The Exit Real World team is doing a demo and premiering a video at Windells Camp near Mt Hood in Oregon. IAlthough you’d be hard pressed to know that if you looked at their web sites. It’s this saturday at 1pm. The park is open from 9 -5, and lately Grover has been going there on saturdays with his offspring and an empty facility. That’s right, I’m blowing it out. Saturdays are a good day for an uncrowded, very uncrowded session at Windells. See you in the foam pit.

P.S. I heard Windells was recently featured on an MTV show called True Life, of which I know nothing about. Those darn kids and their loud rock and/or roll.

The OC Weekly has six (count ’em) pages on Skitch Hitchcock, past and present, which includes highlights of other members of the Salt Creek Beach crew which includes a lot of surprising names. In the shot above left are Dale Smith, Skitch, and his brother Garrison. Aside from the now customary gripes about the Dogtown film, there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there, assuming you are interested in the roots of skateboarding or surfing. Remember the recent Skitch Hitchcock model we profiled? Turns out Skitch is battling liver cancer, and proceeds from the sale go to help him out with his medical bills. Skitch did a lot more than invent the gorilla grip. He was the first guy to land a full loop, and he dealt acid straight from the labs of Timothy Leary. Interesting guy for sure, and a nice tip of the iceberg view of OC skateboarding history. Hey, I guess we are one of the top three carriers of the old school flame. I feel compelled to note that the article is lacking in the usual stereotypical bungling that most newspapers exhibit when covering skateboarding. So yes, check out the OC Weekly feature.

[Source: Boardistan]

I have been sitting on this footage for sometime, I stumbled on it the other day while doing some cyber house cleaning and decided to make a GVK out of it. I really like skating with these guys they are a good krew. My old friend Earth Patrol Media was manning the moving picture box, we were originally going to do dueling videos to see what the other guy would do with the same footage, who knows maybe old EPM will still do it I hope he does. Enjoy. GVK OUT…

We’ve got a handful of shots of Jack’s Boardhouse rider Sammy Hagar Justin Shirley at the Medford, OR skatepark. Photos courtesy of Billy Runaway.

This is a temporary installation in Vienna. More at Dezeen.

So we got mentioned on the SkateDaily Top 3. This time the list is for the top three web sites dedicated to old school. It’s a mixed blessing, because the publicity is great, but I hate being pigeonholed. I’ve been trying to expand our appeal since forever. Trouble is, old guys write about what they know, I guess. Check out who submitted it though, could that really be the Lonnie Toft?

Speaking of old school, does the name Buddy Carr ring a bell? It’s a name that has been pretty much synonymous with Tracker Trucks since… yes, forever. Well Buddy has decided to join up with Bennett Truks in a move that would be earthshaking if it were say, 1979. I always wanted to try some Bennet Truks, but guys seriously, this brings up one of my pet peeves in the skateboarding industry: The logo should add “with a decade or two of abstinence” next to the “Established in 1975” tagline. I’m thinking of you too, Shut Skates.

Regardless, you can read the press release on Silverfish or watch a somewhat recent video interview with Buddy Carr giving a tour of the Tracker factory, made by the (old school) German giant Titus Skates. Which reminds me that I owe Buddy 8 bucks.

– Thanks to Aaron Shims for the tip.

Here’s a cool advertising gimmick for skateboard lessons. It’s a sticker that when placed in a sink makes an optical illusion of a tiny guy skating. Come on, you’ve all done it before, either with a fingerboard or in your imagination. This sink would be rad if I was only 3 inches tall. Very cool idea, but probably more of a proof of concept. The original source received it blindly, and you have to think they wouldn’t last very long in a public bathroom. Maybe a little longer if they were stuck in a toilet bowl instead.

[Source: AdGoodness via Motivators.com]

In the 70’s you could probably get away with wearing this shirt and being cool. You could get away with it now too, because it’s vintage, but you don’t really see the skateboarder on a t-shirt style these days, except for little kids. This shot came from Peter Diepes (Dietsches ?) OMSA blog that is primarily dedicated to pool skating.

Indianapolis skateboarders are bout to get the shaft. Marian College wants to buy manage and use the Major Taylor athletic complex, land that contains a skatepark that is in the middle of a velodrome. Originally they had intended to demolish the skatepark, but thankfully, the city nixed that idea as a condition of the sale. The velodrome is what the college really wants for their bicycle racing team… Hold on, bicycle racing in Indiana… it’s Breaking Away! Sorry. Next they came up with a scheme to convince the city to let them demo the park after all. It involved reducing the hours the park was open and charging admission, with none of the money going towards park upgrades. I can just hear it now… “Oh, nobody is using the skatepark and it’s expensive to operate. We need to tear it down…”

There’s a petition up to keep the skatepark free and open 24-7, just as it always has been. Physically, the park is not otherwise noteworthy except for the fact that it’s the only skatepark the city of 810,000 people has. The Major Taylor skatepark has a Myspace page put up by an ex-employee of the park, but so far no official spot to go for updates and mobilization. Ditch MySpace and set up a Blogger site or something. Good luck skaters. NOTE: After signing the petition, a page loads requesting a donation. The donation is not required, but if you do donate, please be aware that the money goes to the petition service and not the Major Taylor Skatepark fund.

– Thanks to Carl from Toast and others for the tip.

Louis, Louis, Louis do you love me? Sorry to get distracted by Bow Wow Wow, but I’m not sure how to approach this limited edition run of Louis Vuitton skateboards complete with case by Stephen Sprouse. They are only making three, so maybe that justifies the $8,250 price tag. Maybe not. Can’t afford that? Then pony up for one of the 70 $250 T-shirts! Style king of the week! (Don’t forget to use the funny voice.) Imagine the look on your crew’s face when you walk up to a crowded skate spot with your valet toting a nice big fancy box. He sets it on the ground, then with his white gloves, opens the case and gingerly, but very deliberately hands your board to you. “Your shredding stick, sir. Shall I wax the ledge for you? What scent to you prefer?”

– Thanks to Tony Bro for the tip, and the visual.

[Source: WWDRETAIL]