What used to be the second longest running skateshop in Portland shut it’s doors when they lost the lease on the Department of Skateboarding (DOS Bowl still lives) They were supposed to reopen but they kind of disappeared for a while. You hear rumors but nothing substantial, until a few years later you get an email. The Grand Opening at 1400 E Burnside this Friday.

Because this is what skateboarding is all about.

FOR AUCTION IS THIS VINTAGE (1950?) BUNNY RIDING A SKATEBOARD. ABOVE HIS HEAD IS A RED UMBRELLA, ATTACHED TO WHICH ARE SIX SPOKES WITH STARS AND BALLS. WIND UP THE BUNNY AND HE TRAVELS IN CIRCLES WHILE ABOVE HIS HEAD THE UMBELLA SPINS AND THE STARS AND BALLS EXTEND OUTWARD. THE PICTURES OF THIS TOY IN ACTION DO NOT DO IT JUSTICE. THIS TOY IS ALL CELLULOID, EXCEPT FOR THE SHAFT OF THE UMBRELLA, THE WHEELS AND THE HOUSING OF THE CLOCKWORK MECHANISM. IT IS IN MINT CONDITION. IT MEASURES 8” HIGH; THE SKATEBOARD IS 2.25” WIDE AND 3.5” LONG. IT WAS MADE IN JAPAN.

These stars and planets revolve around his head as he rolls on the skateboard. Maybe it’s a cartoon slam simulator.

The new skatepark at Schiffler Park in Beavertron, Oregon is officially open. Video barge courtesy of K.C. after the jump.

– Thanks to Mike Estes for the photos.

I’m just getting over the sequel to my recent bout with strep throat, which came back with a vengeance a few days after my meds ran out. I’m on different meds now, but still feel a little wrecked. Posts will be light for a few days. Speaking of wrecked, some genius drove a van into Robb Field skatepark in San Diego last week. At least the last Burnside drive through was on purpose.

Dynamite Magazine Volume 2, Number 9 has some a slight skateboard running through it. The cover story is on Kristy McNichols’s and Leif Garrett’s onscreen breakup in the TV show “Family.” It mentions Leif’s appearance in Skateboard: the Movie. There’s a groovy 3D pull out poster inside and a small cartoon with a skateboard in the “Bummers” section. Dynamite Magazine #58 was published in 1979.

Long time (decades!) fixture on the Chicago skate scene, Stevie Dread made a skateboard out of Lake Michigan driftwood. He originally started making little fingerboards out of driftwood until I pointed him to MC’s life-sized creation. Stevie set out to make one of his own, but large driftwood doesn’t wash up every day on the beaches of Chicago, so it took a while for him to find a worthy specimen.

After two 7” records, the first album of San Francisco´s Hot Lunch was finally released. Germany´s Who Can You Trust? Records put out this vinyl only record.

One of the joys of bootleg skateboards occurs when the perpetrator can’t quite decide which board to rip off, so they combine two or more into one. In this case we’ve got a Natas / Grosso hybrid that was literally printed on paper and then laminated on both sides of the so-called deck. So sloppily in fact that the panther looks like it’s about to slide off the side of the board. Available on Ebay, where the seller calls it a Natas Caupas. – Thanks to David Maes for the tip.

It’s (going to be) called the Garage, and it just got funded by Kickstarter. They’ve got 16k for building materials, now I guess it’s time to build.