
A treasure trove of skate culture is being saved - kikitee
https://www.huckmag.com/outdoor/rad-archive-dan-adams-skate-culture/
======
oblib
I moved to LA from Rockford, IL in 1973 when I was 14 years old and was amazed
by how completely "skaters" were into skateboarding as a lifestyle.

I mean it was shocking to me. There were other cliques, but those guys were
obsessive. And I was amazed at what they did on their boards. They did stuff
that truly seemed impossible to me.

I was amazed by the boards themselves too. We didn't have anything like those
in the mid-west and I'd never seen anything like them.

Compared to the tiny steel wheeled skateboards I'd seen those laminated and
curved plywood boards were huge and the plastic wheels and "trucks" were way
more high tech than I'd ever imagined anyone would apply to a skateboard. I
remember asking them "They make these wheels and axels just for skateboards?"
because I really thought they must have some real industrial use and were
being re-appropriated. They thought I was a dumbass for asking.

I learned fast to not touch anyone's board, and don't even ask if you can ride
it. That, to me, was funny because I'm thinking the best I can do is not fall
off if I can get both feet on it going as slow as I can and I'd watch them
jumping curbs and making the board do flips and catching air, but they were
convinced I'd bust it? I couldn't imagine how?

Listening to a group of them talk was also impressive. They had their own
accent and lingo and, again, I'd never really seen anything like that before.
They didn't sound the same as kids who weren't skaters and they didn't talk
about the same things. They mostly talked about skating and everything else
didn't matter. I would listen to them and wonder "how can they only talk about
skating?"

Those hardcore skaters were truly a mystery to me, but learning they're
preserving their history doesn't surprise me. They really were different, and
that history should be preserved. It was as unique as anything I've ever seen
in modern American culture.

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dylanz
My first trip to SF was a solo trip (20 years ago) to skate all the classic
spots in the city. EMB, Hubba, Pier 7, etc.

I remember getting off Bart in the middle of the city and having no idea where
I was. This guy skates by as I’m standing there looking clueless and asks if I
needed help finding any spots. Once he realized it was my first time in the
city, he spent the “entire” day showing me around to every spot. At the end of
the day I bought him a sandwich and he pulled out a giant blunt (I used to
smoke).

One of my favorite memories of skateboarding and of SF.

~~~
johnpowell
Similar story in San Diego in 1996 (I had just turned 18). Except I was
planning on moving to San Diego from Eugene. I thought I had it all worked
out. I managed to sell my Performa 6214 and playstation and came up with 1200
bucks. Enough for a bus ticket and and a hotel for a night once I get there.
In the morning I will find a room to rent and a job. Surely I can do that in a
few hours.

That didn't work..

I ended up renting a really bad pay by the week hotel where I had to sleep
with the lights on because the roaches were aggressive.

It took about 36 hours to realize I would quickly run out of of money and end
up back in Eugene living on my sisters floor. So I just rolled with it.

I would catch the bus from downtown to La Jolla and skate back downtown. I
loved the long stretches of smooth path that ran along the beach. It is nice
to just do flip tricks going pretty much as fast as you can without a tree
root messing up a sidewalk. Like butter.

But I broke a kingpin about four days into what was now my vacation. So I was
at the skateshop getting a new one and ran into this kid I met a few months
earlier in Sacramento when I was on my way to The Tibetan Freedom Concert in
S.F.

So we hung out for a few days and he showed me some lesser known spots in San
Diego. He also called in a favor to get my stupid broke ass back to Eugene.

I was 30 when I discovered I could no longer skateboard. Nasty handrail thing
and I was just done. I could have kept going but I wanted to go out on the top
like Seinfeld. So I gave my board to my sisters son who had been rolling a
Razor scooter. I would no longer hurt myself daily and maybe he would get a
girl to talk to him.

Now I just think about what I would do with stairs and curbs when I walk down
the street.

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haywirez
Fantastic to see this on the front page! Thought about this yesterday (while
skating), skateboarding is really THE best sport... You're competing with
yourself while generating more fun, discovery and advancement for all. Total
opposite of zero sum. The best are those magic sessions when everybody gets
hyped off each other and lands crazy tricks far above their usual skill. Hope
the kickstarter succeeds:

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/322122905/rad-the-
book-...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/322122905/rad-the-book-of-the-
magazine#)

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mikekij
So cool to see skateboarding on HackerNews! My worlds collide.

