Felt like reliving my past today, so I watched Stacy Peralta's 2001 documentary 'DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS'---and boy, did those old pool-riding shots sure hit home! Man, those were the days, just hangin' out with good friends and skatin' some empty pool we'd found... skatin' ditches, skatin' at parks (open and closed), skatin' big ol' wooden ramps we built ourselves (including my favorite 11' ramp with 6' of transition, 3' of pure vertical, and 2' of overhang with a platform we added to make elevator drops). That 6' of transition was so smooth, and the upper foot or so was nearly vertical, then the frame & surface of the ramp went straight up until it curved back into the overhang. I had one other ramp in my yard that had 5' of smooth transition and 5' of pure vertical, and that ramp was a monster, lol... even Doug Dickey, a radical skater, couldn't hit the top of that 10' terror, it was a beast! Perhaps the approach had something to do with it... once we built the 11' ramp, we used a moped for tow-in purposes, that gave a rider enough speed to work that ramp hard, lol. 
I noticed that the film stated that Cadillac Wheels debuted in 1972, but I'm thinking it must have been late '72, because I didn't see 'em on sale at the surf shop until '73... I listed '73 as the debut year in my story on skateboarding, a personal saga I wrote back in '92 or '93. I can't remember exactly when I wrote it, it was late '92 or early '93, but the San Diego Reader paid me $1000 for the story... too bad their assistant editors botched it, aye? Meh, these things happen, and in retrospect, it was only a lousy $1000. Thing is, in this Fraudulent Biden Era, a grand can still buy a whole heap o' steaks & beers, lol. I'll hafta dredge up the link to the blog version, those idiots managed to botch that as well by putting some of the conclusion in italics, I have no idea why... I reckon some g@y-@$$ f#% there didn't like me or my stories, lol. Meh, who cares? Nothing they do can ever take away the awesome memories I have of skating with friends... and several of those friends have already died, yeah? Their deaths had nothing to do with skating, just part of the attrition rate here on this planet.
I'm gonna post a link, then I'm gonna photograph something really funny for y'all, I'll explain in a bit when I add the photo! Here's the link to my own personal saga of skateboarding, written well before this Peralta film appeared. The blog date is later, but that's because I was hedging my bets by throwing down blogs just for the heck of it... my work will live on until the Internet crashes! Here's that link, lemme go find the hilarious blurb I wanna photograph and I'll be back like a bad rash to post it, lol... probably need to hit the can and grab another cold one while I'm at it, 10-4?
Trix Are For Kids
Back in a moment with an added bonus...
Okay, when I submitted my skateboarding saga to the Reader for publication, it was accepted immediately, but the editorial staff sent a letter asking me if I could put together a glossary, since there was so much skate lingo involved in my story. I thought to myself, "Hmm, a glossary, that should be in alphabetical order, kinda like a dictionary..." So I sat down in front of my typewriter (half-lit at the time) and proceeded to knock out the task, right? Well, I came to the term "face-plant" which I had already used in my manuscript, and this is what I wrote while half-drunk, lol...
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Perfect definition! Here are some other parts of that glossary I put together...
Hmm, that last pic is a bit fuzzy, but y'all get the picture... here are some excerpts from the story itself, including my favorite passage, the one about the first double grind ever ripped in the Vertibowl. That pool was only 8' deep, but it had over 4' of vertical in places, hence the name with which we christened it, lol. It was a hardcore venue, a lot of riders got hurt in that pool (myself included, lol), but it was SO AWESOME to have it to ourselves for just two weeks... a secret spot, until some fool blabbed about it and ruined the whole scene. Meh, no worries, I still have good memories!!!
Okay, that's it for now, read the blog if ya want the whole ugly story, lol... man, those were some wild & crazy days!
Edit: Cue the late-night TV ad line! "BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!" Here are the very LAST two surviving pics from my 'skating daze'---including a pic of carving "over the light" before I pulled that double grinder which I remember so well. That is the Vertibowl in that pool-riding pic, the very same pool described in the Reader article. The second skate shot shows moi riding the I.B. Pipes, which were small yet still ridable, but only for so long, as you'd eventually get dizzy or wipe out, lol. The third pic is just a shot I found while searching for the skate pics, there I am with some gal I used to know, she's probably dead or in prison by now, lol. She was a wild & crazy gal too, but THAT is another story, lol...
Jeez, I was a scrawny kid in those early days, coming from a broken home and all, but the Infantry took care of that problem, lol... once I got outta the Aarrrrrghmy, I looked more like the guy in the last pic, aye? Dunno what kinda local fashion sense I had then, just the way it was as life continued, yeah? In that last pic I was probably 175-180 lbs., now I'm up to 195-200 lbs., but at least I'm still as strong & fast as I ever was, or darned close, lol. So life goes...
Additional edit: BTW, that Vertibowl shot was taken in '79, after I returned from London, so my hair hadn't grown out yet after I shaved my head overseas, lol. It was a punk rock thing, I saw the Pistols video on 'Top Of The Pops' and shaved my head shortly thereafter, lol. Now my haircut isn't much different, go figure, lol... oh, yeah, one more thing, I used to have some really good skating pics, but over the years they were given away or lost for whatever reason.
