Street, vert or freestyle, no matter
what you label yourself, you are still
a skater. Graham McEacheran (left)
came to our shares from England in
1986, did a McTwist on the mellow
mogul at the Dish and was never
heard from again. Embarcadero is
still the skateboarding mecca in S.F.
In 1985, a kid named Zeke (below,
for right) used the existing trannies
to work on his streetplants. Maybe
some day someone will blow the top
off the thing and create a cement
quarter-pipe for the messes.
Handrails are gnarly and don't let anybody tell you different
But if you eat it, bring your own bodybay. Max Evans (below)
drives a 50/50 off the rear truck. Skateparks nowadays cater to
the street skuter. Fan botes, sidewalks and slide rails are ar
ranged to lure skaters off the real street. John Oliver (below)
center) came off the Taj Ma Wall at Skatezane Santa Barbara
and cranked this ollie one-footed tail grab 180 over the pyra-
mid. With a combination of park theory and street attitude, the
Burnside Project in Portland, Oregon, is a masterpiece. Scan
Wood (below, right) gets down to business with a fakie wallride.
way. Anyway, it was summer and I was almost
a freshman in high school, which meant only
four more years of prison, when my older broth-
er came home one day with a chunk of wood
with roller skate wheels nailed to the bottom.
What's that?
A skateboard.
Oh...What yuh do with it?
You know the High School hill, that big, steep.
long winding road?
I rode this thang
down that hill.
Bullshit.
Yes I did. Standing up
too!
Prove it!
That was the ultimate
New Centurians
by Charles Weatherby
No history of the street would be complete with
out a look into what is happening in the world of
skateboarding through the eyes of some top
pros. The overall feeling is that we are in a transi
tional period between treestyle and more gnarly
action. Things are happening fast, so we kept it
short and to the point.
When did you start?/First spot?
Alan Petersen: Five years ago. / The schoolyard
after school. Sal Barbier: Six years. / Chicken
banks. Mike Carroll: Five years. J Fernando
School in Daly City. Julien Stranger: 1976. /
Boy's Club ramp. Salman Agah: Five years.
Mike Schwartz: Six years. / Raley's. Snaggle:
Nine years. Sean Sheffey: Five years ago. /
Plastic Park. Max Evans: Six years ago. / 135th
street. Matt Hensley: Ten years ago. / Twin
banks. Mike Kepper: Seven years ago. / Red
Devil John Cardiel: Nine years.
THE
WHIPTAIL SCORPION
Look out, these buggers are poi-
sonous. They roll with a vengeance down
steep hills and throw slides that leave wheel
marks in the pavement. Stand clear, these critters
feed on speed, slides, and fresh beg juice.
THE RAILSLIDE COCKROACH: A scientist once pre-
dicted the railslide cockroach will be the only skater to
survive a nuclear holocaust. Perhaps this is true. How-
ever, he surely won't last long if all the handrails melt
to goo. Only that fearful and fateful day will tell.
THE FLYING AND This winged street flyer buzzes
like a bee, taking flight off any angled surface.
Hell even catch air off an ant hill. Some of
his favorite launch planks are folded
sidewalks, post-modern sculpture
and parked cars.
challenge in those days-Prove it!
After hounding Mom for twenty min-
utes, she finally gave up trying to do
any housework and drove us over to
the High School and up that long.
steep, winding road my brother sup-
posedly rode down on a stick with
roller skate wheels nailed on the
bottom.
What are you planning on doing?
Nothing.
Do you want me to pick you up later
or can you find a way home?
We'll find a way.
Okay. Have fun.
Oh. We will.
I stood in the middle of the road looking
down the hill as that car dropped like a rock
toward the intersection at the bottom, I
couldn't get the grin off my face. This was
wonderful; I was about to witness my older
brother kill himself.
Three heartbeats after Mom disappeared
around the corner at the bottom, my brother
had the skateboard on the pavement, one
foot on top, a determined look on his face
and damned if I wasn't convinced he was
about to do it. I started to say, "Okay, the
joke's over, you don't have to prove anything
to me," when he lifted up his other foot, and
said, "Just watch this, you little moron!"
pushed off and man, he was gone.
What an idiot, I thought, he ain't even got no
brakes! My stupid brother had launched him-
self down this madhouse of a hill on a
modified roller skate. I couldn't believe any.
И елене Мюн
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