SkatersTape, it may not go up to 11, but is has the word “skater” right in the product name, so you know it’s going to work better than something like duct tape. It starts at $6 a roll, and if you buy in bulk you can get a case of 12 rolls at a discount for just $6 a roll. SkatersTape is so dedicated to passing the savings on to you that they’re using the same 2 recycled low res action photos on every page. If you forget where to buy it, just scan the handy QR code infinitely repeated on the roll, like a modern day version of the Gator graphic… Just squint your eyes. Do you remember Gator? Do you remember QR codes? “If you use skaters tape every time you skate, you can keep your shoes looking like new.” Could they make such a bold claim if it weren’t true? After extensive testing we found that SkatersTape did indeed keep our shoes looking like brand new shoes covered in obnoxious duct tape. But why stop there? Why not make an entire pair of shoes out of SkatersTape? How about a wallet to hold your credit cards so…

I had more than a handful of these “Stylin’ Skateboards” from Topps. The first time I saw them was in ’91 or ’92. I think it was B-Rad who showed it to me first, and it blew my mind. I asked where he found it, expecting it to be something a friend brought back from a trip to Japan or some kitschy novelty shop in New York. Instead, he nodded his head over his shoulder towards the Wall Mart at his back in a semi rural (at the time) Steamboat Springs, Colorado. This sales sheets shows them packaged in little boxes, but the ones I saw came in sealed plastic bags with heat-pressed seams. Each bag came with some crappy candy sugar wads pressed into the vague shape of a skateboard wheel, though more likely just generic pellet molds. Also in the package, a really crappy plastic fingerboard made out of soft plastic. I believe you had to snap the wheels in place yourself. The second generation fingerboards (more on that later) were fun for a few minutes, but the real reason to keep buying these things was for the paper stickers that came with them, each a slightly mutated…

MTV’s Punks and Posers from a time (1985) when they actually played music videos, blah blah blah. I think this aired at 11:00 at night originally, I taped it to VHS when I should have been finishing my computer science homework. I watched the hell out of this. It’s Got the Dickies and GBH (yawn) but also a rare appearance by the band Plain Wrap, which I had completely forgotten about. I bought their album when I saw it at Record Swap, based on seeing this video. That vinyl still resides in my basement, need to dig it up. If you are at all familiar with 80’s LA Punk there should be a few other faces you recognize as well. Interviews talking about “punk”… so lame, yet so entertaining. There is some incidental skateboarding in the video as well, so it’s actually topical to this web site, and yes.. It’s a stretch. I was stoked to see this again after so many years.

Got a hot tip from BPA about vintage Kool-aid packets with the Kool-aid man on skateboard, and well, I couldn’t leave well enough alone.

Haibao was the official mascot of the 2010 World’s Fair in Shanghai, China. Here he is on a washcloth for some reason, pictured riding a skateboard. I didn’t even have to buy this, as it was given to my kids randomly by a relative who travelled there on business. So I’ve got that going for me. Photo on the right “Haibao en Expo 2008” by Edward the Confessor.

This slightly frightening, oddly surreal thing is a Smooshie from Fisher Price, circa 1987. A lot of toys have weird little adapters to enable the figure to stand on a skateboard, but this one is the most convoluted. It’s like an infant exersaucer attached to a skateboard, or some kind of toilet training seat. This sexually ambiguous creature in a dress is allegedly a boy.

And that is something I don’t want to catch. Anthrax skateboard shaped patch, circa late 80’s, possibly early 90’s. What’s up with that deck shape? Nostalgia costs $15. Bring the noise.

I have a half-assed collection of (photos of) “No Skateboarding” signs that I have been accumulating over the years, but I haven’t doe anything with them yet. I accidentally stumbled on MySecuritySigns.com which has a surprisingly wide variety of ways in which you can say no. They also sell signs for skateparks as well, with helmet rules, skate at your own risk, etc… But the adversarial choices are much broader. There’s even a helpful little section on liability. You need more signs.

There’s something about the tactile quality of these old, molded magnets that is really pleasing. Most of the ones I’ve ever seen were molded in the shape of a state or a tourist attraction. As a kid I ate a metric ton of Freakies cereal, and collected a lot of Freakies character magnet that sometimes came as the toy in the box. This Skateboard Happy magnet dates to the same era, a time when there must have been a lot of anger in the sport. Paying 10 bucks for this would make me angry though.

Ah the good old days when you got dropped of at the skatepark by you mom, pulled your skate bag out of the trunk, pulled up your rainbow kneepads and got radical. Vintage vinyl skateboard bag, £20 courtesy of Ebay.