Karma Tsocheff #6.

I always dug this photo. Karma's wearing an Este shirt and some DC's that have been spray painted.

Slap - August 1996 Volume 5 Number 8

Jason "Wee Man" Acuna.

Wee Man takes down Hubba Hideout with a frontside nose slide.

Jason has been sponsored by Sonic and Dogtown over the years. He made plenty of appearances in the Big Brother videos. Jason also put his body on the line as part of the Jackass movie franchise.

Thrasher - June 1998 Volume 18 Number 6

Rudy Johnson #4.

Experimental Toyota.

Transworld - April 1996 Volume 14 Number 4

Marc Johnson #6.

Goodbye horses.

MJ during the Maple days. I thought Marc did a good job in Pretty Sweet of redefining the whole concept of ledge dancing into something that is more enjoyable to watch. It seemed like his tricks were more thought out instead of just doing some ugly big flip out of a Smith grinder.

The photo is by Ed Dominick.

Transworld - November 1996 Volume 14 Number 11

Julien Stranger #16.

How cool is that new clip from Vans of Stranger, John Cardiel, and Mike Archimedes roaming around Hawaii? You get to see Julien cruising around a whole lot.

Thrasher - August 1997 Volume 17 Number 8

Pat Channita.

Pat has been sponsored by H-Street, Plan B, and Powell over the years. He has also been on Pig Wheels, Dukes Shoes, and Independent Trucks. Pat did a lot of technical and switch tricks smoothly back in the day. I couldn't find much in the way of updates as to what he is up to today beyond a year old video on Hella Clips that looks solid.

Transworld - May 1996 Volume 14 Number 5

Josh Friedberg.

The creator of 411 Smith grinds a rail.

Josh started 411 with Steve Douglas, Chris Ortiz, and Paul Schmitt in 1993. It feels redundant repeating the phrase that 411 was the internet before there was an internet, but as a means to get lots of good skateboarding out to the masses prior to YouTube, 411 served that purpose. Every couple of months a new VHS tape showed up in your mailbox or at the local skateshop and you felt caught up with what was going on in the skateboard world. Skateboarder Mag is going through the process of putting all the issues on their website so you can relive the past in case your VCR is broken.

People Skateboards was a brief sister company to 60/40 in the mid 1990s.

Transworld - December 1996 Volume 14 Number 12

Brian Schaefer #2.

Happy 20th anniversary, SPoT.

I've never been to Tampa, but I do use the Skate Park of Tampa's online shop. I figure if I have to order gear, I might as well get it from a legitimate skateboarder owned place. The product selection is pretty good and it doesn't take that long for shipping from Florida to New York. Plus they carry stuff from smaller companies, which is always nice to see.

Thrasher - July 1996 Volume 16 Number 7

Keenan Milton #7.

Pretty sweet switch front crooks.

Keenan was from NYC. He rode for Fun, Blind, and Chocolate. He also got in at the ground floor for both Fourstar and DVS. I always wanted a pair of his DVS pro model kicks from about the year 2000, but never found them anywhere.

RIP Lewis Marnell.

Thrasher - June 1997 Volume 7 Number 6

Jonas Wray.

The Wray Brothers are back in business.

After disappearing in the Element vortex for far too long, Jeremy Wray is back with a new company called Wray Bros. He's running it with his younger brother Jonas and their long time friend Paul Luna. Jonas has ridden for Black Label, Clean, Platinum, and Media over the years.

Dave Malenfant was the camera man.

Transworld - May 1997 Volume 15 Number 5

Keith Hufnagel #7.

Huf wall rides to fakie in vintage 90s camouflage.

Half-Life was a clothing company by Matt Field in the mid 1990s that made their products out of organic materials. The team included Fred Gall, Matt Pailes, Tony Cox, the Cardona brothers, and a few others.

Dennis McGrath was the photographer.

Slap - December 1996 Volume 5 Number 12

Vinnie Ponte #2.

Zoo York, Zoo York.

The photo is by Sammy Glucksman.

Slap - September 1997 Volume 6 Number 9

Eric Dressen.

Eric has been skateboarding since the 1970s. He was a talented little kid who was sponsored by Logan Skateboards when he was nine. He resurfaced in the 1980s to completely dominate the streets and mini ramps while riding for Dogtown. Eric won back to back NSA Street Championships in 1987 and 1988. After Dogtown, Eric switched to Santa Cruz. He rode for them for a few years and is currently on the company's Veteran Division. He has also ridden for 151, a reincarnated version of Dogtown, and Deathbox. Eric works as a tattoo artist at Will Rise Studio in Los Angeles.

