Channel One.

Channel One was started by former Vision pro Marty "Jinx" Jimenez. I simply liked their old ads and board graphics. Channel One was in cahoots with Acme and subscribed to the idea of not having pro models. At first this wasn't that big of a deal since they didn't have any pro riders. Most of the early team consisted of Huntington Beach locals. Later on in the 1990s, Chet Thomas, Chris Senn and a young Anthony Van Engelen would ride for the team.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

John Drake.

The 1990s Alien Workshop pro got his start on Assault Skateboards out of Dayton, Ohio. The company claimed three pros - Ned Hadden, Scott Ricks and Mike Chu. Ned was the owner, I'd never heard of Scott and Mike went on to ride for New School. Mike ollied the big four at Wallenberg as part of an impromptu contest at the school. Jesse Paez frontside 180'd the stairs and Kris Markovich almost kickflipped them at the same event. This was a good many years before Frank Gerwer finally landed a kickflip and the two Thrasher contests happened.

John had been working at Atmosphere Skateshop in Charlotte, North Carolina after leaving the professional ranks, but has recently stopped working for the shop. Atmosphere's website is on my list of links.

Transworld - May 1991 Volume 9 Number 5

J.J. Rogers #4.

J.J. hits the wall. You can't argue with a well done wallride.

Tobin Yelland always gets photos of the gnarly guys.

Transworld - September 1990 Volume 8 Number 9

Blaize Blouin.

If I had turned on the computer between leaving work yesterday and this morning you might be looking at a scan of Ken Fillion right now. But I didn't and you are treated to this photo of the late Blaize Blouin instead. Blaize was an East Coast ripper from South Carolina. He turned pro for G & S. I believe he started a company called Subliminal during the mid 1990s, but I need to check the old issues of Slap to be sure.

Footage was the last big thing to come from G & S before the company went into a decline. It was a trial run in a way for some of the ideas that Chris Carter and Mike Hill would use in the Alien Workshop's Memory Screen video. The team soon split apart. Neil Blender, Steve Claar, Duane Pitre, Rob Dyrdek, Scott Conklin and Bo Turner were all abducted to Ohio. Remy Stratton joined up with Acme and Willy Santos flew the coop to Birdhouse Projects. G & S lingered on after that, but didn't last long. I had the poster on my bedroom door for the longest time, but I never saw the video until 1999 when I was going to grad school at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. I watched it in the living room of former Zero am Jud Ferguson's house while a bunch of people played cards in the kitchen. My friend Steve said he was going to send me a copy a few years ago, but I'm still waiting for the tape to show up in my mailbox.

Robert McClory took the picture.

Transworld - October 1990 Volume 8 Number 10

Mark Roach.

"You've seen it before, now see it again. Feeble grind to fakie - it's good, but hot. Mark Roach."

This is from the NSA Dallas contest in 1990. Mark got sixth. Jeff Phillips won for two reasons: he was awesome and it was at his own skatepark. Omar Hassan got second, Mark's boss Chris Miller was third, Eric Dressen was fourth and Wade Speyer was fifth.

Mark and Buster Halterman were two of the new faces on the vert scene in the early 1990s. They both rode for Planet Earth. He gets bonus points for wearing the Todd Congelliere shirt.

The photo is by Steve Sherman.

Transworld - October 1990 Volume 8 Number 10

Alan Losi.

Thanks to the Crailtap Couch we now know that Michael Burnett was a bigger fan of Alan Losi when everybody else liked Matt Hensley.

I don't know that much Losi, except that he started entering contests and getting coverage again in 1990 and people were stoked. Two of my friends spent a lot of time doing Losi grinds on the fun box in my driveway. I'm sure the PVC made the grind nice and easy. The trick is like a lipslide, only you are grinding on your front truck with the rest of the board over the obstacle. It was seen in some of the H - Street videos and occasionally makes a rare appearance these days.

Thrasher - October 1990 Volume 10 Number 10

Henry Sanchez.

The classic Sanchez ad for Spitfire.

Henry was the third pro for Real, but didn't stick with them for long before switching to Blind. I'm inclined to think this was his only ad for Spitfire.

Thrasher - September 1990 Volume 10 Number 9

Tim McKenney.

"Tim McKenney doesn't give a fuck. Huge lien transfer over the middle quarter - pipe from the bowled corner."

