SOTW 12-17-12: Mojave Desert Free for All

This week’s Shot of the Week features Larry Martin circa ’88 or ’89 out in the Mojave desert. There were better “skate shots” to pick from his batch, but I wanted to showcase the ramp and not necessarily the action or the photo. Here’s a little more on the subject from Larry:

I built this ramp on poached land in the Mojave desert near Lancaster, Ca. around 88… I had moved there with my wife after living in Ventura/Fillmore Ca. all my life. There wasn’t many ramps in the Antelope Valley at that time. The Palmdale one from the “Great Desert Ramp Battle” was toast. So, I made some new street/ditch skater friends and enlisted them in my idea to just build a halfpipe in the desert for anyone/evryone, and hopefully the police would leave us alone. They did, and we had it for about a year/half before the High School party crowd ruined it. We cut the templates with a jig, but the rest was all done without power tools. The wood of course was scavenged. This was during the savings and loan scandal, and huge housing projects were closed everywhere in the valley. Signs were just the easiest, as they were roadside, and blown over from heavy desert winds. Lots of funny stories of course surround the ramp. After it’s demise out there in the desert we rebuilt it 8 more times in backyards. Ahh, the good old dayz we all know so well.

Bonus shots after the jump.

What was it called?

“The Joshua Tree” officially, at least by the four of us who started (and finished) the project. But it was common to hear it called “Desert Ramp” also. Seems silly now, but we didn’t want it confused with the other one that was in Palmdale that everyone knew about.

This side of the ramp is my favorite.

He deserves a good action shot, so here’s Larry.