Jim Thiebaud #6.

Wonderful ollie.

Thrasher - March 1991 Volume 11 Number 3

Tommy Guerrero #8.

Hands off the Dakotas.

For a street skater, Tommy has had a ton of ramp photos over the years. All the pics look great so it doesn't really matter a whole lot. He's also usually doing some type of frontside air or trick.

I'm probably going to do another week of early Real somewhat shortly. There's a couple of ads that haven't been on here yet.

Thrasher - February 1991 Volume 11 Number 2

Henry Sanchez #5.

Your favorite pro's favorite pro, especially if your favorite pro is over forty years old.

I find it interesting that everybody always rattles off the same old names for their favorites. It's totally warranted because most of the time the choices are completely valid, but I am always a fan of the more obscure and the not so obvious picks. Give a shout out to the guy who had two short parts in wheel videos set to songs you like better instead of going by the already agreed upon classics.

Henry was the first new pro on Real, but he soon left for Blind. This marks the initial appearance of the AC/DC inspired logo.

Emerica's Green video is amazing. It's a well done effort showcasing Dakota Servold and Jon Dickson with a No Age soundtracked montage of the rest of the team.

Thrasher - January 1991 Volume 11 Number 1

Tommy Guerrero & Jim Thiebaud #2.

Cup of coffee.

This is the second ad for Real. Tommy had been on Powell Peralta and Jim had been on Santa Monica Airlines before they decided to try their hand at running a company. Real reused the ad layout with Keith Hufnagel and Ben Liversedge a few years later. Both the skate photos are great. Tommy is grabbing some air on a ramp by a corn field and Jim is doing a nose bonk with the help of a security guard.

Thrasher - December 1990 Volume 10 Number 12

Real.

The first one.

Real was started in the second half of 1990 by Tommy Guerrero and Jim Thiebaud. It was backed by Deluxe, who at the time were making Thunder Trucks and Spitfire Wheels. They were also making bushings and hardware, but those were more minor projects. The initial riders were Tony Henry, Henry Sanchez, Salman Agah, and Rob "Sluggo" Boyce. I assume a few other guys were getting Real boards and I know I forgot a couple heads, too. The company has been a steady force in skateboarding for the last 30 years and has always stayed relevant, even with the fickle nature of skateboarders. Cheers to many more years.

Thrasher - November 1990 Volume 10 Number 11

Eric Koston #10.

Eric took his love of basketball to skateboard footwear design. An alternate version of this ad ran in Slap promoting the Koston One in a new colorway. It's interesting, but not terribly surprising, that twenty years ago Girl and éS were the pinnacle of skateboarding sponsorships and only the best guys rode for them. Nowadays the internet's favorite pastime is hating on Crailtap and everybody just wears Nike. Things change over time, maybe not always for the best.

Atiba Jefferson was photographer.

Transworld - March 2001 Volume 19 Number 3

Rick McCrank #7.

O Canada.

Crankers was on a serious handrail wrecking spree during the Menikmati era of skateboarding. He was also putting down some ridiculous crooked grinds and ledge tech.

The photo is by Jody Morris.

Transworld - January 2001 Volume 19 Number 1

Bob Burnquist #6.

Bob Gnar locks in and enjoys the rollercoaster ride.

Atiba Jefferson snapped the photos.

Transworld - September 2001 Volume 19 Number 9

Rodrigo Tx. #2.

I'm all for well padded cupsole shoes, but éS, DC, Osiris, and others were really pushing the limits of practicality with their designs twenty years ago. So many of the models were just so big, bulky, and technical that they flat out didn't look great. As always, this is case of skateboarding not knowing when to say when on an idea. Refer to small wheels, baggy clothes, and ripoff graphics as other examples of this phenomenon.

The sequence is by Atiba Jefferson.

Transworld - August 2001 Volume 19 Number 8

Arto Saari #4.

"In 2001, éS continued to progress style on and off the board. As soon as the éS Tribo hit the shelves of skate shops around the world they sold out within minutes. Based on strong demand, we are excited to announce a reintroduction of this iconic shoe that set the standards of style, function, and innovation for the era."

With éS making a couple of reissues of shoes from the late 1990s/early 2000s, I thought I'd put together a week of their footwear from 2001. They have returned several puffy shoes to the market, including the Scheme, the Symbol, and the Tribo. There's also the Silo, which is a new design based upon older stylings. I did not exactly recall the Tribo model the first time around, but here it was in all its air filled puffy glory.

The photo is by Atiba Jefferson.

Transworld - April 2001 Volume 19 Number 4

Alexis Sablone #3.

Alexis: Yeah. And maybe in competition, the biggest, fastest or best trick is one thing but in actual skateboarding there's so much more to it.

Elissa: I like that you call it "actual skateboarding."

Alexis: Yeah, because it's true. Skateboarding's about so much more. It's about who's doing it and how.

For the quote: Thrasher - July 2019 Volume 40 Number 7

Thrasher - July 2019 Volume 40 Number 7

Kevin "Spanky" Long #7.

