Category Archive: Skate
SOTW 5-19-08: Ben Krahn in Hood River
This week’s Shot of the Week comes from Carl Warren and features Ben Krahn ollieing the gap to transition. You should check out the full frame version to get the whole picture.
Sammamish Mammy part II
I checked out the Sammamish Washington skatepark this weekend. It was my second time skatign there, but hte first time I got hailed out after about 15 minutes. This weekend it was hot as hell, which may account for why the park was sparsely populated on both days. I had some reservations about the park based on the construction pictures I shot in 2006. So what’s the verdict? Find out after the jump.
Oldest school, classical style
Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, these skateboards from Greece is for Lovers are not meant to be ridden, they just meant to be marveled at, or puzzled over. Although they appear to sell some items, these skateboards titled Tougher than Leather and Ridden in Stone appear to be more like exercises than actual products. greece is for Lovers is a design studio that likes to dabble in Greece-schtick items, some of them more useful than others, and some of them just amusing. If you want to see the full size versions head on over to Greece is for Lovers from the links above. In the event that they close up shop, there are somewhat smaller versions archived after the jump.
– Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip.
GVK#29: Grass Carp In A Minnow Pool
So I went to the beach on Friday. It was hot as balls there too. Canon Beach was the destination, low and behold the new park was finished the guy was putting in the rules sign as we arrived. I asked when is the park open (three times) and he finally said “When this sign is up.” What you witness is what happened after the sign was posted. Peace Off!
What’s going on in Sleeattle?
I’ll be up there this weekend, but alas, not to skate. You may see me a little at the Sammamish skatepark with my nephew and son, but that’s about it. Family obligations again. If you’re not tied down like me, there’s a contest going on right now at Del Mar… I mean there’s a opening day demo/contest for the Bellvue Wa skate plaza. That’s TODAY folks, 3:30 to 10 p.m. There’s a $3000 purse (!) and a demo by the Nike SB team. Next week there’s a Girl/Antihero tour and a crazy contest weekend in Port Angeles – Park slalom and doubles bowl riding Saturday, and if you win the bowlriders contest on Sunday, Lib Tech will fly you to SWEDEN to compete at the finals. bowlriders Here’s another one for later on in the month, the 4th annual Sleestak Trash (oops, Thrash) Bash BBQ at Bainbridge Island. The flyer says Saturday, May 31st, although it’s not yet on the Sleestak calendar for some reason. Look closely a that flyer, Bobcat is guaranteeing sunshine!
– Sleecrest out!
Cool/Old/Weird/Crappy board of the month: Surf Flyer
The Surf Flyer appears to be a European phenomenon. At least nobody from North America has chimed in about them. This one comes to us from Dean Tyrell ( It’s his week!) Believe me when I say that there are virtually no other shots of the vintage Surf Flyer skateboard anywhere on the web, so help me Google. The wheels of these things were supposed to be near rubber-like and super slow. On the detail shots you can see some sort of weird bearing covers that probably didn’t help either. The trucks are another winning design that looks more like ’60s technology than ’70s. Can anyone date these? Follow through to see more pictures of a Surf Flyer than you’ll likely ever want to. Someone has to do it.
UPDATE: Lots of comments on this post and a picture of one near mint. Good reading. Also, check out this Flyer Land Surfer advert from 1977. So “Surf Flyer” is a misnomer. The brand is called Flyer, and boards were called Land Surfer.
Vert is dead/not dead/dead
In Orange, CA the Team Pain crew just got done demolishing the vert ramp (don’t blame them!) in the Vans skate park at The Block and replaced it with a 80ft wide mini ramp. They also rebuilt the street course. There’s a bunch of concrete work to on their news site. (Come on guys, get your web programmer to facilitate direct links to the news items! That goes for you too Airspeed.)
Friday T&A on S&A: ERA Now!
And the winner for the highest glass ceiling on a skatepark builder’s concrete team has got to go to Airspeed. This is a detail of one of their pictures of recent progress at the Gabriel Park site. There’s probably a woman on another concrete crew out there somewhere else, but three? Yes, I know there are women involved with skatepark building companies in other positions, I’m talking about the work crews specifically. Airspeed is cranking on Gabriel Park. Check it out. Update: EPM has some new construction shots.
– Thanks to Sonny for the tip.
80’s Zine Archives: Way High Kick Turn #1
I love a zine with a good punchline for a title. Way High Kick Turn #1 is another one from the collection of John Drummond. There’s even a couple photos of him skating in there. There’s no date on the zine anywhere, but it does say that Zack Grove finished 2nd in the AM spot of the CASL Del Mar competion on May 16th. We could date it from a CASL schedule if anyone has one. Way High Kick Turn was published out of Moraga, California by Garry Mcleod and Marc Saito. James Carter is listed as the publisher. Garry Mcleod was in charge of photography, with additional submissions from Erick Elleson, Luke Ogden and Brian Temmerand. Way High Kick Turn #1 is 24 half letter sized pages on white paper from a copier with some sort of photo screening capability. The subtitle on the cover is “Picture Book,” and that’s what it is fro the most part. What little text present (mostly captions) is typewritten. I’m not sure, but it appears that this is a copy of a copy. Some of the pages have tell-tale artifacts on them, and it looks like one of them wasn’t lined up properly in the copier. It affects two pages, but I realigned one of them. In any case, the copy was probably made not long after the original came out, since it’s yellowed with age as well.
This scene was 100% vert ramp action.
Featuring: James Carter, Marc Saito, Bod Boyle, Steve Douglas, Jeff hedges, Greg Aguilar, John “Livmo” Drummond, Ben Peligrino, Steve Caballero, Zack Grove, Lawrence Walker, J.J. Valera, John Harris, Ken Harris, Kristy, Tom Bertinuson, Chris Lowe
Spots: Grapefruit Ramp BBQ, Chicken Ramp
Honorable Mentions: Concrete Jungle Skateshop, Metropolitan Life & Rogers/Pacific furnished the copiers. Tom Bertinuson of “Skaterdater” – not sure if he’s affiliated with the film or what. Chris Lowe gets props for being aggro and not wearing pads. A name change is said to be coming, but I don’t know why, because “Way High Kick Turn” is pretty funny.
Check out Way High Kick Turn #1
UPDATE: Comments moved to the gallery.











Recent Comments