and smooth street course.
Excited about the beautiful
ramps, I quickly jumped a hip
only to ram side-first into the
edge of a slider box. This was
the first time I had ever peed
blood and I sure hope I never
do it again. After lying quietly
on the floor of the pro shop in
the fetal position for a while, I
went back in to find a hot ses
sion brewing with Lewis
Huynh, John Watkins, Jesse
Reed, Anthony Correa, Jason
Womack and Phillip Vaughn
punishing the park while
simultaneously looking good
in all of the latest threads:
These guys had caught the
fashion bug for real, and in
their skate sweaters they
looked like they could have
gone on a hot date straight
from the park. Local video
man and skater RB Umall
gave me the lowdown on
some of the hot spots which,
as usual, we missed.
Thanks to Kevin's quick wit
and charm, we got to stay at
the lovely home of Amy and Jenny Dixon, whose mom Pam schooled us at Mortal
Kombat (my mom can barely work the VCR,) and made us feel right at home. The
next morning we rolled up our sleeping bags, packed up, and headed home.
Texas is a gigantic state and this little trip in no way covered all the skate fun
that goes on there. Other places to check out are San Antonio, El Paso, Amarillo,
Galveston, Waco, and every tiny town in between--not to mention all the spots
we missed in the places we did go.
Maybe because we were only there for a few days (or maybe because I was
taking pictures) but nearly all the skaters we met seemed genuinely friendly and
TEXAS FUN FACTS
Texas Toast is just like regular
toast but fatter.
* People really do say "howdy" and
"y'all."
* State Troopers wear cowboy hats.
* Many restaurants serve you iced
tea like most places serve water.
*In some small towns, excessive
fluoride in the water stains the
people's front teeth brown.
*Up until 1989 it was legal to drink
alcohol while driving (as long as
you weren't drunk).
As far as girls go, the smaller the
town, the bigger the hair.
* Dairy Queens in Texas serve full
meals including steak.
* Most people don't ride horses or
any crap like that.
Pro skaters John Gibson, Craig
Johnson, Dan Wilkes, Jeff Phillips,
Troy Chasen, Ken Fillion, Tommy
Koesel, Bryan Pennington, Dave
Donalson, Dave Nielsen, Mark
Roach, Mike Crum, Chris Gentry,
Kelly Bird, Danny Morgan, and
Jason King are all from Texas.
48 TH
TEXAS
happy to show us around. Because skateboarding isn't
super-huge in Texas, skaters are actually happy to
meet other skaters. Can you imagine?
While the mags and videos are filled with skaters
that are involved in the bizarre little microcosm of pro-
fessional skateboarding, (with all it's cliques, intrica-
Someone with a
rich dad should
go snatch that
place up before
some roller-
blader buys it
and gives it a
dumb name.
cies, and ridiculous trends), the kids we met in Texas
are just like you and me. They have to work and go to
school, skate crappy spots, get kicked out by security
guards, laugh with their friends and have a good time.
A trip to Texas ain't going to help your pro career,
but for those of you out there interested in meeting
cool folks and skating quality spots, I strongly recom-
mend a nice long road trip to the Lone Star State.
Kickflip Indy (opposite left) by the spectacular John Comer.
We were told that Jef Hartsel once did a sweeper on the Buddy
Holly walls. Marcus Valdez (opposite right) chalked up a back-
side ollie to tail. A big ol' backside air at Phillip's (above right),
care of Dan Ehara. Kevin Marks (above) moved from Kansas to
Colorado to go to Texas to do tailslides at Bryan High.
KENNY WOODS
What's good about skating here in Austin?
There are a lot of spots, but you really can't
skate them unless it's night, and it rains a lot, or
sweltering heat, or it's windy like it is now, but
it's pretty good.
Are the kids here pretty nice?
Yeah, pretty nice, no tough guys or anything.
Where can you hook up with skaters?
Just go to Blondie's and you'll meet people.
What are some of the good spots?
The ditch we went to, a lot of stuff downtown,
a good school called Reagan's, but you can't
skate it right now because school's in session,
but it's fun on weekends.
Tell us about this new skatepark.
The city banned skateboarding on a couple of
roads so the skaters got together and one guy's
mom is all militant so I guess the city is going to
give up some land for a park. All the skaters are
making it, so it should be done pretty soon.
ROBOTECH