Enjoy this Girls’ Combi Classic (aka as Vans Girls Pool Party) footage courtesy of Dan Bourque.

Google Maps captured some kids in San Francisco going skating. That’s a good idea. – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

Ebay watch is dead. Long live Ebay Watch! Issue #5 of Spunk, is something that probably would have made the miscellaneous section. It’s a bit of a shocker to me to see that this went for $44. The postmark on the back cover shows that it was mailed from Delaware in October of 1984. This particular issue was sent to the folks at Transworld, which had been in publication for about a year and a half at the time. The seller took some fuzzy pics of the entire issue of Spunk, so they aren’t really up to the quality that I like to post in the Zine Archives. You can check them out here after the jump. He might have worked at Transworld for a while, as some of his other auctions seem like production artifacts forms the magazine. lots of cartoons in this issue. The rockabilly hairdo is a good one.

Here’s a short video compilation of highlights from the 2016 Exposure contest. Over a hundred girls competed in this year’s Exposure all girl contest. It’s amazing how stylish and confident girl skaters are looking today. Congratulations to all contestants and to contest director and founder Amelia Brodka, for a job well done. Video by Dan Bourqui. That’s Lizzie Armanto in the vid grab.

Animal Chin came out 30 years ago, and what better way to celebrate that than to build a replica of the Animal Chin ramp. It grew from an idea to make a spine ramp to recreate the famous 4-way invert shot, but ultimately ended up as a complete reconstruction, minus the tunnel. Unlike the original, this ramp will last longer than a couple days, and has a permanent home at Woodward. If you’re going to recreate the Chin ramp, you might as well throw another party with Johnny Rad. [Source: Ride]

Video footage courtesy of Dan Bourqui. “This year’s Vans AM Pool Party had a lot of talent and too many good skaters to fit into this short video clip.”

There’s some buzz about a large collection of skate memorabilia up for sale, not only because of the size of the collection, but the method and price. Right now the only way to see it is via Instagram. The seller reportedly is asking $125,000 for the entire lot, and is unwilling to break it up piecemeal. So far the seller has not been identified, but the collection includes a statistically abnormal concentration of gear from Skatemaster Tate and Adrian Demain, which may provide some clues. Is this interesting? Yes, but the thing that really fascinates and intrigues me is the inclusion of a mega-rare, but ultimately valueless (except to Neil and myself) Skate and Annoy t-shirt in the middle of the collection. This is probably second iteration of a design that went through 3 changes. The first batch was screen printed in a house on a makeshift rig with water based inks printed on cheap Hanes undershirts bought in 3 packs at local discount warehouse/clearance type of store. I imagine I screened less than 2 dozen. The version in this collection is likely the second iteration, and may have been printed on slightly higher quality shirts, but again, would have…

Bridge launch ramp and/or bank in Chicago. Watch out for those bolts. Someone point me to a skate photo of a spot like this.

I added 6 more ads from issue number 3 of Transworld Skateboarding, dating back to 1983. First up is Sidewalk Surfer West, a shop that had difficulty spelling Santa Cruz, Zorlac, and even Skateboard. After that we have a Madrid ad with an even split between freestyle and vert, featuring Diane Veerman before she married Primo, Desiderio, and became “Primo and Diane.” Next up, a free subscription to Kona’s Skateboard magazine. It was a borderline zine, but it did act like a legit magazine at times, and not just a thinly disguised skatepark newsletter. Then there’s Rock Socks, company that sold everything you could want if you were an extra on the movie Rad!, except for socks. Gentlemen prefer Hanes, but Infamous surf-skate types prefer Bones. Lastly, here’s a rare shot of Gator on his short-lived pro model for G&S.

BMW chassis engineer Rudi Mueller and product designer Stephan Augustin were the two minds behind the original, short-lived BMW Streetcarver, an interesting but impractical idea that was too heavy and too expensive, and ultimately limited to only being useful in mild downhill situations. Stephan is not letting the dream die. He’s come up with another set of alternative trucks that might make you think of Stoker’s if you squint your eyes and look at them over your shoulder. Curfboard trucks are actually a little hypnotizing to watch in action. They look really smooth. I would love to try some out for fun, but even a quick peek will tell you these trucks are once again limited in use. Any sort of truck grind (even off the edge of a sidewalk!) is potentially going to destroy these things quickly. Two crucial, structural elements hang dangerously below the hanger of the truck. Also, it’s unclear how these would handle with any sort of speed. There is no kingpin and thus no bushings, but does not appear to be any resistance or adjustments of any kind possible. You’re stuck with “as is” performance that lends itself well to generating motion through carving, but…