This skateboard is my most precious possession. Why? Because it’s the board I transitioned from clay to this rumored new wheel made of a space-age material called Urethane. They said urethane wheels could handle hard turns, run over pebbles and cracks and ride smoothly over rough pavement. The promise sounded impossible and on top of that they were going to sell for the preposterous price of $2.00 a set! That’s 50 cents a wheel. Why would I pay 50 cents for one wheel when I could buy 16 clays for 50 cents at the bargain bin of a thrift store? What a scam. One of my skate buddies was Kevin Farlee, who aside from having the messiest bedroom I’d ever seen, Kevin was writing computer programs in high school and so he was far smarter than me. He showed up at my house one day with a set of urethane wheels mounted on his homemade board. This was my first sight of them. He said they were called Cadillac Wheels; they were translucent, soft to the touch and so unlike anything I’d ever seen. He said they rode beautifully but I was skeptical so he handed me his board and said: “see for yourself.” I dropped his board on my driveway, took two fast pushes and turned hard onto the sidewalk expecting the wheels to slide out. They didn’t. I then did a number of rapid fire pumping turns up the sidewalk and then ripped a Bertleman turn on the corner and the wheels held. Okay, how about this…I purposely ran over some vengeful cracks, cracks I religiously avoided on clay and I breezed over them. WOW! How was this possible? For years I’d been riding wheels that were the equivalent to what the ancient Romans used on their chariots and now I’m riding wheels with the smoothness of rubber. It was revolutionary! Kevin was not only a good friend but a gentle person and a generous one too. Everyday for the next three weeks he came to my house, sat on my lawn and let me rip around on his board. Urethane wheels were everything they promised and they were about to unlock everything we could ever dream of including the flight paths of our lives because my life’s journey began the day Kevin brought those wheels to my house. Thanks Kev, I still owe you…DM me to catch up!
This skateboard is my most precious possession. Why? Because it’s the board I transitioned from clay to this rumored new wheel made of a space-age material called Urethane. They said urethane wheels could handle hard turns, run over pebbles and cracks and ride smoothly over rough pavement. The promise sounded impossible and on top of that they were going to sell for the preposterous price of $2.00 a set! That’s 50 cents a wheel. Why would I pay 50 cents for one wheel when I could buy 16 clays for 50 cents at the bargain bin of a thrift store? What a scam. One of my skate buddies was Kevin Farlee, who aside from having the messiest bedroom I’d ever seen, Kevin was writing computer programs in high school and so he was far smarter than me. He showed up at my house one day with a set of urethane wheels mounted on his homemade board. This was my first sight of them. He said they were called Cadillac Wheels; they were translucent, soft to the touch and so unlike anything I’d ever seen. He said they rode beautifully but I was skeptical so he handed me his board and said: “see for yourself.” I dropped his board on my driveway, took two fast pushes and turned hard onto the sidewalk expecting the wheels to slide out. They didn’t. I then did a number of rapid fire pumping turns up the sidewalk and then ripped a Bertleman turn on the corner and the wheels held. Okay, how about this…I purposely ran over some vengeful cracks, cracks I religiously avoided on clay and I breezed over them. WOW! How was this possible? For years I’d been riding wheels that were the equivalent to what the ancient Romans used on their chariots and now I’m riding wheels with the smoothness of rubber. It was revolutionary! Kevin was not only a good friend but a gentle person and a generous one too. Everyday for the next three weeks he came to my house, sat on my lawn and let me rip around on his board. Urethane wheels were everything they promised and they were about to unlock everything we could ever dream of including the flight paths of our lives because my life’s journey began the day Kevin brought those wheels to my house. Thanks Kev, I still owe you…DM me to catch up!
