An empty swimming pool has an allure.
for the skater that is as mysterious as
skateboarding itself. Besides actually
skating, just being inside a dry pool,
standing at the drain, is exhilarating. Even
for a non-skater, standing there staring up
at the tiles and coping brings on a dizzying.
weightless sensation. As a skater, you look
for certain characteristics that will enable
you to tap into its energy source.
No two pools are ever the same, but you
can ride the same pool twice-a fact about
skating empty pools that keeps it interest-
ing and yet ever changing. Even a perfect,
no-bust kidney pool gets old after repeated
sessioning. You may always come back to
skate it, yet any skater is always on the
prowl for any ridable cement swell, ditcch,
lip, bank or bowl. It's the call of the vertical
rush. Skating that perfect kidney happens
to be one chapter in a never ending skate
saga.
Part of the fascination with pool skating
is that skateboarders by nature appreciate
a pool for what it is a lot more than pool
owners or swimmers. When a skater dives
into a full pool, he heads straight for the
deep end to check the transitions for
ridability. If you think about it, pools came
Ron from TSOL gets edgy.
Steve Olson redirects his line with a corner air.
first and skateboarding second. With the
introduction of the rounded pool bottom the
act of vertical skateboarding was born and
evolved into its most radical form. Even
now backyard ramps only serve as an
imitation of the real thing.
The original practitioners of the vertical
arts may not have realized it then, but their
early lines were to set the standards that
are still adhered to today. From harsh
frontside grinds to edge wheelers and thei
first aerials, these early pioneers dem-
onstrated to the world that the skateboard
was no longer to be labeled a plastic toy.
Tony Alva pops backside over the 'Death Box!"
Edging back in with his sights already set on the far wall is Red Devil rocker Jonny Ray.
At Doris' pool in Huntington Beach,
Calif., the scene isn't exactly typical of your
average pool set-up. But no situation
involving an empty pool ever is. Doris' pool
is relatively new as far as ridable hours go.
But what it lacks historically is made up for
in the legendary caliber of the local
clientele that skates there.
When Glen E. Friedman (himself not
unfamiliar with this type of sessioning)
dropped by to document the action at
Doris' one day, he found quite a seasoned
crew on hand, already pushing hard.
The photos tell the rest.
The crew with Doris in her pool.