Aaron Suski #5.

"I graduated from high school in '93 and ended up going to Buffalo State for a year. I only went there for two semesters, but it's weird because I met so many great people that I still keep in touch with today. It seriously felt like four years. We were skating so much and snowboarding. It was rad."

This is the ad that prompted two weeks of Emerica. I had to go with the Buffalo quote as well from Aaron's Transworld Pro Spotlight.

It's looking like my streak of consecutive days skateboarding for September is ending tonight. We're dealing with off and on rain. I'm hoping it is dry enough after work so I get in a couple ollies and power slides in the street, but the forecast is gray.

Listen on Monday.

For the quote: Transworld - May 2009 Volume 27 Number 5

Skateboarder - September 2005 Volume 15 Number 1

Ed Templeton #25.

"It's really fun for me to just go really fast. Going fast is a variation of tricks, in a way. I could spend the whole day just skating at Huntington High, and going fast. I like to try to go as fast as I can and push myself. I try to do a hard trick that people always do slow, going fast. The only tricks I can do are ollie impossibles, one-footed ollies, and nose bumps. I guess I suck, when you think about it."

You can probably add nose blunts and feeble grinds to Ed's self proclaimed lack of tricks.

For the quote: Transworld - June 1991 Volume 9 Number 6

Skateboarder - August 2007 Volume 16 Number 12

Heath Kirchart #11.

"It goes back to the fact that I'm not going to make money after skateboarding. I have no skills in life. There's nothing I can really do. If I lost all my money and the economy went to shit, I don't know what I'd do. I couldn't get a job. I'm not social. I can't do anything relating with people. If I had nothing and nothing to fall back on, I'd try to get a job at Sole Tech. But if that went under and the economy got so bad that all the skate companies went away and it went back to 1990, I would have no idea what to do."

I think one of the kids in the brand new Emerica video tossed himself down this gap, too. I believe it was Victor Aceves, the new am on Toy Machine. Emerica always does a solid job of picking out music for their projects.

For the quote: The Skateboard Mag - April 2009 Issue 61

Skateboarder - December 2004 Volume 14 Number 4

Kevin "Spanky" Long #5.

Giraffes.

I set up some new wheels on Saturday. I always forget how nice it is to have smooth wheels. My old ones had gone maybe a week or two longer than they should've. I do get slightly paranoid that when I put together new gear that I won't be able to skate the same as I was before the change so I tend to put it off as long as possible. It's going to be a sad day when my current trucks finally crap out.

Skateboarder - August 2004 Volume 13 Number 12

Erik Ellington #3.

777.

Erik was born in Anchorage, Alaska and moved around a few times before settling in Phoenix, Arizona with his mom. He started skateboarding after seeing Back To The Future while still living in Alaska. His influences in the early days included Mike Carroll, Sal Barbier, Rick Howard, and the cast of Video Days. He rode for Balance, a company he did with Scott Copalman and Aaron Pearcy in Arizona. Later he moved to California and Jamie Thomas added him and Scott to the Zero team. Erik would turn pro for Zero, temporarily leave for Baker before returning to Zero, and finally split permanently for Baker in the early 2000s. He started Deathwish with Jim Greco in 2008 as a sister company to Baker. For footwear, Erik stayed on Emerica until 2006 when Supra began. He's still rolling today and throwing himself down big gaps, twenty years after the Thrill Of It All.

For the information: Transworld - April 2011 Volume 29 Number 4

Skateboarder - July 2004 Volume 13 Number 11

Leo Romero #4.

Thunderbuck Ram.

That's gonna get all sorts of weird search engine hits. It's the song title from Leo's part in Stay Gold. I've been low on words this week.

On the last night of summer, I finally stayed at the skate park until the lights shut off at 10:15 PM. I usually always stay until they turn off, but this year there were issues with the timer. I got into the habit of going a little earlier in the evening and would be done before it went dark. I couldn't land much of anything yesterday, yet I managed to land a half cab heelflip on flat. That trick gives me odd problems. It's there every try, but I don't end up landing it.

Skateboarder - June 2004 Volume 13 Number 10

Andrew Reynolds #8.

Burning of the Midnight Lamp.

Fun fact about these Emerica ads: A whole bunch of 'em ran upside on the back cover of Skateboarder. I guess it makes them stand out, but the printers must have hated it.

Skateboarder - April 2004 Volume 13 Number 8

Tosh Townend #2.

Blackboard Jungle Dub.

Skateboarder - March 2004 Volume 13 Number 7

Matt Allen.

Snowblind.

Matt is from Victorville, California. In addition to Emerica, he rode for Foundation and Pharmacy Board Shop. His part in the F-Troop's 2007 video Cataclysmic Abyss is full of big rails and some tech stuff. Matt does a bunch of frontside heelflips, backside 360s, and big spins. In addition to his section, I watched the rest of Cataclysmic Abyss last night, too. That's a fairly solid video as a whole.

