Issue 181 of Sad Sack dates back to September of 1966. It may look like a second rate rip off of Beetle Bailey, but Sad Sack debuted as a comic strip in 1942, while Beetle Bailey started in 1950. It has a 40’s aesthetic though. You know it’s bad if the props have to be labeled, as in the case with the skateboard. It says “loved by Millions” on the cover of this Harvey Comics publication, but the contents are pretty horrible inside. At least Beetle Bailey was sometimes actually funny. Full cover after the jump, and no skateboarding in the contents. I bought this on Ebay from a real skateboard historian, Scott Starr. I didn’t realize he was the seller until after I bought it.

July of 1967 and they are still trotting out skateboards for the cover gag on Archie comics. Archie looks a little like Greg Brady in this one, although I think Greg might have had better style. The Twist had it’s heyday in 1960, so it’s kind of funny that by 1967 it was already considered “old-fashioned” by girls in unhip comic books. Seriously. Who was the the audience for these? (Click through, you won’t be sorry.)

The Sidewalk Shop is an excellent place if you’ve got a fetish for pre-urethane wheeled skateboards and/or crows. I only wish they’d credit the source of the old photos and let you enlarge the images of the old boards. Definitely worth spending your time there.

Peanuts. Not a coloring book, but a book to color, from the famous comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz. Authorized edition no less. Copyright MCMLXV, which is 1965. I had to look it up. Pretty formal for a bunch of little funny looking squished head kids. This is my favorite era of Peanuts. Everyone looks like doughboys left out in the sun for a little too long. There are no skateboards inside the “book to color.” Snoopy looks cool as usual.

The folks (volks) at Made for Skate recently had a display in The Skateboard Museum called Metal Battle in celebration of a Nike SB collab styled after the oldest school Roller Derby skateboards. Dig the inserts on these. The design for the show flyer was lifted from this poster, which was also on display. It’s a vintage 60’s silkscreened poster advertisement for a body shop. I’d place it at 1965-66 if I had to guess. So why was the the show called the Metal Battle? To celebrate they brought out some vintage steel wheeled death traps and had a session. Video after the jump.

Happy birthday to Patti McGee!

The California Surf Museum is having an opening for a skateboarding exhibit called “Clay to Urethane: 1965-1975” that will coincide with a book signing with Ben Marcus, the author of SSkateboard, The Good, the Rad and the Gnarly. Some skate legends confirmed to attend so far: Logan brothers, Steve Cathey, Denis Shufeldt, Frank Nasworthy, Gregg Weaver, Chris Yandall, Dale Smith, Jim Goodrich, Eddie Katz, Buddy Carr, Pineapple Saladino, Larry Balma, and more. Saturday, August 13th from 4-7 pm.

It’s the Ice Surfer, the invention of Willard Gebien from Libertyvlle, Illinois. Debra Fischler sent in a picture of the device from 1966. An auction for a mint condition Ice Surfer showed up about a month ago, I sent it to Neil but I guess he forgot or wasn’t interested. I believe it went for about $150, I was tempted but I just don’t have the extra cash floating around. I’d never seen close up pictures of the actual Ice Surfer board before then, but when it rains, it pours. There’s another one on eBay right now. It’s well worn and slightly damaged, so the opening bid of $149 is pretty steep considering the condition. Peep some pics of the pristine version after the jump.

This is a Chicago Trucks advert from an unnamed surfing magazine from the 60’s, although it probably shouldn’t be that hard to figure it out. I can’t imagine there was more than one or two tops. Chicago made it’s name in roller skates of all things, and I’m going to hypothesize that they were one of the first companies to manufacture skateboard specific trucks, outside of full setups. Those are composite wheels… I guess it’s possible they could be early 70’s, but if I had to place money on it, I still say 60’s. Dig the three point mounting hardware. UPDATE: Based on this ad, we know an ad with the same illustrations was run as late as 1975, but it features different ad copy. It’s entirely possible that this was leftover stock from the late 60’s.

There’s a web site called Vintage Portland that is dedicated to presenting historical images of Portland from various sources in one place. It’s just pictures and maps without a lot of explanation or pontificating. There’s not much to say except this photo is SW Portland circa 1965. Two kids bombing a hill on clay wheels. Awesome. Check out VIntage Portland for the big picture. – Thanks to Daniel Evans for the tip.