different about real skaters. And that is another reason skateboarding is so popular - skateboarding will take anyone, as long as you have the heart. You can suck at skateboarding but as long as you really try, and as long as you love skating, you're in. And most skaters get along pretty well, considering who knows what else they're into. At the skatepark I've seen my fair share of jerks, but I've also seen a shocking number of cool people. Older skaters encouraging younger skaters, good skaters giving tips to crappy skaters, and total strangers getting along, hanging out and having fun. There's plenty of attitude, but not all of it is negative. I think that this willingness to take anyone, as long as they truly try, is a another big reason why skateboarding is so popular. “* Afterword, riding away: Skateboarding’s history is rich with stories of sneaking into backyard pools, underground pipes, and parks. It’s full of stories of people who went from being no named losers that no one liked to all time heroes that everyone looked up to. No matter what people write on the subject, they will never capture the true meaning of skateboarding, unless they go and step on a skateboard and enjoy it for what it is. No matter what they write, they will never even scratch the surface of the tales that old skate rats have from the seventies, eighties and on. No matter what anyone does, skateboarding is here to stay. You may not see skaters in a few years once the fad dies down, but they are there; sneaking into a parking lot to skate a new curb for five minutes before getting run off by a security guard, bombing a huge hill out in the middle of the desert, tucked away on a small basketball court perfecting their railstands, or maybe even having a little “ride” in a police car. We will forever be part of society. Sources: Websites: www.teamgoon.com www.skaterscafe.com www.bobstricktips.com *About.today quote and full article. http://skateboard.about.com/cs/prosk...so_popular.htm Stacy Peralta quote www.sonypictures.com/lordsofdogtown Books: “Hawk: Occupation skateboarder” “Action Skateboarding” “Concrete wave” (magazine) |