Alex Perelson #3.

100 MPH.

Alex grew up skating vert at the Clairemont YMCA ramp with pros such as Darren Navarrette, Jake Brown, Rune Gilfberg, and others. His first real setup was a Zero with Destructos and Spitfires. His brother Brandon also skates and was sponsored by Welcome at one point. Jake Donnelly and Justin Brock were his favorites on Real in the early 2010s era. He was not a fan of Bucky Lasek's giant concrete backyard bowl. I keep posting Alex's ads because of how much of an influence he is on current vert skaters.

I met up with a friend at the Food Court Skatepark on Wednesday. He brought a buddy along who was ripping up the place and blasted some ridiculous transfers from ramp to ramp. It was sunny and nice so we wasted a late season good weather day indoors, but that wasn't a big deal. I actually had the best day of skateboarding I've had in a long time. I can still do backside 50-50s so that was a relief. I think I'm slowly and cautiously working out of whatever funk I've been in for the last few months.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, December 8th.

I'm so tired of computers and the internet that I'm taking a longer late fall break. Have a good weekend and holiday!

The photos are by Brian Fick.

For the info: Thrasher - May 2011 Volume 31 Number 5

Top shelf: Thrasher - December 2011 Volume 31 Number 12

900: Thrasher - August 2011 Volume 31 Number 8

Rob "Sluggo" Boyce #6.

Flip out.

Sluggo uses his gymnastic skills to do a backflip. This is from the 2010 Rumble in Ramona. The Rumbles were an annual vert event that Darren Navarrette used to host. Rob is riding a Creature board. The red helmet and white shirt are a nice bit of Canadian color.

Thrasher - February 2011 Volume 31 Number 2

Jeff Grosso #11.

"The shenanigans. My coked-out, drugged-out shenanigans. Speed Freaks. I've gotten more feedback from that than any actual skateboarding I've ever done. It's not like I get, 'Dude, that eggplant channel in the Label video at Bakersfield changed my life!' I don't get that. I get, 'Dude, hahah! You were at the forefront of fashion. Dude!' That's my life. That's my contribution to skateboarding."

Jeff waxes poetic on his legacy.

The plan was a week of vert sequences from 2011. I got really close to that unusual goal. Four out of five ain't bad. The skaters had to be on a vert ramp and wearing pads, not at a park or bowl.

For the quote: Thrasher - July 2015 Volume 36 Number 7

Thrasher - February 2011 Volume 31 Number 2

Pierre-Luc Gagnon.

Quebec Nordique.

Pierre-Luc is from Boucherville, Quebec. He rode for Darkstar, Osiris, Gold Wheels, RDS, and Annex Trucks over the years. PLG has had a lot of success on the contest circuit throughout his career, with wins at Tampa, Copenhagen, the X-Games, Dew Tour, and more.

Brian Fick was the photographer.

Thrasher - May 2011 Volume 31 Number 5

Rune Glifberg #7.

Sick Sequential Vert.

Rune does a switch pop shove-it. This trick is absurd. Straight up and down, probably head high, and no hands. He really is a viking warrior.

There was break from the wind and rain for Friday and Saturday so I got to skateboard for a little while. The lights at the park have been adjusted so they turn on at 5:00 PM now. I didn't have much time when I swung by after work, but it's good to see the city is keeping the power on at the skatepark and basketball courts. I intended to go to an indoor park on Saturday. The weather was warmer and dryer than was called for in the forecast so I wound up skateboarding in the driveway. It was fun until a thunderstorm hit. November generally has nice weather, however, this year is coming up short.

Thrasher - June 2011 Volume 31 Number 6

Skulls & Swords.

Powell Peralta started to swing back into what you would expect from them for 2015. The list ad has kind of a Celebrity Tropical Fish feel to it. The next two ads promote a tour of the south and midwest from 2015. The skaters are Charlie Blair, Shane Borland, Jarren Duke, and Eddie “Mighty” Moreno. It's Charlie and Mighty skating the gnarly pool. I didn't want this week to be simply ripping on peculiar advertising strategies so I closed it out with more traditional Powell offerings. It's cool to try different things, but you need to recognize when something probably isn't working.

