Jason Adams #11.

"There’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and I think it’s especially true with skateboarding: you only remember your best days. Whenever you’re going out to try and recreate those “best” moments, you only remember the good from before. You always seem to forget those previous struggle days where nothing went right. That also means you become all too aware of struggle days you’re currently having and you start to doubt yourself."

The Kid gets philosophical in a recent interview at the Chrome Ball Incident. I'm sure not going to remember what I did yesterday on a skateboard. I landed a no comply over the parking block fairly quickly and decided to do it again because it felt good. It did not happen. Nothing was happening for me. I'm noticing more now that if I'm tired or had a few beers the previous day that skateboarding feels more difficult. I've had a busy few days and can tell I'm worn out. I'm glad it is raining today.

Thrasher - June 1991 Volume 11 Number 6

Greg Carroll.

SF with the Carroll brothers.

Greg is Mike's older brother. He was one of the owners of Think and helped start Diamond Supply in the late 1990s. I dig the shirt with both Venture and Think logos screened on it.

Thrasher - February 1991 Volume 11 Number 2

Think Skateboards.

Before the rave.

The recent interview with Jason Adams at the Chrome Ball Incident put me in the mood for some of the early days of Think. This is their first ad. Think was started by Keith Cochrane, Don Fisher, and Greg Carroll in the early 1990s. They were initially partnered with Dogtown. The company went through a few different images and a number of team riders over their nearly 25 years in existence. Think came to an end in 2014.

I actually left town for the weekend and did a little skateboarding in the Rochester area. Check out Old Skull if you happen to be out that way. I've been ordering stuff from there since my friend is friends with one of the owners and it was cool to finally visit the shop. They've got a great selection of gear.

Thrasher - February 1991 Volume 11 Number 2

Small Room Team #2.

Four for Friday.

Jay Sigafoos is an East Coast vert ripper from the Lehigh Valley area in Pennsylvania. His older brother Ken was sponsored by Brand X.

I don't know much about Nathan Lyons. He might be from Chicago. It seems like there is always somebody in skateboarding getting coverage with the name of Nate Lyons. I could just be imagining that.

Ross Pope would go on to start Creature and Scarecrow. He's done art and worked in skateboarding for quite a few years now. His current company is Transportation Unit.

Sean Jones is from somewhere in North Carolina. He was also sponsored by Blockhead and had a part in Splendid Eye Torture.

It will be the very early days of Think on Monday.

The Jay Sigafoos photo is by Adam Wallacavage.

Jay Sigafoos: Thrasher - July 1991 Volume 11 Number 7

Nathan Lyons: Thrasher - September 1991 Volume 11 Number 9

Ross Pope: Thrasher - October 1991 Volume 11 Number 10

Sean Jones: Thrasher - February 1992 Volume 12 Number 2

Small Room Team #1.

Six Pack.

This is a sampling of the some of the guys who were on the Small Room team. A few of the riders went onto turn pro for other companies in the future and others rode on into obscurity.

Frank Hirata: He would soon end up on Powell Peralta and turn pro for SMA. He rode for Foundation, Maple and Media later on in his career. Frank also became involved in designing skateboard parks. When I was at the University of Arkansas, he came to Fayetteville to meet with the city about a skate park plan. He did skate the local shop's mini ramp after the meeting, but I missed it because I was teaching a class. My friends who worked at the shop said he was ripping on that cold night in the late fall.

Chris Watkins: I picked this one for the quote.

Sal Lopez: Small Room's famous tagline was "Send Whatever" and that's why I selected this ad. I do like how they made a lot of unusual shapes to put their photos in.

Joey Pulsifer: He would later ride for Maple, Generation, and War Effort. I think he might have been on Powell, too.

Mako Urabe: Mako rode for a few different companies in the 1990s, including Evol, Trust, Shaft, and Think. He was also on Shorty's and Etnies. Mako did some shredding at the first X-Games, if I recall correctly.

Tony Buyalos: He would go on to start Shorty's, the bolt company that branched out into decks in the second half of the 1990s and gave us pro boards for Chad Muska, Steve Olson, and Peter Smolik. Tony rode for Eppic before Small Room.

Frank Hirata: Thrasher - February 1990 Volume 10 Number 2

Chris Watkins: Thrasher - April 1990 Volume 10 Number 4

Sal Lopez: Thrasher - July 1990 Volume 10 NUmber 7

Joey Pulsifer: Thrasher - August 1990 Volume 10 Number 8

Mako Urabe: Thrasher - January 1991 Volume 11 Number 1

Tony Buyalos: Thrasher - April 1991 Volume 11 Number 4

Small Room Skateboards.

