Mike Archimedes & Phil Esbenshade.

Night & Day.

I figure the best way to close out the year is with a couple of slightly more obscure rippers. The same old rehashing of the well known gets stale after a while. There's always more variety than what is remembered the most. Phil E. was pro for Skull and became a lawyer. Arco was recently granted a guest pro model by his bros at Anti-Hero on their spinoff Jalopi Skate Co.

I rode a fair amount of Speed Wheels back then. I like the pair of videos they released, Speed Freaks and Risk It. As I've gotten older, I appreciate the absurd number of team riders they managed to fit in both. It helps with generating content for here. The funny thing is that I've never had a board made by Santa Cruz. I have picked up a few of their reissue t-shirts and I think Bronson are awesome bearings.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, January 21st.

I'm taking a little longer winter break than normal due to how the holidays worked out this year. With Christmas starting in November and an early Thanksgiving, it was a tad disorienting dealing with the calendar. At any rate, I'll be back with the daily updates for 2019.

If you have been paying close attention to my comments or emailed me, you might have picked up on my vibe about switching to a weekly format and being slightly over doing this. Realistically, the material worth scanning is starting to get thin.

I have come up with a few ideas for next year that I'm excited about, including Emerica, Circa, Strange Notes, and more. There's a couple skateparks I want to do stories on, too. I'll also have a list of my favorite stuff from 2018. I spaced out on compiling that this month. Thanks for the support.

Mark Waters took Phil's photo and Tobin Yelland took Arco's photo.

Thrasher - September 1990 Volume 10 Number 9

Ray Barbee #6.

The Ragdoll.

After preferring Thunders early on, I've ridden nothing but Ventures for roughly the last 25 years or so.

To fill out the month of December, I picked an ad from each of the truck companies of the day - Indy, Tracker, Venture, and Thunder. I completely forgot about Gullwing. Oops. Next year.

There's a cool interview with Thomas Morgan up at the Chrome Ball Incident.

Thrasher - January 1990 Volume 10 Number 1

Chris Cook #2.

The vibe about skating rocks.

I always rode Thunders back in the late 80s and early 90s. I liked the little lizards and daggers on the baseplates.

It's worth noting the Alva version of Rip Grip on Cooksie's board.

Thrasher - January 1989 Volume 9 Number 1

Sartorius Catalog Fall/Winter 1991.

Merry Christmas!

We used to order from Sartorius back in the day since they were based in Connecticut and we lived in New York. I think a friend must have noticed where they were located and wrote for a catalog. The first catalog was this huge two sided one-sheet in black and white. I still have it, but it's roughly the size of eight pieces of paper so I've never attempted to scan it. They had a very good selection from all the big companies and the quicker delivery time was an added bonus.

This is their catalog from late 1991. I believe the skater on the cover is John Duff, an am who rode for New Deal and Tracker. You get a good sampling of where skateboarding was at in that time period. There's a mix of older and newer companies for deck choices. The shoe choices are either Airwalk or Vans. I threw in the clothing to round things out. I didn't bother scanning the two page spread of text only for wheels, trucks, and bearings.

LOL:

Noah Salasnek #2.

Always remember those who have left us too soon.

The photo is by Luke Ogden and the illustration is by Kevin Clark.

Thrasher - December 1988 Volume 8 Number 12

Brian Frostad #2.

"Here's the bucket that was used to bail the pool. Here's the pool. There's Brian Frostad. Brian Frostad Flakes. There he goes. Watch him grind. The pool's wet." - Sam Cunningham

Brian is from Danville, California. He was sponsored by Blockhead and had the opening part in Splendid Eye Torture. He had a shared part with Sam where they skated some pools, too. Brian had a solid mix of street tricks, including handrails, long slappys, a cleanly caught kickflip, and some carve action at the China Banks. This ditch wall ride was in his section, but he was wearing different clothes in the video. He also rode for Thunder Trucks.

