N.S.A.
Beach
Hantington Beek
"WORLD OPEN" PRO/AM
Christian Hosol and Tommy Guarraro take full fledged flights at the beach.
Steve Caballero hovers a lengthy table jump.
"Huntington Beach!!" The thought
echoed through my mind. "On Thanksgiv-
ing weekend!" It was a better idea. Better
than stuffing yourself full until you can't
skate no more..... "Huntington Beach?
"Nah..." "Well..." Before I knew it I was
jetting down 1-5, in the Matt Etheridge
dubbed "Yellow Screamer." It's real
straight and you can easily do 90 mph.
Hell, 90 mph for a cool skate weekend the
NSA World Open with top pros, rippin' ams
and all of it practically on the beach, it was
looking like a trip of a life...well, better than
screaming relatives and televised sports.
Somewhere along the line, somebody
had the bright idea of putting very LARGE
cow pastures near this modern-day asphalt
wonder. Hating life on the road is only
complicated by a persistent cow stench.
Jamming through the streets of L.A. isn't
too pretty either. You drive slow or fast.
Opting for the latter, I played dodge-en
with the other metal units. It went on all the
way to Huntington.
The parking lot site was all set up for the
streetstyle. There was a picnic table with a
ramp, plenty of curbs, a squat curb-type
platform, a small quarter-pipe combi-ramp
and the "U" shaped metal curb. It was dark
but the flash of K.T.'s camera was seen
along with Spidey and Caballero, who
were ripping it up. A small contingent of the
San Jose crew were also seen powering
off the picnic table.
A run over to the rent-a-hovel turned up
a bedroom of crying babies right next to
mine. Not wanting to have to take this for
two nights, a trip to the front desk was in
order. The bloke behind the counter
sympathized and did me a favor, putting
me in another room, below the crying
babies. Thanks, pal....
After a portable skart, the session at the
contest site was getting larger and larger.
Bob Schmelzer was inventing on and off
the ramped table. In fact, the table seemed
to be the obstacle of the night as most of
the skaters were blasting airs off it. Another
ramp, a small quarter pipe to wedge, that
had been brought down on top of the
Gremic team van, had become a favorite
of the skaters. That is until Chris Cook
demolished it with some ultra harsh moves.
The session lasted far into the night, much
longer than I did, as car-fatigue took over.
It was soon to be the pass-out scene back
in the room.
Awaking to the sound of blazing wheels.
a quick scan of the time indicated I had
overslept. As I stumbled to the skate-lot, I
realized that all the moisture in and on my
face had frozen solid, rendering me with a
twisted smile and half closed eyes. This is
Southern California it's the land of the
endless piece of sun and all that gar-
bage...after reheating my face, I found out
that the unsponsored am event was almost
over. K.T. was offering encouragement
and dissection of the various skate-related
moves. He was also noting how cold it was
as the ever ominous storm clouds ap-
proached.
Trophies and freebies went to the top
eight with Brad Boardman from San Jo on
top, Style flowing Marc Hostetter was
second and ollie master and surf shredding
skater Natas Kaupas snatched third in a
runoff with Harry Jumonji (4th). After the
last award, the street arena got the thrash-
ing of its life. Every board and body was
flying, grinding, sliding and boneless-ing
with rampant enthusiasm. Clearing the lot
was out of the question and after hints of
impending rain, the sponsored am event.
was underway.
Rain, precipitation, wet, dark, damp-
downpours, the only thing which can
cause the death (for the day) of a
streetstyle contest. It came down slowly at
first and then in the proverbial buckets.
Everyone ran for cover as K.T. offered a
variety of alternatives for a little while, fully
expecting the rain to let up. Food, hitting
the bar, games of quarters and college
football were in order for most; finding out
when the rain gods would stop their fun
was the main groove for others.
After a while, NSA boss Frank Hawk
decided to postpone all events until the
next day. Most weather persons predicted
a distinct lack of rain for Sunday. That was
my cue to check out the local skate/surf
shop scene. The Sidewalk Surfer Skate
Shop was the place for a while. Most
everyone drifted in at one time or another.
Bob Schmelzer was there along with
Madrid's Jerry Madrid, both were offering
insights on the local skate scene as well as
other aspects of contests.
The need to gain skarling material was
getting strong, so funds were located and
food was searched and destroyed. The
rumor of various Misfits records and
paraphernalia was a good reason to jet to
Long Beach to Zed Records. I scammed/
scored a rare Night Of The Living Dead
single by the dark evil ones from New
Jersey along with some Misfits and Sam-
hain stickers.
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