Hats off to Blast Skates out of Berlin the U.K. for My First Skateboard, an 80’s inspired kids setup that comes in a box with everything you need to assemble, including kid-friendly instructions. The Blast product lineup appears to be a little high end, with their decks going for an equivalent of about $87 USD. This setup for little kids is about $154 USD. Sure, you could find completes for kids at a considerably cheaper price, at least in the US, but what you’re getting here is a fully realized concept that is well executed. It’s an experience that is more than the sum of the parts. Granted, it’s not clear whether a child will enjoy it nearly as much as the adult who gifts it. I love the spot on the top of the deck for writing your name on the board. I’d rock an adult sized deck with that top graphic. EDIT: Turns out Blast is in the UK but uses Berlin for shipping to EU due to Brexit making it expensive to ship to the EU.

– Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

Way back in the 2000’s Skaters for Portland Skateparks (SPS) started organizing to get a proper city-built public skatepark built in the city of Portland. At the time we had Burnside and funky, poorly designed and constructed Army Corp of Engineers Park in a part of town that was technically Portland, but was isolated on the outskirts of an industrial area that eventually leads to shipping terminals. I don’t know how it happened, but suddenly there was some money to rebuild Pier Park. SPS had an ally high up inside the Mayor’s office staff in skateboarder Tom Miller. He and SPS were pushing for a system of skateparks for Portland instead of just the one. I thought the plan was a little bit naive and was possibly going to blow the opportunity to get anything out of the city. Fortunately for the skateboarding community of Portland, Tom did not suffer from my lack of vision. We did end up getting several skateparks out of the proposed system of 20. This one near the Steel Bridge was always going to be the biggest of the lot, and the most complicated to get approved. It took a long time, and frankly most assumed the deal was dead. In a city with a $615M backlog in repairs, somehow this project is going forward. Don’t be like me. Be like Tom and SPS. Dream big.

Pocketknife fingerboards, brought to you by Blade HQ. First of all, it’s an old April Fools joke, so settle down. It’s a pretty funny joke too, especially the accompanying video.

– Thanks to Steve Aycock for the tip.

Another obscure note in skateboarding history. This is the Gary Horeskowsky pro model, dating back to 1987. You may point out that you’ve never heard of this fellow, and that could be because he may never have actually existed, and if he did, he resided in Finland, home of Statum Skates. According to Mikko Antero (thanks for the pics) it’s a local brand from an era when American pro models were still hard to come by. In the end of the eighties this changed and Statum went dormant, only make a come back in 2012. Statum is indeed a thing again! You can buy decks online. They have a history page online but it’s very short and very light on the details, even if you view the translated page.

91 adverts from Skateboard! magazine #10 ( June 1978 ) brings the total vintage skateboarding magazine adverts in the gallery up to 801! Skateboard! was a UK publication and as such, features some distinctly British ads, companies and slang in addition to the the usual fare from the USA. Half the ads seem to brag about products made in in England, while the other brags bout being made in the USA. Did you know helmets were sometimes called “Bump Hats?” Now you do. Someone in ad sales gave Uniroyal Corp. the hard sell, because they took out two, 2-page spreads in this issue. Check out the gallery.

The Vintage Skatemag Advertisement gallery has been updated with 30 ads from a rare, east coast skateboarding magazine called Skate, The International Skateboarding Magazine. With that addition the total number of adverts in the galley has reached 704! Some notable additions include very early ads from Zorlac and Santa Monica Airlines, in addition to the usual assortment of brands normally associated with the 70’s, like this classic with Tony Alva with no ad copy whatsoever. Skate magazine hailed from Melbourne, Florida. This issue is pretty slick, and the magazine probably would have been able to find a good sized audience if the bottom of the industry had not fallen out within the year.

Enjoy these mediocre photos (except for the drone shot, which is not mine.) of what is now my favorite skatepark. You’re looking at a semi-new a park in sleepy little Vernonia, Oregon, built by Evergreen Skateparks. About an hour outside of Portland, Vernonia has less than 3000 people. The axe on the left side is a nod to its logging history. You can tell you’re riding an Evergreen skatepark if it’s got that moonscape feel with bits of coping sticking out of what might otherwise be a tribute to the best parts of 70’s era skateparks. This version features the usual connected low bowls, bumps, and berms with the addition of a pump track round the outside. But again, they’ve improved on the traditional pump track with subtle variations on either side, so you can ride the track multiple times in various combinations, hitting (or ignoring) obstacles along the way, reversing course without losing speed. So many combinations for fun. There’s also a medium sized, mellow bowl in the middle. I can’t tell you enough how much love this park. I can’t wait to get back there.

Some unusual skateboarding history from 1970’s South Africa. The Mother of all kicktails. Thanks to Mark Tulleken for the pics.

I just added 62 advertisements from Volume 2 Number 6 of Skateboarder Magazine (1976) to the Vintage Skatemag Advert Gallery, bringing the total in the gallery up to 674 ads! 1976 was a good year for skateboarding.

The Huffy Skateboards extravaganza continues in part 3, which focuses on non-wooden and non-plastic skateboards. We’re talking glass here. Plexiglass and fiberglass. This whole series started out as what I thought was just going to be a quick post about the clear model seen top right, but quickly ballooned out of control. Thunderboards!