These big, beefy parking blocks are located about a 100 miles east of San Diego, near the Republic of Slowjamistan. The pictures don’t show how big they are. I didn’t have a ruler with me but I estimate they are a good 10″ tall. The sole paved spot outside of restrooms in Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area.

You’re looking at a 1965 newspaper ad in the Alhambra Post-Advocate for Liebergs Children’s shop, a store that closed around 1991. – Thanks to Butch Gary Ayala for the pic.

Once upon a time in the fabled past known as “The 80’s,” I briefly had a miniramp in my front yard. I was supposed to be in college but I was spending all my time skateboarding and hanging out with the bands in the house I lived in. A friend of mine who would later go on to be a veterinarian, once famously received a letter from his parents stating that he needed “less Randys” in his life. Of course I would invite friends over to ride my ramp. And, as one often does after a night out at the bars, a suggestion was made to use box springs for those late night revelers who were uncomfortable on a skateboard. It started out as just dropping in from the platform, but it escalated to dropping in off the porch roof into the transition. Note: No college students, indie rock stars or dropouts were hurt in these photos.

Check out this early 80’s “Street Sucker” from the Netherlands. The graphic and two-tone wheels look like something distinctly American, although there is no visible company name to be found. – Thanks to Michiel Walrave for the pic.

Here are som 2021 additions to the the X-treme X-Mas ornaments collection, courtesy of Josh Baker (1-3) and Darren Haugen. Happy Holidays!

Hey! Swatches are still a thing, and they released a collection called Swatch x Peanuts. One of those watches featrues Charlie Brown on a skateboard. That’s the good news. The bad news is, it looks like they cobbled it together from an illustration where Charlie Brown is running and a separate illustration of a skateboard. – Thanks to Lin Holcomb for the tip.

The Real Ghostbusters in this context refers to the UK based Marvel comic series that ran from 1988-1992 for 193 issues. Issue #53 dates to 1989 and features I was going to try and buy one cheaply but I managed to find the entire issue online at a sketchy website that threw up some security warnings so I won’t post the link here. There is no real additional skateboard art other than the cover because the story is a written one that appears in a feature called “Winston’s Journal,” which is kind of a bummer, but’s a cheap way to fill pages. Check out the cover, and the story, plus a bonus shot of a crab on a skateboard from an advertisement for Tom & Jerry comic book in the same issue. And for the heck of it, a bunch of Ghostbusters skateboards from the late 80’s to present day. – Thanks to David Maes for the tip

Ok then, this should be it, the last round up of things to add to past posts about Alf. We’ve got two additional ALF skateboards and a third party sticker.

The Milwaukee Journal has an article on a documentary in progress about the Turf (AKA Surf N’Turf) skatepark. Much like the Nude Bowl, the Turf just won’t die, and keeps coming back decades after you thought it was gone forever. Opened in late 70’s then shut down and turned into a strip club, then reopened in the 80’s, then shut down again, raised and burried. Then dug up and skated briefly! Then filled in again amidst a community effort to have it saved. It seemed like a pipe dream, but somehow the City of Greenfield ended up buying the land from the department of transportation to save it from becoming offramp. Now, not only will it be dug up and refurbished as it existed, indoors in it’s heyday, it will also be surrounded by a new, modern and public skatepark outside. Stoked to be able to add this to our coverage of The Turf, and anxiously awaiting the premier of “Believe It.” [Photos: L-City of Greenfield. R- Peter DiAntoni]

With sadness I learned that founding member of the Surf Punks, Drew Steele has passed away after a battle with cancer. Against all odds, the Surf Punks had a huge influence on me as a teenager growing up in the Midwest. I first heard them on the Dr. Demento show, and saw them briefly mentioned in a blurb about “violent surf culture punk music” in Time magazine of all places. The picture above is from Drew’s Instagram feed shortly after Dennis Dragon passed in 2017. Bonus shot of the making of the iconic cover of My Beach featuring the first (?) skateboard-as-guitar after the jump.