Bryce Kanights was the photographer.

This is from the 1990 Thrasher calendar.

Blockhead Catalog 1989.

This is the 1989 Blockhead catalog. It ran in black and white in the mags, but if you wrote in, you got a color one-sheet. I imagine you got a sticker with this, too. The graphics look so vibrant against the wood grain. I had the Mark Partain back then and I picked up a Tragicomic reissue recently. I like the Sam Cunningham large with symmetrical reptile graphic. And of course there is the classic Nothing Is Cool t-shirt.

Omar Hassan #7.

"Once when I was surfing, I came out of the water and saw Gonz riding down the street. I'd heard of this Mark Gonzales guy who just started riding for Vision. He was like the hot guy. One day, I'd just finished surfing and was kicking back on the beach, and I saw this fight break out. I walked over and saw the Gonz sitting there. I was the kind of kid who would go right up to you. I said, 'Hey, if you skateboard, then do something.' He was telling me who he was and I got all stoked, and then I started skating with him. I was sitting there watching, and I tripped out because he was so rad on the street then. I'd never seen any of the stuff he was doing."

Omar recalls a tale of bugging the Gonz when he was younger. It's kind of hard to warp your head around how different it would have been growing up in California where the skateboard biz is versus the rest of the country back in the 1980s. It seemed like this whole different universe, which it probably was.

Note: This ad ran as a negative in Thrasher. After I got it scanned in and tidied up, I hit invert in Photoshop to see what would happen. I think it turned out a lot better. I wonder if there might have been a production error since Blockhead didn't do any other advertisements in a similar style.

The photo is by Sean Sullivan.

For the quote: Transworld - November 1991 Volume 9 Number 11

Thrasher - November 1988 Volume 8 Number 11

Sam Cunningham #5.

"I put a board together once every two weeks. That's if I skate every day, then I put a street board together. A ramp board lasts me a year. Pool boards about once a month. I don't like skateboards with any jagged edges or the tail too worn down."

Sam talks about board care in an old Poweredge interview. I set up a new deck every two to three months. I've been riding boards a bit longer lately, but three months is always the cutoff point. I like them when they are a little more broken in. Wheels are good for a year and trucks last forever.

The photo is by Hunter Kimball.

For the quote: Poweredge - July 1989 Volume 2 Number 6

Thrasher - February 1989 Volume 9 Number 2

Mark Partain #4.

Free from static cling.

Thrasher - October 1989 Volume 9 Number 2

Andy Howell #4.

Atlanta thrasher.

The photo is by Josh Curry photo and the illustration is by John Ritter.

Transworld - June 1989 Volume 7 Number 3

Mickie Alba #2.

Steve's brother grinds a pool.

The gas company was fixing a line on my street when I got home yesterday. This meant traffic was blocked off so I got to skateboard without the worry of getting hit by a car. The forecasted warmer second half of December appears to be materializing as predicted. Color me impressed.

The photo is by Chris Ortiz.

Thrasher - March 1990 Volume 10 Number 3

Lance Conklin #2.

"It's 30 below right now."

Lance is from Madeira Beach, Florida. He rode for and turned pro for Powell Peralta. His brother Scott was also a pro for Alien Workshop. Lance later rode for Change and Platinum. He was sponsored by Droors Clothing, too. His part in Propaganda featured a lot of shove-its, frontside sliders, big spins, manuals, and weird power slides into manuals. There was some mini ramp ripping as well. For a section filmed in 1990, a fair amount of it holds up by today's standards. Lance currently works as a tattoo artist.

Transworld - December 1989 Volume 7 Number 8

Toxic Amateur Team.

Hazardous waste.

The Toxic ams showcase the ever popular Toxic Wheels. For whatever reason, people always wind up here based on search results for those wheels. Toxic recently released a pair of reissue boards - a Danny Riordon pro model and an Acid Rain team model. They even got former Toxic rider Kris Markovich to create a custom top graphic for the decks.

