The whole shebang, stress tested, strengthened

Hold on to your Rectors, nobody is suggesting this is a viable alternative to contemporary skateboards. It’s just an exercise that proves you could (if you wanted to) design, print and ride skateboard that is entirely 3D printed, with the exception of the mounting hardware, kingpin, and bearings. This is the Modjul 3D Printable Skateboard System, from Thingaverse user Treegemmer.

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Happy Valentines Day – Betty 96

Nothing says true love lie a heart shaped Valentines Day skateboard. Nothing says mediocre comics quite like the Archie Comic book Group either. Still, they have provided the bulk of skateboarding in vintage comic book content, so they have that going for them.

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Spot Check: It’s the DMV at the Dead Mall!

Are dead malls the equivalent of foreclosed homes with pools for street skaters? Is this spot a bust? The DMV is the only thing you can access, and it’s usually got a huge line. The employees inside are so busy they’d likely be oblivious. Is there a hoard of zombies trapped behind that plywood wall?

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Skateboard! July 1990

I’ve added 27 adverts from the July, 1990 issue of Skateboard! magazine, published in the U.K.. This is the same publication that started in the 70’s – see Issue #10 from 1978. The issue is kind of thin, coming in at 64 pages. Someone paid for a trip to Brazil and so that’s pretty much the only thing in this issue outside of a page of record review and a couple of comics. The quality of the photographs vary, not quite up to the standards of the bigger mags, but on the positive side, it’s packed full of spots you’ve probably never seen before if you don’t live in Brazil. Theres a thoughtful write up of a visit to a local skateboard factory with discussion of trying to meet the quality standards of the USA based companies. Curiously, the skateboard molds were made out of aluminum. Check out the vintage skateboard magazine ads in the July, 1990 issue of Skateboard!

Spot Check: Chattanooga

This is the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. This photo is from a deleted account on Reddit. I originally spotted this in the subreddit TonyHawkitecture where it has appeared more than once. This particular subreddit is hit or miss, a lot of of the images are just vaguely skateable, but we’ve all done that in our heads when driving by a building or some landscape architecture. This spot looks pretty amazing, but allegedly carries a $300 fine and is heavily monitored.

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Alex Cooper in Cosmopolitan

I saw this in issue in an airport but I didn’t get a chance to flip through it. Alex Cooper is the host of an apparently very popular podcast titled Call her Daddy. This is one of the covers from the November 2023 issue of Cosmopolitan, which based on a promo video might also contain some skateboard shots beyond the cover. You have to wonder if the Venice beach locals ever get tired of their skatepark being overrun by fashion shoots. Seems to happen quite a bit.

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Action Now #1 added to Advert Gallery

The magazine that bummed out a generation of skaters… I’ve added all the adverts from issue #1 of Action Now magazine, labeled as Volume 7, #1 published in August of 1980. It’s a pretty thin issue and only has 30 ads total. In a few issues the magazine gets beefy again, I’ll bet they thought they were going to be able to pull it off… We’re just 47 ads shy of breaking the 1000 mark. Check them out.

Puberty Skates and other Chinese Crap

You can quickly got down a rabbit hole when you start searching for skateboards on those Chinese import sites. Here’a couple of beauties: A children’s skateboard with the Spanish word for puberty, and some World Industries and Santa Cruz knockoffs. It’s important to remember that brand products are beautiful, flexible in performance, stable in quality, novel and complete in style. And as always, dangerous actions, please play under guidance of professionals. Bonus Baker knockoffs after the jump.

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