Skate Boarding - Z Boys

[venus]

Dogtown & Z-Boys – what a great documentary!

Did you ever ride skate board? When did you start? Where did you ride? I spent my teen years in San Francisco & first rode on steel wheels. Bought my 1st “real” board w/ clay wheels & nicely finished wood in 1968– which I immediately slapped a STP sticker on. Did you ride? Do tell…

[mgood]

I still have my skate board from 1965 with clay wheels. I use to be pulled by a friend in a bike.

[ajmcforester]

I took up skateboarding after I picked up mountainboarding (giant skateboard with 10"-12" wheels) to let some of the injuries from mountainboarding heal. I'm what I think they call vintage classic style skater, more like the early Dogtown days.

[esmit208]

I took up serious skateboarding after I began surfing back in the mid 80's. It really helped with the flowing action when surfing. When I was a kid we took the wheels off my sisters roller skates and made scooters. I lived in St. Petersburg Florida for about 11 years and we skated a place in Tampa that is still there called the "Bro Bowl". Named so because it was right on the edge of public housing in downtown. Those were some unforgettable times.

[Mike]

I used to live in the Seattle area in the early 80's. We used to make our own long board skate boards with custom wood and handles so we could run down the steep hills. It was awesome, wish I would have kept my boards. I think they call it street louge now. We would make all kinds of boards. Man, I should have started a company building these things. I remember saving up cash from my paper route to buy boards and parts.

[Oiluj]

Made a custom spring aluminum skateboard w/ urethane wheels back in the mid 70's. Mirror polished the board and applied that dark, stair-tread sandpaper in strips on the top.

Then spent alot of time polsihing the bearing races to minimize friction, precision aligned the trucks and adjusted the stiffness of the truck rubbers to make it track perfectly.

Darn thing was very manuverable, but so-oo fast that it was hard to control speed on steeper runs. Was a very fun, sometimes scary board to ride. Sold it after about a year after I grew out of skateboarding.

[Montezuma]

I did the skateboard thing back in the late 70s early 80s, my first board I bought used it was a G&S Warped Tail with ACS trucks and OJ wheels...loved that board. I later saved up to buy my G&S Pine Design with Tracker trucks and Kryptonic red 70s. We used to skate everywhere we could in the summers of Pennsylvania. I watched the Lords of Dogtown several weeks ago with my friend ....man did it bring back great memories. I can remember reading Skateboarder mag and thinking how cool it was to live in California. Just a side note: the beach scenes for that movie were filmed here in Imperial Beach CA, I had just retired from the Navy and was jobless so I went down to watch filming.

[FrankenScamp]

I still do! But not as much as I did. I was WAY into it for about 12 yrs. Skated a lot of places, met a lot of cool people. Trashed my right knee a couple yrs ago and couldn't afford surgery. It's a bit flimsy but I can still tool around the skate park.

Cars pretty much took over from there.

[Apache]

I switched from bmx to skateboarding in 99. Used to skate everywhere and was probably the crappiest skater in my group of friends. i remember how stoked i'd be to progress from kickflips off a curb to BS heelflips over gaps. i lived in CA so there were tons of good spots. Made missions out to famous skate spots and had hours of footage on my friends camera and computer... which was lost when the editing software glitched... i'm in the background of a Shorty's vid at the San Fran Rock Gap. i never really skated at skateparks til college, when i could get a session in with the park nearly empty. injuries, jobs, cars, girls, and just not having anyone to skate with gradually killed it a couple years ago. i tried getting back on my board but can barely ollie because of my crappy muscle memory and thrashed ankles. i took up street luge last year while i was in Germany which is INSANELY fun. i kinda want to take up downhill skating but i need a wingman, for rides up the hill and first aid.

and jesus, some of you guys were skating before i could walk.

[go z racer, go]

i use to skate back-yard pools and concrete ditches back in the day from 1978 to around 1984. i had a bruce logan earth-ski with bennett-pros and road rider-four wheels. me and my fellow groms had mapped out a few homes with dry swimming pools. the whole anti-culture scene lured me in and lugging a surfboard to the beach on my bmx bike got old. i skated for years, that is until, i got my drivers license. quickly thereafter, surfing consumed my life and skateboarding faded into a novelty.

having said that, approximately five months ago a skateboard park was built near my home. a few days after it's opening i stopped by after surfing to check it out. later, on that very day, i returned to the park armed with what the kids would describe as an "old school" or "old guy" skateboard (aka as a pig design) and a helmet.

the first couple of runs were shaky at best and my first drop-in (no steps) was nearly my last. shortly after that, it all started to return and i was grinding my new trucks. since that day i've been visiting this park, on average, five times a week. the water temperature is hovering between 55 to 58 degrees (normally it's around 62 degrees this time of year) so surfing has been cut down to just a couple of days a week - or less.

by todays standards, with regards to performing in the deep end, i'm very low on the pecking order, however most of the kids there seem to show me a measure of respect. actually it's more likely pity. so needless to say, while i may drive a z-car i'm far from a z-boy and that's okay because i'm having too much fun.----Jerry

Edited February 26, 2011 by go z racer, go

[ajmcforester]

i use to skate back-yard pools and concrete ditches back in the day from 1978 to around 1984. i had a bruce logan earth-ski with bennett-pros and road rider-four wheels. me and my fellow groms had mapped out a few homes with dry swimming pools. the whole anti-culture scene lured me in and lugging a surfboard to the beach on my bmx bike got old. i skated for years, that is until, i got my drivers license. quickly thereafter, surfing consumed my life and skateboarding faded into a novelty.

having said that, approximately five months ago a skateboard park was built near my home. a few days after it's opening i stopped by after surfing to check it out. later, on that very day, i returned to the park armed with what the kids would describe as an "old school" or "old guy" skateboard (aka as a pig design) and a helmet.

the first couple of runs were shaky at best and my first drop-in (no steps) was nearly my last. shortly after that, it all started to return and i was grinding my new trucks. since that day i've been visiting this park, on average, five times a week. the water temperature is hovering between 55 to 58 degrees (normally it's around 62 degrees this time of year) so surfing has been cut down to just a couple of days a week - or less.

by todays standards, with regards to performing in the deep end, i'm very low on the pecking order, however most of the kids there seem to show me a measure of respect. actually it's more likely pity. so needless to say, while i may drive a z-car i'm far from a z-boy and that's okay because i'm having too much fun.----Jerry

I used to work on my car while several skate boarders would skate next to the shop in the mid 90's and we would play punk rock from your time. Last week I ordered The Vibrators 1st album on CD for $3 recorded in 77. I had the original album from The Avengers that I wanted to replace I wore out the record, well that was to expensive the cheapest I found was a scratched record for $30 and the CD went for $125. Apparently their was a contract infringement with the recording studio and the producer so it hasn't been recorded since 85 making it one of the hardest punk recording to get in history. I found out it will be re-released next year.

[go z racer, go]

I used to work on my car while several skate boarders would skate next to the shop in the mid 90's and we would play punk rock from your time. Last week I ordered The Vibrators 1st album on CD for $3 recorded in 77. I had the original album from The Avengers that I wanted to replace I wore out the record, well that was to expensive the cheapest I found was a scratched record for $30 and the CD went for $125. Apparently their was a contract infringement with the recording studio and the producer so it hasn't been recorded since 85 making it one of the hardest punk recording to get in history. I found out it will be re-released next year.

man as someone who lived through it - you know your music

btw- i use to see tony alva at circle jerk shows in LA