I also watched most of the new 917 video yesterday at the end of a slow work day. It was cool to see footage of Alex Olson's tricks from his Transworld interview from a couple of years ago. I'm glad the soundtrack was posted in the comments on YouTube because I would have been racking my brain for days trying to figure that one song was by Duster. I knew I recognized it, but I couldn't place it.

Skateboarder - December 2003 Volume 13 Number 4

Braydon Szafranski.

Batman.

Braydon is from Las Vegas, Nevada. He was an am for Baker and later turned pro. He was dropped from the team a few years ago and I'm not sure if he has a board sponsor currently. I think he popped up in a Transworld tour article in the last couple of months. Jamie Thomas recently added him to the team of his new footwear company, Straye.

There's been a change of plans. A week of Emerica expanded into two weeks and Listen has been pushed back to October. I got on a roll scanning stuff on Saturday so that's the reason.

Skateboarder - November 2003 Volume 13 Number 3

Keegan Sauder #3.

Crash course in brain surgery.

Keegan is from Vancouver and has been sponsored by Real, Zero, and Blood Wizard. He was also on Vans. The guy zips around transitions and takes on handrails with a laid back style.

Listen or Emerica on Monday. The other will be for the week after next. I'm also thinking about some Philadelphia stuff in the near future.

The photograph is by Jeremiah Doubt.

Skateboarder - September 2005 Volume 15 Number 1

Rick McCrank #5.

We make things roll nice.

Momentum is a Canadian based wheel company that has been around since the 1998. Artist Andrew Pommier does a lot of the graphics. The team currently includes Rick McCrank, Magnus Hanson, Nate Lacoste, Steven Burke, and more. Brandon Biebel, Danny Way, Jose Rojo, Corey Sheppard, and several others have ridden for them over the years.

Shout out to WKND for adding Alexis Sablone to the team. I know this was announced a couple weeks ago, but I'm running behind at life.

RIP Grant Hart.

Jeremiah Doubt took the photo.

Skateboarder - May 2006 Volume 15 Number 9

Chris Haslam #2.

Fear the beard.

The photo is by Seu Trinh.

Skateboarder - April 2007 Volume 16 Number 8

Stacy Lowery #4.

"The voices call out from the dark."

That's what it says on the tag of the Program t-shirt I have. Stacy and Mike are keeping the good times rolling with the Program. The company follows in the same direction as Bueno and Roger.

Skateboarder - May 2006 Volume 15 Number 9

Mark Gutterman.

No bueno.

I tried. I only found two ads for Bueno. They were getting distributed by Element so I thought they had a couple more ads, but I couldn't find 'em. And it wasn't for a lack of looking on a rainy Friday night either. I assume this means I will find them in next month or two.

Bueno was Stacy Lowery and Michael Sieben's company from 2005 to 2007. The idea was to bring some much needed humor back into skateboarding. The team included Shiloh Greathouse, Jeremy Holmes, Nate LaCoste, and Nate Broussard. Later they would start Roger and eventually the Program.

The remaining three fifths of the week will be used for Momentum Wheels. Their ads are kind of similar and were much easier to find.

The Skateboard Mag - May 2006 Issue 26

California Cheap Skates Summer 2010.

What a difference sixteen years makes.

In the time since the early 1990s, CCS catalogs ballooned in size from around thirty pages all the way up to ninety pages. You sure got a lot more clothing and shoe options as the industry had grown substantially. The internet was starting to render print catalogs a moot point, but they were trying really hard.

I'm usually never one to say a given era of skateboarding was better than another and I avoid the trap that nostalgia can be. Each time period has its pluses and minuses. 1994 was not wholly better or worse than 2010 for example. They were just different. That being said, all I can say is "YIKES!" about a whole lot of the board graphics in this catalog.

The truck choices expanded with lots more colors and even signature model trucks with custom colorways. It looks like a lot of people were riding thinner boards in 2010 because trucks come mostly in two sizes: 7.75" or 8". I didn't recall boards still being smaller back then.

In terms of wheels, sizes had evened out in the low to mid 50s. Spitfire, Bones, and Ricta were dominating the selection. The plastic core trend was still there, which never made sense to me. I was riding whatever Spitfires that were 56 mm and white. Or basically the same type of wheels I've been using for the last fifteen years or so. It's odd to consider how much rapidly skateboarding changed over a few years in the early 1990s versus how I've been riding the same shape boards from the same company for three years now. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

There will be something for next week. I don't really know what yet. Maybe Bueno.

The Brian Anderson photo credited to a CMRO. No idea who that is. The Muska?

California Cheap Skates Summer 1994.

Hardcore in '94.

