Eric Jay #3.

Forever elusive.

Willfully obscure ripper Eric Jalovaara passed away last December. He was sponsored by Anti-Hero and Indy.

The photos are by Luke Ogden and the interview is by Jake Phelps.

Thrasher - October 2000 Volume 20 Number 10

Kerry Getz #4.

Hockey Temper launches a gap at Love Park to lipslide. This trick was in his part in Habitat's Mosaic video from 2003.

Real gave Tanner Van Vark the pro nod. I like how that guy is pushing what tricks you can get into without an ollie.

Speaking of Habitat, I enjoyed the Danny Garcia episode of Thrasher's Out There series.

I've got more random scans lined up for the next couple of weeks. I'm also putting together features on Infamous and Natural Koncept.

Sound Zone: I didn't pick up much of anything new in February and have stuck to digging through my collection by listening to stuff I don't play often. I tend to shop for music based on a gut feeling and sometimes I simply don't feel like shopping or even looking. That's not the worst thing ever. A couple of releases did grab my attention for the month. The White Suns have a new record called The Lower Way. This Pittsburgh power trio delivers another bruising and scrapping slab of harsh noise in the vein of Hair Police or Burned Mind era Wolf Eyes. The new tape by Etari on 100% Silk is the exact opposite of The White Suns LP. Rainbow Eucalyptus is a relaxing collection of mellow, echoing synths coupled with fascinating drum programing. I think I'm stuck in the winter doldrums and looking forward to spring.

Ryan Gee took the picture.

Transworld - January 2002 Volume 20 Number 1

Creature Team 2012.

This is some of the Creature squad who appeared in their CSFU video from 2013. Adam “Scizzors” Effertz, Darren Navarrette, Al Partanen, and Willis Kimbel are shown in the ad. The crew went on a search for backyard vert ramps across the US in 2012 for an article in the Skateboard Mag. These photos would have been taken on that road trip.

It was cool to see an O photo of Heavy Metal Chuck in the new Thrasher. It's also a little odd, but also totally awesome, that there's a photo by O in Thrasher.

The temperature hit the mid 50s yesterday. It cooled down to the mid 40s by the time I was done with work. It sure was nice to have warmer weather for a day to skateboard in. It's back to the 20s for today. I don't really mind the cold as long as it stays dry.

The photographs are by MRZ.

The Skateboard Mag - June 2012 Issue 99

Leo Romero #7.

Some of Leo's favorite vert skaters are Bob Burnquist, Mike Frazier, and Tony Hawk.

For the info: Thrasher - April 2011 Volume 31 Number 4

The Skateboard Mag - June 2012 Issue 99

Jake Johnson #7.

Nittany Lion.

It's pretty cool how Jake lives out in State College, Pennsylvania with his own mini ramp training facility. I'm partial to small town Keystone State skateboarding, even though State College doesn't exactly count as a small town. This year would be my 25 year college reunion so I've been a little nostalgic for those days of living in Meadville as of late.

The Skateboard Mag - June 2012 Issue 99

Mike Hernandez #2.

Smokin' hot nosegrind.

Mike is now a New York City firefighter who is into riding fixed gear bikes around the city. He had a ton of cool photos in the late 1990s.

The picture is by Sam Glucksman.

Slap - January 1999 Volume 8 Number 1

Israel Forbes #7.

Thin Izzy takes flight over a fence at a loading dock.

The photo is by Jon Humphries.

Thrasher - August 1997 Volume 17 Number 8

Patrick O'Dell #2.

No Age.

Pat does an epic frontside rock for the Skateboard Mag. After parting ways with Thrasher and starting his Epicly Later'd series, O'Dell popped up to be a guest editor for the Mag's April 2008 issue.

The photo is by Atiba Jefferson.

The Skateboard Mag - April 2008 Issue 49

Sam Clemens.

Aloha.

Natural Koncept was always good for a gnarly skateboard stunt and some trippy graffiti art in their ads.

As I was filling out this batch of scans, I almost picked a Kingdom ad, but went with a Natural Koncept advertisement instead. It felt like the right thing to do. I've decided there will be a feature on NK in the future. They might be one of the few things left I haven't really covered on here. Let's face it, we need some more positive feel good vibes these days.

The photo is by Chuck Mitsui.

Big Brother - December 1998 Issue 43

Sean Sheffey #8.

Sean does one of his classic switch kickflips.

Matix was a fancy technical clothing company started by Podium Distribution after DVS had established themselves as a solid player on the skateboard footwear market. The team included Marc Johnson, Rudy Johnson, Rodney Mullen, Daewon Song, Jeron Wilson, Tim Gavin, and J.B. Gillet. (Was The Gav still skating at this point?) The brand lasted for a while until DVS fell apart. I believe an attempt was made resurrect Matix within the last few years, but I'm not sure how that went.