It's been wet and very windy for the past week so I haven't been skateboarding at all. Usually our Novembers are fairly mellow, but this year has been blustery. I did check out Jamestown Skateboard Products last Saturday. It was nice to get out of the house on a rainy Saturday since I hadn't been to JSP in a little too long.

The team photo is by Terry LaRue. The pool photo is by Deville Nunes.

List: Thrasher - January 2015 Volume 36 Number 1

Go Skate: Thrasher - February 2015 Volume 36 Number 2

Pool: Thrasher - March 2015 Volume 36 Number 3

Reckless Youth.

Wilding out.

These kind of dip into FA or Anti-Hero territory. It's so strange seeing smoking in a Powell Peralta ad. The skaters are Charlie Blair, Shane Borland, and Eddie “Mighty” Moreno. Both Blair and Moreno had pro boards from Powell. Blair was featured often in advertisements. This would've been a better direction to go in as it offers a bit of personality and shows the skaters on the team.

The photos are by Terry LaRue.

Summer: Thrasher - September 2014 Volume 35 Number 9

Pool: Thrasher - December 2014 Volume 35 Number 12

Powell Peralta Boards 2013.

These make a little more sense since they are promoting specific boards. Powell Peralta is never shy about running boring product ads with technical data and that is something you can have a lot of creative fun with. Did Powell even have a team at this time? Obviously, Steve Caballero was still pro. They ran one ad for him with just a board graphic from 2013 - 2014. Otherwise, I'm not sure who else they sponsored. The graphics mostly fit in with Powell's zone, except maybe for the skeleton sparking up a joint. They occupy a weird design space between classic skulls and Skate Mental silliness.

X-Files: Thrasher - June 2013 Volume 34 Number 6

Far Out: Thrasher - August 2013 Volume 34 Number 8

Old Man: Thrasher - September 2013 Volume 34 Number 9

Funsicle: Thrasher - October 2013 Volume 34 Number 10

Objectification.

"Have fun, then quit, and make payments on a Miata."

This was Powell Peralta, not any other company that was willing to take the easy route of using sex to sell skateboards. What was going on over there in 2013 and 2014 that George would approve of this? There's always been kind of subtle fine art edginess to Powell, but they generally kept everything on the safe side. Maybe all the Shorty's and Hubba ads had a subliminal effect on the art direction after a while and they thought they should spice it up. The lady in the Boneite hat could legitimately be a Skate Mental advertisement. It's probably always better to stick to your lane over venturing out to be something that you simply aren't.

Blonde: Thrasher - May 2013 Volume 34 Number 5

Slappys: Thrasher - February 2014 Volume 35 Number 2

Boneite: Thrasher - August 2014 Volume 35 Number 8

Bat: Thrasher - October 2014 Volume 35 Number 10

Kaboom!

We have to talk about Powell Peralta's unusual advertising campaign in 2013 and 2014. They ran a series of abstract ads that do fit somewhere in the realm of their graphic design universe, yet seem completely out of place for the company. It's as if they entered their Skate Mental phase or something. There's a possibility they were taking cues from other skateboard companies such as enjoi, Roger, and even Hubba Wheels in an attempt freshen up their image. I don't see the results as having been overly successful, but they sure were interesting. Interesting maybe isn't always a good thing. I'm not doing this to rip on Powell, I found the image detour fascinating and thought it warranted a look back because it was bizarre.

Thrasher - May 2014 Volume 35 Number 5

Dan Murphy #2.

Scenes from the second story.

Dan is from Boston and relocated to North Carolina for college. He was on Mystery, rode for Foundation, and then went back to Mystery during the 2010s. Nike sponsored his feet for a long time. His part in WTF! was on the shorter side and yet still had plenty of big ollies and gap jumps while the Talking Heads played. He's got a really solid style.

It's been windy and rainy all week so I haven't been able to skateboard. The needlessly early sunsets aren't helping anything either. I keep trying to figure out if the days off are a good thing or a bad thing. The weekend was nice so I did roll around for a while on both Saturday and Sunday.

