Again, from the collection of John Drummond. This time it’s the premier issue of Germany’s Death Zone, dating back to June of 1985. It cost 1,50 dm, however much that was. Interesting to note the address inside the cover, it said Gütersloh West Germany. I never really thought about about skateboarding in a divided Germany. Sure, we all knew about Claus Grabke (…and speaking of) but seeing the word “West” made me sit back and take notice.

This week’s Shot of the Week is a spot in the Boston area that was known as the Black Hole ditch back in 1986 when the photo was taken. If I recall correctly, the reason it had that name had something to do with the temperature of the asphalt ditch in the hot summer sun. Nothing fancy, just one of those nostalgia shots. This is on my Boston trip negatives, but for all my lack of geographic knowledge of the area and memory loss, this might have been in the outlying burbs. Check it out.

Sean West passed away and is being laid to rest on Tuesday. Bob Pribble sent in this old shot of Sean on the cover of his “Very Sketchy” zine. People are leaving comments about Sean here, and here. There’s another site called Musical Family Tree that has discussion here and photos here. Rich over at EPM said if you look at Kendall’s first deck you’ll see “SWEST” amongst the graffiti.

Aww, to hell with it. We’re already on a bunch of content blocking filters. Vintage Skateboard Magazines has a bunch of ads archived. On the left is a 1979 Dogtown advert from a US publication, where you can only show the cleavage. On the right is an advert for Olympic Skateboards in an unnamed UK publication that is a lot more cheeky. Love that site. Daniel has a standing invitation to have the archives hosted at Skate and Annoy if he ever decides it’s time for VSM to give up the ghost.

OK, trying to tie up some loose ends. It’s getting hard to keep trak of everything around here. Here are some shots of the blue fiberglass ramps from the 70’s that found their way to Thrasherland and The Roxbourough in Philadelphia. There’s also a video clip of a modern day ramp using some pieces salvaged from Thrasherland after the jump. If you’ve sent me some Thrasherland/blue fiberglass ramp shots and I’ve failed to post them, please let me know. Same goes for Skateball shots.

Swank Zine – the Anarchy issue doesn’t have a date on it, but from the record reviews listed, it dates to early 1886. Typical Swank Zine fare, high contrast photos and arty drawings, incoherent Swankisms littered throughout. Short and sweet. Other issues of Swank zine are numbered, but this one isn’t. Thanks again to John Drummond for making this available.

By: Tod Swank
Photos: Tod Swank, J. Grant Brittain

Featuring: Dave Swift, Josh Nelson, Bill Danforth, Britt Parrott, Monty Nolder, Lance Mountain, Steve Rocco

Spots: Delking, Delmar, Upland, Oceanside

Highlights: A recounting of one of the Godoys spitting on Stan Hoffman’s face after getting kicked out of Upland (for?), Swank using his zine to pick up girls via personal full page messages (Denise, call Swank!) There’s a back page ad of Kevin Staab that’s manipulated in such a way that it makes him looks like a sulky young girl.

Check out: Swank Zine – The Anarchy Issue, comments in the gallery.

Well, March was good, but April was even better! I feature 49 items, of which 14 went for over $1,000. There were no $3000+ decks this month, but still, lots of good stuff changing hands. There was a lot of cash being thrown around. Maybe tax refunds being spent? And just wait until the stimulus checks hit!

Check out: eBay Watch – April 2008

The Surf Flyer appears to be a European phenomenon. At least nobody from North America has chimed in about them. This one comes to us from Dean Tyrell ( It’s his week!) Believe me when I say that there are virtually no other shots of the vintage Surf Flyer skateboard anywhere on the web, so help me Google. The wheels of these things were supposed to be near rubber-like and super slow. On the detail shots you can see some sort of weird bearing covers that probably didn’t help either. The trucks are another winning design that looks more like ’60s technology than ’70s. Can anyone date these? Follow through to see more pictures of a Surf Flyer than you’ll likely ever want to. Someone has to do it.

UPDATE: Lots of comments on this post and a picture of one near mint. Good reading. Also, check out this Flyer Land Surfer advert from 1977. So “Surf Flyer” is a misnomer. The brand is called Flyer, and boards were called Land Surfer.

This weeks Shot of the Week is from an Urbana, Illinois parking garage street skating session circa 1988. The skater has since changed his name, and would probably prefer not to be identified, but we can call him Karl. Notice he has ollied on to the hood of this car via a nice cheat where you place your hand on top of the object and scoop the board up and over as you ollie and once your weight has transferred onto your hand. For those of us who weren’t Natas, that’s how you had to do it back then. No that car doesn’t belong to either myself or Karl. This was a pure dick move that I encouraged Karl to do, and he did it well. The brashness of youth.

Check out the full size Shot of the Week.

Another installment of That Place, That Time, This time coming to you from the U.K. and Dean Tyrell. These three pics date from 1977, ’78 and ’79. Dean is the same guy that sent in the shots of the crazy skateable terrain in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.