TONY HAWK
Recollections
I remember staying at Stacy's with Mike McGill, Steve Cab,
and Rodney Mullen. Mike and Steve would smash gum with
their toes, and then I would chew it, and they'd clap. I couldn't
believe two of my favorite skaters would actually clap for me.
1983-1986
I remember my parents moving to Cardiff. This meant Del
Mar was the closest skatepark. I would come to spend every
free moment there. We used to consistently destroy the Hi-Balls
and miniature golf courses.
I remember learning finger-flip airs. Everyone thought it was
kind of a joke, including me.
1978
I REMEMBER my brother giving me my first skateboard. It was a Bahne. I asked
him which way I was supposed to stand. He said whichever way felt better.
1979
I remember everyone in my neighborhood skated, including the girls. Almost every
other cul-de-sac had a quarter-pipe, so we would just skate whichever was the newest
each weekend.
I remember passing by Oasis Skatepark on the freeway and telling my friends that some-
day my dad would get me a membership there.
I remember my brother taking me there every Thursday after school. I once saw Steve Cathey
skating the snake run. He gave me a Yo-Yo Wheels sticker.
38 THRASHER
This page, top to bottom: Early frontside
airwalk in the driveway. Class of 1978.
The Norcon helmet might help when he
slams on this frontside at Oasis. Opposite
page, top to bottom: Early fakie alle at
Oasis in 1979. The metal topped full pipe
at Skate City in Whinier gets pasted with
a sticker. Second place and a winning
smile. The look on his face shows the
depth and gnarlitude of Paramount's
Verti-Bowl-eight feet of tranny and eight
feet of vert mean one mental frontside air.
1980-1983
I remember begging Denise Barter to put me on
Dogtown. She reluctantly agreed. The entire team
consisted of Mike Smith, Gator, Christian, and me.
I remember doing a half 360' rock to frontside
rock in the Gold Cup Series and being stoked to see
Eddie Elguera copy it in the Brown Bowl at Marina.
I remember Duane Peters spitting on me at Colton
Skatepark and saying. "This is punk rock, kid."
I remember learning ollie to Indy airs and not real-
ly realizing the implications of grabbing late.
I remember all of my friends from our neighbor-
hood quitting skating.
I remember quitting basketball and little league so
I could skate more. It was exactly the same year my
dad was appointed president.
I remember my dad driving us to every skatepark
in Southern California.
I remember Stacy Peralta calling me to tell me that
Dogtown was out of business. He invited me up to
Marina Del Rey to talk about sponsorship. The same
week, G&S made the same offer. I chose Powell
mostly because I knew how important it was to my
good friend Kevin Staab who got sponsored at the
same time.
I remember placing low in every contest I entered.
I would consistently bail on frontside rocks or any-
thing I thought I had wired.
I remember trying 540's for almost a month
before finally making one.
I remember my careers teacher scolding me for not following his exact
directions. He told me I'd never get anywhere if I disregarded authority. At
the time I was pretty sure I was already making a better living than he was.
I remember driving to Lester Kasai's house almost every weekend to go
swimming, skate Sadlands, and breakdance.
I remember getting to know Lance Mountain at the Swedish Summer
Camp. We bought a Peugot car for $400 and intentionally destroyed it.
Lance spun 360's in it on the beach. We sawed one guy's board in half and
cut holes in the front of all his Speedo shorts because he didn't think we were
funny. I learned 720's there.
I remember graduating from Torrey Pines High School and knowing that if
skating got any bigger, I wouldn't have time to go to college the next year.
I remember skating getting bigger.
1986-1990
I remember touring. In one summer I toured the US for four weeks, went
home for a week, toured Europe for five weeks, came home for a week, then
toured Australia, New Zealand, and Japan for three weeks. On many of these
travels, we would do demos everyday, sometimes two or three, all in differ-
ent locations. When I was actually "home" for any length of time, I would
travel and do demos almost every weekend. Despite having no sense of per-
manence to my life, I enjoyed skating so many different places.
I remember breaking Stacy's unbreakable patience filming Animal Chin.
We were such brats that we never realized what he was doing for us brought
us our recognition. We all realize it now. Thank you, Stacy.
I remember that Skate Escape contest. It seemed like the biggest
event that could ever happen in skateboarding. Anything bigger would
have been way too scary.
I remember getting my graphics painted on my face for an ad. The
fumes made me light-headed, and I ended up puking after Craig Stecyk
took the pictures. I still think he's a genius even though I got sick.
I remember moving to Fallbrook. Building those gigantic ramps cost
upwards of thirty grand, but creating my own place to skate was the
best thing I could have done with my income.
I remember shooting Ban This at my ramp until three in the morning.
The next day I pulled a 720' over the channel at Tobin's ramp, but I never
saw it in the video.
I remember feeling like my career had peaked
at the premiere of Ban This in St Louis. I figured
skateboarding couldn't get any bigger.
I remember skateboarding not getting any big-
ger. Street skating had emerged, but skating's
general popularity was waning.
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