Jesse Alba has got to be happy the Dodgers won another World Series. I was hoping the Blue Jays could win it all, but that wasn't in the cards this year.

Thrasher - March 2012 Volume 32 Number 3

Nick Merlino #2.

Bone Machine.

If I recall correctly there was an article on Nick in the Skateboard Mag from 2006 or so. He was possibly going to ride for Baker, but he was so stoked to skate that he was rattling off everybody else's tricks before they could whenever they got to a spot. This didn't go over very well and that's how Nick would find a home at Foundation. He turned pro for them in 2011 and stayed with the company until 2021. He skates to The Pixies for his part in WTF! and this switch flip is in there. Nick does a lot of switch and tech gnar, including a perfect opposite footed backside 360 ollie down those big stairs at Rincon. His feet don't even move or leave the board on the trick. It totally makes sense that he would be the guy to blast a straight switch ollie down El Toro in 2018.

RIP Kevin Wilkins.

Thrasher - December 2011 Volume 31 Number 12

Marquis Preston #2.

At home he's a tourist.

I like how Marquis has become an under the radar favorite after his part in Emerica's Stay Gold from 2010. Since my original intent was to showcase the more obscure skaters when I started this blog, I was curious to see who newer generations of skaters would gravitate towards as the years went by. The extent of his coverage was a few photos, ads, interviews, and video parts from 2006 to 2013. Marquis had a shared part with Abdias Rivera and Sierra Fellers in WTF! They used a Gang of Four song for the section. This was the photo that prompted another week of Foundation. The bright colors caught my eye. The F-Troop usually skews darker or runs BW for their ads so it stood out.

Thrasher - October 2011 Volume 31 Number 11

Taylor Smith.

As always, it's not a Foundation week without somebody you've never heard of. Taylor is from Encinitas. He started off skating vert and was even on Termite before moving to Carlsbad. Once in Carlsbad, he started focusing more on street skating. Taylor was getting boards from Plan B until he started riding for Foundation in 2011. Vans was his shoe sponsor. His favorite skater is John Cardiel. For tunes, he likes Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. I think Taylor did turn pro for Foundation and is friends with Riley Hawk's Shep Dawgs crew. This backside lipslide was in Foundation's WTF! video from 2011. He's got a solid part of assorted handrails and gaps set to Sonic Youth.

For the info: Thrasher - November 2011 Volume 31 Number 11

Thrasher - June 2011 Volume 31 Number 6

Corey Duffel #7.

"I heard Jason Dill used to make the dudes watch my video parts on Alien Workshop trips." - The Duff Man.

Corey does a bluntslide for the camera during the Foundation days. They were working on their WTF! video in 2011. It featured Dakota Servold, Ryan Spencer, Dan Murphy, Marquis Preston, Abdias Rivera, Sierra Fellers, Taylor Smith, and Nick Merlino. Dakota was new to the team and Nick would turn pro that year. Of note is that Leticia Bufoni had a few tricks in a montage section tacked onto the end of the video.

The plan was to do a week of Roger since they recently closed up shop. I know they ran a smattering of print ads over the years, but I couldn't find any after some haphazard searching so I went with another week of Foundation. Everyone knows that's how this site works by now. Look for one thing, find something else with more ease. If anybody can pin down the dates for when Roger did run ads, let me know.

For the quote: Thrasher - October 2018 Volume 39 Number 10

Thrasher - May 2011 Volume 31 Number 5

Louie Barletta #12.

Happy Halloween!

Evil Lou slashes a noseslide across a burning plinth. This was the ad that prompted a Speed Demons week since it seems to be such an out of character sponsor for Mr. Barletta. For as much as the running gag about his age casts him as a permanent 21 year old, Louie has always seemed like a grownup to me. And by the early 2000s, Dwindle was strictly for the kids. I understand the convenience of getting bearings from your board sponsor, but I sort of figured Louie would take a pass on that option.

I've been trying to get in some skateboarding while it has been mild and we still have daylight. It's been raining the last couple days and the forecast going forward looks wet. I've been successful in rolling around, but again have had mixed results with how I'm skating. Like I've written before, I'll land enough to think I can still skate, yet I never really get a full, fun session out of it.