This skateboard is my most precious possession. Why? Because it’s the board I transitioned from clay to this rumored new wheel made of a space-age material called Urethane. They said urethane wheels could handle hard turns, run over pebbles and cracks and ride smoothly over rough pavement. The promise sounded impossible and on top of that they were going to sell for the preposterous price of $2.00 a set! That’s 50 cents a wheel. Why would I pay 50 cents for one wheel when I could buy 16 clays for 50 cents at the bargain bin of a thrift store? What a scam. One of my skate buddies was Kevin Farlee, who aside from having the messiest bedroom I’d ever seen, Kevin was writing computer programs in high school and so he was far smarter than me. He showed up at my house one day with a set of urethane wheels mounted on his homemade board. This was my first sight of them. He said they were called Cadillac Wheels; they were translucent, soft to the touch and so unlike anything I’d ever seen. He said they rode beautifully but I was skeptical so he handed me his board and said: “see for yourself.” I dropped his board on my driveway, took two fast pushes and turned hard onto the sidewalk expecting the wheels to slide out. They didn’t. I then did a number of rapid fire pumping turns up the sidewalk and then ripped a Bertleman turn on the corner and the wheels held. Okay, how about this…I purposely ran over some vengeful cracks, cracks I religiously avoided on clay and I breezed over them. WOW! How was this possible? For years I’d been riding wheels that were the equivalent to what the ancient Romans used on their chariots and now I’m riding wheels with the smoothness of rubber. It was revolutionary! Kevin was not only a good friend but a gentle person and a generous one too. Everyday for the next three weeks he came to my house, sat on my lawn and let me rip around on his board. Urethane wheels were everything they promised and they were about to unlock everything we could ever dream of including the flight paths of our lives because my life’s journey began the day Kevin brought those wheels to my house. Thanks Kev, I still owe you…DM me to catch up!
This skateboard is my most precious possession. Why? Because it’s the board I transitioned from clay to this rumored new wheel made of a space-age material called Urethane. They said urethane wheels could handle hard turns, run over pebbles and cracks and ride smoothly over rough pavement. The promise sounded impossible and on top of that they were going to sell for the preposterous price of $2.00 a set! That’s 50 cents a wheel. Why would I pay 50 cents for one wheel when I could buy 16 clays for 50 cents at the bargain bin of a thrift store? What a scam. One of my skate buddies was Kevin Farlee, who aside from having the messiest bedroom I’d ever seen, Kevin was writing computer programs in high school and so he was far smarter than me. He showed up at my house one day with a set of urethane wheels mounted on his homemade board. This was my first sight of them. He said they were called Cadillac Wheels; they were translucent, soft to the touch and so unlike anything I’d ever seen. He said they rode beautifully but I was skeptical so he handed me his board and said: “see for yourself.” I dropped his board on my driveway, took two fast pushes and turned hard onto the sidewalk expecting the wheels to slide out. They didn’t. I then did a number of rapid fire pumping turns up the sidewalk and then ripped a Bertleman turn on the corner and the wheels held. Okay, how about this…I purposely ran over some vengeful cracks, cracks I religiously avoided on clay and I breezed over them. WOW! How was this possible? For years I’d been riding wheels that were the equivalent to what the ancient Romans used on their chariots and now I’m riding wheels with the smoothness of rubber. It was revolutionary! Kevin was not only a good friend but a gentle person and a generous one too. Everyday for the next three weeks he came to my house, sat on my lawn and let me rip around on his board. Urethane wheels were everything they promised and they were about to unlock everything we could ever dream of including the flight paths of our lives because my life’s journey began the day Kevin brought those wheels to my house. Thanks Kev, I still owe you…DM me to catch up!
