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.
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.