Smolrheum.

This is a sampling of a few of the various boards Small Room made. You can see how the graphics evolved a little bit to more resemble the photocopy art in the ads. I like the off center and unusual placement of the art. Leaving exposed wood grain was a somewhat common trend back in the 1990s that has resurfaced in the last few years. It's neat that California Cheap Skates gave them the third page in their catalog from the summer of 1992.

Decks: California Cheap Skates Winter 1991/1992 Catalog

Full page: California Cheap Skates - Summer 1992 Catalog

Louis Carleton.

Shedding some light on the Small Room.

Louis was the owner. He had previously worked at Eppic Skateboards, an early sponsor of guys like Kris Markovich, Sal Barbier, Bryan Pennington, Ross Pope, and Tony Buyalos. It's interesting to note his take on developing a team and not having pro models. Acme and Channel One were doing the same thing around this time as well. It makes sense financially and will prevent a company from exceeding their means from the get go.

Skate Warehouse was a mail order company out of San Luis Obispo, California. They published a black and purple paper on newsprint at least once. I have the first issue and have no idea if they printed any others.

Skate Warehouse - The Daily Grind Winter 90/91 - Volume 1 Number 1

Brennan Lux.

Send Whatever.

Vert Is Dead takes a look back at the Small Room for the week.

The company was started by Louis Carlton in 1990. It lasted until 1993 or so. They caught the attention of many of people by running black and white quarter page ads in Thrasher that were arty and 'zine like in design. The text looked to have been cut and pasted at odd angles and the photos appeared to have been run through a photocopier a couple of times. Small Room was based out of San Luis Obispo, California. I think they had a local connection with California Cheap Skates because their products were always featured in CCS catalogs, who were also out of SLO. This had to have helped out immensely with sales in the pre-internet age. I never had one of their boards, but I liked the ads and from what I've read online, the decks were of a solid quality. The team included a number of riders that went on to turn pro for other companies.

Thrasher - January 1992 Volume 12 Number 1

Israel Forbes #5.

Gettin' Hectic.

Israel is from Santa Cruz, California. He was sponsored by the second version of Sims when the company was distributed by NHS in 1991. Izzy would then switch over to SMA and finally Santa Cruz. Once he outgrew the early 1990s odd flip tricks, he developed a solid style with a lot of big ollies, 50-50s, and feeble grinds. It looks like he's effortlessly cruising around and catching some air.

We're going to the Small Room next week.

The photo is by Thomas Campbell.

Transworld - December 1995 Volume 13 Number 12

Quy Nguyen.

Hand of Doom.

Quy is from Costa Mesa, California. He rode for Acme, Color, and Prime over the years. TSA and Vans also gave him clothes and shoes for skateboard stunts. He specialized in well done technical flip tricks. Quy had parts in 20 Shot Sequence from World Industries in 1994 and the Color video from 1993.

Transworld - December 1995 Volume 13 Number 12

Jason Rogers #3.

Check the technique.

A vert dog takes down the famous San Diego double set switch.

Niko Achtipes snapped the sequence.

Transworld - October 1993 Volume 11 Number 10

Gershon Mosley #3.

Benihana to fakie in a small room.

After riding for Santa Cruz, Gershon left for Grind King. GK started making boards at the time after starting out as a hardware and truck company. Eric Dressen was even on the team. G-Mos would switch to Powell in 1994.

We've been getting some much needed rain so I haven't been rolling around too much the last few days. A break is kind of a good thing. Although one nearby town just reopened their skatepark. The place isn't too great and you had to wear helmet, but it appears they got rid of that requirement. I'm curious to check it out again. The village also did the chip and seal treatment to my street, which kills any chance of skateboarding for a couple minutes on days I'm worn out. It sucks because my road was so nice and smooth and now it is buried under a layer of aggregate held in place with asphalt. I think the crap goes away eventually. I've been trying to think of what other roads have been sealed recently and seeing what condition they are in after some time has passed. Summertime blues.

Sean Dolinsky took the photo.

Transworld - May 1993 Volume 11 Number 5

Matt Field #3.

Quick and easy humor.

Matt takes a kickflip backside 5-0 down the now defunct Hubba Hideout.

Thrasher - December 1993 Volume 13 Number 12

Tommy Guerrero #6.

Keep on keepin' on.

Thrasher - November 1993 Volume 13 Number 11

Paul Urich.