My friend sent me a sticker:

Geoff Graham snapped all the photos.

Transworld - February 1989 Volume 7 Number 1

Corey O'Brien #2.

Pailhead.

I've had the conversation a few times with a few different people about whether Corey was deserving of pro status. For better or worse, I've always wound up on the side of defending Corey. I've got a couple of reasonable points in support of him. I'm not claiming he was the best pro ever, but he was talented enough. Granted his part in Streets On Fire does not exactly feature top of the line ripping, even for where street skating was at back in 1989. His part in A Reason for Living ups the shredding to an acceptable level for a pro from 1990 who skated street and vert.

One thing that Corey had going for him was how videos were made in the late 80s/early 90s. Other than the top pros, most companies only spent a day or two filming many of their team riders. Whatever you got for that afternoon might be it for all the material for which you will be forever judged on YouTube. Another factor is that in the early days of video making, guys would only try something if they knew they were going to land it fairly quickly. This included giving up on a trick that could have been landed after a few more tries instead of moving on to something else after three tries. Although in Corey's case, I feel the tricks he did he could get every time since it wasn't the biggest variety ever. Those were the moves he liked doing and stuck with what felt good. Everybody has a slightly different approach to skateboarding. Finally given the short amount of time to film, factors like being hurt, having a hangover, or simply having an off day would have a larger impact on how your part turned out. And let's face it, some people don't like skating in front of the camera. It's not called the bail gun for nothing.

Now getting back to his Streets On Fire part. It doesn't have a lot of skateboarding in it. The skating it does have is curb and mini ramp trickery. There are plenty of lifestyle shots so you get a glimpse of Corey's interests. He plays pinball, shows off his tape collection, and possibly has a pet snake. There are several shots of his reaper board graphic. These videos are commercials to sell products after all. He matches the image of a skater on Santa Cruz team: a punk rocker who skates curbs and ramps. Sometimes the parts all fit together and explain why maybe one person is sponsored by a particular company and maybe another person isn't.

That's my two cents on the matter. A number of these points can probably be used to stick up for other pros of a bygone era. I also hope Corey never did anything horribly wrong with his life to completely invalidate all of these words.

Note: There was a nasty magenta ink splatter all over this ad that I cleaned up for Corey's photo. You can still kind of get a sense of it on the page.

The photo is by Bryan Temmermand.

Thrasher - May 1989 Volume 9 Number 5

Alan Petersen #16.

Debunker.

Thrasher - March 1990 Volume 10 Number 3

Julien Stranger #24.

Lakers hat and Vision shoes.

Thrasher - January 1990 Volume 10 Number 1

Jim Thiebaud #5.

60.5 mm OJII Street Razors 95A.

I've been watching a bunch of the old clips with the SMA team on YouTube over the last couple of days to refresh my memory on how they skated. Jim did a bunch to pioneer early technical street skating. He was doing fakie ollies into manuals and tailslides along with varial kickflips. He was also doing a lot of lipslides and pushing how far you could take a railslide.

Congrats to Tyshawn Jones for winning Thrasher's Skater of the Year award. Everybody they nominated this year was worthy of the honor.

Thrasher - September 1989 Volume 9 Number 9

Micke Reyes #2.

The long arm of the law.

Thrasher - March 1989 Volume 9 Number 3

Natas Kaupas #7.

Pickpocket Man.

Natas was a major innovator in the realm of street skateboarding in the 1980s. He helped take the ollie to new heights and laid the groundwork for what people are doing today. He also did a lot of airwalks. Later on in his pro career, Natas was busting out on ramps, as is illustrated by his part in Santa Cruz's A Reason for Living video from 1990. He would go on to start 101 with Steve Rocco. After 101 came to an end in the mid 90s, he rode for Element and started Vita Footwear. Over the years the brave captain moved behind the scenes to focus more on the art and design aspects of skateboarding, although on board photos still surface from time to time.