~~~
epicwhaleburger
I'm so glad I found this comment! It's cool to see others skate on here.

~~~
mikekij
HN Meetup at the Palo Alto Skatepark? I'm in.

~~~
brailsafe
Looks rad. I'd be up for it if I ever make my way to Cali.

------
otras
On a similar note, a great deal of skateboarding’s oral history is being
recorded and archived by The Nine Club[0], a podcast where a few professional
skateboarders and people in the industry sit down for a conversational
interview. They’ve been going strong for over two years now, currently with
105 total weekly episodes. Hearing Jamie Thomas talk for nearly four hours
about his career is incredible, especially if you’re at all interested in the
history of the culture.

They’re able to run it from donations, Patreon, and merchandise sales. I
support them on Patreon, and I think it’s great what they’re doing!

[0] [http://www.thenineclub.com](http://www.thenineclub.com)

------
zentr1c
I allways wondered how many skaters are reading hn. Skate and create. Skated
palo alto in 92. Keeping it rolling in germany. Any readers in Frankfurt?

~~~
brailsafe
Born in 92', keepin it rollin in Canada, hoping to make my way to Germany
soon. Never stop skating.

------
extralego
Did anyone else here take the irresponsible path in life or am I the only one?
I dropped out of college for a job offer as a full-time skateboard
videographer and didn’t look back for almost a decade. I’m not sure I regret
it, but getting real jobs after the fact is pretty strange with this stuff on
my resume. I honestly still assume a lot of people who read my resume must
think I made it up. Every now and then, someone gets excited and fans out but
they still don’t take me seriously unless they work in advertising, because
people in advertising realize, consciously or not, how action sports expanded
the boundaries of what branding is. Very strange to look back on this stuff;
especially the earlier days when it was a very genuine and outright spastic
culture. Unfortunately, it’s also a little embarrassing haha.

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rebelnz
Semi- retired skateboarder checking in! I was actively skating in the UK early
90s - I recognise some of those spots.

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newnewpdro
Skateboarding is an incredible sport. The amount of discipline and grit
engendered in those who get through the learning curve is exceptionally high.

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fourmii
Love that this got onto the front page of HN! I started skating in the late
80s, when we had the Bones Brigade and guys like Natas Kaupas showing what you
could do it the streets. Then I lost interest and didn't pick up a board
again. Until about 3 months ago when I decided to buy another setup and try
again. I live in bayside Melbourne and we have this awesome skate park in St
Kilda where it's good for beginners. I've been going 3 times a week...

I've been pretty consumed by skate nostalgia and can't get enough of stuff
like this!

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chrxr
16 years on the board for me. From Cornwall, to Oxford, to Boston MA. Weird
seeing the pictures of Sean Goff riding a sketchy ramp in Iffley Road in 87.
He's still a regular at the new Oxford park, on the same spot as that ramp,
and he still destroys it! As others have said, this is a strange mixing of
worlds, skating and HN. It's great to see people come out of the woodwork!

~~~
chrxr
Tech has got me to the place where I finally have enough space to build a ramp
in my backyard! Finished it just a few weeks ago, and it's a dream come true.

~~~
newnewpdro
That's awesome. I've been toying with the idea of building a half pipe on my
desert property.

The only problem is it'd very likely attract a bunch of vandalism to my cabin
:(.

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n_
Skateboarding HN reader in SF, checking in.

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jwilbs
Any fellow skaters may be interested in an interactive visual essay I recently
made about music in skateboarding:

[https://pudding.cool/2018/06/skate-
music/](https://pudding.cool/2018/06/skate-music/)

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forsakenkraken
Another semi-retired skater here. I mostly just skate to work these days. Can
still ollie but that's about all my knees can take.

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zentr1c
Yeah, great to see it made it on HN

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brailsafe
Broke Vancouver skater checkin in. Can't donate. This needs more coverage.

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werber
the photographs from the 90s look so current it's eerie

