Bowl Series
oander G
MAGAZINE
SKATEBOARDS
in them all the time. In fact, that's where we
first started to learn new tricks, then work our
way up to vertical. Stan ended up walling off
the mouths to the bowls and converting the
snakeruns into a BMX track.
"The only people who put it down were the
ones who couldn't skate it."-Chris Robison
"There's no longer a proving ground for
skaters, I guess all the pros will turn pro the
easy way."Rick "Spidey" Demontrond
THE POOL ACCORDING TO MALBA
"In the beginning the skatepark layout was
four bowls up top with connecting snakeruns,
one long bank-slalom run spilling into the big
15' bowl, and the 12' bowl connected to the
infamous 20' diameter pipe. In the middle of
all this was a warm-up reservoir freestyle
area about 80' x 100', with 5' to 6' banks on
all sides, a killer place to pump and gyrate
surfstyle. Big flowering curves, laybacks,
bottom-turns and cess-slide cutbacks were
the norm, along with trains of goofy- and
regular-footed skaters following each other
in mad frenzies. In time, though, the nostalgic
ceremony got stale.
"The Pipeline, at the forefront of modern
skatepark design, wanted to continue its
dominance by adding another innovative ele-
ment to its fold, but the question was what?
"Stan wanted all the input he could get
and again questioned the skaters. The prob-
lem, though, was that some of the skaters
wanted a round pool for endless carves and
figure-eight lines, while others wanted a
32
square pool. The latter held promise because
a perfect square pool had yet to be found.
Mr. Hoffman finally compromised to get the
best of both worlds and made a round-square
pool which went on to become the famous
Combi-Bowl. Stan threw in his magic touch
and construction began. The round pool was
to be 12' deep with 3' of vertical and the
square 13' with 4' of vertical. Need I say what
the transitions were? The thirty-thousand
dollar project was completed in three months.
The funds for this were compiled in a couple
of ways. Stan created the Gold Card mem-
bership ($200.00) for life-time usage of the
facilities. In addition, resident pros gave con-
tributions. I remember Salba and I gave a
thousand dollars or more. Too bad we didn't
sign a contract às a shareholder for life!
"After the rebar was laid and the concrete
poured, fresh clean water was poured into
the pool a little at a time to let the plaster cure.
After there was 4' or 5' of water we would
drop in and splat into the waterfilled bowls.
I think from that first water drop-in, the in-
timidation factor really set in. The Combi-
Bowl was a pool for men, a pool for those
who would reach in their cheech-a-roonies,
grab 'em, wrap 'em around their neck three
times and then drop in. But once it was done,
run completed, you picked up what was left,
usually hanging around your knees, and
went directly to the lavatory.
"Anyway, we had a couple of swim parties
in our haven. We would play tag and Marco
Polo for all hours of the day. I remember
The almighty Salba, full bore in the Hester Series (the
first contest ever held at Upland).
swimming to the bottom and checking out
every inch of transition. The little man of
Upland wanted to have this pool wired.
"The pool was opened on May 28, 1978,
and Mike Domeco, a Gold Card member for
five lifetimes, had the first ride. Since then
there have been eight solid years of riding
and remembrances. To list a few: North wall
in the square (most vert in pool); Hester
Series 79; Rusty Harris' Gold Cup Series;
Chris Miller's slam (he would have won!);
Stevie's backward corner carve to gay twist
in the square; Lester's frontside air transfer
from square to shallow; Lance's McTwist in
the round; Eric Grisham's flappy Andrechts;
Steadham's frontside inverts in the square:
Neil Blender's 50-50 around the corner; Ed
Elguera's sketchy footplant over the hip: Tony
Hawk's boardslide-to-fakie around the cor-
ner; Salba's alley-oop to headplant during
the practice rounds of the first Hester con-
test (94 stitches, concussion, still placed third
after vomiting and dizziness); D.P.'s acid drop
into the square (still one of the gnarliest
things done to this day); Steve Hirsch's long
boardslides; Wally Inouye's figure-eight
carves throughout the whole pool; doubles
contests (we won hands down); Christ's big
backside airs; Craig Rowe's Miller flips; 1982
Rusty Harris Memorial Series (sponsored
ams-1st L. Kasai, 2nd T. Hawk, 3rd C. Miller,
4th M. Rogowski, 5th S. Steadham, 6th D.
Pollard, 7th J. Grosso, (Connued on page 97)
Mark
SUNG
SAM
Oceae, CA. 92054
(419)-435-0312
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