Nicky Guerrero.

"Nicky puts a new ordeal where the sun don't shine. Powell Warehouse, Amsterdam, Holland."

Look at the pretty colors. I liked his part in Propaganda.

Grant Brittain put film in his camera and pressed the button to work the shutter.

Transworld - January 1991 Volume 9 Number 1

Brian Frostad.

Hey man, what's cool?
Nothing.

Transworld - February 1991 Volume 9 Number 2

Justin Girard #2.

"slob air over the hip."

A classic from the early New Deal days.

Luke Ogden took the photo.

Transworld - April 1991 Volume 9 Number 4

Ron Chatman & Jeremy Klein.

The good old World Industries days. I bet both Steve Rocco and George Powell were happy Jeremy was wearing a Tony Hawk shirt.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

Tom Knox.

Tom was one of the main guys who helped push technical street skating back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had all the blunt combo tricks down on curbs and kickflip wallrides. Tom turned pro for Santa Cruz and he still has a board on their veterans division. He also has dabbled in music.

Transworld - February 1991 Volume 9 Number 2

Skate Zone.

For all the video footage I've seen of this place, it feels like I've been there, even though I've never been to Santa Barbara. I know parks today have more stuff and are generally better, but this is one spot I'd like to see brought back from the dead.

Jeff Toland up in this piece, too.

Bones Brigade Intelligence Report - Fall 1990 Volume 3 Number 6

Chet Thomas.

Chet was an amateur for Powell Peralta who got lost in the shuffle. Powell always took forever to turn guys pro because they had the best team in skateboarding and wanted to make sure the rider deserved a board with their name on it. When the small company boom of the early 1990s hit, they lost a lot of riders who soon became big names. Chet should have had a deck with his name on it sooner than he did.

He wound up turning pro for Eddie Reategui's Public, a short lived venture backed by Alva/New School. He won some contests and got the cover of Thrasher during this time. Since Public didn't last, Chet switched to Santa Cruz before riding for Channel One for much of the 1990s. Then at the end of the decade, Rodney Mullen put together the A - Team with Chet, Marc Johnson, Gershon Mosley and Dave Mayhew. The A - Team wasn't around long and Chet started Darkstar within the Dwindle Distribution empire.

Chet has paced himself well for his career. He killed all manner of mini ramps during the 1990s and probably still does today. I think he doesn't get some of the respect he is due because of Darkstar. The company gets a lot of hate on the internet. While I'm not a fan and find Darkstar somewhat uninteresting, I don't hate the brand either. I could see the 15 year old me liking the company a little. It's not really my thing. It seems to have worked out for Chet.

Bones Brigade Intelligence Report - June 1989 Volume 3 Number 1

Guy Mariano, Paulo Diaz & Gabriel Rodriguez.

Guy, Paulo and Gabriel were going to be the next batch of pros for Powell Peralta. That never happened because they all left for various World Industries companies. It's a little weird not seeing Rudy Johnson in this group, but he was added to the team soon enough.

***

If you want to relive the glory days of Menace, but your t-shirts didn't survive that many trips through the wash, check out Five-o Threads. It's a DIY t-shirt company that has a limited current run of Menace star logo shirts. The link is to the right.

***

Bones Brigade Intelligence Report - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 10

Salman Agah & Tommy Guerrero.

I probably could have just posted the photos of Salman and Tommy by themselves, but I wanted to include the product info on the various wheels. Freestylers used slightly smaller wheels and Powell Peralta gave them an updated shape that became popular with street skaters, too.

The TG photo is by Luke Ogden.

Salman: Bones Brigade Intelligence Report - April 1990 Volume 3 Number 4

Tommy: Bones Brigade Intelligence Report - July 1990 Volume 3 Number 5

New Products: Bones Brigade Intelligence Report - December 1989 Volume 3 Number 3

Sean Cliver.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Powell Peralta published these 'zines called the Bones Brigade Intelligence Report. They were basically a catalog for the gear, but included a lot of editorial content with features on team riders and events. You would get behind the scenes info on tours, the making of their videos or what it was like on the set of SK8TV. There were a lot of repeats of photos that were used in ads as well as other unseen pictures, especially once they built their skatepark. There were a few cartoons and other silly things to fit with the Powell Peralta image.

This is how Sean Cliver got his start in the skateboard industry. He won a contest to be an artist for Powell and the rest is history. The Ray Barbee ragdoll was one of his first graphics.

Bones Brigade Intelligence Report - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 10

Sergei Trudnowski.

I might as well end the week still on the East Coast. I had a cool Este ad with Karma, but it didn't seem right for today. After about two months of reliving the mid 1990s, I'm going to turn the clock back a few years next week and go with some Powell Peralta stuff. Remember the Intelligence Reports?

Is it a Ryan Gee photo?

Thrasher - May 1995 Volume 15 Number 5

Bobby Puleo #4.

More East Coast action. Bobby gets up on a tight rail.

Ari Marcopoulos scorched the photo.