Have a good weekend, party smart, and don't forget to change the batteries in your smoke detectors when you flip the clocks back an hour.

Transworld - November 2002 Volume 20 Number 11

Jerry Hsu #13.

Escape the Flames.

Jerry jumps across a fiery chasm. I'm guessing this is probably a switch hardflip. He's riding a Louie Barletta enjoi board with the London calling graphic and wearing some Osiris. Speed Demons seems like such an odd sponsor for Jerry, but you do need bearings and the company is run out of the same office as his board sponsor so it makes sense.

Transworld - October 2002 Volume 20 Number 10

Josh Kasper #2.

Fire & Brimstone.

Josh launches a grab into the pits of hell. The art department directly took the copy from one of Josh's Blind ads of the time and used it for a Speed Demons ad. This is a vintage early days of World Industries type of move.

Transworld - August 2002 Volume 20 Number 8

Kanten Russell #2.

Depths of Hell.

Kanten takes a switch flight down a large piece of evil real estate.

Seu Trinh documented the plunge into the abyss.

Transworld - May 2002 Volume 20 Number 5

Mike Crum #8.

Demonic Hellfire.

Welcome to Halloween week 2025. I'm amazed I keep finding new spooky stuff year after year. Speed Demons was a bearing company out of the World Industries camp. It started in the late 1990s and borrowed from the same cartoon aesthetic that was used for World and Blind. They went bonkers with the layers in Photoshop to create ads with the flames of hell. The team was mostly Dwindle riders along with a few others like Chany Jeanguenin, Anthony Mosley, Tom Penny, and Geoff Rowley. Speed Demons eventually expanded to include wheels and price point boards. After the demise of Dwindle, I'm not sure what happened to the brand, but I speculate it will live on as a zombie company. That's some truly scary stuff right there.

Seu Trinh captured Mike's soul for all eternity.

Transworld - April 2002 Volume 20 Number 4

Patrick Praman.

The end number.

Patrick was born in Bangkok, Thailand and moved to the states when he was a little kid. He grew up in Virginia. He got into skateboarding while living in Virginia and would film in DC, Maryland, and North Carolina. Deluxe hooked him up with Real, Thunder, and Spitfire. Patrick made the move out to California and was part of Thrasher's Am Scramble 2022 tour. He turned pro for Real in the summer of 2023. For the demo, Patrick did a number of tricks over the bump to bar. In addition to this backside noseblunt, he also did a nollie heelflip to noseslide on the hubba.

I dumb lucked into this photo and caught the light from the filmer's camera illuminating Patrick. Some moderate lifting in Photoshop was enough to make it look good.

It will be something quickly demonic for next week.

For the info: Thrasher - February 2023 Volume 44 Number 2

Andrew Reynolds #19.

Florida Marlin.

The Boss skated the whole time and had tricks for the entire park. You got to see the classics: kickflips, frontside flips, a kickflip shifty or two, and a varial heelflip over the picnic table. He did a noseslide down the hubba and some frontside ollies on the quarter pipes. Andrew was riding a Kevin "Spanky" Long deck and wearing a Florida Marlins hat. He had his pro model sneaker from New Balance on his feet, too. I'm sure he was who the majority of the crowd wanted to see the most and Reynolds delivered.

One highlight of the demo was Jake Hayes blasting a 360 flip over the bump to bar behind Andrew. Wilton Souza skated a bunch. Justin Henry landed a frontside shove-it to backside 50-50 on the hubba. Brian Reid also had a bunch of tricks over the bar, including landing in a 50-50. Brian was really good and did a lot of unique transfers around the park. He has a similar jump over the whole spot approach that Brandon Westgate has. I was stoked on his skating and wish I'd gotten a picture of him.

Franky Villani #2.

Horror business.

