I just wanted to babble on about this week’s Shot of the Week, since the standard format doesn’t allow it, and this one is too good to let go. This shot sums up skateboarding in the Midwest during the 80’s for me. Sure, we were rad, but it seemed like our surroundings were holding us back. This is from the Chi-town Shred photo archives. No further information is available, But it was undoubtedly shot on or near Oak Street Beach, which has more concrete than sand. Brilliant. Chicago!
12 comments
houseofneil
I still live in Chicago so I guess I win the prize.
Yeah good times. Can’t wait for the subzero temperatures and 2 feet of snow.
Kilwag
Brad’s on a mission to quote as many song lyrics as possible in the comments.
Once I skated from the downtown Amtrak to the Wrigley Field neighborhood. Good times.
brad
Rebate bobcat: your story of skating to no end in Chi-town is giving me a real Clash “Stay Free” feeling, so “If your in the Crown tonight, then have a drink on me, but go easy, step light-ly, and stay free…”
brad
man, that sounds nice.
bobcat
i missed that one – my parents were divorced and fighting over who gets stuck with me and my brother so i didn’t spend too much proper time there. It was either Bakersfield (yeah yeah the armpit of the west) or Chicago. We ended up driving down to South Carolina for the ‘summer’ which ended up being 8 years but that’s another chapter in my life.
Chicagos downtown was a dream for me. Michigan St down by the river and around the EL was so fun. I remember just skating in any direction as far as my legs would take me then call a cab to take me back. It just never ended like other skatespots. One day i skated super far south of the Sears tower and didn’t even know i was in the most ghetto area of town. Nor did I care.
Conahan
My wife is always saying that too, Brad. So is Grover. Haw haw!
brad
Bobcat were you at the Chicago Streetstyle Classic? It was at some school playground in October ’87. I ditched classes at the University of Illinois to go there with Randy prompting the now infamous quote from my mother “Brad, you need to eliminate the “Randys” from your life”!
bobcat
Oscar Meyer was a schoolyard right south of Wrigley that let the kids build ramps and shit during the summertime. Steve Dread worked at the McDonalds across from there and used to come skate in uniform. Jesse Newhaus was always there and a ton of friendly dudes. First time i met someone taller than me skating.. a fellow by the name of Nels Gravstad. Funny story was we met back up in Seattle and went riding all the time. Team 6’7″ in the house.
Kilwag
Bobcat – No way! I was still living in Champaign-Urbana then, but we came up in the summer to skate and see bands.
Oscar Meyer isn’t ringing bell.
I don’t have any Firehouse photos, no, but if you dig around on Chi-Town Shred there are some. First time I skated that I was visiting from out of town, thought it would be a bust so I waited until 2am to hit it, and because it was summer the windows in the fire station were all open and I woke up a bunch of cranky firemen who yelled at me. What a dumbass! The wheels on those bricks were loud as hell on a hot summer night. brrrap brrrrap brrrrap….
You’d be surprised, if you dig in those Chi-Town Shred photo archives you might find a tiny old picture of yourself or someone you know. I’m in there a handful of embarrassing times.
That water was probably somewhat cleaner than the Wilamette is here.
egbert
That picture is all kinds of awesome.
bobcat
I lived in chi-town in 87-88 right down on Ohio street and LSD used to skate up there and hit up the ledges then the seawall then spend all day skating those little ledges and the jersey barrier. Still to this day I think that jumping in the water for a dip was one of the worst ideas i’ve ever done.
have any old Oscar Meyer or Firehouse photos?
Conahan
Are you sure that’s not Southern California? I mean the radical surf-style skateboarding action, the super-hot beach babe….