I always liked SMA because they had a smaller team of guys who all were friends. That was something you could relate to because it was similar to your crew of friends, except the Santa Monica Airlines team skated way better than you and your buddies did. The ad designs and board graphics were great, too.

I put this month together a little differently then previous Decembers. I picked out two weeks of random stuff as always and decided to do a week each on SMA and Blockhead in the more traditional one company at a time format I use for the site. Things are starting to get a little low for content from back in the day.

I skipped out on watching the Bills get squished by the Fish yesterday afternoon to skateboard on a mild and sunny day. Those have been a rare commodity of late around here.

Thrasher - 1989 Volume 9 Number 2

Jimmy Wilkins.

The floating ollie champ.

Jimmy is from Columbus, Ohio and lives in San Diego. Some of his favorite skaters include Chris Miller, Alex Perelson, Raven Tershy, and Sam Beckett. His mom is a professional ballerina and his dad is an orchestra conductor. He turned pro for Creature this past summer. Jimmy's other sponsors include Lakai, Bronson Bearings, Thunder, The Quiet Life, and Skeleton Key.

It will be older stuff for December starting on Monday. There will even be a Toxic Wheels post in the month since that seems to be the most commonly searched topic for finding this site. I have no idea why that is.

Dave Swift was the photographer.

Thrasher - July 2018 Volume 29 Number 7

Tyler "Manchild" Pacheco.

The Prototype.

Tyler is from Los Angeles, California. He started skateboarding as a little kid. His first board was a Tony Hawk and he liked Steve Olson and Chad Muska as pros. Tyler believed Owen Wilson was actually doing the tricks in Yeah, Right! because he was still young when he saw the video. Stevie Perez helped get him on Girl and the first trip he went on was the Stay Flared tour in 2015. This was the combined Emerica and Lakai cross country trip. Tyler's most recent contribution to skateboarding is the hilarious and clever Lakai commercial for Tony's new pro model sneaker.

Tyler got his nickname from some of the older guys he would skate with. It's also worth noting that Vision pro Marty "Jinx" Jimenez sometimes used the alias Man Child when he would take photos.

Thrasher posted the finalists for SOTY. Some of these guys are a little younger than I thought they were. I'm thinking Evan Smith wins it. I voted for Austyn Gillette.

Thrasher - January 2018 Volume 39 Number 1

Milton Martinez.

A disaster slide for the ages.

Milton is from Mar del Plata, Argentina. His dad owns a skateboard shop so he grew up around skateboarding. He started going to Europe for the contests and was sponsored by Red Bull before becoming a Creature. Milton was also going to the Skate Park of Tampa's amateur contests. He lives in Long Beach now and has since turned pro. His other sponsors include Indy, Converse, Volcom, Bronson Bearings, OJ, and Social Skateshop.

The photo is by Kyle Duval.

Thrasher - November 2017 Volume 38 Number 11

Antonio Durao.

Numbered editions.

Antonio is originally from Portugal and moved with his family to Long Island when he was ten. He grew up skateboarding on the Island and in New York City. His first good board was a Tony Hawk. He has a fondness for switch tricks and working on cars. Some of his favorite skaters include Gino Iannucci, Jake Johnson, Mark Suciu, and Dennis Busenitz. Antonio currently rides for Eric Koston and Guy Mariano's Numbers Edition and Nike.

For the info: Transworld - August 2015 Volume 33 Number 8

Thrasher - May 2018 Volume 39 Number 5

Oskar Rozenberg #2.

In your face.

This photo has more of an old time vibe to it instead of the panoramic/full spot view that tends to dominate skateboard photography these days.

I almost came up with the answer to the eternal question of how cold is too cold to skateboard on Thanksgiving. The forecast was calling for a high of about 20˚ F, but my town topped out at about 25˚ F. There was no wind and the sun was out so it was OK for about 25 minutes at the skatepark. I set up a new board so there was no way I wasn't going to try to skate at least a little.

