Saturday, May 31, 2008

Duane Pitre & Rob Dyrdek.



It's hard to believe where Rob Dyrdek is now compared to where he started out 18 years ago. He's gone from a Dinosaur Jr loving skate rat in Ohio to the star of one of the top shows on MTV. (Who knew then that MTV would get rid of the videos?) Dyrdek deserves a lot of credit for sticking with Alien Workshop and still being a skate rat. I was stoked on Alien Workshop from the beginning since they are based in Ohio and I live in New York. When they started, it was mindblowing to see a company that wasn't in California that had Neil Blender riding for them.

Transworld May 1991 Volume 9 Number 5

Friday, May 30, 2008

Jeff Grosso.



Nose stall on a board with no nose. The bat/man thing graphic is one of my favorites. The overall color scheme is great on his board, too. Whatever he is doing, he is at the forefront of it.

Transworld - October 1988 Volume 6 Number 5

Thursday, May 29, 2008

J.J. Rogers.



"J.J. Rogers was all over the ramp, every inch of it felt the wrath of his largeness. Here he is, utilizing the small extension by way of an alley - oop half - Cab to rock fakie."

This is from the December 1990 NSA Mini Ramp contest in San Jose. Rogers came in 9th. Omar Hassan was the winner, Tony Hawk took second and Steve Caballero placed third. O snapped the photo. After all these years, I'm fascinated with the more obscure skateboarders who were in the spotlight for less time than the Hassans, Hawks and Caballeros. Nothing against the top guys because there are very good reasons for the longevity of their careers and overall dedication, but skateboarding has been and should always include room for the underdogs and fringe elements.

Transworld May 1991 Volume 9 Number 5

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Curtis Stauffer.



SMA had the coolest ads with simple and clean layouts.

Thrasher - April 1991 Volume 11 Number 4

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Lee Ralph.



Look at how burly those Gullwings are. I thought it was kind of lame that when skateboarding started getting fresh around 1992 that all of these gnarly pros were suddenly ignored. Granted a lot of the Vision stuff is better off forgotten, but I don't think the products they put out are really any worse than the all over prints and tight ass pants of today. It's good to see that guys like Ralph and Ben Schroeder are still getting coverage in the magazines and that skateboarding recognizes their place in history.

Thrasher - January 1989 Volume 9 Number 1

Monday, May 26, 2008

SMA World Industries Propaganda #1.



This is from 1989. I guess with the internet you don't need to have the employees make up some photocopied flyer of all your products any more. It used to be cool to get mail back in the day. I won't even make the obligatory comparisons as to how cool World Industries used to be versus what the company is today.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Gary Scott Davis.



Welcome. This is my contribution to the skateboard nostalgia website trend. I started skateboarding in 1987 and I got my first issue of Transworld while on vacation in Maine in 1988. I hadn't really seen too many magazines or anything at that point, so this was my initial exposure to skateboard culture beyond riding with my friends in a small town near Buffalo, New York. Of course the first thing I end up seeing is an ad with GSD doing a crailtap with duct tape on his face. I didn't really understand a lot of what I was looking at, but it at the same time it all seemed very interesting. I've always liked the GSD airplane safety graphics and the new/used contrast board photo. This is one of those images that has stuck with me over the years.

Transworld - October 1988 Volume 6 Number 5

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

FYI.

In the event that anyone stumbles across this website before the content really goes up, this is what is going on. I'm planning on having a bunch of scans from old skateboard magazines and stuff, as is the trend these days. It's going to be primarily older content - late 1980s and early 1990s, but that doesn't mean there won't be newer things. Give it a couple of weeks before I get everything in place. There will be regular updates, but it won't be a daily sort of pace - probably a couple of new things a week when I have new stuff scanned in.