A source has revealed that the Owner of Daddies in Portland Oregon has purchased California Cheap Skates, better known as the online retailer CCS, from Foot Locker. The web site is coy about it. If you visit the previous URL it says everything is “out of stock” and points to a new site with an explanation:

CCS is in new hands. We’re a crew out of Portland, Oregon that has been working in the skateboard industry for years. When we heard the news that CCS was being shut down, we jumped. CCS is, after all, one of the most iconic brands in skateboarding.

CCS was once accused of spreading mass amounts of stoke. We want to make sure this will be the case for all time. Our commitment to you will be to quickly deliver the best products, at stellar prices, with exceptional customer service.

But our goal goes way beyond just selling gear. Skateboarding is our passion, and we will make sure that CCS continues to express an enthusiasm, love, and advocacy for skating. Through CCS, we will share our devotion to skate and give you opportunities to share it right on back.

We are beyond stoked!

It’s a bit misleading when they say they have been working in the industry for years. I suppose it’s technically true, as many of the employees may have been, but it’s well known that the current owner of Daddies bought the business as an investment and was brand new to the industry. The previous owners of Daddies actually had been in the business for years. It seems likely that CSS will retain it’s separate identity, as will Daddies, running out of the same physical location. What does this mean? Nothing really. It’s just a mail order skateshop.

Alf’s Super Hit Parade from 1990. The series ended in 1990, but someone in Germany still thought this was a good idea. Alf is rocking a state of the art boom box and a state of 1984 skateboard. Those pads have cats on them too, which would be like a non-vegetarian person skating with cows or chickens on their kneepads. Alf may not be as prolific as Bart Simpson, so it’s a good thing I’ve got a tag for Alf, because otherwise you’d have to sift through every post with “half pipe” in it if you were doing a search.

– Thanks to BPA for the tip.

And that’s pretty much it. One of the items was Fun Fun Fun skate zine #12 from Matt. You can get your own copy by mailing something (at least a stamp!) to 3880 Carroll Drive, Horn Lake, MS 38637. The other was a SASE sticker request from Krista, complete with a post it note in the shape of a hand, fashioned out of boobs, butts, and boners. Perhaps my cat’s delicate sensibilities were offended.

I could probably post one Bart Simpson post a day for year without repeating, but don’t worry, I won’t. In case you’re wondering, Bartpourri is a potpourri of Bart. It’s a real word that appears at least twice on the Interwebs.

Vancouver BC resident Natalie Porter is a self described Librarian by day and greasy motorbike wrench-monkey by night. She self-published a book titled The History of Women in Skateboarding, which is available in electronic format from Amazon. There are only 56 pages in the Kindle edition, which seems kind of short, but then again it only costs $6. If you have an iPad or Android there is a free Kindle app. I haven’t read it yet, but I imagine I will. At $6 I feel it’s my (pretend) journalist / historian’s duty. Anyone else? Betsy?

More fun with fingerboard trucks! These images are from Benoit Jammes series titled Skitchen. Some are pretty pedestrian, but a few of them are subtly clever.

[Source: Design Boom] – Thanks to MC for the tip.

New-Ray Novelty made these pull back motor skateboard toys in 1988. And because kids have a short attention span, it’s not enough for them to do one ting at a time. They also need to play tennis, read a book or play baseball at the same time. They really ran out of ideas though. Sure, there’s a double of the tennis player in the set, but two of the figures are going to school; One is reading about apples and the other about a car. What, no football or soccer? Get yours here.

Prefab and DIY are two things not commonly associated with each other, but it turns out they were a good fit in at lease one case. Confusion Magazine documented a renegade skate spot perpetrated by Skate DIY that required a quick install, with most of the work being done off site. Unfortunately, the spot came down almost as fast as the installation, lasting a mere 12 hours.

It’s been 7 years since I posted the last MG auto advert from 1977. In 1978 it seemed like they couldn’t get enough of the high jump over a car concept. At least part of the photo shoot for this ad took place in the crazy mogul field at Carlsbad skatepark shown on the right.

You’re looking at the cover of Skateboard Champion, #112 in Edward Packards Choose Your Own Adventure series. And most skateboarder do, choose their own adventures. The kid on the cover chose spandex shorts; a complete set of plastics – noes bone, rails, lapper; tie dye graphics; and counterfeit Nike shoes. The wistful expression on his face? I think the girl in the baseball jersey on the deck just broke up with him. It’s quite a backyard vert ramp though. It looks very 80’s but the book was actually published in 1991, which also looked very 80’s for a while.

[Photo: Gamebooks.org]