Most people outside of California just file it under the Southern California heading
when they talk about it. However, this county in the Southwest corner of California.
boasts a rich skate heritage all its own.
It would be impossible to sum up the history of skating in and around San Diego
County in one article or even one issue. The skate magazine coverage over the last
two decades speaks for itself: Concourse parking lot sessions dating back to the ear.
ly 60s; Gregg Weaver carving barefoot in San Marcos pool on the cover of Skateboarder
Magazine's first re-issue in 1975; Bruce Logan holding nose wheelies at speed on
the black asphalt of the La Costa hills; Gunner Huago's frontside Christie grinds at
the Kona pool; visitors Stacy Peralta and Ty Page joining the Logan family for laid back
sessions at the reservoir in Escondido; Jeff Tatum's longboard pipe-to-pipe transfers
at the San Onofre pipes blew minds. The development of Carlsbad skatepark ushered
in a whole new era of made-for-skating facilities, putting San Diego County at the
forefront. It also brought out the best of the local talent. When parks where plundered
everywhere else, San Diego held on with Del Mar Skateranch, nurturing some of the
top pros in the business and becoming the focus of worldwide attention. Skaters
traveled from the four corners to skate there. It was a major gathering point and con-
test staging area. Meanwhile, the street rats and pool sharks in South County and
the valleys east of Interstate 5 were simmering, unnoticed. When the Skateranch was
finally closed and dozed, the kettle boiled over. Now, two years after Del Mar, San
Diego County is a hotbed of pool, ramp and street action. We stalked and talked
some of the skaters that have made it happen.
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DOUG PINEAPPLE SALADINO
Nowadays, I'm more or less on the outside
looking in, not being in touch with the skate.
scene a whole lot. Billy (Ruff) and Gator were
amateur when I was skating pro, and when
stopped skating, those guys became the
heavyweights. I remember seeing Tony Hawk
at Oasis all the time practicing and learning.
new things. There have been a lot of heavy
skaters out here.
I
We've always had places to skate down
here. We used to always skate the parks
when they were happening. When they were
closing, we started hearing more about
backyard pools.
We were more all around and into every-
thing. I was into freestyle and pool riding and
did well in both. I was placing top three in
slalom when I was an amateur. I've always
been an all around skater and I've gotten
along with everybody.
The early skateparks like Carlsbad and El
Cajon were all bank parks. I remember Home
Avenue Skatepark. It was all little snake runs.
Vertical wasn't even happening then. Except
for earlier pools like San Marcos and Soul
Bowl, that's where I first started getting one-
wheelers. The first park that had a pool was
Spring Valley. That's where they held the very
first pro pool contest, the Hester contest, and
nobody really knew what was up. We had to
go in there and do a two- to three-minute
routine, whereas when I finished skating pro
it was like 45 seconds. Some of the guys that
were in that contest from S.D. were Dennis
Martinez, Doug Marker, Steve Sherman and
Steve Cathey.
There were a lot of guys who never got into
the competition scene or heavy pro status.
A good friend of mine, Mike Lierus, skated
for G&S for a long time. He was incredible.
He skated competitions, and never did that
well, but if you watched this guy, he'd just
blow your mind. Greg Foster was a guy that
ripped and became a top professional surfer.
The Logans were right there from the begin-
ning. I got to know them from the Bahne
Cadillac contest, the Del Mar Nationals, held
in the parking lot of the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
right near where the park was. We all hung
out up at La Costa every Sunday. Everybody.
was up there. There were always slalom and
downhill runs going on.
I don't think people on the outside had the
real impression of San Diego. We've always
had our share of top skaters and I think a lot
of people never realized where those skaters
actually came from. It's like a lot of bands
that do really well end up moving to L.A.
DARREL DELGADO
We have a lot of pools and it's beautiful
because only a select few know where they
are. There are not a lot of pool skaters in S.D.,
which keeps some pools around for a while.
They think there are none, but we know. I've