This skateboard is my most precious possession. Why? Because it’s the board I transitioned from clay to this rumored new wheel made of a space-age material called Urethane. They said urethane wheels could handle hard turns, run over pebbles and cracks and ride smoothly over rough pavement. The promise sounded impossible and on top of that they were going to sell for the preposterous price of $2.00 a set! That’s 50 cents a wheel. Why would I pay 50 cents for one wheel when I could buy 16 clays for 50 cents at the bargain bin of a thrift store? What a scam. One of my skate buddies was Kevin Farlee, who aside from having the messiest bedroom I’d ever seen, Kevin was writing computer programs in high school and so he was far smarter than me. He showed up at my house one day with a set of urethane wheels mounted on his homemade board. This was my first sight of them. He said they were called Cadillac Wheels; they were translucent, soft to the touch and so unlike anything I’d ever seen. He said they rode beautifully but I was skeptical so he handed me his board and said: “see for yourself.” I dropped his board on my driveway, took two fast pushes and turned hard onto the sidewalk expecting the wheels to slide out. They didn’t. I then did a number of rapid fire pumping turns up the sidewalk and then ripped a Bertleman turn on the corner and the wheels held. Okay, how about this…I purposely ran over some vengeful cracks, cracks I religiously avoided on clay and I breezed over them. WOW! How was this possible? For years I’d been riding wheels that were the equivalent to what the ancient Romans used on their chariots and now I’m riding wheels with the smoothness of rubber. It was revolutionary! Kevin was not only a good friend but a gentle person and a generous one too. Everyday for the next three weeks he came to my house, sat on my lawn and let me rip around on his board. Urethane wheels were everything they promised and they were about to unlock everything we could ever dream of including the flight paths of our lives because my life’s journey began the day Kevin brought those wheels to my house. Thanks Kev, I still owe you…DM me to catch up!
I built this board at age 11 or 12, it’s composed of jig-sawed pine, trucks and wheels pried off a roller skate boot and loose ball bearings. We often rode the banked walled playgrounds of Paul Revere, Kenter and Bellagio schools and we were always alone, we never ever saw other skaters but we’d see evidence of clay wheels left behind. Alva and Adams certainly rode those schools but our paths wouldn’t cross till we were 14. This was skateboarding’s dark ages when very few if any skated and getting to those schools required a ride from parents as they were several miles away so Mar Vista Elementary became our go to spot because it was within a mile and had a great left-right banked wall combo. We were continually kicked out of MV and realized if we wanted to skate it and we did then we’d have to skate it at night. There was one winter night where my 3 friends and I set off for it. I remember the freedom of soaring down the sidewalks through the quiet neighborhoods and feeling the friction of our clay wheels battling the pavement. Clay wheels are an unforgiving medium similar to lathed rocks and if you wanted to skate and we did, then you rode wheels that were the composition of hard cement. We all dressed the same; Levi’s, Vans and button down Pendletons for warmth. This one night in particular stands out because even at the age of 12 I knew that the four of us, all riding our homemade boards might be the only kids on earth skateboarding at that very moment and when I look back today I still think we may have been the only kids on skateboards riding down a sidewalk some place on earth at that very moment in time.
I built this board at age 11 or 12, it’s composed of jig-sawed pine, trucks and wheels pried off a roller skate boot and loose ball bearings. We often rode the banked walled playgrounds of Paul Revere, Kenter and Bellagio schools and we were always alone, we never ever saw other skaters but we’d see evidence of clay wheels left behind. Alva and Adams certainly rode those schools but our paths wouldn’t cross till we were 14. This was skateboarding’s dark ages when very few if any skated and getting to those schools required a ride from parents as they were several miles away so Mar Vista Elementary became our go to spot because it was within a mile and had a great left-right banked wall combo. We were continually kicked out of MV and realized if we wanted to skate it and we did then we’d have to skate it at night. There was one winter night where my 3 friends and I set off for it. I remember the freedom of soaring down the sidewalks through the quiet neighborhoods and feeling the friction of our clay wheels battling the pavement. Clay wheels are an unforgiving medium similar to lathed rocks and if you wanted to skate and we did, then you rode wheels that were the composition of hard cement. We all dressed the same; Levi’s, Vans and button down Pendletons for warmth. This one night in particular stands out because even at the age of 12 I knew that the four of us, all riding our homemade boards might be the only kids on earth skateboarding at that very moment and when I look back today I still think we may have been the only kids on skateboards riding down a sidewalk some place on earth at that very moment in time.
