Ray Barbee.

Joyfully cruising around.

Transworld - July 1991 Volume 9 Number 7

Curtis Hsiang.

Twenty years gone.

The late Curtis Hsiang catches the edge of a plywood extension at Jim Thiebaud's ramp. Curtis was from the San Francisco area and was friends with the Anti-Hero and Real squads. He made some art and would occasionally write articles for Thrasher and Slap. It was always cool when a photo of him would pop up in the mags. This is maybe my all time favorite skateboarding photo.

Slap - April 2000 Volume 9 Number 4

Michal Juraś.

Grey Area.

Michal is from Warsaw, Poland. He has ridden for Polar and 5Boro. His video parts have been some of my favorites over the last few years. I don't know too much about him, I am just a fan of how he skates.

The photo is by Kuba Baczkowski and is from the booklet for the Neverwhere DVD that was released in 2018.

Skip Pronier.

"Trust the person who tells a thousand stories one time, but beware of the person who tells one story a thousand times."

Sage wisdom from Skip.

Here's a couple of recent Black Label stickers. I always like John Lucero's art.

The photo is by O.

For the quote: Transworld - April 1995 Volume 13 Number 4

Thrasher - February 1990 Volume 10 Number 2

No Fun.

The college either scored some signs from 1998 for dirt cheap or they have a premonition that rollerblading is going to make a big comeback in the second half of 2020.

I’m going to wrap up the awkward anniversary month this week with a couple things I haven’t posted here before. I’ve got a request lined up to start June and a batch of mid 1990s stuff on tap for the weeks ahead.

Javier Mendizabal & Oli Buergin.

The strongest of the strange.

Jocko Weyland of Elk 'zine and occasional Thrasher writing fame sent me a copy of Pontus Alv's video The Strongest of the Strange in 2005. It quickly became a favorite of mine with its tasteful mix of skateboarding and art. All the European spots looked great and the tunes mostly agree with my preferred jams. I like the vid as whole, but Javier and Oli have the two sections I always revisit.

For his part, Javier flows some effortless lines around a few skateparks. He also hits up a couple bank spots out in the streets while Kim Gordon sings about dessert. Javier is from Spain and rode for Cliché. Oli's part is mostly street with a little park and ramp action. There's a street grab, some handrails, fastplants, and cruising around to the sweet sounds of New Order. I honestly don't know all that much about him other than he works or worked for Sole Tech.

I think I like both their parts because they are both somewhat obscure rippers who are clearly comfortable with doing their own thing and aren't overly worried about the popular styles of the day. They each have that vague intangible quality where they look proper on a skateboard. That same notion can be applied to the full video as well. After a few years, Pontus would start Polar Skateboards. The company is clearly based upon the foundation of ideas he developed while making The Strongest of the Strange and skateboarding is better off because of it.

Diego Bucchieri took Javier's photo.

Javier: Transworld - August 2009 Volume 27 Number 8

Oli: Thrasher - June 1997 Volume 17 Number 6

Julien Stranger.

What a long strange trip it has been.

Vert Is Dead hits the 12 year mark as of today. Thanks for all the support.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Julien. He had been on Underworld Element before finally joining up with the Real squad. Two years later he would be heading up a new company out of DLX called Anti-Hero. The Salman Agah stripes board also happens to be one of my favorite graphics.

Thrasher - September 1993 Volume 13 Number 9

Remy Stratton.

Kite Factory.

One of the neat things about doing this website was rediscovering overlooked or somewhat forgotten skateboarders of years past. Remy was pro for G & S and Acme. He currently handles the skateboard program for Volcom. There is never a bad photo of this guy.

Here's a bonus picture of Remy by Grant Brittain. It was on the back of a poster for the 1995 Vans Hard Rock Cafe World Championship of Skateboarding. The contest was held on October 1st in Newport Beach. I actually made a photocopy of the photo to hang on my wall at college.

Transworld - March 1991 Volume 9 Number 3

Tino Razo.