Thrasher - July 1995 Volume 15 Number 7

Joe Pino.

Joe is from Washington, DC. He rode for Goodtimes, Gullwing and Reef Footwear. He got sponsored by Goodtimes after Gregg Witt sent Peter Hewitt by train from San Diego to DC to find a street skater.

Joe was into model airplanes and flying. He was also into metal and hardcore bands such as Neurosis and Rorschach.

Joe was one of the key people involved in starting the Washington Street skatepark in San Diego. This was born out of frustration of not having anything good to skate. The initial spark to start building with concrete happened when Joe built a bench at his apartment. Allegedly the Rhythm team even filmed some tricks on it.

Note: Pino is spelled wrong in the ad. I'm also going to say that it should be Olson and not Olfon.

Thrasher - March 1995 Volume 15 Number 3

For the background: Thrasher - February 1999 Volume 19 Number 2

Reese Forbes.

Like it said in yesterday's Nicotine ad: Reese Forbes next.

The rumor on the street is that this guy has a mean ollie pop.

Reese got his start on Goodtimes before heading out west and riding for Element. He was there for a while, switched to Rasa Libre and currently is on Skate Mental. Reese also picked up Nike as a sponsor sometime after the end of Natas' shoe venture, Vita. I really dig his part in Nothing But The Truth. Dan Wolfe does a damn good job with the video camera.

Thrasher - April 1995 Volume 15 Number 4

Nicotine.

Nicotine was a wheel company owned by Mike Agnew and backed by Intensity Mailorder under the banner of East Coast Urethane. They would soon expand to include Capital Skateboards, which Martinez and Stone would leave Element to ride for. Later on down the line, ECU would expand to include First Division Wheels and Silverstar.

The late Pepe Martinez with the very much still alive Chris Hall and Andy Stone are in the photo. Chris Hall was great at doing technical street tricks and really took the manual to new places in the early New Deal videos. Pepe and Andy helped make the DC scene stand out in the mid 1990s and carried on what was started by Sean Sheffey, Brian Tucci and Hall.

Thrasher - March 1995 Volume 15 Number 3

Keith Hufnagel & Joey Alvarez.

Metropolitan was a short lived wheel company done by Deluxe with a distinct New York City image. Most of the riders were East Coasters. The team included Keith Hufnagel, Ryan Hickey, Gino Iannucci, Giovanni Estevez, Mike Hernandez, Bobby Pueleo, Maurice Key, Javier Nunez, Ivan Perez and Ben Liversedge.

One of the complaints against the NYC scene that you always heard was that skateboarding was only a small part of their lifestyle, which was brought about by the number of so called chilling shots in the ads. Metropolitan was probably extra guilty of this crime, if it even is a crime. I thought it was cool to see some slices of life and the moments between the tricks.

Ari Marcopoulos took the photos for probably all the Metropolitan ads.

Thrasher - March 1995 Volume 15 Number 3

Ricky Oyola.

Ricky helped to define East Coast skateboarding in the 1990s as its own unique beast. He rode for a few different companies including Zoo York, Illuminati and Silver Star before hooking up with the New Deal at the end of the decade. His part in Seven Year Glitch is pretty smooth. When da Deal really did die, he started up Traffic.

Ryan Gee took the picture.

Thrasher - April 1995 Volume 15 Number 4

Drake Jones #2.

Style King Of The Week.

Thrasher - March 1995 Volume 15 Number 3

Jay "SAD" Stephens.

"SAD, busy at Emory College, Atlanta"

The enigmatic Jay "Simple As Death" Stephens.

Thrasher - January 1995 Volume 15 Number 1

Ben Sanchez.

Ben had some fast and solid lines in Mouse. I believe he works as a mechanic these days.

Thrasher - January 1995 Volume 15 Number 1

Keenan Milton #3.

Keenan in the Blind days before he got on Chocolate. It's been eight years since the skateboard world lost one of its finest. Ride on.

Transworld - April 1995 Volume 13 Number 4

Alan Petersen #3.

Happy Independence Day.

Keenan on Sunday and then some more 1995 stuff for the week ahead.

Transworld - July 1991 Volume 9 Number 7

The Foundation.

The Foundation turns twenty this year. This ad was just rerun in the most recent issue of Thrasher. I dug their cut and paste style back in the early days.

Nice typo.

Transworld - February 1991 Volume 9 Number 2

Eric Von Preising & Steve Bailey.

Goodtimes was started by Gregg Witt in 1991. He was just a teenager and the company was based out of Minnesota. They remind me of Foundation with slightly cleaner ads. There even was some overlap of riders with one time F - Trooper Graeme Stanners switching to Goodtimes. GIA singlehandedly tried to keep vert alive during the 1990s by sponsoring many a ramp skater, including Dave Leroux, Matt Moffett, Eddy Alioto and Jordan Richter. They also had Joe Pino and his massive ollies to keep it real in the streets.

I don't know all that much about Eric Von Preising, but we all know who Steve Bailey is.

The photos are by Dave Swift.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8