I added Bodyslam #5 (1987) and the May/June 1988 issue of Focus to the 80’s Skate Zine Gallery. Bodyslam was published by our friend Mark Conahan. You can actually buy a perfect bound compendium of the original 5 Bodyslam issues. I’ve got one, so should you. These two zines offer completely different approaches. Bodyslam is photocopied pure personal expression, while Focus is printed and aspires to be a “real” magazine. There are 63 zines in the gallery now. I was panicking earlier this year because I thought I had lost my box of zines, but I just found them. These are from the collection of Will Heesp.

This is a pristine looking True Glide Streaker deck complete with True Glide Trucks that might be are called “Python,” but not to be confused with the U.K.’s Python Wheels. This one has been available on Ebay Italy for some time now, for about 200 Euro. It has an extremely mellow kicktail that looks more like a memory of an afterthought of a kicktail, but it is sure is pretty. Looks like it’s never touched the ground. There’s an ad for this deck from 1976 in the gallery too.

The Biemme Red Star is a board of Italian manufacture. There’s a company called Biemme that started in 1978, but they seem to be focused on bicycles. Maybe they had a brief foray into skateboard like a few of the other bicycle-centric companies of the era did. A search fro “Red star skateboard” turns up a bunch of unrelated boards. Currently, including “Biemme” in that search returns exactly 2 instances of this skateboard, both auctions cling this is an 80’s era board. It’s got trucks that fit into the bottom of the board instead of having a separate baseplate. That’s not a big deal, we’ve seen that in American boards and Italian boards. The thing that makes this board interesting is the bizarre molded double kicktail, on. appointed nose no, less.

Added to the gallery, a new section for vintage contest programs. Actually, its just on program right now, the 1976 California Free Former World Championship. I’ve got the Hang 10 Pro Am Champ (1975) scanned but not processed yet. In the hamper I’ve got a some 80’s goodness, Chicago Blowout (1986), Seltzer Seltzer V.P. Cup (1987, St Louis), Bluegrass Aggression Session (Louisville, 1988), and the NSA National Amateur Series (1988.)

I just added two issues of Skate Life generously donated from reader Will Heesp, some 5 years ago. Better late than never. Funnily enough, I skated with Mark Conahan last night and he told me that he once sold Will a Datsun pickup in the 80’s whose ignition was in such bad shape that it had a screwdriver instead of a key. In other plate-of-shrimp news, one of the tales featured in an issue of Skate Life mentions that Dave Tobin lost a $100 bill and the keys to the van on a road trip to the Chicago Blowout. I was at that NSA contest, but wouldn’t meet Dave (or Mark) until I moved to Portland circa Y2K. Skate Life was based out of Newburryport, MA, and has the distinction of being one of the rare zines that doesn’t seem to include any issue number or title, so it’s hard to tell what order they came out. Check out Skate Life in the 80’s Zine gallery.

Two products for carrying your skateboard. One is cool in a silly way, as in “What if I made the cellphone holder on my car dashboard big enough to hold a skateboard?” That’s the JKT System carrier. Clippy, on the other hand, started off as just a clip you hung on the top loop of a backpack, but evolved into a skate tool that also doubles (triples?) as a cellphone stand for filming your, wait for it… clips. It’s a bit clunky, but it’s way more useful. – Thanks to Adlan Farazi for the tips.

OK get ready for it, this is a long one. I found a catalog for Athena International Corp in that magical place you’ve all heard me refer to: a box in the darkest depths of my basement. 8 pages of amazing crap in glorious color! Lot’s of bootleg stuff in there too… they even bootlegged the Nash logo! The styles are split between the 70’s and 80’s so it’s difficult to say exactly when this was printed, although there are a couple clues. I have no idea where/when I acquired this, I might have bought it off Ebay or a reader might have sent it to me. ( Was it you? Let me know! ) Enjoy!

This is part 2 of the Nash catalog dump. Part one focused on Joe Cool/Snoopy and Mad Magazine. This is the rest of the 1988 wholesale catalog from 1988. The cover, back cover, and inside cover are all glossy color. There’s a glossy insert for another brand called Freesport, a couple glossy black and white inserts, including the legendary “Jam’n Sound Board” and DOZ’R locker boards, plus an assortment of color photocopied price sheets.

I had a brief not-very-real skateshop that I ran out of my bedroom in the late 80’s. I sent out a bunch of requests for wholesale catalogs and tried to open some accounts. I put together an order based on requests from locals and what I could get ahold of, I ordered some staples like mounting hardware and a roll of grip tape, etc… One of things I got was a Nash catalog. Why get a Nash catalog when the product was so poor? For shits and giggles! It’s one of the few things I kept during the great purge of 1999. Yes, I deeply regret throwing out the rest of it. Joe Cool and Mad could have been their own separate posts, but some of the products appeared on the same page, so click through if you want to see more of Snoopy and Alfred E. Neuman.

I haven’t been to the Cannon Beach skatepark in don’t know… has it really been 18 years? That’s the when the rebuild opened and the last time I posted about this park. I got out of the habit of going to Cannon Beach and have been going to Pacific City instead, but I finally made it back. After a day of hanging out at the beach we hit up the park and found it to be next to impossible to ride on standard wheels because the surface was so rough and slow. That got me thinking about the old park again…