Maybe some time they'll make it a ride all over the world.

The photo is by Chris "Rhino" Rooney.

Slap - June 2001 Volume 10 Number 6

Alan Petersen.

AP is an obscure legend who ripped on ramps and street before disappearing to Australia. This is my favorite SMA ad ever.

Thrasher - November 1990 Volume 10 Number 11

Creature.

Darren is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Al and Sam are from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and used to be locals at the Turf Skatepark. All three joined up for the first go round of Creature in the 1990s and all three came back for the resurrection in 2005. Close followers of the website know that I am a big fan of Creature. I think it is awesome how three guys who grew up skateboarding together are on the same team for a successful company. I’m always down to buy a new Creature video and I wear the shirts all the time, too. Based on both his skating and what he says in interviews, I’m of the opinion that Navs is one of the best guys in skateboarding. Parts is flat out sick on board and it seems like he is doing stuff to promote skateboarding by helping to build parks in faraway locations. I like how Hitz keeps the underground metal and noise going every month in Thrasher.

The photos are by Ed Dominick, Darin Back, Brendan Klein, and Grant Brittain.

Darren: Thrasher - April 2009 Volume 29 Number 4

Thrasher - October 1995 Volume 15 Number 10

Al: Thrasher Photo Annual 2008

Sam: Thrasher - September 1997 Volume 17 Number 9

Ricky Winsor.

This is one of those ads that seems a little unremarkable at the time, but then as the years pass, it becomes more relevant. Ed Templeton said once that any photo of Julien Stranger is good, even if he is just reading a book. You get a slice of life you can relate to or it triggers the recall of particular memory from the days of yore.

The photos are by Hunter Kimball.

Thrasher - July 1989 Volume 9 Number 7

enjoi.

Out of all the funny things enjoi has ever done, this is my fav. I'm also sticking by my claim that Bag Of Suck is the best skateboard video ever.

Big Brother - February 2001 Issue 69

Ron Cameron & Chris Johanson.

A Blockhead & an Anti-Hero.

One of the factors that motivated me to start this website in 2008 was that some of other old guys with scanners were focusing more on the athletic side of skateboarding and not so much on the art side. I wanted to include the arty stuff as well to round out the full world of skateboarding. These two pages are from a 1991 article on skateboard artists that ran in Transworld. I dug the feature and these are two of the all time best at drawing up board graphics.

Phil Esbenshade took the photos of Ron.

Mark Waters took the photos of Chris.

Transworld - October 1991 Volume 9 Number 10

Kris Markovich.

Trampled under foot.

I figured I had to include Markovich when I was putting this feature together. He produced so many great video parts in the 1990s that to leave him off the list would be wrong. Of course the peanut gallery is going to bring up that he rode for a million different companies, but whatever. That's a moot point. Kris always had the last part and it was usually the best part, no matter if he had been on the team for a few years or a few months. Plus I really like the vibe Foundation had going in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Big Brother - December 2000 Number 67

Max Schaaf.

4Q.

Vert dog, dog owner, motorcycle builder, and occasional street skater Max Schaaf has been pro for Real for almost 30 years now. His ramp skating parallels street skateboarding with how he pops out of lip tricks. He also was an early practitioner of doing kickflips on vert. There's no need to ever fast forward through one of his video parts. He's always been a favorite of mine since the first Real video.

Here's a bonus picture of Max by Grant Brittain. It was on the back of a poster for the 1995 Vans Hard Rock Cafe World Championship of Skateboarding. The contest was held on October 1st in Newport Beach.

Thrasher - June 1997 Volume 17 Number 6

Ocean Howell.

Oregon Duck.

Ocean was one of the innovators of technical street skateboarding in the early 1990s. His section in Birdhouse's Ravers video is great and for the most part holds up to today's standards. Everything he was doing at the time was so much smoother and faster than everybody else. It's one of my favorite parts from the early 90s era. He was on H-Street and Birdhouse Projects before retiring from the pro ranks. Ocean moved on to the world of academics and earned a Ph.D. in Architectural and Urban History from the University of California at Berkeley. Some of his graduate writings appeared on the pages of Slap because he was studying how skateboarders use urban spaces. He is presently an associate professor of history and architectural history at Oregon.