I built this board at age 11 or 12, it’s composed of jig-sawed pine, trucks and wheels pried off a roller skate boot and loose ball bearings. We often rode the banked walled playgrounds of Paul Revere, Kenter and Bellagio schools and we were always alone, we never ever saw other skaters but we’d see evidence of clay wheels left behind. Alva and Adams certainly rode those schools but our paths wouldn’t cross till we were 14. This was skateboarding’s dark ages when very few if any skated and getting to those schools required a ride from parents as they were several miles away so Mar Vista Elementary became our go to spot because it was within a mile and had a great left-right banked wall combo. We were continually kicked out of MV and realized if we wanted to skate it and we did then we’d have to skate it at night. There was one winter night where my 3 friends and I set off for it. I remember the freedom of soaring down the sidewalks through the quiet neighborhoods and feeling the friction of our clay wheels battling the pavement. Clay wheels are an unforgiving medium similar to lathed rocks and if you wanted to skate and we did, then you rode wheels that were the composition of hard cement. We all dressed the same; Levi’s, Vans and button down Pendletons for warmth. This one night in particular stands out because even at the age of 12 I knew that the four of us, all riding our homemade boards might be the only kids on earth skateboarding at that very moment and when I look back today I still think we may have been the only kids on skateboards riding down a sidewalk some place on earth at that very moment in time.
I was 7 or 8 when this skateboard was handed down to me from an older kid on the block, it’s my first board and this is how I got hooked; down the street from the home I grew up in was a busy shopping center, Steve’s Rexhall Drug store was the corner of it which was on Venice and Centinela, it’s entire perimeter surrounded by beautifully groomed pavement with lots of foot traffic. I was skating there one busy Saturday: kids were darting around on bicycles, pedestrians and others pushing shopping carts and strollers. I remember weaving and dodging through all of them, the kids and parents, the shoppers clenching their shopping bags all the while avoiding them and highly aware that if I hit the most minute crack in the pavement or the tiniest pebble that my clay wheels will lock up and catapult me into concrete. Here I am a young kid standing on this new invention called a skateboard, a little platform of wood and four rock hard wheels, it has no handlebars to hold onto or seat to sit on or pedals to rest my feet on, unlike a bike it’s a very insecure device and far more dangerous and far more tricky to figure out, and as I whiz through all of the people I can feel the hard rumble of the clay wheels vibrating up through my feet and legs, I’m at this little board’s mercy and yet amidst all of this chaos and frenzy coming at me I suddenly feel this incredible sense of stillness. Stillness? I’m weaving through waves of people and things, hundreds of sensations are hitting me including the fear of falling and yet I feel completely still inside. It made no sense to me yet the feeling was intoxicating and it was something I’d never felt before that moment. How is it possible that I could feel such stillness when at that very moment I might face-plant into a metal shopping cart or get bounced off pavement. It is that sublime experience of feeling still while moving rapidly on my board that hooked me to skateboarding, that feeling of profound stillness coming from within while at the same time everything outside of me is chaos and craziness.
I was 7 or 8 when this skateboard was handed down to me from an older kid on the block, it’s my first board and this is how I got hooked; down the street from the home I grew up in was a busy shopping center, Steve’s Rexhall Drug store was the corner of it which was on Venice and Centinela, it’s entire perimeter surrounded by beautifully groomed pavement with lots of foot traffic. I was skating there one busy Saturday: kids were darting around on bicycles, pedestrians and others pushing shopping carts and strollers. I remember weaving and dodging through all of them, the kids and parents, the shoppers clenching their shopping bags all the while avoiding them and highly aware that if I hit the most minute crack in the pavement or the tiniest pebble that my clay wheels will lock up and catapult me into concrete. Here I am a young kid standing on this new invention called a skateboard, a little platform of wood and four rock hard wheels, it has no handlebars to hold onto or seat to sit on or pedals to rest my feet on, unlike a bike it’s a very insecure device and far more dangerous and far more tricky to figure out, and as I whiz through all of the people I can feel the hard rumble of the clay wheels vibrating up through my feet and legs, I’m at this little board’s mercy and yet amidst all of this chaos and frenzy coming at me I suddenly feel this incredible sense of stillness. Stillness? I’m weaving through waves of people and things, hundreds of sensations are hitting me including the fear of falling and yet I feel completely still inside. It made no sense to me yet the feeling was intoxicating and it was something I’d never felt before that moment. How is it possible that I could feel such stillness when at that very moment I might face-plant into a metal shopping cart or get bounced off pavement. It is that sublime experience of feeling still while moving rapidly on my board that hooked me to skateboarding, that feeling of profound stillness coming from within while at the same time everything outside of me is chaos and craziness.
