This post was originally static HTML, it was backdated and inserted in the blog because it was too small to pretend it was an actual feature. And yes, this does hurt my OCD! Can you believe I used to have to hand code this? I integrated the blog into this site in July of 2006.
NHS Mini Tour By Rob Parker – March 16, 2005
This story came to us from a random reader, and by god, that makes us happy people. Rob Parker took a little bit of time to write up a couple paragraphs on what it’s like to geek out at the factory of one of the icons of the 80’s heyday skateboard companies, Santa Cruz. It’s short on pictures, but I figured everyone was sick of reading what I write. Readers Unite! Carry the flag that Rob has raised, and enjoy this. – k.ed.
For vacation this year my wife wanted to visit the San Francisco/Napa region in California. This may not sound too exciting for some, but if you look closely at a map, you will find that Santa Cruz is just south of San Francisco. So, I told my wife that we needed to go to Santa Cruz for a day to visit a skateboarding company. She wasn’t too excited about visiting a skateboard company, but it was something I wanted to do. I have been skating Santa Cruz decks since the mid 80’s and now I had a chance to see where they were made. After a month and a half of calling and e-mailing NHS I finally received a response back from a guy at NHS the day before my vacation starts. The guy tells me that they do not regularly give tours to the public, but since it was just my wife and I, he reluctantly agrees to a tour and schedules a 3:00pm tour time on Monday March 8th.
Monday March 8th was our last full day of vacation in the San Francisco area, so we spent the day driving down to and around the Santa Cruz area. We showed up at the Santa Cruz facility at a couple of minutes to three and told the guy at the front desk who we are and that we have an appointment. While the guy at the front desk proceeded to make a call to our “tour guide”, my wife and I are sitting in the small front reception area. I look around the area and notice the original Jason Jesse “Neptune” and Claus Grabke “Clock” graphic styles on the wall. I informed my wife what the images were and she looked at me as if I were a boy from junior high getting a glimpse of scantily clad woman. Meanwhile the person at the front desk is not having any success with contacting our “tour guide”. It turns out that 3:00pm is when everyone in production takes their afternoon break and when everyone else in the company is not at their desk. Five phone calls, several overhead pages, and twenty minutes later the person we are supposed to meet shows up at the front desk.
The tour starts out with some introductions and a brief conversation as he walks you into the snow boarding area. Showing us some new snowboards and then he says that he doesn’t deal directly with snow boards and that he works with only skateboards. A smile comes across my face as I quickly tell him that it is fine with me, since I’m only interested in seeing the skateboarding area. So, we leave the snowboard area and walk into the skateboard production area. The skateboard production area is a room probably 75 feet wide by 100 feet long, and the first thing I notice is that there are hundreds of skateboard decks mounted to the walls. There are vintage decks everywhere! I’m looking at the walls in awe, while the tour guide is rushing us through the area. I stopped and asked if I could take a couple of pictures and he says “Sure, that’s fine”, but he continues to walk run through the facility. I paused and took a couple of pictures with my digital camera. While the images are recording into the flash memory I continue to look at the walls and see four to five different Street Creeps, Roskopp’s, Jason Jesse’s, Corey O’Brien’s, Jeff Kendall’s, three were classic decks every where. We stop by the Ricta wheel screen printing machine and there are several boxes containing hundreds of blank Ricta super crystal wheels. On the way out of the production area we stop momentarily and look at the freshly screened decks, where I snap off a picture of stack of freshly printed Roskopp reissues. From the production area we walk into the stock warehouse and there are boxes and boxes of reissues, Roskopp 5, Eric Dressen, Goodman, Boyle, and other decks. There are also boxes of reissued OJ two wheels, Bullet 66’s, and church glass wheels.
The entire tour went by in a whirlwind, which was probably 15 minutes, but none the less too fast. However, I was very appreciative of actually getting to see their facility and walking away with some pictures that would make my friends at home a little jealous.
NHS Mini Tour By Rob Parker – March 16, 2005
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