The savvy skateboard consumer had a whole lot more choices for boards as the 1990s moved along. Birdhouse, Alien Workshop, Real, Stereo, Mad Circle, Foundation, Acme, and more were all doing well. It's interesting that this catalog would have been printed before Chocolate was available, as Girl was well represented. Slick decks were still kicking around. I don't think I had any of the boards in here because I was firmly committed to Consolidated when I was in college. The graphics for the most part are looking fairly sharp and often reflect the rider's image or personal tastes. Keep that thought in mind for tomorrow.

The truck selection had slimmed down and your only color choice was silver. I was riding Ventures and Indy at this point.

Wheels were hovering in the low to mid 40 mm range. A few brave brands started to drift to the upper 40s and even over the 50 mm mark. Santa Cruz was holding down the wheel biz with Direction, Speed Wheels, and SMA. Union, A-1 Meats, New School, and Acme were all fighting for your dollar bills. I think I was riding Consolidated wheels at this time. I'm surprised there aren't many offerings from Spitfire.

The Drake Jones cover photo is by Tommy Guerrero.

California Cheap Skates Summer 1992.

Twenty five year high school anniversary.

Skateboarding was getting lean and mean in 1992. Powell and Santa Cruz were still going fairly strong, but a lot of the other big dogs had fallen off. Upstarts such as Real, Black Label, Acme, Milk, Alien Workshop, and Small Room were gaining a lot of ground. Slicks were popular. I like how Santa Cruz and SMA had the same graphic on the bottom with different art on the top. The top graphics for the SMA decks are great. The Real costume series of slicks hit the market and Acme was making racing car inspired board art. Two of my favorite boards ever are in this catalog, the Neil Blender speakers deck and the Salman Agah camel stripes board. I also really like the extra minimal Andrew Morrison from the New Deal.

In terms of trucks, there is a decent variety, although a few of the brands shown were on the verge of extinction. Deadbolt and Gullwing were keeping plastic baseplates alive. Tracker, Indy, Thunder, and Venture were well represented. The new San Diego Trucking earned a big rectangle in the catalog, too.

The wheel choices have slimmed down in both size and number of companies from 1991. Santa Cruz still had the most choices. Acme, Deluxe, and Toxic were providing more options to put over your bearings. I dig how the Spitfire Buffered Tablets look. I was riding some Spitfires and Acme Formula One wheels around this time.

My class didn't have a reunion this year. I was a little surprised since our twenty year was a fun time. My friend from the next town over said his class didn't have a reunion either. They had tried to get one organized, but it never panned out. I don't think my school even bothered. I supposed we're finally living up to being a bunch of slackers.

Note: That's a Chet Thomas deck without the caption on page five. I'm keeping the interest in the Public going.

The Gershon Mosley cover photo was provided by Santa Cruz.

California Cheap Skates Summer 1991.

What happens when Hollywood has a successful movie?

They make a sequel.

Following that logic, Vert Is Dead is doing another week of board porn from CCS. I'm even throwing in some trucks and wheels to spice it up a little.

A reader sent in a request for a few specific catalogs and I had some of them so that's how this batch of scans came together. I'm ending the week with a catalog from 2010 for comparison purposes.

First up is the Summer 1991 catalog. Most of the heavy hitters of the industry are still going strong. Powell Peralta, H-Street, Santa Cruz, G & S, Vision, and Zorlac have plenty of decks for you to pick from. Newer companies like New Deal, Black Label, Small Room, and World Industries give the consumer some different choices. Decks of note would include the Ross Goodman Gravedigger, the Nicky Guerrero mask, the Jim Thiebaud hanging Klansman, and the SMA decks.

The wheel selection is dominated by Powell and Santa Cruz. I like the early Spitfire Classics and the New Deal Nude Eels. I had a set of the Powell Street Style wheels in green. I think I also had the A-1 Meats Kings because those were the wheels Matt Hensley rode. I might have had the Sex Cells, too. And for the folks who wind up on this site looking for Toxic Wheels, their Poison, Shock, and Acid Rain rollers will make you happy.

The cover photo is listed as John Lloyd by Xeno. That happens to be Xeno's real name. Photo magic or a typo?

Javier Mendizabal #5.

Griptape art.

Javier is from the Basque Country in northern Spain. He started skateboarding in 1989 and was one of the first riders on Cliché when Jeremie Daclin started the company up in 1997. He would later turn pro for them and stayed with Cliché until they called it a day in 2016. Javier has also been sponsored by Gravis, Quicksilver, and Converse. His part in Strongest of the Strange is one of my favorites. He's got some supreme transition skills.

RIP Preston "P-Stone" Maigetter. Beer Helmet is a seriously great video.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Tuesday, September 5th with a week of CCS catalogs. Have a good weekend.

The Skateboard Mag - January 2011 Issue 82