SFGate has posted some pictures in a feature called Four decades of skateboarding in San Francisco. It’s part of their Let’s Go to the Morgue! series where they dig up old photographs from the San Francisco Chronicle. Better versions of the picture, along with a little commentary are on the SFGate blog. The earliest photo dates back to 1964, and the last one is from 1994.

In this edition we have some Malone skateboards. Malone was a brand that produced crappy skateboards in the 80s, but I really don’t know much about it, besides the fact that they were pretty crappy and my brother had one.  I was riding a Rusher Sports  ‘California Pro’ (even worse than a Pro 90) at that time and my brother bought a ‘Malone’ from this sports store. I have never seen these decks back untill now on eBay. Funny thing, I remember my brother ( he was 10 or 11 at that time) described his boards as ‘semi-pro’, haha, but I guess he had a point there, since they were actually better than the ‘Turbo 2’ ones. More models after the jump.

This is a TDK advertisement shot at Venice Beach circa 1989. I’ve seen this up on ebay before, actually but this one actually comes from the Google Books, repository, adjacent to the digital knoll. It’s from “Spy” magazine… ha. Remember that one? I’m looking at the shape of that board and thinking that might be Dave Hackett. Anyone got any other ideas?

– Thanks to Sandor for the tip.

While wasting time on Alibaba.com, I saw a lot of bootlegs. Especially the more recent Tony Hawk designs from Birdhouse seem popular to rip off. If you order a minimum of 100 decks, you’ll get them for a few dollars a piece. Yes, I definitely took most of these pics from the sellers, but what will they say? That I stole from them? Also, take a quick tour in their factory here.

On this edition of counterfeit skateboards we have a pretty good rip off of a Tony Hawk claw board. In fact, it’s decent enough to fool the casual viewer. When you look at it up close you realize it’s a bit off. The main drawing is inexplicably off center and the tree branches are not as full as the others, even so they don’t extend to the bottom of the deck. Also missing, the Powell Peralta logo under the claw. The shape is pretty similar, actually, but the tail dome and nose guard are stock, and are definitely suspicious. A reader scored this for $5 at a yard sale. I’ve paid more for worse!

– Thanks to Fungandus for the pics

Dominion was a Canadian company that made completes during the 80’s. (Update: Wrong. Dominon was a roller skate company that branched out into skateboards in the 60’s) This one from ’88 says ‘rood dood’, wich should probably be pronounced as ‘rude dude’. To me it’s confusing, because ‘rood dood’ means ‘red death’ in Dutch (ain’t that so, Matthijs?). But the interesting thing here is that this board seems  a diss on vert skaters at a time when vert skating was reaching its end. The wall on this graphic is full of references to skateboarding and names of vert pros.  Take a closer look after the jump. The deck was for sale on eBay.

Garbage Pail Kids. Rad Rod. 1988. Wait, why does he only have 4 toes?

During my last pilgrimage back to Chicago I stopped by Logan Hardware again to buy some records and play some video games. I picked up my favorite Devo release, available on vinyl for the first time. At least I think it was never released on vinyl, but in any format, the Hardcore Devo demo tracks compilation has been out of print for 20 years. ( In gathering links for this post I was saddened to learn that Devo Drummer Alan Myers succumbed to cancer shortly after the release date. ) The last time I was at Logan Hardware, took a pic of 720 video game screen that’s still my cover photo on Facebook. This time I picked up a puffy sticker featuring Alf riding a skateboard, and I played some Bad Cats pinball for the first time in many years.

I feel sorry for the “model” who got a big break only to end up bent over facing away from the camera with a Jimmy’Z fanny pack and her ass being the main attraction of the poster. “Look Ma, I’m on a poster!” Unbelievably, the seller thinks this is worth $79! I made an offer $10, which he refused. I upped the ante to $11, and the seller countered with $35. I don’t think they recognized the sarcasm in my bids.

– Thanks to Matthijs for the tip