B
Anthony Pools
SWAN
POOLS
PADDOCK
LOS ANGELES
years, mainly in the LA area or the San Fernando Valley. A lot of Swans were skat-
ed after the big quake in '94 (or was that '95? I can't remember). These pools hard-
ly ever get cancer or holes in them from skating. They're tough, strong and depend-
able, and for the most part they always have good coping that's not too dry or brit-
tle when you grind. When you find them they're usually painted bluish or green,
and often you'll find the pool's 10 feet deep or more. These pools also often feature
good obstacles like loveseats that stick out and have a cool tile design. Pretty killer
stuff. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give them a 6 for good quality as well as quantity.
●●●●Paddock pools have been around forever, since the advent of backyard
swimming pools, and these pools generally are very big and have really good
shapes. Founded in the '40s, these pools were often built in hotels, motels, man-
sions, apartments, etc. Get the drift? We're talking huge like the Roman in
Escondido, killer as in Johnny Rocket's in LA, quite large as in Balboa Gardens in
the Valley. Getting the picture? Paddocks have been sighted all through So Cal
from Palm Springs to OC to LA to the Valley. These guys got around, but they're
mainly in higher-class establishments, the well-to-do, if you know what I mean.
Beverly Hills and movie stars. So what I'm getting at is that if you can drum one
of these up you are stoked. Why? Because they are usually huge with super rad
trannies, good finishes, and good coping. Sometimes though, the plaster is really
dry as with the coping because they are so old; we're talking over 40 to 50 years
old if you get a really good one. Every Paddock I've ridden has had rideable tran-
ny through the whole pool, so keep your eye out for these because Paddock builders.
are true craftsmen when it comes to quality and overall rideability. Overall I'd give
this company a 9 or 10 'cause they're usually very good.
●●●Sunset pools was started in 1955 by Marvin Wise and had at one point over
35 offices in the Western United States, including, you guessed it, Cali, Nevada,
Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. In 1977 they downscaled back to only 8 offices
mainly in Cali to control the overall workmanship that Mr Wise originally strived
for but that had gotten away from him. These pools are always high-quality
affairs, usually with good trannies, nice hard smooth surfaces, nice grindable
round 2 and a half inch coping (sometimes pebbly stuff was used), good approach-
able shallow and mid sections, cool tiles and obstacles. The hip sections are pret-
ty good also for pumping and line variations. They varied in depth but most of
them that I've ridden are in the 8-10 ft range. They offered 16 different shapes to
customers back then, and the most used one of them all was the famous kidney
shape, but I have ridden some killer square pools also. This company has a cool
logo of a seahorse, which again was inspired by the sea, ocean, water, etc. On a
scale of 1-10 I'd give Sunset a 7.
●●●Master pools by Jim Hendricks. I really don't know much about this pool
company except that they built killer pools, mainly in the San
Bernardino/Riverside area. These pools are often kidneys, small but rippable like
Pepper Street or the one down the way that only a couple of lucky people got to
ride (remember Farmboy?). I'm assuming that most of these pools were made in
the late '50s/early '60s during the Kaiser building boom that was directly related
to Route 66. They sport nice shallow ends that support stair activity; typically I've
been able to grind the shallow end at every Master pool I've ever ridden, and I've
seen at least 15-20 of these spread out over a 40-mile radius. They usually have
good coping, some with the killer tile program, some without, and nice obstacle
lines. The only downfall to these pools is that they're kinda steep (6-7 ft trannies
and at least 2 ft of vert) and lumpy here and there, and the plaster loses its lus-
ter after prolonged bakeage in the sun-it gets kinda rough and tends to rip
kneepads off if ya wear 'em. But if any of you have ridden Pepper then ya know
that Mr Hendricks did a fine job indeed. I'd give him a 7 for consistency and qual-
ity and pure fun.
Hoams of Palm Springs makes some rad pools with
crazy amoebas and just plain wack stuff that is really fun to ride
and cool for whole-racetrack speed carves. They've been around
for years also, dealing mostly with the desert communities 'round
the Springs area and surrounding hour radius of Hemet, Indio,
Yucca Valley and so forth. A lot of Hoams that I've ridden have
had cancer from too many chemicals, so the plaster goes from
nice and wet and killer to dry as hell and cracking in the desert
heat, and they tend to get rough and gnarly bottoms near the
drain. This makes these pools really crazy because the trannies
are really good along with everything else but the surface just
tweaks ya either by making your feet move all over your board or
Most skaters today, whether
they're into street or vert.
can't ride within the environs
of an empty swimming pool.
by pitching your body out of bounds and into an instant stop-rip
off your knee regardless of circumstance. (Nakama blew out his
ACL because of this instant stopification.) Other than the surface
problem, Hoams are quite good with kibble pockets and corners
and such, obstacles are numerous usually, and the coping rating
is always good. An overall 6 for regional quality.
●●● HJ pools are a local company, I believe, working within
the confines of the Inland Empire, and I've only seen 3 examples
from this company. I really don't know much about them at
all...I don't even know what HJ stands for, and the only thing
that makes them recognizable is the nameplate for the light
electronics and the fact that all 3 of the pools I've ridden have
all had the same tiles, which have vertical lines kinda carved
into them that make a noise like no other when you get that blue
tile fever. The 3 pools I did ride all had killer trannies through-
out the bowl with good hard smooth plaster, except for Andy's
pool in Chino, which is getting cancer and holes from too many
chemicals, too much prolonged emptiness, and weather ele-
ments from El Niño winds and rain. But nonetheless, these
pools exemplify the good qualities of flowing transitions from
the shallow end to the deep end, making the whole pool rideable
and accessible. Andy's pool has nice easy shallow end stairs,
good obstacles like the deathbox and sidewall stair rails, are
nice examples of HJ's work. Another fine example was the
Pomona swim school pool (when I was a kid I took swim lessons
there with my friend Earl Wulliver), which happened to be
square with round corners, complete with one of the most chal-
lenging deathboxes I've ever made, located half in and out of the
corner. If you're ever in the Badlands, hopefully you'll be able to
ride another HJ. On the 1 to 10 scale HJ gets a 7 1/2.
All the rest of the pools I have pics of are the only single exam-
ples I've come across and they are mostly regional pools located
in certain areas such as the San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel
Valley, Riverside, San Diego, Texas, New Mexico and so forth.
Every locale has its own version of local builders such as White,
Dotken, Conroy, Aloha, Fiesta, Imperial and many others. I'm
into sharing as much info as possible and if anybody has any info
for me, just write me through the mag. Till next time... -Salba
Chuck H dropping into a Riviera
Master pool by Jim Hendricks
Fantasy pod in Garden Grove
Blocks from Bellmars
Imperial Square in Rialto
72 THRASHER
73