The local boys had never seen such
perpetual motion in skating and, needless
to say, they now had new vistas upon
which to set their sights.
From 1965 to 1977, downhill reigned.
Slalom and high jumps were second in
command and 360s were the norm. In
1977 the scene burst wide open....
Dateline: Autumn 1977. Maplewood
Skatepark opened. A local cement con-
tractor whose son happened to skate
decided to capitalize on the skate fad and
build a skatepark. Heavy locals such as
Eric Thompson (known even to this day
as the King of Rock and Rolls) were the
skate patrol at the new park. There was
a snake run into the big pool, two vertical
tombstones were later added. Vert skating
was now a reality in Minneapolis.
But alas, as we know, skateparks were
never built to last. Maplewood's first owner
soon discovered that the road to riches
was not a snake run paved in gold. And
so came the changing of the guard. Four
owners later, the park fell to the bulldozers.
But before it fell, there were free sessions
for an entire summer. There were no
patrols and no geeks, just local sessions
with the bad boys in the know; Eric Thomp-
son, Dave Larson, Mark Olson, Steve
Olson and Pete Clemence, to name a few.
These were the men who founded what
is now known as Minneapolis skate history.
Moving on, there was Ride the Glass,
which, by 1977 standards, was incredible
to say the least: a fiberglass full-pipe, clam-
shell and wedge ramp located in beautiful
downtown Eden Prairie. Ride the Glass
had its own demo team that traveled to
local high schools and made a lasting
impact on many a young man destined to
go down in Minneapolis skate history.
Nature made its own impact, however,
and the Ride the Glass full-pipe was done
in by a tornado. It rolled for two blocks
before coming to rest on a parked car. This
spelled the end of what had seemed like
endless hours of weightless enjoyment.
The blood boiling thrill of pulling your
first air or even something as simple as
a sweeper doesn't just go away because
the park closes. Before the term "street
skating" was coined, it was known round
these here parts as just plain skatin'..
There was hella skatin' going on both
in and out of town. The fairgrounds, with
the fish ponds and the subtle pools, of-
fered hours of enjoyment for those with the
drive to seek them out. Smack dab in the
middle of downtown were sites like the
Federal Building, an entire city block of
granite, sloping down from two stories to
street level. Banks, curbs, parking ramps
and lots of local pools were hit (and run)
on warm spring and fall evenings. Any-
thing and everything had the potential to
be thrashed.
Ah, but idle hands are the devil's work-
shop, and those with tools had arrived face
to face with the RAMP REVOLUTION. ►
52
Past to present (clockwise
from left) Eric Froland taps
down at Eden Prairie. Dave
Laroulx floats over the River
ramp. Early Eric Thompson,
nose control, Federal Reserve
Building, 1977. Eric again
Maplewood skatepark, 1979.
88
Modern Minn. (this page) Ted Dahmen dominates the many lipped and multi-spined RI.S.S. facility, which plays host to
those in the know. (Inset left) Eric Thompson today, leading Jon Baugh, Chris Johnson and Bjorn Haavik down the mile
long Cannon Falls ditch during a recent run.