Illinois’ legendary skatespot known as the Elgin pipes, named after the town of Elgin where they resided. Legends, myths and truths trickled throughout the Midwest like.. oh I don’t know, hazardous chemicals leaching into the water table? Here’s a few I remember, located next to a mental hospital, someone was murdered there, spikes welded on to keep skaters out… the list goes on. This is Michael Hammecker with a tail stall to nose grab. Let’s hear some Elgin pipes stories. Enlarge-o-rama.

Another month has flown by and here we have another installment of Baywatch. There’s lost more goodies this month, and hopefully some that you have never seen before. The longer I do this the less inclined I am to keep on featuring the same decks from the same companies, high ticket items though they might be. There’s only so many ways to describe a Hawk birdclaw without it being repetitive, so I’ll choose something else instead. It might not be as iconic, or go for as much money, but that’s not what this column is about. It’s not a price guide, more a sampling of what I find interesting, and hopefully you do too. So, variety is the key for me at the moment.

Just a quick note to let you know that an excellent interview with Brian Brannon is coming to Skate and Annoy as soon as I get a little bit more of this hosting mess sorted out. The image above is from the Vintage T-Shirts book by Lisa Kidner and Sam Knee. Brian said that shirt was a little embarrassing.

A reader named Laura sent in these pics. It’s the Spinal Tap model from Nash, but unfortunately it has nothing to do with Spinal Tap, the band. This is from their “Gold Line,” which I never really know existed. Thier run of the mill crap boards were the Red Line. This one does ring a bell after all, I think Nash made a last ditch effort to get back into the arena of almost real skateboards very late in the game, similar to what Variflex did. The graphic is leagues above the quality of their usual artwork. It’s not too bad for the time, but the real story is probably that Space Invaders video game cabinet in the background. Laura wondered what this board might be worth, not much is the answer. 80’s era Nash boards don’t typically raise more than it costs to ship them.

Matt Mahoney hooked us up with some pictures of a relic he owns, possibly the ultimate achievement in wackyboards. It’s either the Nash Jamm Sound Board or the Radio Active, depending on whether you believe the top or the bottom of the deck. In Matt’s own words “It’s perfect for listening to static while skating around town…” I remember seeing adds for this thing before, I can’t imagine they made more than one model. It’s too bad the Nash factory burned down, I’ll bet there was some cool stuff in storage.

A couple more pages from the 1987 Skateboard Action book, thanks again to Hood River’s photog in residence, Carl Warren. Click to enlarge. You might notice that the photo has been retouched heavily, airbrushed to make it look a little like a painting. This is pre photoshop kids. I wonder why they went through the trouble. Click to enlarge.

Courtesy of Hood River’s own Carl Warren. His brother recently gave him this 1987 book written by Steve Hawk (Yes, he is.) with the stickers intact. Check out the wrap around rails on that Staab. More pages after the jump.

Well after last week’s fiasco, I dug up this shot from when I went on a road trip to Boston back in ’88 or ’89. I can’t remember. This shot is an enlargement from one I took at a spot called Metals. I don’t remember the skater’s name, but he was just one of the many friendly, stoked locals I met. Everyone flowed when I was there. This was probably some sort of wall jam plant off the side of the metal bank that was an freestanding sculpture. Check out the full frame Shot of the Week.

This is a closeup of a bootleg Powell Peralta deck with a Per Welinder themed graphic on the bottom. If that’s not enough, it has a Tony Hawk graphic on the top. It’s from an old 80’s Brazilian skateboard magazine sent in by Luciano Fleck Peixoto. It’s funny that the bootleggers thought they had to improve on the originals. Thanks to Luciano for sending this in. Check out his new skateboard company called Yerbah.

Every time I see this cover I read Parrot instead of Pad Rot. Apparently Pad Rot was a spinoff from the zine Endless Grind over “editorial differences.” Who knew that zines could sink to such levels of professionalism? Pad Rot was based out of Barrington Illinois. I can’t make out the writing to read the initials or possible name of the writer, but they must have known Skate and Annoy becasue they were also Illinois based, and Pad Rot lifted our Hate Page concept, complete with the Nash logo. I assume it was a tribute.