An inmate at a minimum-security facility in Watsonville walked away and escaped the grounds Thursday morning and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help finding him. Stakeout the nearest DIY spot – Case solved. At least he didn’t get a company logo tattooed on his face. – Thanks to Coulter for the tip. [Source: Kron 4]

Big O is officially “open” for skateboarding again, after a two year absence. What was going on for two years? A new soccer stadium was being built, and the spot was supposed to be demoed with the old stadium. The community saved it by raising the money to have it physically dug up and relocated. It sounds absurd, but it’s true. Check it out on Exposé. – Thanks to Kevin for the tip.

BLT Rollerblade Roller Skate Skateboard Deck Skatesomething..?? Non aggressive! Whatever this thing is, it’s in pretty good shape. I doubt it’s been “skated” much at all It’s Ebay, baby. What else would you expect? – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

The age old story of an insanely wealthy boy and his dog’s misadventures on a time traveling skateboard. How a comic book character as weak as Richie Rich got a spinoff title is a mystery. Richie must have been pretty popular. The number 2 issue of Richie Rich & the Dollar Dog, (February of 1978) has a story titled “Skateboard Dog.” With the bar already raised so high by the title, you’d think the story would fail to measure up, and you’d be correct. I think every issue of Richie Rich and his affiliated crew is worthy of the title “Number 2.” You can check out this sad tail [sic] after the jump. Some of the pages proved difficult to lay flat, but I didn’t take apart the issue for scanning in fear of destroying it’s obvious (huge) money making potential. I think I paid $3.50 for this 15 year old comic. In 15 more years I may double my investment! Eat that, Richie Rich.

Above Coping art show benefit at Commonwealth Skateboarding in Portland, OR on August 30th.

This is an advertisement for Jantzen swimwear published int the June, 1966 issue of the Life Magazine. It gives Further credence to the idea that skateboarding was not dead by the end of 1965. Granted, the submission deadline could have been a couple months in advance. Also of note, this advert features 3 future Hall of Fame professional athletes in 3 different disciplines. It has NFL football player Frank Gifford, NBA basketball player Jerry West and NHL hockey player Bobby Hull, all admiring the Jantzen “Chemstrand Sharkskin” fabric wrapped around a skateboard and surfboard.

This is a model named Kate Kondas, who I guess is a thing. She was photographed for the August 2013 issue of Elle Magazine Hungary in a partially finished, partially ghetto looking skatepark somewhere. I’ve never seen a concrete park with asphalt on the top deck. The photographer (and possible anime villain) is named Zoltan Tombor. [Source: Fashion Gone Rogue] – Thanks to the spawn of MC for the tip.

Vice magazine has an interview with sculptor C.J. Rench who was chosen by the Red Bull panel (including Torey Pudwill) to construct a skateable sculpture for permanent installation in Seattle. Sounds like a good plan, the city gets art, the skaters are allowed to skate on it, and a corporation gets to pay for it. Red Bull has a short video on the “skate space” that shows the other artist who made it to the finalist position, as well as examples of both of works. From the sculptures shown, I’d say the chose the wrong guy. Granted, I wasn’t on the board, but the other guy’s portfolio ( W. Scott Trimble ) had some pieces in it that already leaned towards an impression of being skateable. On the other hand, CJ’s work to date appears to be they type of stationary sculpture that is isolated in a presentation space and not part of a larger environment. In fact, looking at the scale model and rendering, the sculpture appears to be marginally skateable at best. There’s a telling clue in the Red Bull video, a big part of the decision appeared to be based on who could get it done on…

We’ve seen Eddie Munster on a skatebaord before, and now we can add Grandpa and Herman Munster to the list of super cool tough guys. This painting of Grandpa and Herman riding skateboards was found uncredited on Stumpahnds. I couldn’t find the original source, so if you know where it came from, please leave a comment. UPDATE: It’s a coloring book.