a cement-rock mixture call
ed aggregate that is not
only unskateable but will
also eat you alive if you fall
on it. Several alternatives
were tossed around, like
bringing in plywood floor-
ing and actually having the
event on the street, and
yes, even on the steps of
City Hall itself. Then, on
decision day, after watch
ing a flock of pigeons float
down to a landing on the
smooth, shit-covered gran-
ite slabs surrounding the
empty reflecting pools, the
NSA said, "Give us the
fountains; we'll give you a
contest." History.
This year, the fair prac-
tically begged the skaters
to return. Video games
maker Electronic Arts also
joined in with a promotion
for their "Skate or Die II," a
side event for pros com-
peting on the new game
03
with the winner taking all
of five hundred bucks. The
fair even bought the wood,
a three thousand dollar
affair that Stev-O, Black-
hart, Jake, Andy Berenson,
Pat Black, Pierre and other
craftsmen turned into a
bowled out, banked reser-
voir complete with spine,
hips, metal edges, rollout
decks, bridges and chan-
nels topped with slideable
and grindable curb boxes.
It was a far sight better
than the basic and rela-
tively slow banks of 1988.
Hey, you live, you learn.
After Spray Can Eddy
and his aerosol kids
applied the final
graphic touches,
utilizing about 150
cans in a non-stop
tag fest that lasted from
night until morning, the
fountains had been trans-
formed into a skate glad-
Second place Al
Petersen (fael
allie-to-fakie) chases
fast plice Tony
pick
over bridge of death
whole City gets look
Mark Parrain ple
Cloist
iator's dream. The stage was
set right on top of a large,
banked wall where announ-
cers, judges, technichans,
skaters-in-waiting, their en-
tourages, families and just
about anybody with enough
sense to boldly scam their
way through the virtually
nonexistent security force
took up residence.
final charge: Kendall, De-
main, JJ Rogers, Hostetter,
Girard, Lotti, Salasnek,
Barbee, Partain, Arguelles,
Lasek, Petersen, Allen,
Watanabe, Caballero, Tem-
pleton, Conklin, Jason
Rogers, Kepper, Knox,
Speyer, Mountain, Hosoi,
Swindle, Oster, Guerrero,
Dressen, Kaupas and the
Hawk. The top spot was
nailed down by Omar
Hassan, who seems to bust
with supreme confidence in
any skate situation.
Sunday's qualifying cut the
field down to thirty skaters,
many of whom were still
getting a line wired as they
scored with the judges. From
thirtieth place, the cut looked
like this for Monday's semi-
Calice
Monday's action contin-
ued where Sunday's left off
with the final cut being
chopped to ten. Noah.
Salasnek hung on for tenth
despite a fiberglass cast,
George Watanabe flashed
brilliantly in ninth, Alan
Petersen came out of no-
where, er, Fresno to rip
eighth, Tom Knox secured
seventh, Ray Barbee fines-
sed his way into sixth, Tony
Hawk was starting to boil
in fifth, Tommy Guerrero
rode the crowd swell into
fourth, Christian juiced
third, Omar Hassan held on
tight to second and Natas
destroyed all with a qualify-
ing run that stuck him in
first place.
Before the finals com-
menced, the judges' plat-
form was whipped around
to face the one empty foun-
tain where seven freestyle
aficionados were kicking.
flipping and walking the
rails. Kevin Harris rounded
out the money winners in
fifth spot, obviously spend-
ing most of his time these
days working the plywood
at his two skateparks in
Vancouver, B.C. City boy
Ray Meyer tied with
Seattlite Cameron Martin
for third while Don Brown
edged into sec-
ond. As everyone
had anticipated,
Rodney Mullen:
swept first by
unanimous decision.
For most, it was just a
matter of seeing what
mind-blowing tricks he
would showcase during
his run. No one was disap-
pointed. Try a 540' shove-1
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