Phitograffiti
SKATING AND SWEATING IN
THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
OR: How to skate and survive in
Visalia, Ca
Thursday A.M. The sound of a
ringing phone forced me out of bed.
"Hullo, what? Where? O.K. Bye."
Mom was on the phone asking me to
make a run to Fresno for her. Fresno,
hmmm...visions of sun stroke and lots
of nothing came to mind. Then I
remembered Bob Goodsby, a skater
whom I had met from that area last
summer. I decided to ring him up and
inquire about available skate terrain.
He assured me that there was plenty
Visalia's skate squad at R.H.S. Photo K.S.
LUCK CLASS OF 1982
to skate up there, and even offered
me lodging accommodations for a
few days, which I accepted thankfully.
"Saved from the terror of the generic
hotel, I thought to myself. Since mom
was flowing the bucks for gas and
"expenses," I soon found myself on
the road. Four long hours later, I was
at Bob's house in Visalia, about 40
miles south of Fresno. After meeting
the family and unpacking my bags, I
was ready for some skate action. Bob
suggested we skate "Clint's" ramp
first, so we picked up two other
skaters, Ross Collins and Roy
"Scooby" Means, and headed over
there. The ramp was rather small,
your basic 8' x 8' job, but was
nevertheless quite skateable. The
lack of platforms made for some way
edgy rock-n-roll action. After an hour
of thrashing the ramp, I felt heat
exhaustion approaching, so we
cooled down with some beverages at
the local 7-11 and then headed off to
another ramp.
16
Scott O'Bradovich A.K.A. "Duane 11, cleans up Clint's ramp with a sweeper. Photo: B.R
This ramp was a bit larger than
Clint's, measuring 12' wide and 10'
high. The locals proceeded to shred,
so I pulled out my camera for another
photo session, only to find it malfunc-
tioning badly. Well, at least I got one
roll, so I buried the camera and
skated with the Visalia crew until the
100+ temp's had us back in the car
and headed for Ross' swimming pool.
We cooled down until the dreaded
chlorine/red eye syndrome took
effect, then it was into the house for a
little R&R until it cooled off outside.
By late afternoon it had "cooled"
down to about 90°, so we ventured to
the nearest mall for some street
skating. In fifteen minutes we were so
hot that we went inside the mall to
play some video. Once inside we met
up with another skater, Derek
Navarette. This turned out to be a
good deal, because due to Derek's
seemingly endless supply of wealth,
he flowed a now poverty-stricken me
plenty of quarters for video. I returned
the favor and invited him to join us for
some skating mañana.
My host was due at work in an hour,
so we took everyone home, and then
did likewise ourselves. I performed all
the necessary bodily functions and
then crashed, knowing tomorrow
would be another 100+ day of
skating fun in the sun.
Friday morning. We were up early
to try and beat Mr. Sol. Bob called
some more skaters and told them to
meet us at Clint's. We picked up
Ross, Roy and Derek and headed
over to the ramp. Upon arrival I met
up with three more of Visalia's skate
squad: Scott O'Bradovich, Ron Allen
and Mike Stephen. We all proceeded
to terrorize the ramp in a heated
session, one that even prompted the
owner of the ramp to step out of his
air-cooled module and check things
out. I even shot a roll of film,
borrowing Bob's camera. After we
were skated out, the owner produced
some much appreciated Gatorade
and ice water. Everyone was still hot,
so we unanimously agreed to visit
Ross' pool again. Once we got there,
everyone became involved in a highly
intense game of pool tag. I mean,
these guys were really going at it. As
Ron Allen, handplant in Visalia, where having a pool is obviously essential. Photo: B.R.
soon as everyone had been "it" at
least once, we dried off and headed to
the local high school for a game of
skate tag. We played until three or
four of the guys had to go to work,
then we went back to Ross' for some
more swimming, followed by another
trip to the mall. As darkness set in, I
quickly skated home down the local
cruising spot, Mooney Blvd. Take my
word for it, if you're even the slightest
bit non-conformist in dress or
appearance, you don't get caught on
Mooney Blvd. on Friday night on a
skate 'cuz you might just die!
Saturday A.M. Taking into account
the first two days' events, today
figured to be pretty full-on. As our
group skated towards "Skinny's
Sandwich Shoppe" to meet up with
more skaters, we chanced upon
some of Visalia's finest female types.
