From the Wood Studio in North Carolina. This guy mostly makes beautiful furniture, and the occasional skateboard. The routered tops on GripCarve Longboards are supposed to negate the need for grip tape. Realistically, they look interesting and probably work in context with the situation you’d expect to see these boards. Coffee and Campus Cruiser? Yes. Downhill bombing? Not so much.

– Thanks to Matthijs (who can finally see this) for the tip.

Yet another electric skateboard designed for the commuter. Movpak is different in that it folds in half and then slides into the a backpack that is attached to the board. So there’s that. If you watch the videos, you can see that the board looks flexible, possibly a little rickety due to the hinge mechanism, but it’s hard to tell for sure. The ride looks a little cramped with that backpack stuck on there. The overall range of 14 miles isn’t noticeably higher than other electric skateboards. The backpack can’t hold as much as a conventional backpack that doesn’t have a skateboard compartment. So what’s the true advantage? I suppose it’s portability, and the ability to not look like a skateboarder once you’re done traveling. You can preorder one now for $999, a price that is allegedly 50% off.

Exposure is an all girl skate contest created and run by professional multi-tasker Amelia Brodka (pictured above). This year’s edition at Encinitas Community Skate Park included street skating and Tony Hawk’s portable halfpipe. Video by Dan Bourqui.

These images were sparked by a post in the Vintage Skatemag Gallery for a board called the Chaka Zulu. I had a vague recollection of these advertisements from back in the day as being some sort of foil clad foam core deck, but I wasn’t sure. Nathan McDernott saw the post and sent in some pictures of his Galaxy board collection. He has confirmed that these are foam core boards clad in a thin sheet of aluminum. He also mentioned there were some Nash skateboards made with the same technology. Texas Rec Corporation was the manufacturer of the Galaxy skateboards, and their mailing address in Wichita Falls, Texas is about 120 miles from Nash’s location in Fort Worth. These two companies are separate entities, so the Nash models might have come about through geographical proximity and one company or the other reaching out for more business. Both Nash and Texas Rec are still in business, primarily making water sports accessories, with Nash tending towards the more active items you might ride on, while Texas Rec makes a lot of lounge chairs and life jacket related items.

More coverage of the history of Burnside, this time from local weekly paper the Willamette Week, includes about 13 minutes of video and oral history in Under the Bridge.

It’s time for the Morro Bay Skateboard Museum 2015 fundraiser. Are you looking for incentives? How about a ride in the 1978 overall downhill winning skate car the Vetter Streamliner? The museum looks cool. If I ever make it down there I’m going to check it out. That’s Jack Smith, museum curator and original pilot of the skate car standing next to Craig Vetter.

If you remember our first feature on this ancient 70’s skatepark in Pocatello, Idaho, you’ll be happy to see some new pictures and a short video of the park in use. Check it out.

Could there ever be any doubt that this is a skateboard? Thankfully, the manufacturer labeled it in big block letters, “Justen” case you weren’t sure. It really messes up an otherwise clean, and kind of cool top graphic. I guess people in the 70’s were dense….

New video from Dan Bourqui: “insane vert skating and some tricks, riders and runs that were not in the other videos, plus a full demo on how to skate a vert ramp padless, by Chris Russell”

Pigeon Park in Hernando Mississippi, built by Evergreen Skateparks. Hard to believe it, but this is Mississippi’s first public skatepark.* It appears to be out in the middle of nowhere in a field. Maybe it was the only parcel of land the city was willing to part with. A nice setting nonetheless. 5 years in the making, thanks to local organizers and fundraising, and now it’s open. Wonderful.

Video and still from Above Productions.

(Update: Hard to believe because the video claim appears to be incorrect. Thanks to Joesf for pointing out another public concrete park already in existence in Vicksburg. This shouldn’t take anything away from Pidgeon Park. )