"I just want to be outside with my friends. Being creative and dumb. I want to sweat all my madness out and direct my obsessive behavior towards something with the ultimate payoff. With an absolutely limitless variety of creative options. Too much to ask? What would I do without skateboarding?"

It's good to see that Kevin is still out there rolling and helping with creative endeavors at Baker.

The version of winter around here seems to be snow for a day or two and then warm up for the next four or five days before snowing again. I've managed to fit in a decent amount of skateboarding after work and/or on my lunch break thus far this year. It helps that the days are getting longer, too. I built a little grind box to keep at my parents for something different to skate. I've been meaning to take photos of it since the design is very simple and turned out okay enough. I set up a new board to go with a new pair of shoes in the last two weeks and I'm still getting adjusted to the shoes. I think my old kicks were so beat that I got into some bad habits with foot placement. I also put in new bearings and replaced a bushing. Everything feels about right, but maybe it isn't.

Random video reviews: Bobby de Keyzer rides for Quasi now and had a great new video part that utilized a somewhat obscure Guided By Voice song. Shin Sanbongi does sick backside 360 ollies.

For the quote: Thrasher - December 2019 Volume 40 Number 12

Thrasher - January 2019 Volume 40 Number 1

Jack O'Grady.

Jack is from Sydney, Australia. He rides for Pass~Port, Nike, and Independent Trucks. Jack was included on Thrasher's recent Am Scramble tour. He's one of those kids who is really good at handrails.

I think I picked this out because the trick was at the Stockwell park in England.

I've gotten a bunch scanned for the weeks ahead as the overextended look back at 2019 wraps up. This includes the 30th anniversary of Real, a huge ton of stuff from 2001, and the intent to clear off the hard drive of unused content. I might have a couple of other ideas I'm putting together, too.

The photo is by Thomas Robinson.

Thrasher - September 2019 Volume 40 Number 9

Tyler Bledsoe #4.

Portland techno.

Thrasher - October 2019 Volume 40 Number 10

Chris Pfanner #3.

Shark attack.

Anti-Hero put together an online video called Implosionistic Tendencies for 2019. It featured the whole crew documented in their signature 18 style. It was good to see a bunch of footage of Chris. I think he's the European team manager for Vans now in addition to being pro. I like what Austin Kanfoush is doing. The best part of the video was how many tricks Frank Gerwer had. Glad to see he's still rolling.

Anti-Hero was stared in the middle of 1995 so that means the Eagle has made it to the quarter century mark.

Thrasher - March 2019 Volume 40 Number 3

Nora Vasconcellos #4.

The owls are not what they seem.

Nora summoned up a strong part for Welcome's Seance video in 2019. She caught some air, pulled off some fine lip trickery, hit up a few ditches, and even got loopy. Nora rescued a snake that was stuck in a pool, too.

Thrasher - June 2019 Volume 40 Number 6

Dakota Servold.

Cannon.

I think this photo is great. For once a whole scene shot does add something to the trick. It's also so green and summery. Dakota recently got officially added to the Emerica team after spending a few years without a shoe sponsor. He has a mean frontside boardslide and has been doing frontside 50-50 to backside tailslide combos on handrails. I am a fan.

Thrasher - November 2019 Volume 40 Number 11

Collin Provost #5.

"Growing up seeing Ed Templeton skate Huntington Park when I was a baby. I was just trying to stay out of the way, watching these grown men rip. It’s always been a hometown thing for me. Growing up watching everyone skate, those guys were the best and all the videos mean so much to me. Toy Machine is just a really rad company."

The Provider rips. He and Ronnie Sandoval were my sleeper picks for SOTY, even though I knew it would come down to either Milton Martinez or Mark Suciu.

The weather has been mostly winter free four out of the last five days. It made my idea to set up a new board on Saturday a good move. If I had known it was going to be as mild as it turned out to be, I would have started breaking in a new pair of shoes much sooner. My old ones were zorched. The new pair feel so much better, but they are not remotely close to being comfortable to skate in as yet.

For the quote: Thrasher - November 2019 Volume 40 Number 11

Thrasher - May 2019 Volume 40 Number 5

Bobby Worrest #6.

Bringing the 90s back.

Transworld picked Bobby as their skater of the decade for the 2010s. I've got no problem with that. He switched from Indy to Venture and delivered a heavy duty video part for the V Force. His noseslides are so good.

Thrasher - May 2019 Volume 40 Number 5

Kader Sylla.

New kid on the block.

Kader is from Studio City, California. He turned pro in 2019 for Baker. His other sponsors include Vans, Shake Junt, and RVCA. He recently switched from Indy to Venture for trucks. Rumor has it he was riding 60 mm wheels at some point based on what he said in an interview. His favorite skaters are Grant Taylor, Rowan Zorilla, and Raven Tershy. Kader likes video games, as do most people his age. The word is that he can speak French because his grandmother only speaks French.

Thrasher - March 2019 Volume 40 Number 3