Scott "just happened" to know these
ladies and promptly invited them to
our skate session. They accepted,
and soon we were back at Clint's,
tearing it up for our new audience,
Our session was quickly ended by an
irate neighbor who babbled some-
thing about her kids being sick and
dying, so we stopped to avoid further
confrontation. The girls assured us
they were suitably impressed,
enough so to invite us to a party later
that night. We kept it in mind as we
took them home, and then stopped at
Scott's for food. While we were
feasting on ice cream and chips, a
phone call from Fresno informed us of
a killer ramp that was just about to be
finished. Seeing a chance to do my
mom's errands, I strongly suggested
a run up there. Everyone agreed, and
after arriving in Fresno and finishing
appropriate business, we arrived at
the ramp in question to find the last
bolt being pounded into the steel
coping. It was flawless, 16' wide, 9
wide, and covered with smooth, fast
masonite! I reached into my bag for
the camera but grabbed my skate
instead. We then went about
christening the new ramp with the
Fresno boys until it was too dark to
skate (or take pictures).
We thanked the owner for letting us
ride and promised to return soon. By
the time we got back to Visalia and
cleaned up, we had missed our girls
and the party. This bummed me so
badly that I decided it was time to
move on. Besides, tomorrow was the
4th of July, and there were untold
amounts of alcohol to be consumed
back home. So I thanked Bob for his
hospitality and then got mobile on 99
South
Arriving home at 8 A.M., sunburnt
beyond belief, with only one roll of film
and a dead camera to show for my
trip, I was still stoked and ready to get
back there in the near future. On this
note I will end this story 'cuz there was
more to tell, but not really. Find out the
rest for yourself! I'm outta here!
-Billy Runaway
Chip Jones, "Take slapple" at the Rox ramp, one of many in
the midwest
INDIANA
Indianapolis, Indiana, is situated in the middle
of very intense skate states. Through our many
treks to Milwaukee, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky,
and Tennessee and West Virginia, we have met
numerous skaters. In the spring/summer of
1983 there is going to be what we refer to as a
M.E.S.S. (Mid-Eastern Skateboard Series). It
will feature contests at over 10 ramps.
Everyday there is news of more skaters wanting
to take part. This will definitely prevail as the
biggest thing to hit since possible G.L.S.A. back
in '79 and '80.
This may not hit many as news, but it seems
that most energy skating-wise these days
emerges from ramps, ditches and the street. In
these environs you the skater dictate what
happens and not some eccentric park manager
who gets all happy when he scorches you for
this or that. Whenever I am at a park it always
seems that the locals are too casual about
things. "Like wow man....I got this monthly...l
guess I'll skate; you know, the country club
syndrome!
Well, here are some pics of my friends and I
on the Rox. Ramp. I am not going to say that this
is what I believe to be the best ramp, bla bla bla,
because there are so many hot ramps around
for anybody to shine themselves and their ramp.
It now ranks as our fourth ramp since around
1979. The dimensions are 12 feet wide, 9 feet
tall, 18 feet of flat, 8 foot radius, one foot vert, ten
foot long decks, cement coping, and lights
sometimes. We plan on extending side ramps
and resheeting it, though, for the upcoming
MESS. Indpls. also has the way cool ditches:
Aircom, Dead Man's Ditch, the Kiktch, and the
Worm to name a few. In closing, I would think it
would be hot if you did a review on all the
underground mags?? I head up Indpls's very
own "VERY SKETCHY," the first issue was 36
pages long and the second is 30. There are
more flailing pics in them than you could shake
a stick at. Shun poseurs, ignore trendiness,
FAITH over VOID!!
Bob Pribble
Indianapolis, IN
ITALY
Oi THRASHER, you rule O.K.!
I'm a keen skater from Vercelli, Italy, into
freestyle (I'm the Italian champion) and a little
into ramp. We've got two good ramps (flat
bottom!), one in Genova and one near my town.
Here slalom is the most popular kind of skatin
but now freestyle and ramp are takin' over as
The Italian federation really SUCKS! They
only care about slalom thinking that ramp is too
dangerous an' freestyle is a circus act
(PINHEADS), but we don't care and keep on
shreddin
I send you some pictures of me freestyling in
the Vercelli suburbs. I would really be glad if you
can print 'em!
Sincerely,
Giorgio "Fritz Conti
Vercelli, ITALY
P.S. Thanx for the pics to my friend Vito
Degrandi.
Giorgio "Fritz Conti, Italian Style