You can have two pictures of Franky as a treat for Halloween. I wasn't sure what to expect from the demo. It was mostly the guys casually skating the park before they did the more formal show portion of the demo on the stair section. Of course, a pro casually skating a park means way better tricks than us mortals can do. Franky did a whole lot of stuff and landed his tricks fairly quickly. He did take a couple of slams, too. Also like Jamie Foy, he had lip tricks for the quarter pipes. Some of the highlights were a kickflip to frontside nosegrind on the hubba, a kickflip to late shove-it over the picnic table on the right, a Bennett grind to 360 out down the hubba, and a couple of flip tricks down the stairs. The photo is of a nollie heelflip. The other picture is of a wallie out of the bank. He did all of these tricks on his egg shaped board. Franky rips.

I kept more space in the wallie photo so you can get an idea of the park's layout. The quarter pipe wall in the back is where Foy did his frontside heelflip. Franky landed a nosepick of some sort on the quarter and Andrew Reynolds did some frontside ollies. I think that's Tiago Lemos standing on the pyramid. I know Tiago skated, but I don't think he skated a long time. He was also on the opposite side of the park so I simply missed what he was doing.

Clyde Singleton was the MC for the event. He is wearing the Champion sweatshirt on the left side of the nollie heelflip photo. Against the wall by the fence is Brandon Westgate talking to Levi Brown. Brandon didn't skate. I'm not sure on the name of the kid in the tall white t-shirt next to them as there are no titles in real life. He absolutely crushed the demo with massive pop shove-its, flip tricks, and a smooth backside 360 ollie over the picnic table.

These photos were rather drab in color so I went with the easy fix of making them BW and adding film grain.

Jamie Foy #4.

Balancing act.

The reigning SOTY did not disappoint at the New Balance demo. Most of the guys skated the whole time and checked off a lot of tricks. Foy put in the work and took a couple of slams, too. This is a fakie ollie to backside lipslide. He also did a fakie ollie to backside tailslide and a 180 to switch crooks on the hubbas. He had lip tricks for the ramps, which was neat to see. I believe he did a massive frontside heelflip on one of the quarters. Jamie landed a huge frontside heelflip over the picnic table to the right for good measure. The crowd was stoked.

This picture was kind of drab in color so I made it BW and added some film grain to make it a tad more interesting. I wish I took a few more photos, but I wasn't sure how the images would turn out. I didn't want to spend the whole time looking through the viewfinder instead of watching the skateboarding.

Tyler Surrey #2.

Running the Numbers.

I went to the New Balance demo at Food Court Skatepark in Buffalo, New York on Saturday. It was a lot of really great skateboarding in a mellow atmosphere. Most of the team was there, including Andrew Reynolds, Jamie Foy, Franky Villani, Brian Reid, Patrick Praman, Tiago Lemos, Jake Hayes, Tom Karangelov, Justin Henry, and a couple others. There was a good sized crowd and people were stoked. They skated for about two hours, did a product toss, and then signed autographs. I'm not an autograph collector so I split after the skating was done. I didn't talk to anybody and stuck to watching the skateboarding.

I brought my camera. The lighting at the park is equal to a hockey rink so without flashes and/or studio lights, it's rough sledding. I eked out a few pics that are decent enough for the internet. Thrasher is covering the tour so there will be better documentation at some point down the road. If you need an instant fix, I imagine all the highlights are on the Instagram by now.

Tyler closed out the demo with this nollie to backside 180 nosegrind type of move. I was a little surprised to see him there since he lives in Spain.

Eric Koston #17.

Edgy.

Eric pilots a nollie lipslide down a handrail. This was a popular trick amongst the rail skating pros and ams at the turn of the century. I've only ever landed two of them to forward on a flat bar and that was well over a decade ago. I've done more than a few nollie lipslides on ledges and flat bars to fakie, but the trick is awkward and doesn't feel good. But that one evening I was skating with this kid who coincidentally is also named Eric and he encouraged me to give the trick a try on the flat bar. I successfully did two and have never done a nollie lipslide since.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, October 20th.

Work's been really busy and I'm burned out so I'm taking a week off. I'll see what I can come up with and then it will be something demonic for Halloween week.

Thrasher - July 2001 Volume 21 Number 7

Robbie McKinley #4.

Society Dog.

The late Robbie McKinley skids a frontside noseslide across a piece of copper. I always thought this was an odd photo. While it is interesting and functions as almost an abstract painting, it doesn't do the trick any favors.

