PooL
SERVICE
Photos By Darrel Delgado
San Diego has always been a skate town since the birth of
radical skateboarding in 1975. Being born and raised here, and
skating for the last 19 years, I have definitely witnessed the
changes of the skate scene.
Today San Diego has it all: ramp, pool, ditch, pipe, downhill,
etc. Any discipline of skateboarding you wish to pursue can be
fulfilled here in SD. The abundance of established skate spots
and potential terrain here is the reason so many travelling
skaters make it one of their stops on a road trip or permanently
transplant themselves here from their hometowns. Ocean Beach
seems to be the main place of habitation for transplant pool
Rick's 5' bowl gets surfed hang ten style
by Darrel Delgado. Photo: Ed Dominick.
Bill Pressely at Kenny
Dunlap's ramp in Santee,
CA, 1983. Photo: Guf
54 THRASHER
"Mexi-Land" 5, Oceanside, CA.
42193
O'Side "Hard Square.
Sessioned only once with
Kirby, Sage, Little John, etc.
Another work job in Huntington Beach, CA.
Larry Sloan bert dirt slides the lip of the
Lemon Grove ditch circa 1983.
skaters right now, and why not? OB has bars, waves, and is centrally located.
The result of changing times and migration make SD what it is today: a hodge-
podge of skaters from all over who cover all bases of terrain and rip hard in all
disciplines. We have everyone from Andy Macdonald to Matt Dyck-two entirely
different skaters who have their own preferences for what terrain they ride and
where they put themselves on a day-to-day basis. To list everyone who rips here
would be a long list, and I would probably leave out a lot of skaters. I will write
all the names on my current "player" list for what it's worth: GT, Slaughter,
Hackett (rare roller), Charlie, Doug-E-Death, Andy Newton, Terminator, Kale
Johnson, Jody McDonald, Hewitt, Bean, Jerry, Matt Dyck, Rhino, Bacon, Jodie
Royak, Stafford, Tyco, 540°, Trudell, Lenharr (rare), Hensley, Kessing, Keithly,
Quinn, Twister, G-Man and the Oregon/Burnside transplants.
It seems the main transplant rippers are from the East coast and Oregon these
days. There are a few Midwest guys, but not as many. I will tell you that anywhere
I skate, everyone rips. Skateboarders seem to be getting better in general all over
the world with the meshing of vert and street. Younger skaters are really making
their mark on the walls of pools everywhere with tricks that have never been
done. Combine that with a carve program, and that is modern pool riding. Yes,
some older skaters still rip hard, but a changing of the guard is taking place to a
certain degree when it comes to hardcore pool ripping. Guys like Matt Dyck and
Tom Stafford are leading this charge in SD.
San Diego is a big city so, of course, not all the rippers know each other.
They are separated into groups depending on what kind of terrain they prefer.
Skaters in SD are also separated by the north and south regions of the county.
South County is where most of the heavy hitters live. North County has a large
variety of skaters, but not too many hardcore pool shreds. So from Del Mar to
Oceanside it's all "open game" for a skater with a little desire and willingness
to find and skate a lot of pools, and there are thousands just waiting for some-
one to find them.
I used to be from South County until one day, after skating Oceanside ditch
and Joe Bower's ramp, I ended up meeting my present wife Regina at Billy Ruff's
birthday party in a Carlsbad bar. Eventually I moved to North County, a place I had
always referred to as "Trackerland." I tripped out when I relocated here. It was
different because there was no existing regime of underground pool finding.
After a while it seemed that any pool I found or learned about was all mine,
which was a very exciting thought, but it sucks when there is no one to skate
with. I reached a point in 1993-'94 where I would take anyone to my pools, just
to have someone to ride with. I didn't care who it was. Anybody! Miller, my
neighbor who doesn't skate, my classmate who doesn't really skate anymore-it
didn't matter as long as I had someone to go with.
"Negro", North County.
SD. First Session.
"Tears." Best pool in San Diego.
Neil Heddings. "Homicide Egg."
North County, SD. 1st Session.