P.S. Nice taped-up pegboard where the light used to be in the deep end of the Vertibowl... the light itself was MIA when we discovered the place, and we had to cover the hole with that square of pegboard, otherwise we would've brought more grief upon ourselves when skateboard wheels & trucks lodged in the gaping hole, lol. Gotta like the cheesy tape job on the pegboard too, lol... OSHA approved!!! Wait, did OSHA even exist back then? Not in pool-riding, lol...
Additional P.S. My original manuscript spelling shows "hardcore"---NOT "hard-core" as the idiot assistant editor(s) spelled it in the published version, PFFFFFFFT.
I noticed that the film stated that Cadillac Wheels debuted in 1972, but I'm thinking it must have been late '72, because I didn't see 'em on sale at the surf shop until '73... I listed '73 as the debut year in my story on skateboarding, a personal saga I wrote back in '92 or '93. I can't remember exactly when I wrote it, it was late '92 or early '93, but the San Diego Reader paid me $1000 for the story... too bad their assistant editors botched it, aye? Meh, these things happen, and in retrospect, it was only a lousy $1000. Thing is, in this Fraudulent Biden Era, a grand can still buy a whole heap o' steaks & beers, lol. I'll hafta dredge up the link to the blog version, those idiots managed to botch that as well by putting some of the conclusion in italics, I have no idea why... I reckon some g@y-@$$ f#% there didn't like me or my stories, lol. Meh, who cares? Nothing they do can ever take away the awesome memories I have of skating with friends... and several of those friends have already died, yeah? Their deaths had nothing to do with skating, just part of the attrition rate here on this planet.
I'm gonna post a link, then I'm gonna photograph something really funny for y'all, I'll explain in a bit when I add the photo! Here's the link to my own personal saga of skateboarding, written well before this Peralta film appeared. The blog date is later, but that's because I was hedging my bets by throwing down blogs just for the heck of it... my work will live on until the Internet crashes! Here's that link, lemme go find the hilarious blurb I wanna photograph and I'll be back like a bad rash to post it, lol... probably need to hit the can and grab another cold one while I'm at it, 10-4?
Trix Are For Kids
Back in a moment with an added bonus...
Okay, when I submitted my skateboarding saga to the Reader for publication, it was accepted immediately, but the editorial staff sent a letter asking me if I could put together a glossary, since there was so much skate lingo involved in my story. I thought to myself, "Hmm, a glossary, that should be in alphabetical order, kinda like a dictionary..." So I sat down in front of my typewriter (half-lit at the time) and proceeded to knock out the task, right? Well, I came to the term "face-plant" which I had already used in my manuscript, and this is what I wrote while half-drunk, lol...
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Perfect definition! Here are some other parts of that glossary I put together...
Hmm, that last pic is a bit fuzzy, but y'all get the picture... here are some excerpts from the story itself, including my favorite passage, the one about the first double grind ever ripped in the Vertibowl. That pool was only 8' deep, but it had over 4' of vertical in places, hence the name with which we christened it, lol. It was a hardcore venue, a lot of riders got hurt in that pool (myself included, lol), but it was SO AWESOME to have it to ourselves for just two weeks... a secret spot, until some fool blabbed about it and ruined the whole scene. Meh, no worries, I still have good memories!!!
Okay, that's it for now, read the blog if ya want the whole ugly story, lol... man, those were some wild & crazy days!
Edit: Cue the late-night TV ad line! "BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!" Here are the very LAST two surviving pics from my 'skating daze'---including a pic of carving "over the light" before I pulled that double grinder which I remember so well. That is the Vertibowl in that pool-riding pic, the very same pool described in the Reader article. The second skate shot shows moi riding the I.B. Pipes, which were small yet still ridable, but only for so long, as you'd eventually get dizzy or wipe out, lol. The third pic is just a shot I found while searching for the skate pics, there I am with some gal I used to know, she's probably dead or in prison by now, lol. She was a wild & crazy gal too, but THAT is another story, lol...
Jeez, I was a scrawny kid in those early days, coming from a broken home and all, but the Infantry took care of that problem, lol... once I got outta the Aarrrrrghmy, I looked more like the guy in the last pic, aye? Dunno what kinda local fashion sense I had then, just the way it was as life continued, yeah? In that last pic I was probably 175-180 lbs., now I'm up to 195-200 lbs., but at least I'm still as strong & fast as I ever was, or darned close, lol. So life goes...
Additional edit: BTW, that Vertibowl shot was taken in '79, after I returned from London, so my hair hadn't grown out yet after I shaved my head overseas, lol. It was a punk rock thing, I saw the Pistols video on 'Top Of The Pops' and shaved my head shortly thereafter, lol. Now my haircut isn't much different, go figure, lol... oh, yeah, one more thing, I used to have some really good skating pics, but over the years they were given away or lost for whatever reason.
P.S. Nice taped-up pegboard where the light used to be in the deep end of the Vertibowl... the light itself was MIA when we discovered the place, and we had to cover the hole with that square of pegboard, otherwise we would've brought more grief upon ourselves when skateboard wheels & trucks lodged in the gaping hole, lol. Gotta like the cheesy tape job on the pegboard too, lol... OSHA approved!!! Wait, did OSHA even exist back then? Not in pool-riding, lol...
Additional P.S. My original manuscript spelling shows "hardcore"---NOT "hard-core" as the idiot assistant editor(s) spelled it in the published version, PFFFFFFFT.
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