When heros rescue history from the trash! Check out these photo of the Ocean Bowl from 1976 shown here by permission of Marc Emond:
The photos on this post were pulled from a dumpster behind The Beachcomber weekly newspaper in the early 80s. The box they were in contained piles of surf and skate photos. Whoever found them gave them to Jack Crosby at BB Bombers surf shop. Jack gave me the skate park photos. Pure fate that they ended up in my hands…
If you’re in the mood for more vintage Ocean City, check out this Rolling Surf action.
Architectural drawings of the park. The floorpan view looks like a prostate health diagram…
It’s just discoloration from age, but at first glance this looks like a photo from the old west.
70’s Mongo!
8 comments
Terrence (terminator) Bunce
I skated the little & big bowl back in the late 70’s & I caught the fever….
My 1st skateboard was a Sears yellow plastic board with a grainy finish, urethane open bearings wheels….. no way one could put sandpaper grip tape on this surface cause it already had this grainy surface which was well….. useless. I evolved for survival sake to 8, 10, & 12 inch wide boards with tracker trucks & blue kryptonic wheels….and the saga continues
Steven Leto. Jr.
I started skating in 69.starter with skates nailed to wood.Then I got a roller derby with steel wheels.Then I got one with clay wheels.then I got some fiberglass things with airflow urethane wheels.After that it was fiberflex bowl rider with Bennett pros and road rider 4s.I had about 6 of those.
James Sams
I have 5 pictures available for the sight from opening day in 1976 if you are interested. I can email you them.
Thank You,
James Sams
raye-valion gillette
Hi James,
I am a curator at a museum in Salisbury and we are currently working on an exhibit about the Ocean Bowl. I would love to take a look at those photos if you still have them available. please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions – thanks! my email is rvgillette@salisbury.edu
Jonathan Swigart
I skated this bowl when I was very young. I
James Sams
I was there the day when the skate park first opened. I paid $5.00 for a band for your wrist and skated the entire week I was there on vacation. I purchased a G&S Fibreflex orange board with no kick tail from a fellow skater for $10.00. What a bargain. I have about 5 pictures of the first day it opened.
Steven Leto. Jr.
That’s awesome.I skated for sunshine house from 74 to 79.We were there almost everyday.We got to skate it before it opened and when skateboarder magazine came there we got our pics in it.I always skated G&S fiberflex,Bennett pros and road rider 4s.I still have the last board sunshine house gave me.Great days.
Matt Mahoney
Skated there a ton in the summers of 77/78. Best day ever when I passed the test & got the helmet tag to ride the big bowl.
That wall along the drop-in on the big one hooked the other direction from the plans above though. I’m sure I have pics somewhere here of my 10 year-old self carving it, pretending I was Stacy Peralta at the Dogbowl. Except I was riding a solid oak Logan Earth Ski, ACS500’s & Road Rider 4’s. Great times…