Thrasher - June 2001 Volume 21 Number 6

Colin McKay #11.

Heavy metal parking lot.

Colin rode for Plan B and DC Shoes with Rick Howard and Mike Carroll. He would ride for Girl for a couple of years after the initial run of Plan B came to an end. Colin was also on Fourstar. He switched to Seek in 2002, the short lived third board brand from the Alien Workshop, before returning to the rebooted Plan B. I don't think the strange detour that Seek was is talked about enough. He has a strong part of vert tech in The Chocolate Tour video from 1999.

Thrasher - March 2001 Volume 21 Number 3

Rick Howard #21.

Power forward.

Rick rode for Blockhead and Plan B before starting Girl in 1993 with Megan Baltimore, Mike Carroll, and Spike Jonze. He's been mostly behind the scenes in running the company since the middle 2000s, but will still pop up for an occasional clip or photo. His last full part was in Lakai's Fully Flared from 2007. I thought this noseslide was in a video, but I couldn't find it. I might be thinking of a different spot and/or clip. There were also video magazines 25 years ago so maybe footage wound up in one of those productions. Rick did a lot of noseslides on big rails and hubbas.

Thrasher - February 2001 Volume 21 Number 2

Tony Ferguson #5.

Loading dock.

Tony spins a backside 360 ollie in Philadelphia while wearing some Lakais. The trick was in the Girl montage of Yeah Right! from 2003. I didn't know what to pick out for the week and some Girl scans from 2001 was an easy find. I was surprised I hadn't posted any of these before. They would have been starting to film for Yeah Right! around this time. Tony is from Ottawa and moved out to Vancouver. He rode for Real, Plan B, and Girl.

Thrasher - January 2001 Volume 21 Number 1

Dan Drehobl #34.

Freedumb flight.

Dan does a frontside air at Kempsey in New South Wales, Australia. This was from a trip down under with Brian Anderson, Brad Staba, Julien Stranger, and Tim Upson. Luke Ogden was the photographer. Jake Phelps was lurking in the background and I'm guessing he organized the ride. It's sort of an odd crew. The trip would have been from 2000 or very early 2001. Dan was on Think and Emerica at the time. Brad and Brian were both still on Toy Machine and wearing Saviers. The article was lean on words, but had lots of pictures of everybody. Luke even got a skate pic. I like how in your face and up close the photo is. It stands out even with all the text. I had to include this cover in the feature because Dan is one of my favorites and I think this was his only Thrasher cover.

Here's a Google street view of the park. Dan would've aired the hip on the front left. I like the skeleton sculpture and shoes hanging from the power lines.

The weather has remained in summer mode so I've been skateboarding most days. I hit up the Jamestown city park, too. I'm still not really skating so great for me and it's getting kind of frustrating. I'm trying to make it work, but it's a chore.

Luke Ogden was the photographer.

Thrasher - March 2001 Volume 21 Number 3

Darren Navarrette #18.

Guy in the sky.

I'm a fan of Darren and knew I wanted to include him in the cover feature. He graced the front of Thrasher with this vibrantly colored creature. It's a full blown 1980s style cut-out design with the relevant talking points of 2003. Those were some wild days, let me tell ya. Darren would've been on 151 at the time. He's wearing a pair of Emericas. I thought this was his only cover, but he was also on the front of The Skateboard Mag with Al Partanen back in 2008.

The photo is by Luke Ogden.

Thrasher - October 2003 Volume 23 Number 10

Julien Stranger #29.

Caution tape.

I had to pick a couple of Slap covers from my senior year of college. Slap was a welcome third voice in addition to what Thrasher and Transworld were publishing. They were a little more creative and arty while focusing on slightly more underground skateboarders. The music reviews were solid and more likely bands I was actually into. I put this feature together quickly so I'm not sure if I'd chosen the same two I scanned. I think I'd maybe have gone with Greg Hunt's cover instead, but I wasn't going to change anything once I got everything organized. You also can't go wrong with any Julien photos so that made this one an easy choice. I think he is wearing some Etnies or possibly some early run Emericas. I like how he's got "nose" written on the front of his board.

