28
Steve Caballero pumps this quick handplant at "The Bricks." On the
facing page, from top to bottom, The Editor, Kevin Thatcher, slices
down one of the spines of the triangle ramp. Gary Scott Davis flies off
the end of the tri-ramp in front of a heavily stoked crowd. Jay Adams,
frontside low pivotal grind
The boys were really rippin' it up. Kids were
coming up to them, demanding autographs.
Obligingly, they smiled and scribbled special
messages on arms, legs, boards, tennies,
foreheads, hats, the backs of stickers, and fronts
of stickers. One individual, who must have been
an old time skater himself, comered Jay and had
him sign his six month old daughter.
This prompted the super skaters to even
greater lengths. Steve and Bill teamed up for
some doubles, Steve flying a backside air over
Bill. There was a roar above the pavement; the
audience was thrilled.
A few minutes later, I announced departure
plans to the riders.
"But they're craving..." moaned Billy and
Christian.
"It's better that we leave them craving." I
consoled
Word had it a hot "L" shaped pool dubbed
Kosher Bowl' was empty today, and rideable.
Accordingly, plans were made to coordinate.
Again, the locals were unfamiliar with the
surrounding terrain and took a circuitous route.
Hell, there's only four more hours of daylight and
I wasn't about to spend half of it sightseeing or
driving. San Jose is not much to see. It's all
flatland with hundreds of square miles of track
homes, about a million shopping centers and
half that amount of McDonalds.
After another cross-town jaunt we pulled up
behind Ramsay's car about a minute after he
arrived. He, Steve and Billy were scaling a fence
across the street. This must be the place. We sat
there in front of this big ass million dollar church.
Probably attended by rich religionists. Everyone
bailed out of the truck and crossed the street
to the fence where the others had
disappeared over.
On the other side, the Kosher Bowl. The
Kosher Bowl is an abandoned recreational pool
situated behind a Jewish Community center. An
impressive pool. Nine feet in the deep end with
a feasible transition and splash gutter.
Steve had skated this pool before. He had all
of the goofy foot lines wired. Billy was here once,
but got kicked out by an irate owner. So he
craved to skate here. He recalled his mental
lines from when he was once denied before.
Jay didn't skate, he was too amazed at these
skaters and their ability.
Christian adapted quickly.
Soon the riders instigated an impromptu
coping grind session. Difficult, since it protruded
up about three inches set back away from the
wall. Bill was the only one to get up on top of it.
"Give Me Danger," he screamed and walked
away.
THEY
This pool session lasted another half hour.
We loaded up and took off to yet another skate
spot. The Bricks. This legendary spot was
located downtown at a San Jose State
parking lot.
Jay's eyees lit up upon sighting the bricks.
"Now, this is more my style," he said. Right he
was. He skated the banks like the best local
Those low backside snap gnarlers were perfect
for this terrain.
Steve was doing handplants and some high
frontside ollies.
The most prevalent moves were some mean,
varied laybacks and 'Bertlemen Ivy Slashers.
I ran out of film and told the guys we should
bail back up to the city, it having been a long day.
As we headed to the car, a campus police
vehicle pulled up. Some big Goon in a uniform
and a Jr. Goon got out and sheathed some big
head-banger batons. The biggest Goon spoke
into a walky-talky. "Yeah, we got 'em.
Stand-by, over."
The Jr. Goon assumed an 'at ease' stance.
He seemed well trained, like a good dog.
"I know I've seen you guys around here
before. You know very well you're not supposed
to skateboard here."