Teenage Riot.

Paul is part owner of Paisley Skateboards with Sean Cliver. He's from Tampa. He had a few tricks in assorted videos by Josh Stewart, such as Cigar City, over the years. Paul is an artist in addition to getting first place in the 1993 NSA Am Mini Ramp Finals. He also rode for Far East, a late 1990s board company from Florida.

I think I'm using a vacation day to take tomorrow off from work so Vert Is Dead will be back on Friday.

Transworld - December 1993 Volume 11 Number 12

Kien Lieu & Clyde Singleton.

Two for Tuesday.

Clyde was on the full Acme sponsorship at the time and Kien was riding for Planet Earth so he was getting wheels from Formula One. I dig the 1970s style feel of the ad.

It appears Brian Anderson is riding for Anti-Hero. Their recent little "Chestnut Hill" video is radical. The new Hockey web clip is cool. Andrew Allen is wrecking shop right now.

I sort of skateboarded better for me last night. I took a nasty slam on a slappy noseslide on a curb the other weekend so I didn't skate much the first week of August. I think replacing the hanger on my back truck after the old one cracked has helped out a bit. I'm not sure how, but it did beyond the obvious replacing of a broken part.

Transworld - April 1994 Volume 12 Number 4

Jeremy Wray #6.

Knife Edge.

I watched Jeremy's parts from Debbie Does Blockhead, the Spitfire video, and the Color video today. He's got the highest pop and catch on his tricks. It looks perfectly suited for where skateboarding is at right now, although it does look a wee bit odd in the size 40 jeans from the early 1990s.

Transworld - May 1993 Volume 11 Number 5

Joe Pino #2.

"And skating Pulaski, there aren't really any bumps and some of the ledges are kind of high, so you had to learn how to ollie to skate there. Also, there were always trash cans or something set up to ollie over, so I just took it from there. I wasn't too into trying one trick all day long and then by the end of the day you land it and go home. I was more into just cruising around and skating the whole park, just ollies and 5-0 grinds and tailslides."

Tribes Of Neurot.

The photo is by J. Senessey.

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

Thrasher - June 1996 Volume 16 Number 6

Matt Pailes #3.

Dynamic.

I cracked a hanger on the seven or eight year old Ventures I've been riding. I dug through the spare parts box and found an unused old hanger to replace it. I have spent the last two nights trying to adjust my back truck bolt so it feels right. I think I finally got it to about as close as I'm going to get it. This probably means it is time to buy a new set of trucks. Or set up the new pair that have been gathering dust by my stack of used decks for the last few years. Does Venture make a wider hanger now? Since I switched to riding 8.125" boards that .0625" on each side of the 8" hanger bugs me a little. It's not really noticeable and you can't tell unless you look closely, but I know it is there. It doesn't seem to impact how the boards ride so I'm content to live with the difference.

It looks like Quasi made a board featuring speakers similar to the classic Neil Blender JBL Speaker graphic for the Alien Workshop from 1991.

Thrasher - August 1996 Volume 16 Number 8

Eric Pupecki.

Fine Artist.

Eric is from Providence, Rhode Island. He was sponsored by Deluxe and was on Fun, Ron Allen's short lived company under their umbrella. He switched to Element and then was part of Menace and the assorted companies that evolved into. Of note is that he was friends with Shepard Fairey and lit the creative spark that lead to Fairey's famous "Andre the Giant has a Posse" sticker campaign.

Transworld - May 1994 Volume 12 Number 5

Anti-Hero #3.

These are all at the same spot, aren't they?

The original Anti-Hero team, minus Eric Jay, shredding SF. This would have been somewhere around the fifth or sixth ad for the company. I like the water and fire pictogram type logo. I don't think the famous eagle had been used for a graphic just yet, although I might be wrong.

It's interesting how when Anti-Hero first started it was a group of friends that were a team over putting together a team that became friends. That vibe has mostly carried on over the existence of the company. Of course things change as time goes on so there are bound to differences as the years pass. Andrew Allen, Jack Fardell, and Jon Sciano have all left the team recently and haven't been subject to any physical harm from Mickey Reyes that I know of.

Thrasher - January 1996 Volume 16 Number 1

Mark Gonzales & Keith Hufnagel.

Big ollies and a hill bomb.

Is that Max Schaaf in the downhill photo?

I cannot believe it's August already. The year has flown by fast, but we've still got a full month of summer left. Make the most of it.

Thrasher - June 1996 Volume 16 Number 6