Tim rode for Think, did some damage and vanished. That seems to be a common theme this week. His part in Dedication will always be remembered simply for his drunken rendition of "Foxy Lady" by Jimi Hendrix. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but his skateboarding was definitely good.

The photo is from the Skate Park Of Tampa's amateur contest. He got fifth in street at the Tampa Am in 1997. Judd Hertzler won, Billy Rohan got second, Toebe Parkhurst was third and Josh Stewart came in fourth.

* I think it was the 1997 Tampa Am. The contest might have been from December 1996 and there was no date with the article.

Luke Ogden handled the photo.

Thrasher - April 1997 Volume 17 Number 4

Johnny Fonseca.

"Ollie, Benicia"

Johnny rode for Real in the mid 1990s. He was from Chicago, got hooked up with Deluxe, shredded some spots and was gone.

If Thrasher keeps putting full years worth of magazines online then all us old guys with scanners aren't going to have anything to do soon. They're up to 1985 so we've still got some time. I guess I could fall back on the few old copies of Heckler and Warp I've got sitting in the basement.

Gabe Morford snapped the photo.

Thrasher - April 1997 Volume 17 Number 4

John Deago.

John rode for H - Street, Stereo and 60/40. I don't think he turned pro until he was on 60/40. He wasn't in the first Stereo video. Two of my friends from back in the day were really into this guy. I never saw the Glasses For Your Feet video or even really heard about it. I think Watson mentioned it on You Will Soon and there is an entry for it on Skim The Fat. It would have been from the time after the Gonz left the company to ride for Real. I did watch John's part on YouTube this morning and he puts together some smooth lines.

Thrasher - February 1997 Volume 17 Number 2

Keith Hufnagel #2.

I probably should have stuck this in with the East Coast/NYC stuff from two weeks ago.

The photo is by Gabe Morford.

What's Mat's last name? Is it O'Brien?

Thrasher - September 1996 Volume 16 Number 9

Richard Kirby.

Kirby is another example of a guy who came, ripped and vanished all over a short period of time. According to Lance Dawes, he is now playing in a band.

Jeff Kendall took the photo.

Thrasher - August 1996 Volume 16 Number 8

Max Schaaf #3.

Real having some fun with Too Short and Max.

Max is one of my favorite pros. He's been with Real for a long time and I think they might be the only board sponsor he's every had. They are definitely the only company Max has been pro for. He also does the 4Q Conditioning website and custom shop.

I'm going to bang out another week of mid 1990s stuff and then do some older things from 1990, including the infamous green Henry Sanchez Spitfire ad. I could probably use a break from updates, but since I only update at work and I'm at work Monday through Friday, I feel obligated to keep going. I've also been using the printmaking studio at the college for the last two weeks to make some new etchings. I've only got a week left of studio time before a high school art program invades for a month so I'm trying to get as much done as I can with that right now. Skateboarding is a low priority for a few more days, but I'm hoping to roll around this weekend. The rainy weather has made it easier focus on art, even though I've just been winging it.

Slap - September 1996 Volume 5 Number 9

Heath Kirchart #2.

Heath back when he wore colors other than black or white and ground handrails. There's a good 15 Things about Heath in the new issue of Skateboarder.

Slap - September 1996 Volume 5 Number 9

Ethan Fowler #4.

A little more Stereo for the week.

I need to scan some new stuff this weekend. I'm not sure what I want to put up next. I had been really liking the mid 1990s stuff, but I sort of feel like I need to take a break from that time period. I was also thinking about including a couple of Brain Floss or Canvas features.

Any requests?

Thrasher - February 1995 Volume 15 Number 2

Greg Hunt #2.

It is always nice to see somebody who just keeps doing their thing and doesn't become a kook or a weirdo over time. Not that people should stay stuck in one place or decline opportunities if they are presented with them, but it is refreshing to see that some of the pros you used to look up to as a kid are still cool. Jim Thiebaud comes to mind. I kind of forgot about him somehow until I started following him on Twitter. He's still down for skateboarding and having fun between the rehab and checking emails.

In a way, Greg Hunt is another example of this, except he came along after I wasn't a kid anymore and over the looking up at pros stage of life. He put in his time at Stereo, retired and got behind the lens of the video camera. He worked for DC to make their video before joining the Alien Workshop to film. Mind Field turned out great and fits in well with the overall Sect aesthetic while managing to cover new ground. Sure beats "blank used to be cool, but he totally sucks now."