There's a great interview with Don Brown about the history of Etnies up on the Slam City website.

Speaking of interviews, there's a new site called Heck Ride. They've got cool chats with Aaron Meza, Tom Karangelov, and James Hardy.

Big Brother - December 1998 Issue 43

The Ever Shrinking Wheel.

Based on a suggestion from a reader, I thought it would be interesting to see how wheels shrank and then rebounded in size from 1991 to 1995. I know this topic has been well covered on here over the years, but it is spread out over many posts. I figured it would be handy to have a quick retrospective in one place.

The wheels for 1991 were in the mid 50s to low 60 mm range. Real fired the first shot in the tiny wheel battle with their aptly named 53 mm Small Wheel.

Nearly everything for 1992 was in the 40s. Toxic took it under 40 with their 39'ers. Union and OJ had the only 50 mm wheels. In the course of one year, wheels dropped a full 10 mm.

Wheels bottomed out in 1993 with the majority of sizes in the low to mid 40s. A few companies have 39 mm wheels, too. The smallest documented wheel size I found was 37 mm. Stereo and Spitfire each had a wheel at that size. World Industries made one for Daewon Song that was 37.5 mm.

The sizes started to stabilize in 1994 and 95. There are still some in the low 40s, but most are in the mid to upper 40s. 50 mm and larger wheels begin to make a much needed return.

In the years since the wheels shrank, skateboarding reached the important conclusion that this isn't fun to do if you can't roll smoothly. Wheels rebounded to cover a variety of sizes in the 50 mm range. This would be the more practical size range. Lower 50s for technical street skating, mid 50s for everything, and upper 50s for transitions. Of course, some of this is driven by user preferences, but that's a general breakdown of what works best for the assorted types of terrain.

The spreads are from CCS catalogs. It goes from top to bottom:
1. Fall 1991
2. Winter 1992
3. 1993 (probably fall)
4. Fall 1994
5. Fall 1995

Notes:

It was odd to me that Spitfire wasn't always in the CCS catalog. They're in only two of these scans, 1991 and 1994.

These things suck to scan. It's so much boring work for one day of content. That's why I didn't include wheels or trucks the first time around for the CCS feature in September 2016.

Jamestown Skate Products.

Shop the Blend.

I found this photo and flyer in a recent dig through my archives. I would have been riding this setup in early 2002. The board is a shop deck from Suburban Blend, the skateboard and snowboard shop in Jamestown, New York. I've got Ventures for trucks as always and obviously some Spitfires for wheels.

The contest was on October 7, 2001. The event was at the city's outdoor park. It was ended or at the least abbreviated by a sudden snow squall. I honestly don't remember if they even finished the contest. They might not have. Everything got covered with a bunch of puffy snowflakes. I recall doing an ollie to fakie on the quarter pipe and it was at the point where it was too slick from the snow. That was probably about when they called it off and did a raffle to give out some prizes. I don't really remember much else about the contest. There were a bunch of rippers among the park regulars so shredding went down for sure. There was an indoor park in Erie, Pennsylvania at the time and their crew came over to skate the contest. I believe the older guy who worked at the Erie park busted an ollie over the whole little metal ledge in his run. It was one of those tricks that registers in your mind for whatever reason.

Suburban changed names to Jamestown Skate Products a few years back and they are still going strong today. They have a gnarly bowl, a good shop, and a street course. They are doing stuff to promote skateboarding in the area, including helping with the design of a new free park for the city. JSP is totally worth checking out if you are in the area.

Roberto Alemañ #2.

The longtime underground Spanish ripper floats a kickflip over a wall. Roberto's part in Consolidated's Going Bananas video is seriously gnarly.

It's been cold around here lately, like in the 22˚ - 27˚ F range every single day. Thanks to some expert snow management by my dad and myself, the driveway has been kept in usable condition so I've gotten in some skateboarding after work. I always thought that temps in the 20s were maybe a little too cold, but it has been comfortable enough to skate for 25-30 minutes. It really helps that there is no wind and that the sun has been out.

I'm always interested in what is too cold to skate in. I recall dudes saying 50˚ F was too cold and I find that kind of ridiculous. 50˚ is nice. I also started to consider how well a person skates as part of the equation. If you are starting out and still learning the basics, then doing that in freezing temperatures is simply not going to be fun. On the other hand, if you've been skating for a long time and have a decent grasp on how to ride a skateboard, you can focus past the cold, rattle off a few tricks, and feel good about beating the elements for a day.

RIP Big Brother's Larry Flynt.

The photo is by Alberto Polo.

Thrasher - July 2002 Volume 22 Number 7

Mike Rusczyk #6.

Incinerate.

