Yesterday there was a “Mass Thrash” instigated by Jivaro Wheels. No rules except for no social media before the event, pure word of mouth, and it was packed! Rich snapped this pic of me enjoying a little wall ride action with help from a small quarter pipe. He sent me all of them, including the bails, and since I’m not sure which is which, I’m going to go with one that makes me look good, but not the highest one because I know I didn’t make that. Out of frame it really was packed with participants. Catch one short Instagram video after the jump. There were cameras galore, including helicopters, so “real” coverage is going to show up eventually.

Makaha Commander, allegedly from 1960, but probably not. The construction looks to be fiberglass or epoxy of some sort, maybe bakelite? It’s not nothing super interesting except for… What the heck is that thing on the rear axle? Bigger view after the jump.

Domesticated and proud of it. The Pantoufles à Pépère are slippers made in France for French hipsters. The web site also has a few images of skateboards on it.

– Thanks to David ODK for the pictures

This is a cool old tracker shirt. Producing halftones was a mechanical process back in the day. It took skill and training to be able to do it correctly. Not sure if this is 70’s or 80’s era. Probably early 80’s at the latest.

Insta-Ledge is a system of portable, skateable ledges in modular lengths of 4 feet. Sure, you could go skate somewhere else, but Instaledge definitely has some potential benefits. Suppose there’s a great spot you’d like to skate without actually destroying some artfully built ledge. Say it was covered with ceramic tiles, (or skate stoppers) you could still skate it, potentially without drawing the wrath of security. OK, most likely not. It could still help you in situations where skate stoppers were just too burly to overcome. Some might argue that it’s a bit like using copers, or Z-roller trucks. What’s the point if you can’t skate the actual terrain? I don’t really have an argument to counter that. Insta-Ledge is at the very least, a very smart solution to a problem that might not exist. Why do organizations use skate stoppers? In the promo video there’s a spot where the ledge has had uniform notches gauged into it at regular intervals, clearly after the fact, and designed to do what? Keep skateboarders from ruining the look of the steps? Too late. Is it for insurance liability reasons or to prevent damage to architecture? Just to keep people from having fun. Insta-Ledge is supposed to be up on Kickstarter soon. No word on pricing. UPDATE: Project is live on Kickstarter Looks like it starts at $100 for a 4 foot section.

– Thanks to Boy for the tip.

It’s weird 1920’s swimsuit evil landlord villain surfing on a skateboard. He first made an appearance on the packaging for Trickray wheels. This time it’s a fiberglass Mark IV skateboard deck, large enough to make out the artist’s signature – Pfister. I’m not sure if this Mark IV is another Trickray product or if this illustration was just passed around. I seem to recall posting another instance of it but I can’t find it.

Foster Hunting (and friends) built a three tree, two level treehouse and a cement bowl to boot. This is the Northwest. The Cinder Cone is located in Skamania, Washington. It’s named after the debris that accumulates in a hill downwind from a volcanic vent. He’s documented the entire process for a book he’s publishing through Kickstarter. He raised almost 80k, well over his initial goal of $30,000. That ought to go a long way towards recouping some of the costs of building. Remember, that’s not all profit, printing costs probably account for the lion’s share of that money. The Kickstarter window is closed, but you can still preorder the book here for $35, which is only $5 more than it was during the early funding Kickstarter phase. The treehouse seems to be the main focus of the book, but the bowl construction does feature as well.

I’ve got my own much smaller treehouse bowl project in my back yard. Right now it’s stalled at the treehouse part. I want to join this cult.

[Source: Curb Cut]

You’d think with all the amazing skateparks, backyard bowls and DIY terrain here in Oregon that there ought to be amazing skateboarders getting national coverage. It’s a shame, no an outrage that… Wait. What? Never mind. Here’s Frank Shaw killing it, as usual. Highlights? All of it really, but I like the appearance of venerable old Pier Park that starts about the 2:40 mark.

I really hesitated a second to buy this ‘Roskopp’, since I will probably never be able to afford a NOS one and this complete looks not bad at all. Of course there are some differences with the original Santa Cruz deck from 1988 by Jim Phillips: the graphic isn’t all over the board, the shape is different and the Santa Cruz logo is not there. Still, if you’d remove the plastics and trucks, this thing might confuse any collector and would look good on your wall. Some more pics after the jump! Found it on leboncoin.

– Thanks to Kamer Kermad for the pictures.

On the left we have the Street Art Stencil book from OllyStudio published by Lawrence King. It’s less a brief introduction to stencil artists and more a book of actual laser cut stencils you can use to make the artists more famous or get them into trouble. The skateboarding gnome is attributed to Bandit. On the right is a stencil as seen on the Twitter feed of Longboard Girls Crew @longboardgirls. It’s pretty good renegade stencil work but it’s hard to ignore the some obvious signs of Photoshop manipulation. Just look at the repeated patterns on the bottom right. Is the whole thing fake? Even if it is, it’s a good idea. My favorite type of street art is the kind that incorporates some element of the surroundings in the composition instead of just using it as a canvas.

– Thanks to MC and @philosophersk8r for the tip.