I was 7 or 8 when this skateboard was handed down to me from an older kid on the block, it’s my first board and this is how I got hooked; down the street from the home I grew up in was a busy shopping center, Steve’s Rexhall Drug store was the corner of it which was on Venice and Centinela, it’s entire perimeter surrounded by beautifully groomed pavement with lots of foot traffic. I was skating there one busy Saturday: kids were darting around on bicycles, pedestrians and others pushing shopping carts and strollers. I remember weaving and dodging through all of them, the kids and parents, the shoppers clenching their shopping bags all the while avoiding them and highly aware that if I hit the most minute crack in the pavement or the tiniest pebble that my clay wheels will lock up and catapult me into concrete. Here I am a young kid standing on this new invention called a skateboard, a little platform of wood and four rock hard wheels, it has no handlebars to hold onto or seat to sit on or pedals to rest my feet on, unlike a bike it’s a very insecure device and far more dangerous and far more tricky to figure out, and as I whiz through all of the people I can feel the hard rumble of the clay wheels vibrating up through my feet and legs, I’m at this little board’s mercy and yet amidst all of this chaos and frenzy coming at me I suddenly feel this incredible sense of stillness. Stillness? I’m weaving through waves of people and things, hundreds of sensations are hitting me including the fear of falling and yet I feel completely still inside. It made no sense to me yet the feeling was intoxicating and it was something I’d never felt before that moment. How is it possible that I could feel such stillness when at that very moment I might face-plant into a metal shopping cart or get bounced off pavement. It is that sublime experience of feeling still while moving rapidly on my board that hooked me to skateboarding, that feeling of profound stillness coming from within while at the same time everything outside of me is chaos and craziness.
I was 7 or 8 when this skateboard was handed down to me from an older kid on the block, it’s my first board and this is how I got hooked; down the street from the home I grew up in was a busy shopping center, Steve’s Rexhall Drug store was the corner of it which was on Venice and Centinela, it’s entire perimeter surrounded by beautifully groomed pavement with lots of foot traffic. I was skating there one busy Saturday: kids were darting around on bicycles, pedestrians and others pushing shopping carts and strollers. I remember weaving and dodging through all of them, the kids and parents, the shoppers clenching their shopping bags all the while avoiding them and highly aware that if I hit the most minute crack in the pavement or the tiniest pebble that my clay wheels will lock up and catapult me into concrete. Here I am a young kid standing on this new invention called a skateboard, a little platform of wood and four rock hard wheels, it has no handlebars to hold onto or seat to sit on or pedals to rest my feet on, unlike a bike it’s a very insecure device and far more dangerous and far more tricky to figure out, and as I whiz through all of the people I can feel the hard rumble of the clay wheels vibrating up through my feet and legs, I’m at this little board’s mercy and yet amidst all of this chaos and frenzy coming at me I suddenly feel this incredible sense of stillness. Stillness? I’m weaving through waves of people and things, hundreds of sensations are hitting me including the fear of falling and yet I feel completely still inside. It made no sense to me yet the feeling was intoxicating and it was something I’d never felt before that moment. How is it possible that I could feel such stillness when at that very moment I might face-plant into a metal shopping cart or get bounced off pavement. It is that sublime experience of feeling still while moving rapidly on my board that hooked me to skateboarding, that feeling of profound stillness coming from within while at the same time everything outside of me is chaos and craziness.
