Sluggo: Skating in Vancouver started
for me just before the Expo '86 World
Skateboarding championships. The
scene was huge and full of hype
because in '86 every kid in every city
owned a skate. In around that time,
Kevin Harris got a model with Powell
and brought more attention to
Vancouver. In '87, Vancouver already
had two concrete skateparks when
Kevin used the vast ramp from Expo
and a couple of minis to open the
Richmond Skate Ranch. This brought
all kinds of pros into town to demo the
park. Guys like Cab, Mountain,
Blender, BK and Tommy G showed us
(Colin McKay, Pete Sullivan, Sean
Mortimer and myself) how to use our
park. This helped us all eventually to
get sponsored and make our scene
better. All the guys started getting
magazine and video coverage.
Everything was going great. Then in
early '89, grabs and boneless ones
weren't cool anymore and a lot of
people quit skating. The people still
skating are the same guys, with addi-
tions like Jeppy, Teen, Nickel, Tony,
Derek, Moses and Mega. At present,
Vancouver's got some of the best
skaters in the world. With lots of young
upstarts to take our places, I myself
am very proud to live in Vancouver and
have such good friends and skaters to
hang out with.
Sam Devlin: Do you think that it
would be okay to put my beeper num-
ber in the mag in case someone needs
hook-ups?
Colin McKay: I love it, everyone's
fresh even though Ben's a retard.
Jeff Klindt: The prostitutes are pret
ty, the slums are ugly, and the skaters
are crazy.
Tony Ferguson: Was
Adam the first test tube baby?
Was Eve the original benefi-
ciary of organ transplant
surgery?
Mike Ternasky: Some of
the best young skaters are
coming out of Vancouver. It
has some of the best street spots ever.
right up there with San Francisco.
Jeppe Hanson: I walk for miles in
the park, jump in my rubber dingy, sad-
dle up my pet moose to get to the bor-
Previous page: When Rick Howard (top) is home, he can
usually be found doing crazy shit like this kickflip 180°
nosegrind at Twassen Park. Sluggo (spread) reaches for
a kickflip indy fakie at his home ramp. This page:
Washington resident and constant visitor Jeppe (far left)
delivers a frontside 180° kickflip at the Post Office.
Those crazy canucks (bottom left) settle down for a
group photo at Ben Tall. Derek Marsh (background]
kickflips on a downtown brick bank called Granville.
Underwear model Tony Ferguson (right) skids through a
frontside half-Cab noseslide across from Ben Tell.
der, hop on the bus and meet my pals.
Then when we all get together, it's time
to shoot down Ben, the "Brilliant One."
Joosef Itkonen: It's wicked, there's
hundreds of cars to smash and dozens
of security guards to beat the pulp out
of. FSU '93.
Derek Marsh: Okay, Vancouver's
harsh, eh? Harsh for skating and par-
tying. I've been known to hone in on
some babes, but skating's my game
and Van's the name.
Ben Nickel: Everyone is mean to
me and calls me a retard.
Kevin Harris: The best thing for
me, as far as the skate scene here
in Vancouver, has been how many
skaters I've seen go from locals at
our park to skaters turning pro,
having their own models and
travelling the world.
Props go to: PD, John Ramondo,
JJ Pinklstein, Casey McKay, Roth
Lingmeyer, Shakey, Sacrifice, Pete
Wipersnatch, Wim the Liquorman,
Teenager, Giles Desouza, Reggie
Noble, Pat, Chet Cheyne, John Macky,
Pee-Pee Handsome, Red Dragons,
Grant Patterson, Lance, Jay Garner
and Ottawa tourists.
46 THRASHER