Skate-Ball Can be Yours for only 100k

I bought another issue of Skateboarding Industry News and included in the auction was an issue of something called Skate & Surf which I had never seen before, and didn’t really pay any attention to it. Glancing at it I thought it was an early 80’s mini mag or pamphlet or some sort of insert […]

Some More, Over the Rainbo

Thanks again to Nathan Kipnis we’ve got even more pictures of the fiberglass Skate-Ball ramps at the Rainbo Skatepark in Chicago, Illinois circa 78-79. Includes a bonus shot of Jay Adams and Dave Hackett.

Tom Thumb Team Skate-ball

There are certain topics here on Skate and Annoy that though old, tend to cycle back into popularity every so often, and Skate-ball is one of them. If you’re not familiar, Skate-ball was a pinball-themed fiberglass ramp setup that had actual scores and scoreboard affected by different sections that you rolled over. Now, thanks to […]

fiberglass-flyer

Faster, Safer, Fiberglass

Posts about the blue fiberglass ramps that were used in Thrasherland and Skateball skateparks remain some of the most popular on Skate and Annoy. Stephen Smith was trolling the site and remembered he had saved an old flyer for the Great Bay Skatepark of Newington, New Hampshire: I went there in the summer of 78 […]

skateboard-rage

Dutch Skateboard Rage

You might remember a Dutch newspaper article from 1980 talking about how skateboarding was becoming very popular. Here’s remnants of the same skatepark in the May 4th, 1982 edition of the Leidse Courant newspaper. This article is about the sport’s demise. This must have been slightly better than it looked when Jeroen and crew found […]

skateboardbaan

Gedeelte van een Skateboardbaan

Skateboard slaat aan in Vlissingen – Skateboarding is catching on in Vlissingen, according to the December 4th, 1980 edition of the Dutch newspaper Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant. Check out the photo of that skatepark. Even though it’s low res black and white newspaper photo, it’s clearly one of those fiberglass ramps that was part of the […]

Clown Ramp rebirth

There’s a guy trying to restore the Clown Ramp, I’ve got an email or a Facebook message somewhere that I’ve misplaced. I know he’s looking for people who might know where pieces of it are, mainly the bits that used to be part of Skate Ball. The pic above is from Embassy Skateboards recap of […]

Skate Ball scoreboard

This is a photo of the plexiglass cover of the Skate Ball ramp that resided at the Olympic Skateboard Arena in Crystal Lake, Illinois before it met it’s demise at the Rainbo Skatepark in Chicago, Illinois. David Dude was somehow able to rescue this at some point in time, even though he was a Dallas […]

Solid Surf Skateball

Solid Surf USA

Making the Solid Surf UK post reminded me that I was sitting on some shots of a skateball installation at Solid Surf in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Tim Ebaugh sent me the scans from his friend, photographer AL Porterfield. Check ’em out after the jump. Tim has a site called Vintage Florida Skateboard as well as […]