His part in Cataclysmic Abyss is a forgotten gem. That whole video is pretty good. Foundation still has copies of the DVD available for sale. I got my friend one for Christmas because I didn't care for any of the videos that were released on a physical format in 2020.

Transworld - May 2002 Volume 20 Number 5

Rob Welsh #5.

Rob takes a backside bigspin over a railing. Even though this trick wasn't in his part in Free Your Mind, it would have been from that same time frame. I really enjoyed the raw footage that Jason Hernandez has been posting on the Transworld website from those days. The Dan Drehobl clips are pure gold.

I don't get sweaters.

Transworld - October 2002 Volume 20 Number 10

Chris Miller #15.

Cats & Dogs.

Chris floats a nice tweaked air way above the coping.

Jeff Taylor took the picture.

Transworld - October 2002 Volume 20 Number 10

Paul Machnau.

Paul is from Cranbrook, British Columbia. He later moved to Vancouver for the sake of having better places to ride his skateboard. Moses Itkonen helped him out with getting sponsored in the beginning. Paul ran a skateshop in his hometown called The Boarders Choice. Some of his favorites and friends are Glenn Suggitt, Mike Hastie, Chet Thomas, and Gailea Momolu. Over the years his sponsors have included Powell, Emerica, World Industries, Darkstar, and Globe. He likes small town life and is not a fan of bad drivers. Paul was definitely pushing the boundaries of big rail and gap skating during his pro tenure. His switch and flip game were on point as well. I think he falls into the category of under appreciated ripper.

Emerica hid a few silly CanCon puns in the ad copy:

Eh?merica. Send $2 of some Timbits for info and stickers.

The jump ramp turned out fine:

Thrasher - May 2001 Volume 21 Number 5

Kris Markovich #22.

This is a different angle for a photograph of Kris launching a kickflip over that one parking lot gap you'd see often in the magazines and videos. He would have been on Foundation and Adio at the time.

Things were surprisingly dry enough after work yesterday that I got to take my new launch ramp for a test toast. It turned out really smooth and easy to skate. I've been leery of jump ramps the last few years so it was a relief that I had no problems with doing ollies off it.

Transworld - November 2001 Volume 19 Number 11

Jerry Hsu #10.

"Me and Will just loved doing different tricks, stuff that was before our time. When everyone was learning frontside flips, we were learning impossibles. We studied old H-Street and Plan B videos. We were really into Rodney Mullen, so maybe that's part of it. I always went and hunted for the older videos. I just wanted to learn everything I possibly could."

Jerry describes his process for developing unusual tech tricks.

Creature's Twenty Five Years of the Vertical Vampire film on Darren Navarrette is awesome. Here's to twenty more years of Navs. They even used my favorite Bardo Pond song in the video.

The photo is by Ed Dominick.

For the quote: Slap - September 1999 Volume 8 Number 9

Transworld - December 2001 Volume 19 Number 12

Bobby Puleo #9.

"I wish I could document my skating when there's not a camera around. Sometimes when it's a natural occurrence, like there happens to be a photographer around, I'll say, "Let's film this." But I have to force myself because I know I have to get whatever done. That's when it's the worst; you have to jump through the hoops. It feels terrible to me. When I got out and skate with one or two other people you just feel a freedom. I love that. It's a sacred feeling. Especially late at night, when there's no one out."

Skateboarding's grumpy uncle philosophizes on the hangups of chronicling skateboarding to Patrick O'Dell. I like this quote because sometimes when you do a trick it looks and feels completely different in your head compared to what it looks like on film.

For the quote: Thrasher - July 2001 Volume 21 Number 7

Transworld - March 2002 Volume 20 Number 3

Joel Meinholz #3.

The Mindbender hops down a big set of stairs. He's wearing the first Mike Carroll pro model from Lakai.

My most liked thing about skateboarding in 2020 was the reissue of the original Carroll model. Lakai made an updated version for today's standards. This was one of my favorite shoes back in the day so I was glad to see them return. They were fairly faithful to the original as far as I can recall. The soles were a little thick at first, but wore out on the fast side, which surprised me. The ollie area took a beating and you would get the same frayed cord laces as back in 2002. (I'm regular footed so you can't see all the wear in the photo.) I'm on my second pair and I'm doing things to make them last. I put a couple little pieces of black electrical tape over the toe spot that gets damaged from ollies. I also started putting a very small square of tape over the top eyelet to preserve the lace. That's the only spot where the shoelace gets worn away. I got the black and white ones so the tape blends in perfectly. I'm happy to be skating in Lakais again. I've been wearing Sheffields and Manchesters a bunch over the years as chilling shoes, but this is the first time in ages I've skated their shoes. I don't know why this matters so much, but it does.

The photo is by Mike O'Meally.

Transworld - September 2002 Volume 20 Number 9