he local blond on the taper-
kick went across town to
build Sims Skateboards)
and, voila, two major skate
companies emerged in
sequence to the rapidly growing
local urge to terrorize. Simul-
taneously, the inventors of snow-
boarding were also branching out
to form their companies and by then the big takeover
was set in motion.
In Montecito (another nice postcard), young gnarlers
were roaming the region when they discovered the
legendary Tea Bowl, which was a part of a massive
Tea Garden. The Tea Bowl is a gaping pit that can
hardly be described in general terms. It was the first
true test for the local fanatics who were willing to
conquer the 40-foot walls to challenge the skate gods
in precise form, or to slam for the final time. Add a
little sheer abandon and you had stunts happening
that were unheard of for the equipment of those
times. They progressed like the wild fire that actually
came about when an arsonist supposedly started a
fire in the Sycamore Canyon. You know what that
means. people lost their homes. They also lost
their pools, and that's where the Barbarians dropped
in. It was a heated opportunity like no other for the
Santa boarders to come to grips with the most
natural aspect of their destiny. After all, empty pools
are rare items in areas of intense wealth. People with pools have
homes, which means they have serious bank, which allows them to
keep a very tidy pool.
After the Sycamore Canyon fire, the Barbarians wore busy defending
their quests and brutally executing their tactics in such basins as the
Char Bowl, the Banana Bowl, and the Barker Pass pool. The feeling
overall was that of Mad Maxes on boards in the wasteland bashing the
coping until the righteous barrels beckoned for beach time. Never mind
school. Schoolyards were happening though, so at least they were
attended for some good reason.
Just when everything was going great, someone thought it would be
cute to build a skatepark. It ended up in a shithole miniature golf
course palace called Golf 'N Fun. It was annihilated by the locals
with their coperless trucks and brash attitudes. Nobody paid except
Junior on a family outing. Nobody cared. The place was just there to
get the aggression out until Sparks Goleta was dug
out of the earth. Now there was a skatepark that
played host to the best. The locals got heavy
into it then and made every sacrifice to skate
whenever possible.
Then one day after a hard winter deluge wo
witnessed a mysterious upheaval of the crust. The
drainage system of the park failed and the water
under the pools pushed the 'crete all over the place.
A few pools raised themselves some four feet out of
the ground. Danger was everywhere and was a mass
appealing marvel to the stunned skate wolves who
snuck in to pummel the few remaining bowls and to
clean out the abandoned pro shop. It was a harsh
blow to all of us. There was still Golf 'N Fun, but it
was obviously no match for the progressive terrain at
Sparks. So, it was just a discontented switch back to
there and back to the streets. As soon as Golf 'N Fun
bit the big one we found it much more fun to skate
there early in the morning sans pads.
Many boards soon hit the closets, I must say, but contrary to certain
belief, skating never died. Whoever claimed that can go die. The daily
grind was easier than ever to find and, with enough consistent
pounding of spots like the Fly bowl, Palm Park ditch, Queen Ann's,
Drainers, the Bayou, La Cumbre Plaza, Crodos, Alamar, UCSB, etc., a
vertical plan was soon in the works.
Above Brian Cabot of Team Effigy gives
the fea Bowf more than a cup's worth.
Spiton Center to 1970 Bob Staton was making and
selling skateboards in Surfer Magazine. He's been
for over 29 years and now partakes in CASE
freestyll events Backside Dinge at the Powell facility
Bottom Right John Oliver cruises the feeble maneuver
of the Ruler Caleb Modre during a doubles
act at the Spine ramp Caleb is greatly responsible for the
construction of the new Halchett ramp, not to mention his
outstanding ability to dominate on his masterpieces
58
Top Left: Sparks, Goleta. Top Center: Danny Mackey, Sparks halfpipe (note Spanish-style coping). Bottom Left: Zach Zubeck, although not too serious with
his skating, was the victor of more than one H.U.S.H. event. His mastery is shown here in the brutal banks of Queen Ann's. Bottom Right: The originator
of the H.U.S.H. series and overall life enthusiast, Mike Taylor. Fat alley cop at the late CITO ramp.
t was out in the hills of Montecito at
the home of RKL's singer that CITO
was erected. It was a ramp built with
the intention of uniting a Barbaric
brotherhood, one to bring together the
disbanded scene from the last wave and it
worked. Everyone hooked up and got
down to some serious sessioning. The
ramp adopted a country
club attitude and was
never crowded. The
locals were finally set up,
and then, you'd never
believe it, but somehow
Golf 'N Fun was re-
opened and a whole new
breed of skaters showed
up to give it a shot. It got
them into skating just
long enough to get their
helmets fastened before
the bulldozer finally
arrived. But by that time,
we were concerned about
CITO, which ran into
trouble with new
neighbors and eventually closed down.
The seasoned riders were soon back in
hot pursuit of the curbs and the cops
were in pursuit of the skaters. The fine for
skating was an outrageous $100 for the
first offense and a whopping $200 for the
second lashing, a fine which has since
dropped to a wrenching $55. Damn it all.
When the mini-ramp craze hit it ended
up at the Wild Skate Shop in Goleta. But
with all the membership hype and the
shop owner gripe the ramp was taken
elsewhere time and again, finally settling
now in the backyard of a ripping female
skate blonde.
Not to give up on a public skate possi-
bility, the Powell Corp. came up with the
bright idea to create a
skate zone. Two years
later, it's still a heart-
break. Not surprising.
though, in a city that is
trying to discourage
skateboarding altogether.
No biggie, the skaters
say. The joke's on the
city, and the punch line
will be force-fed by the re-
maining core of skate
tyrants, still sticking it out.
As a sign of good times
the H.U.S.H. sessions
were the happening. Thei
participants all gathered
at the call of the leader
and therefore volunteered to commence
going skate crazy, performing the usual
acts highly opposed by the local populace
unanimous with the bland and regimented
society. The sessions were held in a prize-
winning format with different categories all
joke-related. They had awards like best
dressed, best slam, worst haircut, most
improved and most fun had. ►