Pontus Alv #6.

"Something I can remember that got me really furious was a kind of big fight with Jeremie Daclin, the founder/owner of Cliché, in the early 2000s. I’ve always been skating big boards: 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, around there. I was pro for Cliché, and they just didn't produce my size. They just didn't care."

The Last Resort.

The gear specific Pontus blasts over a big trash can in some classic Sal Barbier kicks during the Mad Circle days.

The quote is from a recent interview with Pontus at Village Psychic.

Thrasher - March 1997 Volume 17 Number 3

Max Schaaf #14.

"Joe Lopes did a huge frontside ollie. Fred Smith did some incredible handplants and a nice frontside air. But they were struggling, for sure. Because the thing about our ramp is that while it ruled to us, it was actually really hard for other people to skate, especially for pros who were used to skating good ramps. But then Hosoi came over not too long after that and just tee’d off on it. Oh my god, it was bonkers."

Max explains the difficulties of his old ramp.

Is Spitfire switching all their wheels over to Formula Four? I don't really fancy that urethane. It felt weirdly soft and would slide oddly on the couple sets of wheels I rode. Also the Formula Fours don't have the little grooves on the riding surface that the regular 99DU wheels have. Those grooves are the best part of new wheels. They seem to be not offering many 55 or 56 mm options either. I assume most of the changes are temporary supply chain issues caused by the post-apocalyptic world we are now living in. I'm too old to bother with finding a new type of wheel to like.

The quote is from a recent Chrome Ball Incident interview with Max.

Thrasher - February 1997 Volume 17 Number 2

Richard Angelides #2.

Forever in shell toes.

I'm surprised there was no photo or designer credit on this one.

Transworld - January 1997 Volume 15 Number 1

Jason Carney #6.

Jason went on a ten day European tour with NOFX in 1995 and got to see them play a bunch of shows on the trip.

Jason's drinking buddy Ed Dominick took the picture.

For the fun fact: Thrasher - November 1996 Volume 16 Number 11

Thrasher - January 1997 Volume 17 Number 1

Kevin Taylor #4.

Kevin does a frontside blunt during the early days of the FDR park in Philadelphia. He would have been riding for Capital and Duffs at the time. Kevin hails from Pittsburgh. His favorite skaters in 1997 included Sean Sheffey, Kenny Hughes, and Donny Barley.

The photograph is by Ryan Gee.

Slap - January 1997 Volume 6 Number 1

Josh Beagle #13.

Today, tomorrow, forever.

The latest Foundation video is a good watch. It features new riders Julian Lewis and Dylan Witkin along with the always amazing Corey Glick. Star & Moon carries on in the tradition of previous F-Troop efforts with the right mix of art, skateboarding, and appropriately fitting music.

Transworld - January 1997 Volume 15 Number 1

Jonas Wray #3.

A gallery of nostalgia.

The dearly departed Jonas Wray takes a nollie tailslide down a handrail and pumps gas in a Burger King hat.

That new Ben Kadow "Triple Backflip" part is cool. I sort of don't like how Ben skates because he does tricks that seem to be needless invitations for extra injuries. And yet somehow he makes it happen. I dug that they used a sound collage for the music. Doug Hock, the composer, is a noise jammer who works for Death By Audio effects pedals.

The photos are by Tobin Yelland.

Slap - February 1997 Volume 6 Number 2

Keith Hufnagel #15.

Thunder & lightning.

Huf floats a 50-50 across a tall flat bar. I'm trying to figure what shirt he is wearing. It almost looks like a hockey jersey of some sort.

Congratulations to the Milwaukee Bucks for their first NBA Championship in 50 years. Props to the Phoenix Suns for putting together a great season. Giannis Antetokounmpo had a game for the ages.

Thrasher - April 1997 Volume 17 Number 4

Mike Manzoori #5.

No groove to get into.

Mike posts up a backside 5-0 during the Adrenalin and Sheep days. You can make out a blurry couple of Adrenalin stickers on the trash can, as well as one for Arnette sunglasses.

My shoes seemed better yesterday so I'm going to say the break in time for Emericas is about two and half weeks.

Slap - February 1997 Volume 6 Number 2

Sal Barbier #7.

The Swamp Rat takes flight at that one school with the hip and handrail.

How long does it take to break in Emericas? I've been skating a pair of the reissued Gammas and the soles are still really stiff after a couple of weeks. They grip good and aren't showing any wear at all, but the board feel isn't great yet. The stiffness is probably even more noticeable because the Fallens I had been wearing were on the very soft side. I don't remember the éS Accels taking terribly long to get comfortable. I came around to liking the first run of the Gamma back in 1997 so I thought I'd give them a second go round.

Paul "Skin" Phillips snapped the photo.

Transworld - February 1997 Volume 15 Number 2

Nate McGlone.

Southwest Conference.

