Matt Hensley #8.

Backside 360.

What was the deal with the Craig Grasso shirts? They look kind of like something Tod Swank would have drawn up.

A month of 2010 starts on Monday.

Grant Brittain took the photo.

Thrasher - August 1991 Volume 11 Number 8

Mark Heintzman #4.

Ketchup.

Transworld - June 1991 Volume 9 Number 6

Omar Hassan #4.

Chrome Dome.

O photo.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

Jaya Bonderov #5.

Ever-Slick.

The late Jaya Bonderov ollies into a noseslide on a ledge at EMB.

A few different companies were toying around with slick bottom boards around this time. B.B.C., Naked, and Santa Cruz were three of the first to sell decks with a pop dulling plastic coating on them. Soon everybody followed and the marketplace was inundated with variations on the concept. Fortunately, this trend was short lived and plain wood regained its place as the choice deck material.

I only had a handful of slicks and it was confined to 1992. I know I had a New Deal Danny Sargent, a Mike Carroll Nevertrend, a Chris Pastras from Blue, and a Sal Barbier Low Rider. I think that was all. There were a few regular wooden boards in there as well.

Is anybody still making slicks today?

Thrasher - June 1991 Volume 11 Number 6

Barker Barrett & Brian Lotti.

Telegraph & Scarecrow.

Transworld - May 1991 Volume 9 Number 5

Simon Woodstock #4.

Ten Speed.

Simon scrapes up a pool during the Black Label and Spitfire days. I like how raw and basic this ad is.

Thrasher - March 1991 Volume 11 Number 3

Chris Gentry.

Kingdom.

Chris is from Houston, Texas. He turned pro for Vision in the 1991. After Vision faded away, he rode for a couple of other companies, like Global and 510. In the mid 1990s, Chris started Kingdom Skateboards with his wife Ricca. He also started rapping and releasing albums. His tunes were featured in a few videos. He even did a guest appearance in Thrasher's King of the Road contest a couple years ago.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

Take Skateboards.

Fifteen minutes of fame.

Unlike the Dart Wheels ad, which was a made up last minute space filler in Thrasher, I'm making the assumption that this was a real ad submitted by a real company. The Missouri address and phone number definitely adds to the credibility. The advertisement ran for a couple of months, too. So shout out to the crew who got things together enough to make some boards and run a full page ad in Thrasher twenty four years ago.

Thrasher - September 1991 Volume 11 Number 9

A-1 Meats Small Wheels.

Wheels for Cult Followers.

I'm not sure why I scanned this one so I'm just going to get it out of the way. It might have a little to do with my ongoing fascination to find the smallest wheels made. If you took a ruler to the paper magazine page, the wheels are at actual size, as the ad claimed. At the time, 45mm would have been on the smaller side of things. I'm sure there were other wheels clocking in at 52mm. I remember getting some wheels at 55mm and that seeming like a big step away from what I had been riding. Realistically, 52mm is still functional, but I'm saying anything under 50mm starts to get dumb.

Transworld - September 1991 Volume 9 Number 9

Eric "Tuma" Britton.

Let's get this thing rolling again.

Eric was pro for Santa Monica Airlines. He was also on Dogtown. Tuma got shoes from Vision Street Wear, too. He had the cover of Thrasher in February of 1992 doing a nose grind down a handrail. It looks like he is still skating today and doing Roll Model Skate, which teaches kids how to skateboard.

I picked out two weeks worth of stuff from 1991. I had a couple things I wanted that didn't quite fit in with what I was posting in December so I decided to use them now before heading into a look back at 2010 for February.

The photos are by Cesario "Block" Montano.

Thrasher - February 1991 Volume 11 Number 2

The Tracker Team.

"Streetstyle doesn't really exist. It's just something someone made up." - Dan Wilkes

There is a lot going on in this ad. You get Powell Peralta's Ray Underhill, Tracker's Dan Wilkes, Blockhead's Jim Gray, and Vision's Tom Groholski. I think each of these photos could stand up on its own as a full page. Jim's might be a little plain, but the rest are great. It's all slightly different views of somewhat less common tricks.

The new issue of Thrasher came with the Hell Of A Year for 2014 DVD. I watched nearly all of it last night. It was a good mix of clips from different skaters. Lem Villemin had a swank part that I missed. Jordan Hoffart does the forever boardslide for his Firing Line. Watching skateboarding on the TV is way better than watching skateboarding on a computer or your mobile device.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, January 15. I need a break.

It will be two weeks of stuff from 1991 when I fire this thing up again. Some other things you have to look forward to in 2015 will include a couple or three weeks of 2010, a look at the cast of Flip's Sorry video, and Skate More by DVS.

The quote is from the Best of Skate Fate by Gary Scott Davis.

Transworld - December 1989 Volume 7 Number 8

Owen Nieder.

"Man, I love skating without pads."

Happy New Year!

Owen was a local at Del Mar Skate Ranch. He rode for Vision, Madrid, and H-Street. He was also on Santa Cruz Speed Wheels and Gullwing. I want to say he was on Art and Steve Godoy's Iron Cross Skateboards in the very early 1990s.

The photos are by Daniel Harold Sturt.

The quote is from the Best of Skate Fate by Gary Scott Davis.

Thrasher - December 1989 Volume 9 Number 12