The photo is by Nils Svensson.

Thrasher - March 2018 Volume 39 Number 3

Kenny Anderson #3.

Warm summer nights in parking lots.

Kenny has been pro for twenty years now. After Quartersnacks mentioned how good his tricks were in Pretty Sweet, I rewatched Kenny's section last night. They were right. It's funny that they brought him up because I had found this ad a little while ago and was intending to use it at some point.

I've only gotten to skate a light post a handful of times, but I remember them as being a cool obstacle to do tricks on.

Free Skateboard Mag posted a new part from Michal Juraś. I guess the guy has been battling injuries for the last couple of years and this is his first new footage since the Polar video from 2016. He had my favorite part in I like it here inside my mind, don't wake me this time and it's rad to see him back on board.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, November 26th with a week of new guys. I'll do the usual throw back to 1988-91 for December. I've got everything planned out and will hopefully finish the scanning tonight so I don't have work on this thing until the middle of January next year. Have a good Thanksgiving and weekend.

The photo is by Atiba Jefferson.

Transworld - January 1998 Volume 16 Number 1

Jason Carney #5.

The ol' jump off a building trick.

I've been able to get skateboarding a little bit most days this month, but it hasn't been for very long. It's been fifteen minutes on my lunch break or a half hour after work. Most of this is because of the weather, which has featured a lot of spotty rain and snow showers. I miss spending more time skateboarding rather then trying to fit in a few tricks in a limited amount of time. That way you can try out things that take longer to land or skate at a more relaxed pace instead of checking off the minimums that will make it a good session.

The photograph is by Ed Dominick.

Transworld - March 1997 Volume 15 Number 3

Kien Lieu #5.

Method madness on Maple Street.

Ed Dominick worked the camera shutter.

Transworld - April 1997 Volume 15 Number 4

Alan Petersen #15.

Fear of Yellow.

The photo is by Lance Dawes.

Transworld - March 1997 Volume 15 Number 3

Matt Reason #6.

63.

The dearly departed Matt Reason does a decent air on a mini. I was always a fan of Matt back in the 90s and I think I appreciate what he was doing even more today.

The photo is by Ryan Gee.

Transworld - June 1997 Volume 15 Number 6

Marc Johnson #11.

Business & Company.

Marc flips out on a transition during the Maple days. He is working on a new project called Business & Company currently and has posted a few board samples on his Instagram. One of the graphics incorporates the classic Henry Sanchez Two Girls sticker as part of the art. Marc commented that he used to regularly put one of that sticker on his board and wanted to keep the tradition alive. I always thought that was a cool graphic and I like to know about people's sticker habits.

I missed a mild lunch break session yesterday because the forecast was a tad confusing and I didn't bring my board to work. Of course a rain/snow mix started up in the afternoon that eliminated the chance to roll later on. There were a few flakes in the air today, but I did give it a go at lunch. It was only about 32˚ F at best. I actually skated in my winter jacket, something I don't think I've ever done before. I rattled off my usual 50-50s, boardslides, and slappy tricks so I'm in a good mood.

Transworld - April 1997 Volume 15 Number 4

Vinnie Ponte #5.

Big pig powered frontside attack.

I appreciate the different angle on this photo. You get a sense of how high Vinnie is. I think this is a frontside air, although I sort of can't tell if it might be a wallride.

We got our first taste of snow over the weekend. It was nothing major and more annoying than anything. I noticed at work that there was a lot less snow along the immediate lake front so I checked out the park in the evening. There were a number of small drifts covering parts of most of the ramps, but the parking block, one ledge, and one flatbar were all dry. I got in a nice half hour of skateboarding when I wasn't really expecting to. It wasn't even that cold since Lake Erie is holding at about 48˚ F.