The photo is by Scott Starr.

Thrasher - January 1993 Volume 13 Number 1

Curtis Stauffer.

Minimalism.

I might as well follow up Natas with an ad for the company he got his skateboarding career started on. Santa Monica Airlines always had top notch graphic design in their advertisements. This one pairs a great photo with a plain background to stand out from the other pages in the magazine. The story element is a nice touch, too. I have no idea who Curtis was, but this image has stuck with me over the years.

Thrasher - April 1991 Volume 11 Number 4

Natas Kaupas.

The debut of the nollie to 50-50.

I've always liked the simplicity of this ad. I was also surprised I'd never posted it here, although it has been on the internet nearly every other place by now. This was also the debut of Natas riding for 101 after leaving Santa Monica Airlines. 101 was the fourth brand backed by Steve Rocco to go along with World Industries, Liberty, and Blind.

I eventually learned nollies to 50-50 on the low PVC slider bar I had. I was riding a Matt Hensley church glass board so there was plenty of nose to do the trick off. It took a while to get the hang of how to pop off the front of the board. Nowadays one of my favorite tricks is to just go fast and nollie on flat ground.

I've soured on skateboarding's fascination with everything Rocco in the last few years. Sure his riders ripped, the videos were mostly good, and some of the graphics were funny, but the whole being controversial for the sake of being controversial has grown very tired to me. It all completely made sense in that era of skateboarding. Yet it also feels like some of that creativity could have been directed towards more meaningful endeavors. And when the last few mysteries were tracked down from that time period, the results were disappointing. It's probably always better to not know and leave portions of the past as cheerful and hazy memories.

Thrasher - February 1991 Volume 11 Number 2

Matt Reason.

Big wheels.

I was going to Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania from 1992 to 1996. Around about this time was when the Philadelphia crew started to get coverage in the mags and videos. It was cool to see skateboarders from the state I was living in get some press, even if they were on the opposite side of PA. It made the world seem a little smaller. I liked their approach to skateboarding with cruising around on larger boards and wheels instead of tiny wheels and trying some flip trick repeatedly. I started riding bigger wheels and focusing on the rolling part more. I also ditched a few of the weird flip tricks I was messing around with that never looked great anyway. The idea to get the fundamental tricks down so you can do them anywhere while going fast is an important concept to master.

Matt rode for Acme, Silverstar, Illuminati, Adrenalin, and Supernaut over the years. He worked in landscaping after skateboarding. Sadly, Matt passed away in 2014.

I feel I did not do a good job putting this month's content together. I forgot too many things. We shall see how it goes.

The Physics photo is by Ryan Gee.

Physics: Transworld - June 1997 Volume 15 Number 6

Adrenalin: Thrasher - September 1995 Volume 15 Number 9

Tim Brauch #19.

The finest in the world.

Vert Is Dead turns 12 in May so I'm going to do something a little different for the month. I've long since posted nearly everything that inspired me to do the site so I thought it might be neat to revisit a bunch of what I deem classics. Y'all are getting a clip show basically. I'm still sort of piecing things together and it's been a tad confusing. I'm getting my favorite photos or ads mixed up with my favorite skaters. The two aren't necessarily the same, although often they are. I've also acknowledged I'm going to leave out some stuff* that I really like and that's bugging me. It is difficult to pick from five decades worth of skateboarding. I've always liked the more obscure so in keeping with that concept, I'm mostly steering clear of common picks that fill out the bulk of best of lists.

* It never remotely occurred to me to do a shoe post. Oops. Lakai's Soca is the best skate shoe ever. End of discussion.

The photo is by Chris Kardas.

Thrasher - April 1993 Volume 13 Number 4