Nate is from League City, Texas, which is in the Houston area. He rode for Kingdom, Tracker, and Southside Skate Shop. Thrasher ran a photo of him doing a noseslide wearing a football helmet and Texas A&M jersey for the Something Else column in the June 1997 issue.

This ad is a masterpiece.

Transworld - February 1997 Volume 15 Number 2

Shiloh Greathouse.

Slick Shiloh.

Mr. Greathouse puts down a fakie ollie nosegrind the more difficult way on one of those classic California picnic tables. Shiloh delivered some very fine and crisp technical street skateboarding in the 1990s. He had a much better trick selection and execution than many of his peers, especially in the low 90s.

Wow. 13 years deep and Shiloh had never been on here before. Oops. Sorry.

Transworld - March 1997 Volume 15 Number 3

Peter Hewitt #16.

"I like to skateboard, try different tricks, and not think of it as a training session, but as an energy release."

Pete's had an interesting career. He started off riding for Christian Hosoi while skating the Linda Vista park. Later he dabbled with vert ramp ownership and snowboarding before finding a spot on Anti-Hero after riding for a few different companies in the 1990s. There were some decent contest placings and a few successful attempts at going around the loop along the way, too. These days Pete is still on Anti-Hero and its odd little branch called Grimple Stix.

The photo is by Lance Dalgart.

For the quote: Transworld - February 1997 Volume 15 Number 2

Thrasher - February 1997 Volume 17 Number 2

Tim O'Connor #4.

Ghostly apparition.

Tim does a switch crooks during the First Division days. That company had a stacked team of East Coast rippers and ran some good looking ads.

The photo is by Dan Wolfe.

Slap - March 1997 Volume 6 Number 3

Matt Field #7.

Matt fields a 50-50 in the tall grass.

Half-Life was an organic clothing company run by Matt in the mid 1990s. The team included Keith Hufnagel, Fred Gall, Matt Pailes, the Cardona brothers, and a few others.

It's the end of an era. I got the renewal notice from Thrasher and it looks like they aren't giving away a free t-shirt when you re-up for another year as they have done since 2012. They also have a subscription agency in upstate New York handling the renewal process now.

Slap - January 1997 Volume 6 Number 1

Doug Saenz #2.

Doug & The Slugs.

Doug is from Pleasant Hill, California. He rode for New Deal, Underworld Element, Creature, and Consolidated. He's friends with Karma Tsocheff and as far as I know they still play together in a band called AM Magic.

I think I always liked Ventures because I never felt punk rock enough to ride Indys. I'm probably not fresh enough for Venture either, but they were more of a "skateboarding in general brand" before the mid 1990s happened. I don't know. I picked the V-Force and I'm sticking with 'em.

Slap - October 1996 Volume 5 Number 10

Jay Maldonado.

Subliminal advertising.

Jay is from Manhattan. He's a photographer and has filmed a couple of skateboard videos, too. They spelled his name wrong in the ad. I don't know too much about Jay and I was browsing around trying to find info, but nothing really turned up.

Of further relevance to NYC skateboarding, Jessie Van Roechoudt and Quell Skateboarding put together a great feature on the history of Rookie Skateboards. Jenkem ran the article on their website, too. Rookie was a super cool company that was very much ahead of its time in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Slap - September 1996 Volume 5 Number 9

Mat O'Brien #3.

Slap Angel.

Mat rode for Real, Zoo York, and obviously Venture. He created the angel logo for Slap Magazine. He's still doing art and has contributed graphics to Krooked over the years.

Speaking of Slap, I think there's a story about how Lance Dawes took an Awake to Venture shirt and sewed an Indy logo over the Venture logo so it read Awake to Indy. He did it simply to annoy Greg Carroll.

Slap - July 1996 Volume 5 Number 7

Vinnie Ponte #6.

Awake to Venture.

This is a big ollie from one of the East Coast's biggest olliers. I think this is a 180, but it is sort of hard to tell exactly what expanse of real estate Vinnie is going over.

I've always ridden Ventures. I make it a point to post their ads to counter other truck ads on here, but I don't think I've ever specifically done a week of Ventures. This randomly turned into a selection of ads from Slap in the second half of 1996.

Slap - June 1996 Volume 5 Number 6

Chad Muska & Tom Penny.

The new aesthetic in skateboard footwear.

Chad hits the wall and Tom takes the switch crooks to forward as éS introduces a classic of skateboard footwear.

Vert Is Dead will venture back on Tuesday, July 6th. Have a good weekend.

Chad: Slap - August 1996 Volume 5 Number 8

Tom: Transworld - September 1996 Volume 14 Number 9

Rick Howard #16.

Rick skates off into the Canadian forest.

Girl's Mouse is another video that turns 25 this year. Mouse featured a lot of innovative street skating and some well crafted skits from the Girl and Chocolate teams.

Transworld - December 1996 Volume 14 Number 12