I was 7 or 8 when this skateboard was handed down to me from an older kid on the block, it’s my first board and this is how I got hooked; down the street from the home I grew up in was a busy shopping center, Steve’s Rexhall Drug store was the corner of it which was on Venice and Centinela, it’s entire perimeter surrounded by beautifully groomed pavement with lots of foot traffic. I was skating there one busy Saturday: kids were darting around on bicycles, pedestrians and others pushing shopping carts and strollers. I remember weaving and dodging through all of them, the kids and parents, the shoppers clenching their shopping bags all the while avoiding them and highly aware that if I hit the most minute crack in the pavement or the tiniest pebble that my clay wheels will lock up and catapult me into concrete. Here I am a young kid standing on this new invention called a skateboard, a little platform of wood and four rock hard wheels, it has no handlebars to hold onto or seat to sit on or pedals to rest my feet on, unlike a bike it’s a very insecure device and far more dangerous and far more tricky to figure out, and as I whiz through all of the people I can feel the hard rumble of the clay wheels vibrating up through my feet and legs, I’m at this little board’s mercy and yet amidst all of this chaos and frenzy coming at me I suddenly feel this incredible sense of stillness. Stillness? I’m weaving through waves of people and things, hundreds of sensations are hitting me including the fear of falling and yet I feel completely still inside. It made no sense to me yet the feeling was intoxicating and it was something I’d never felt before that moment. How is it possible that I could feel such stillness when at that very moment I might face-plant into a metal shopping cart or get bounced off pavement. It is that sublime experience of feeling still while moving rapidly on my board that hooked me to skateboarding, that feeling of profound stillness coming from within while at the same time everything outside of me is chaos and craziness.
…I posted the previous pictures incorrectly and wanted you all to see the complete board.
…I posted the previous pictures incorrectly and wanted you all to see the complete board.
Tommy G sent this image to me and as Tony Hawk suggested; “Recline and Destroy!”
In my lifetime I’ve lived through the invention of modern surfing and the birth of skateboarding. Skateboarding began as freestyle, then slalom, then bank riding, then riding vertical walls in pools, then vertical walls on wooden ramps, then street skating was birthed and the sport continues to evolve today into other various forms. Surfing began by riding straight on long wooden boards then in ‘67 the short board revolution blew that apart and suddenly riding all over and even inside waves exploded; then windsurfing, kite surfing, SUP surfing and then foil surfing and all of its subdivisions; prone foiling, wing foiling, kite foiling and even E-Foiling which I’m doing here in week three of learning to ride this amazing invention. Riding it is one of the most elegant experiences I’ve had on any board, it feels like turning through space. And I haven’t even mentioned the snow or two wheeled sports. A few hundred years from now historians may look back on this magical era as Action Sports version of the Age of Enlightenment because over the past 50 years we’ve witnessed one of the most incredible evolutionary journeys with the invention of all of these solo sports coming one right after the other in such a small window of time and each sharing the common ground of fluid motion and movement and of gliding across water and waves, across wood and concrete and across dirt, snow and air. What a great time in history to be gliding through.
We had two great screenings of my new film; “The Yin and Yang of Gerry Lopez” the past two nights at the mighty La Paloma Theater in Encinitas Ca, these four showed up and we had a blast, it’s always hugs and laughs when we hang out together. Check Patagonia’s website for screening info on the film as we’ll be touring it soon.
I spent a good part of last year chasing the dream of learning to foil surf. I was in the “kook phase” month after month, slamming, falling and feeling so awkward and off and not knowing if I was ever going to get even close to figuring this out. It’s easily the most difficult sport I’ve ever undertaken to learn as it’s balance point feels multi-dimensional with an ever-changing set of variables. I’m learning this with my friend Ian who’s leading the charge at 27 years of age and his brother Reed at 24. I’m old enough to be their dad but the experience has taught me that stoke knows no age and that age only begins when you give up on the dream.
My new film “The Yin and Yang of Gerry Lopez” was financed by Patagonia Films. Patagonia produces films primarily to spread good ideas and goodwill throughout the world and a result the film is being presented to everyone who would like to see it – it’s available for free on the Patagonia website or on YouTube. I am honored to have been able to piece together another aspect of our shared culture. For those of you who are interested in viewing it, I hope you enjoy it.