Slap - December 1996 Volume 5 Number 12

Paul Sharpe #2.

If you want to get some props from people on your choice of footwear, I suggest wearing a pair of blue Lakai Manchester Selects to a wedding. I also suggest making sure it is a wedding where people won't mind if you are wearing sneakers either. And obviously make sure you haven't skated in the shoes.

Slap - September 1996 Volume 5 Number 9

Giovanni Estevez.

"Gio lives in New York, skates, and does artwork. He's done all of the artwork for Keith Hufnagel's Real boards."

When I started doing this website, I intended to focus more on the artier side of skateboarding. I don't know if I've stuck to my original goal as things kind of go where they go and that's not a bad thing, but here's some art for a Friday.

There's at least one Ari Marcopoulos photo on that page.

Slap - September 1996 Volume 5 Number 9

Harold Hunter.

The late, great Harold Hunter. I like when he does the switch 180 to 5 - 0 in Mixtape and gets all excited because he had never done that trick before.

The photos are by Dimitri Elyashkevich.

Slap - September 1996 Volume 5 Number 9

Donny Barley.

Back in 1996 Toy Machine stopped in Buffalo, NY on the Welcome To Hell tour. Urban Threads & Sleds hosted a demo and video premiere. They skated a parking lot with some janky wooden launch ramps and manual pads. Allow me to clarify that: the Toy Machine team skated the aisles in a parking lot since there were still a bunch of cars parked on the lot at the time. Saying parking lot makes it sound like the demo happened in an empty space. It was just about the whole team: Ed Templeton, Jamie Thomas, Donny Barley, Mike Maldonado and Elissa Steamer. I'm pretty sure Adrian Lopez was also there, but I don't think he skated. This was when Jamie was getting Zero started. The Chief did a big Benihana off the launch ramp. Donny put down a massive frontside flip off the same ramp. After the main part of the demo was done, the bulk of the crowd had gone to get autographs and watch the video while Donny and Mike kept skating. There was a 4' x 8' manual pad that got propped up, making a very steep bank. They both did a bunch of tricks on and off the makeshift bank. Donny closed it out with a 360 flip over the top.

The photo is by Adam Wallacavage.

Slap - December 1996 Volume 5 Number 12

Matt Reason #2.

Skateboarding needed a change in the mid 1990s. Small wheels and big pants had started to fade away and flip tricks were being caught clean instead of rolled on the ground. Newly emerging companies like Zoo York and Capital started to bring the East Coast style into the picture. Skateboarding was getting popular enough that it really wasn't just a California thing any more.

A lot of pros on the West Coast were complaining about the East Coast guys bringing back tricks like wallrides and busting out pole jams because they felt this was regressing skateboarding. Rather than regressing things, I look at it as more of a necessary simplification. Bring back the basics - going fast, grinding stuff and actually pushing from spot to spot. That last one is going to be more dependent upon location, but the idea of rolling around rather than filming at one spot for six hours was a big improvement. Once you have the basics down and can do them going fast, then progression will start to happen. They also rode big boards and big wheels. The gear was the right tool to accomplish those tricks. In essence, they started to make skateboarding fun again and appeal to those who lost interest when things got too technical. And more often than not, those wallrides and pole jams were switch. Matt and Fred Gall were also both doing a lot of tech and switch tricks, too.

Sub Zero is a shop in Philadelphia that might be still around. The internet results were questionable and their MySpace hasn't been checked in a couple of months. At any rate, they had a who's who of top Phillie names for shop riders in the early to mid 1990s and ran a few ads in the mags. You would often see Matt Reason and Ricky Oyola riding shop boards in photos.

R.I.P. J.R. Neves.

I'll go through the archives soon and post a scan. Did he ride for 151?

Slap - September 1996 Volume 5 Number 9

Illuminati.

Nonexistent.

Illuminati was a short lived venture from Zoo York that featured Ricky Oyola, Matt Reason, Sergei Trudnowski, Tim O'Connor and Greg Harris. They left their mark because the ads played up the whole secret society angle with the most text crammed on a page since the glory days of H - Street. Topics included conspiracy theories, explanations of why we no longer need political parties and a bizarre request for essays on copper. Having a pair of certified rippers in Oyola and Reason didn't hurt either.

Slap - November 1996 Volume 5 Number 11