18
CONCRETE CRIMINALS
"Mugsy" Alabamy and "Bad Boy" Olson caught
between the lines during a moment of reflection.
Below, Mike Folmer flies while Olson grinds at the
"Colton Ghost Ranch." Photos by Chuck Walstead.
CONCRETE CRIMINALS
This is a story of action packed adven-
ture, of break-ins, vandalism and escapes,
it's a story of publicly unacceptable
behavior as displayed by THRASHER'S
heroes: The Concrete Criminals.
7:00 a.m.-Rendezvous time has been
synchronized, and the tightly knit crew of
cons arrives at a lone residence inhabited
by a shady character known only as
Fuzzhead. They pile out of their vehiculars
and into Fuzz's crashpad for briefing.
Their destination lies an hour away as
they plan the early morning attack of the
Songé patrol. Once the skunky squeeb
has been incinerated, the squad loads
their high-tech weaponry into the camou-
flaged fuzzmobile. After departure, and a
during their journey, Billy Lee Riley and the
Little Green Men supply the frantic beat
necessary to keep Fuzz's foot to the floor.
Time flies as the music throbs on and in no
time Mt. Baldy can be seen in the dis-
tance...but not in the direction this crew is
going. They are well past Upland on the
lonely 91 southbound.
8:00 a.m.-They come over the horizon
with 50' banks on both sides of the road.
(Grass and rock banks, of course.)
Washington exit, that well-craved little road
that leads to untold happiness for those
who exploit the pot of gold that lies at its
end.
8:05 a.m.-The sun has been up for 45
minutes now. Still not enough time to heat
up the vast San Bernardino Valley. The
squad parks inconspicuously next to some
work trucks near a business building and
moves into action. This group of grinding
gangsters consists of Jay "Mugsy"
Alabamy, Fuzzhead "Baby Face" Nelson,
Bulky "Bad Boy" Olson, Mike "Pretty Boy"
Folmer, and Jonny "Fill'em with lead" Ray.
We checked out our location for terroriza-
tion and found that the wire cutters were
unnecessary, so we hopped the fence and
found ourselves in a very deserted "Colton
Ghost Ranch."
A heavy heart-throbbing rush passed
through all of our bodies as we beheld our
situation: we were standing in possibly one
of the finest parks in So. Cal. with abso-
lutely no restrictions! Skate for free and
wear only the equipment you want to. That
was our attitude as we gazed at the
killer-banked slalom run, two boss snakes,
a mean halfpipe with vert extensions and
coping, and the ever infamous clamshell
pool with an almost marble finish (minus
plenty of coping).
Before we had landed from jumping the
fence, everyone was already flailing into
action. The Bulk had his sights on the
upper snake run for warm-up as Jay took
to the halfpipe first. Folmer and Fuzz were
snappin' ollies over the hips with Olson as
Ray went for speed on the banked slalom
run. Frontside tucks on this fast run are
craaazzzy.
After everyone was warmed, we agreed
to move down to the almost flawless
clamshell pool. Bulky almost instantly
powered his trademarked frontside
stand-up lappers in the deep end. Unreal.
As soon as Alabamy Jay drops in, the
sound of screeching steel is heard as the
coping bites through his almost non-exis-
tent grindmasters to the bones of his
trucks. After a deep end carve he hits the
north corner of the shallow end and knocks
the feeble, loose, and agonized coping
back five inches.
(I must state that this park has been
sessioned by unnumbered shredders as is
readily apparent by the many detached
and/or completely missing lips throughout
the joint.)
Fuzzhead is a gas to watch. He skates in
inimitable first-generation style which has
become rare these days. He attacks all
angles of the pool with the aggression of
powerful cutbacks in shore break. Fuzz
thrusts at the bottom of the transition
keeping his head far below his feet. Upside
down!
Folmer spots railroad ties, and before a
bug on a red curb that sees a street gnarler
coming can yell "Help," the ties are placed
where the coping used to be on the left side
of the pool, this makes for unreal session-
ing as Folmer gets the meanest lappers
ever above the second log.
Just as everyone picks out new lines to
cut, the law is spotted by Bad Boy Bulky
and the escape plan goes into effect.
Executed perfectly, the daddy-o toting a
k-nine pup is evaded.
The mob heads for a food break only to
return for more killer grinds at the end of
the rainbow in "Colton Ghost Ranch."
EXPLOSION" MODEL,
madrid
"FLY" WHEELS
AT MADRID, WE MAKE OUR BOARDS
FOR RIDING. SERIOUSLY.
madrid
P.O. Box 2845 Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670 (213) 921-0133