skaters just laughed, bought the
equipment at reduced rates and
continued to skate natural terrain.
22. Duane launches a healthy
5-foot backside air at Skate City
(Whittler), hangs up his front trucks
and powers it in to take the contest.
23. When the Dogtown vs. Down
South (San Diego) controversy was
raging full tilt the boyz took a trip to
the newly constructed Spring Valley
park down south. Among other
mind-blowing speed moves, Tony
Alva left them clutching the fence in
disbelief as he introduced consecu-
tive frontside airs. You see, the
Dogtown boys didn't get a park until
Marina, which was way way later.
They derived their moves straight
from the source: backyard pools.
24. Most of the parks I skated were
closed before I skated them.
Reseda was a prime example. First,
the vertical walled snake-run was
dug out and shredded for a while
and then one of the bowls in the
double pool. No membership, no
lines, no money exchanged and
pads were a matter of choice: as
they should be. The only require-
ment was that you had to be there
and have enough sense to get out
before things got hot. Closed parks
often represented on-going battles
with police/land owners and literally
tons of dirt and concrete being
pushed around, changing the
skateability from day to day.
25. "It's always my turn...I just let
other people go." Don Redondo
26. Skatopia (Buena Park, CA) had
the first halfpipe. Halfpipes in some
shape or form became standard
issue in parks after that. This
particular one had a 2-3 inch
lip/deck that met a cinder block wall
so you could "grab a few bricks," so
long as you could handle the "clack"
going in. Some had steel no-hang
devices. Some just did it. Many
slammed.
27. The final blow that killed the 70's
boom was when the old mag tried to
"include" BMX, rollerskating and just
about every other sport to try and
widen their appeal. What they did
was to alienate all of the true
subscribers who paid all the bills
through the years: the skaters. They
sold the people who put them on the
map down the river. The last few
issues you could thumb through the
entire mag and not see any skate-
boarding except in the ads. When
there was skating, it was all in parks
and by then, most of the parks were
long gone so no one could relate
anymore. The biggest blow was the
candy-coated image of skating and
skaters. Trying so hard to convince
everyone that skaters were not
outlaws they ignored what was
happening right in front of them like
the captain of the Titanic who didn't
believe that the "business end" of an
iceberg lies below the surface. The
RESEDA
SKATEBOARD FARK
MINI-BAJA
Pre-Shop-Are-Sc
SALE
The ugly solitude of the condemned, Skatercross (Reseda, CA).
Inverting among the abandoned, John Grigley
mag folded. A cheer was heard by
those that still skated.
28. Lakewood added a cool
clamshell pool, had a contest and
was closed a week later. It's now a
McDonald's. Somebody from TSOL
rode a moped down the halfpipe,
hitting the top on both sides before
that.
29. I never skated Colton when it
was open. At first we hit it as a
release after a long drive through
the desert at night. Soon, we were
going often. The perfect pink,
clamshell pool didn't even have a
drain and had all of its coping
knocked off by some dork for his
dork ramp. He even hammered up
the round sections! It was a bust
because no one was there collecting
money to pay insurance with.
Nothing else significant was
different. The perfectly-transitioned
upper sections of the snake runs
were cleaned out as well as the
halfpipe and the 12' pool. Some
tumbleweeds gathered at the
gaping canyon of the "Star Wars"
bowl. They dozed the whole park.
30. Prominently painted on the
sidewalks of Main St. in Surf City
U.S.A. is "no skateboarding." Bikes
and roller-skates are o.k., but no
skateboarding. Heavy, heavy fines
are imposed. It's not the mode of
transportation that's particularly
dangerous (hey, you can jump off of
a skate but it's not so easy on
roller-skates or a racing 10 speed)
or the insurance. The City Attorney
for Surf City stated in the paper that
no claims had ever been made
against the city involving a skate-
board, but they have stacks of them
relating to bikes. Like I said, It's not
the "mode" (skateboarding), it's the
clientele (skaters) that's illegal. The
Lincolns couldn't very well bust the
bearded, Volvo driving, inlander who
gets all decked out in his Olympic
factory sponsored speedsuit and
rides his $3000 bike around or
his counterpart all discoed-out with
a Walkman who rollers along.
oblivious to pedestrians. Naw, but
they can bust skaters just because
they're skaters. It's a proven fact.