Congrats to Daisuke Ikeda for winning the 25th annual Tampa Am contest.

Transworld - August 1997 Volume 15 Number 8

Reese Forbes #8.

43.

Transworld - June 1997 Volume 15 Number 6

Chet Childress #9.

Chet 3000 circa 1997.

Chet slaps a frontside rock in a pool from a time before he grew a beard and had eye surgery. Also it is interesting to note the wheels he is riding had little holes in them as a weight saving approach. They would have been made by Direction, a mid 90s wheel brand done by NHS. The Vans have cupsoles, too.

The photograph is by Jai Tanju.

Transworld - October 1997 Volume 15 Number 10

Salman Agah #5.

Salman floats over a bench in his regular stance.

Lance Mountain was the photogapher.

Transworld - September 1997 Volume 15 Number 9

Oli Buergin & Darren Navarrette.

Lost in a European forest.

It's a double shot of two Vert Is Dead favorites. Oli had a great part in Pontus Alv's Strongest of the Strange video where he skates to New Order. I really don't know much about the guy, just I like what I've seen. Darren recently released a DVD for his Skeleton Key company that is over 80 minutes of mostly vert and bowl skating with some token street action. I watched all of it last night and the video is comparable to an old 80s vert VHS tape. The music is nearly all killer and the skaters include legends, current rippers, guys you've never heard of, and the children of obscure 1980s pros. There's also a Jeff Grosso segment that splices modern footage with his classic section from Streets On Fire.

I took the day off from work. It was too darn windy to skateboard. I tried, but had to give up. The wind off the lake at the skatepark was so strong you actually had to adjust how much you pushed because it zipped you along way too fast. On the plus side, I stocked up on new socks and ate some gravy covered hot dogs from a local restaurant.

The photos are by Vonarburg. I am not sure on a first name so if anybody knows, let me know.

Transworld - April 1997 Volume 15 Number 4

"Crazy" Eddie Nemeth #3.

Off the deep end.

This boardslide into a pool is from the 1997 video from Scarecrow Wheels called Disturb not the Sleep of Death. Eddie's part featured a variety of street and mini ramp skating with a little park and plastic launch ramp action for good measure. He rode for Creature and Scarecrow over the years and is part of the Tilt Mode Army in San Jose.

Lance Dalgart took the picture.

Transworld - March 1997 Volume 15 Number 3

Salman Agah & Tim Brauch.

100% Supercharged.

Este was a clothing company that was around for most of the 1990s and was run by Tim Brauch and Salman Agah. It was distributed through Sessions. The name came from the first letter of Salman and Tim's names, S and T, hence Este. The brand ended when Tim passed away in 1999. The team included Jason Adams, Chet Childress, Darren Navarrette, Karma Tsocheff, Alex Chalmers, and a few others over the years.

Tim's photo is by Aaron Sedway and Salman's photo is by Jai Tanju.

Transworld - February 1997 Volume 15 Number 2

Chris Senn #7.

Weight of the world.

I always enjoy Ed Templeton's haphazard use of the full page for ad design, but I like this less cluttered layout for a top shelf 50-50 by the 1995 Skater of the Year.

I ordered a t-shirt from Foundation because you got a free copy of their Souvenir DVD with each order. It showed up in the mail yesterday after placing the order on Tuesday. Talk about super company customer service. I also got the Skeleton Key DVD the other week. It features lots of vert on backyard ramps and is fairly awesome.

It appears fictional Anti-Hero offshoot Jalopi is making a Mike Archimedes guest board.

Transworld - September 1998 Volume 17 Number 9

Elissa Steamer #6.

Elissa does a frontside flip in those Etnies that looked like hiking boots.

My goal to skateboard every day in October came up a little short. I managed to roll 29 out of 31 days. There's been a lot of rain to end the month. November is off to a damp start, but it looks to be warmer and drier later this weekend and into next week.

Transworld - May 2000 Volume 18 Number 5