As was the case for the Rick Howard cover, there was no photographer credit for the picture. My guess would be Lance Dawes took the picture and didn't credit himself.

Slap - April 1996 Volume 5 Number 4

Ben Gore #7.

Ode to Kalis.

Dave Chami took this photo of Ben Gore at Fort Miley as a homage to the November 1995 issue of Transworld with Josh Kalis on the cover. The issue had interviews with Eric Koston and Guy Mariano plus a feature on the photography of Ari Marcopoulos. That collection of words and photographs is regarded as a high watermark in the legacy of Transworld. Of note is that Ben is wearing State shoes. I had two pairs of them and the shoes were awful. They were so uncomfortable that they didn't even cut it as chillers so I can't imagine skateboarding in them. That aside, Ben rips and is pro for Magenta.

Transworld - February 2017 Volume 35 Number 2

Rick Howard #20.

Green backside ollie.

I believe the story was that Rick wanted to skate vert so he built a ramp at the Girl headquarters. I know this was there for a while, but I don't recall the ramp getting the same amount of coverage other spots got. I imagine it was torn down when the Girl offices moved to a new location. The ramp would be mentioned in passing by assorted Crailtap staffers, creating an aura of mystery to the halfpipe since most of the team skated street. It produced this cool looking cover where Rick is wearing Converse.

There wasn't a photo credit for this one.

Slap - March 1996 Volume 5 Number 3

Ben Krahn #4.

Freedom summer.

If memory serves me correctly, the story behind this is the Big Brother crew took a trip to Philadelphia around about Independence Day. Ben is skating some private bowl/mini ramp creation with his dog Pee Wee. I probably should've skimmed through the issue as a refresher, but skipped it. I knew I had to include a Big Brother cover in the feature and this one looked about the best as an example of what their mag was all about. I almost went with the Cario Foster cover where they announced Larry Flynt as the new owner, but that's a whole other story. Ben rips and has ridden for a few companies over the years, including Lib-Tech, Emerica, and Blood Wizard.

The photo is by Rick Kosick.

Big Brother - September 2000 Number 64

Anthony Van Engelen #11.

Some of the covers I picked out are ones I see repeatedly when flipping through the stacks while tracking down stuff to scan. Repetition works. I like Anthony's board in the photo - a couple of stickers, lot of a solid color, and scratched out graphics. It looks cool. I'm not so sure how good the cover design is with the magazine's name in small text to the side and all the white. Running the photo as a full bleed and having a white S or maybe a red S with a white outline would be more dramatic and attention grabbing. The cover is from a few months after AVE and Jason Dill started the FA board company. I think he's still riding an Alien Workshop deck so it is probably an older picture. Eric Koston had a Nike ad from 2011 where he was frontside grinding the wall at the same spot.

Anthony Acosta was the photographer.

The Skateboard Mag - November 2013 Issue 116

Leo Romero #17.

"There was this man living out of his car in the parking lot of this famous rail. He went on and on about all the people he's seen skating it. When we got this trick he got excited. He couldn't believe that someone had gone up the rail when everyone else he had seen jumps down it. On the way home, we thought of the next group to go skate there and what this guy would tell them and how they would probably think he was crazy or something. Leo Romero breaking new ground. 50-50 up a rail." - John Bradford

Although Leo wasn't the first to go up a handrail, he did generate a lot of buzz when he went the wrong way up an eight stair. The trick was his ender in Emerica's Stay Gold. I picked this one because of how gnarly the grind was. It's an image that has staying power. I'm guessing Mark Gonzales or Natas Kaupas were the early pioneers of skating rails backwards. It also might have been Matt Hensley or somebody else on H-Street who used the boredom of being at skate camp as motivation to try going up an obstacle. Jeremy Wray, Paul Sharpe, Ed Templeton, and probably somebody on Shut have all dabbled in the field, too. A few years later Leo's fellow Tum Yeto employee Cole Wilson would 50-50 up a double kink for the cover of Transworld.

John Bradford was the photographer.

Skateboarder - May 2009 Volume 18 Number 9