This is the first or second day of learning to tow foil from last year’s sessions and I’m shown here looking pretty damn stiff and out of place. Having learned many new sports over the past 20 years I’ve spent a good deal of time in the beginners phase; as a rank amateur, as a kook and sometimes a complete dork, constantly falling and slamming and wondering if I’ll ever figure it out. The beginners phase of learning anything can be a really tough place to be and it’s a place that at one time I tried to avoid. But I’ve come to realize that it’s the beginners phase where the magic is, it’s the place to be and not to avoid. Learning something new is a mystery and the process unfolds in a mysterious way; there’s a certain magic in the anticipation of trying to figure out something new, in how the process breaks and bends us apart, how the process really throws us and at the same time how it leads us with subtle hints and tips. It’s not an easy place to be because it can be filled with so much frustration, unknowing and uncertainty but if you can bare it you’ll reach that magic place where it all suddenly comes together. Residing in that beginners phase is where I want to keep putting myself because it keeps my life young and full of surprises and possibilities and it’s great humility training. During the week of July 30th to August 6th I’m going to be talking about a lot of these issues at the Modern Elder academy, an American school that resides in Baja. This particular school specializes in teaching people how to make successful transitions in life and how best to deal with learning new things and creating new identities. Check it out if you’re interested. Modernelderacademy.com
From as far back as I can remember, skateboards were always a part of everyday life in my neighborhood. We rode all the time and at all the great playgrounds of LA but always alone. We didn’t even know if other skaters existed until one Friday night in the early 70s. I was 12 or 13 and my three friends and I were dropped off at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to see Macgillvary and Freeman’s new surf film 5 FIVE SUMMER STORIES. There was a huge line of surfers already in line, hundreds of them from tribes all up and down the California coast. What a sight it was to see and what an experience it was to be a part of. The civic had a seating capacity of 3000 and it always filled to capacity with loud rowdy surfers eager and hungry to see the latest surf film. We got our place in line and we’re standing there when all of a sudden we see a kid on a skateboard and he’s our age and he’s riding what looks like an old 60s Hobie board. He’s by himself and he’s good, really good and with good form which meant he’d been skating for a long time, just like us. It’s a sight we’d never seen outside of our own neighborhood. It was astonishing to us. A kid riding a skateboard and it’s not one of us. How can this be? We thought we were the only ones. We shuffled through the line as it progressed towards the door with our eyes affixed on this kid, mesmerized by his swift turns. ——. Months later I’m surfing Bay Street, Santa Monica’s primary beach break. I notice a surfer a ways down the beach sitting on his board waiting for a set. He looked so familiar but I couldn’t place him yet I kept glancing over at him, wondering who he was and then it suddenly occurred to me…it was the kid we’d seen skating outside the SM Civic. Eager to find out who he was, I paddled up to him, introduced myself, said I went to Venice High, he said he went to Santa Monica High. I told him my friends and I were skaters, that we’d been skating for years at all the playgrounds. He said he’d been skating for years too and that he rides the same playgrounds. I finally asked him his name. He said Tony Alva. He then snaked me on the next wave, a really good left.
If my memory serves me it was Tony Alva who spoke up at a Zephyr Surf Team meeting one evening, saying to Skip and Jeff; “You have the three best skaters in town on the surf team, you might as well get the other skaters in town and start a skate team.” – Before skateboarding ever took off, Tony, Jay Adams, Alan Sarlo, Matt Warshaw, myself and a few others were sponsored members of the Zephyr Surf Team all with the hopes of carving out some kind of career in surfing but totally unaware that it was the wheels beneath our feet and not the fiberglass fins that our future resided. —. The image I’ve posted is from Vol 16, issue #1 of Surfer Magazine 1975 detailing the challenge between the two surf shop teams. It might be added that ET Surfboards, in addition to having an amazing surf team also had Mike Purpus who was one of California’s best and most influential surfers at that time, that we beat them really shows the depth of talent and madness that made up the entire Zephyr collective.
Another really old board with nails holding the trucks down. Some day these boards are going to be hundreds of years old, how will we look at them then?
