Category Archive: Back In The Day
Vintage Goofy skateboarder
Goofy has a history of appearing on skateboards. In Extremely Goofy Movie, Goofy’s son goes to college and enters the “College X Games.” It doesn’t seem that absurd now, actually. Goofy misses his son so much that he goes to college too, and ends up skating for the evil frat boy team against his son. There’s also a toy Goofy figure on a skateboard that was made a few years ago. The shot above is a toy that may date as far back as 1977. It’s from an expired eBay auction, but becasue I love you, and have a problem, you can look at more shots after the jump.
Avon Hang Ten Bubble Bath
As promised, more skateboard hygiene products. I first came across this on the old Grand Royale site, the magazine and record label that used to be run by the Beastie Boys. This was back in 2000 or so, and the fact that this skateboard shaped container existed out there somewhere had been in the back of mind since then. They didn’t have any explanation, just the picture, so I downloaded it. Earlier this year I was doing some “research” for Skate and Annoy and I stumbled on one for sale. Turns out it was from Avon, and contains bubble bath. I picked this one up for about 7$. Totally worth it.
SOTW 6-01-09: Metals in Boston
Well after last week’s fiasco, I dug up this shot from when I went on a road trip to Boston back in ’88 or ’89. I can’t remember. This shot is an enlargement from one I took at a spot called Metals. I don’t remember the skater’s name, but he was just one of the many friendly, stoked locals I met. Everyone flowed when I was there. This was probably some sort of wall jam plant off the side of the metal bank that was an freestanding sculpture. Check out the full frame Shot of the Week.
Old legends never die, but their girlfriends do.
Apparently, killers are kosher again for legendary Vision Skateboards. You used to be able to get Mark Rogowski’s shape with the word “Vision” in place of skateboarding’s most famous murderer. Market research must have proven that the public has a short term memory for distasteful acts such as rape and assault, but a long term love for nostalgia. Now you can get the Gator re-issue board as it was in his glory days. No word on where those royalty checks are going. Yes, It’s a proud legacy.
SOTW 5-25-09: Parking garage pricks
I almost forgot to do a Shot of the Week, so I pulled this one out. This is street skating circa 1989, and part of that scene was being a dick to pedestrians and cars… This shot involved the fake ollies (layback ollies?) where you skate up to something and put your hand on it to support your weight while you ollie the board onto whatever impossibly high obstacle was in front of you. Of course, nowadays people could probably ollie onto the hood of a car without help. I still love to do this trick, and recently brought it out of retirement, although not on the hoods of a cars belonging to people I don’t know. The guy in this pictures shall be named only as “Carl” as he has since gone onto become a productive member of society, and probably wouldn’t appreciate this picture showing up in his background check the next time he applies for a job.
Check out the full frame Shot of the Week.
Trippy Levis commercial from 1977
I have a vague recollection of this style of Levis commercial. This one dates back to 1977 and briefly features some kids and possibly even a gorilla on a skateboard. It’s hard to tell compressed and small, plus the psychedelic nature of the animation doesn’t help any.
– Thanks to Eric Shea for the tip.
Jay Bennett R.I.P.
Taking a little time off to mourn the loss of a friend of mine who died in his sleep over the weekend, Jay Bennett. If the name is familiar, Jay might be most famously known as a member of the band Wilco. He appeared on every album up to and including Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, after which he quit and/or was fired, depending on who you ask. Before that he was a member of Steve Pride and His Blood Kin, and before that he was in a band called Titanic Love Affair, or TLA for short. This was an early promo I shot of TLA in the late 80’s before they appeared on MTV and in Rolling Stone. Jay is pictured in the center. That’s a Thrasher Freedom sticker sideways on the brim of his hat, actually.
eBay Watch: April 2009
First off this month I want to thank all of the folks who email in to tell me how much they enjoy the column, whether it be to the email address here or on skullandbones. I’m glad that so many people all around the world seem to enjoy my pontificating and nonsense. Also for those that send in links to auctions etc, that is much appreciated too. I may not use them because I don’t feature decks on price alone anymore. The photos have to be good, and something has to appeal to me aesthetically. But still, keep sending them in, especially if you see a bargain. They are difficult to spot.
Check out eBay Watch: April 2009
Local color
I’m going to freely cop to filling space with this post. This here’s the tale of a nefarious character whose name is/was Martin. His ego was legendary, and he’d be the first to tell you. He was always looming/lurking on the skate scene in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois back in the 80’s. A self-styled king of the town, rocker and skateboarder. He was like a five foot tall, less subdued version of Steven Tyler with a skateboard, if you can imagine it.
Greatest stuntman ever
More skateboarding vid caps sent in from Joesf Heffner. This time the flick is called Hooper, starring (duh!) Burt Reynolds. There’s also a bonus shot of some terrain that ought to be familiar to anyone whose seen the Bones Brigade Video Show. There’s an actual skate shot of Neil Blender hitting it in an old Tracker advert on Freakbeatfuzz.











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