31. So what does all this mean
who cares, right? Skating has
been around and people have been
having fun for a lot longer than there
have been parks. I think this latest
wave of skaters is aware of that
because so far no one has been
filling their heads with a lot of empty
promises. Nobody's committed
ground-breaking ceremonies,
although the "Skatepark of Houston"
could be christened with official park
status, though it will be all ramp
structures. Don't get me wrong-I
still hit a park here and there, mostly
because when you pay it's not illegal
anymore and you can relax a bit. I'll
skate any park open or closed, I've
just learned not to depend on them,
ever.
Working the
STREET
PROBLEMS DURING
SKATEBOARD CONTEST
BEATE
Putting out the fire.
Frontside click-out onto the flat wall, Natas Kaupes looks for a place to land
OBSERVATIONS MADE BY THIS
OFFICER, SERGEANT BARRY
B. BORED, ON THE POSSIBLE
ENDANGERMENT OF SECURITY
OFFICERS CONCERNING A
SKATEBOARD CONTEST AND
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
OFFICIALS.
By Boboba Banzai Brannon and
the Scottsdale Community
College Security Force.
HOW THEY SAW IT: At approxi
mately 07:45 hours personnel on
skateboards began arriving for
skateboard contest scheduled for
11:00 hours. Officer #1 and I
witnessed six individuals riding on
the stone benches, we informed
them to refrain from this activity.
The contest had not yet begun, but
ramps had been placed around the
flagpole and several individuals
were practicing on them.
Bob Mugford, the club sponsor,
was not present, nor was Brian
Brannon, the club president. When
Brian Brannon finally arrived, he
informed us that Bob Mugford had
run in the Fiesta Bowl Marathon
and would be arriving soon.
At this time this officer asked that
those individuals in charge inform
the people that there was to be no
skateboarding on the benches and
no alcoholic beverages on campus.
At 13:20 hours this officer reported
paint marks from skateboards on
several benches around campus.
Officer #1 reports approximately
15 benches damaged in such
a manner
On December 7, 1985, at 15.00
hours, Sergeant Barry A. Bored
arived for work and was imme-
diately informed of an out of control
activity on campus down by the
flagpole. This officer immediately
escorted the two Team I officers
to the flagpole area to investigate
the situation. Skateboarders were
all over campus. I would estimate
at this time that there were one
hundred or more skateboarders on
campus with a group of at least 80
skateboarders in the flagpole area.
At this time I asked both officers to
stay overtime and they agreed.
We first interviewed Alex
Felgmaker, Board of Boards
treasurer, who said Bob Mugford
never arrived.
At approximately 15:30 hours this
officer was sent to the Performing
Arts Center to open a door and
allow Walter Richter to unload
some band equipment. Lionel
Estrada wished to talk to whomever
the Security Office was contacting
for authorization. After the
telephone conversation, Mr.
Estrada, the Student Body
vice-president, became upset with
the situation and gave S-4 a difficult
time. Also at this time, Mr. Richter
the Student Body president, got on
the PA system arid stirred up the
crowd by telling them that Security
prohibited them from using the
equipment and that they had one of
two choices. Either stay where they
were or go to the amphitheater
anyway Luckily, the crowd sub-
sided and said they would stay there.
Meanwhile, a band was setting
up on the east side of the Library
and had driven three vehicles
across the lawn. The license plate
numbers were taken down and the
owners were informed that they
would be responsible for any
damage done to the lawn or
underground sprinkler system.
At approximately 18:20 hours a
small group of people started a
small bonfire on the west steps by
the flagpole. I informed dispatch
about the fire and requested
back-up. Finstructed the people
involved to put the fire out, which
they did, only to have another fire
started approximately five minutes
later. I proceeded down the steps to
have them put the fire out and get
their names. I was told the fire was
to be a skateboard stunt. This
officer (S-4) proceeded to stomp
the fire out and then told Brannon
that the event was now over and to
tell the crowd to disperse. Brannon
ignored what I said and continued
on with the next contestant.
Brannon then explained that he
had no control over the crowd and
could not stop them from making
fires. I firmly disagreed and insisted
that he stop the contest. Instead,
Brannon just started throwing
T-shirts into the crowd, making
matters worse.
He (Brannon) then got on the
loudspeaker and told the crowd that
Security was making them leave.
This in turn incited the crowd to
start shouting obscenities and
chanting, 'BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT."
I then told Brannon again to tell the
crowd to disband. Instead he got on
the PA and made a speech about
how he and the people should stay
because it was a free country
55