I'm surprised that Dressen hasn't been on Vert Is Dead before. His part in the Speed Freaks video is one of my favorites. He will be the focus of the next installment of Patrick O'Dell's Epicly Later'd series.

Slap - April 1998 Volume 7 Number 4

Ben Pappas.

I noticed in the middle of December that the Ben and Tas Pappas post I did a couple of years ago was getting a ridiculous amount of page views. The reason was that the police in Australia released the coroner's report on the death of Ben's girlfriend. The report concluded that Ben had killed her and then committed suicide. This isn't the type of post I like to make, but I figure since there was an update on the story that it was warranted.

On a more positive note, Cliché just made a Tas Pappas guest board.

The picture is by Grant Brittain.

Transworld - March 1996 Volume 14 Number 3

Roger Seliner #3.

Troops Of Tomorrow.

Roger does a frontside rock at Burnside. He would have been riding for Adrenalin at the time. He has also been sponsored by Santa Cruz and Consolidated. Roger does tattoos for Alchemy Tattoos in Los Angeles and probably a few other things as well these days.

Roger Skateboards is 90% named after him.

The photo is by Noah Martineau.

Thrasher - June 1997 Volume 17 Number 6

Bobby Puleo #6.

Victim.

The ever willfully obscure Bobby Puleo has ridden for Mad Circle, Stereo, and enjoi. He currently is sponsored by Traffic. Bobby is famous for finding spots that hardly even look like spots and exploring every inch of New York City to find places to skate. He dabbles in art from time to time as well.

Slap - May 1996 Volume 5 Number 5

Ben Liversedge #3.

ATM came out with a board series in the mid 1990s based on the famous art Derek Riggs did for Iron Maiden. I always wondered if this was a rip off series or if they had permission to use the graphics. The internet isn't turning up much info, but it seems like the graphics might have been authorized if assorted Iron Maiden merch sites can be believed.

Ben was on Real before switching to ATM. He also has ridden for Infamous and 777.

Theo Hand took the photo.

Slap - June 1997 Volume 6 Number 6

Curtis Hsiang #5.

12/4/1963 - 1/8/2000.

Curtis was from the Bay Area and friends with the crew at Deluxe. He was an artist and would occasionally write articles for Thrasher. He died from a brain aneurysm while skateboarding so he went out doing what he loved. I was a fan of his writing and art so it was always cool to see something from him in print or video.

Slap - February 1998 Volume 7 Number 2

Quim Cardona #3.

Revisited.

It's going to be stuff from 1996 - 1998 for the next four weeks. Work is kind of hectic lately and the holidays always throw me off schedule so don't expect much in the way of writing for the time being. This might change depending on how things go.

I got the Thrasher KOTR 2012 DVD on Friday, but I haven't watched it yet. The run time of 120 minutes has me scared since I'm not much of a movie person. I do like the whole getting a free DVD with a mag approach. Maybe this would be motivation for companies to get the videos done faster instead of dragging the production out over five years and only using footage from the last two years in the final edit. It would probably lower the stress for some of the team riders, too.

Slap - August 1996 Volume 5 Number 8

Ruben Orkin #2.

Ruben was the team manager at Thunder and Spitfire until he passed away from cancer in 1999. This was his am checkout from Thrasher.

It's going to be a few weeks of scans from 1996 to 1998 starting on Monday. It seems like a rather arbitrary change from the late 1980s, but I already had a couple of things on my computer from that time period and took it from there.

The picture is by Bryce Kanights.

Thrasher - November 1989 Volume 9 Number 11

Henry Gutierrez.

Fork Boy.

Henry is from Virginia Beach and part of a crew that all sport fork burn scars. This includes other pro skateboarders Mike Crescini, Allen Midgett, Sergie Ventura, Andy Howell, and Mike Conroy. I'm not sure who all in that group has the fork burn, but all are from the same area. I remember back in the day thinking how gnarly that would be when tattoos or body modifications weren't as common as they are today. It looks like he is part of the team at John "Tex" Gibson's Embassy Skateboards. Henry learned 540's when he was 41.

The man behind the camera was Grant Brittain.

Transworld - June 1989 Volume 7 Number 3

Joe Johnson.

Joe rode for Vision. He's from Colorado. He is friends with Kevin Staab. Joe was on Kevin's board company Shine when the wheels fell off at Vision.

Note: There was also a monochromatic version of this ad in blue.

Grant Brittain was the photographer.

Transworld - February 1989 Volume 7 Number 1

Mike McGill.

Happy New Year!

Mr. 540˚.

Transworld - December 1988 Volume 6 Number 6