Way back in 2014 I saw one of these things on eBay and couldn’t figure out what it was, or even if it was skateboard related. I looked like it might have possibly been made for rollerskating rinks, I couldn’t tell. Fast forward 8 years and turns the this thing was the “Sit Skate,” and it is a skateboarding alternative that is/was “the wave of the future” for people who can’t be bothered to learn how to stand up on a skateboard. If anything, this device looks like its would be harder to maneuver than if you just sat on a regular skateboard. In any case, mystery solved. This advert is from the October 1981 edition of Action Now. The kid in the ad is wearing a t-shirt with the manufacturers logo on it, a lo and behold Mark 10 Industries is still around. They make an odd and small assortment of automotive related products these days, and I’ve contacted them asking for more info on the Sit Skate. If you want see pictures of the Sit-Skate, check out This is a thing. What is this thing?- Thanks to Darren Haugen for the tip.

The Vintage Skate Sticker Gallery has just reached 250, and we’re about at the end of Kilwag’s collection. If you’re interested in contributing, we’re accepting high resolution bulk scans if they are 600dpi.) If you have a sizable collection contact us to make other arrangements. Send a pic before you start scanning and we can let you know what we already have waiting (about 200) to be processed.

It’s been a long time since I’ve added new zines to the 80’s skate zine gallery. Chipping away at the backlog, here are Skate Edge #2 from New Jersey, circa 1983, and Raw Zine #8 from Connecticut, circa 1988. That’s 32 ages of photocopied nostalgia from the collection of Kevin Johnson.

I must have sent away for a catalog from Action Sports in 1984. I just found the postmarked envelope with full color one sheet and photocopied price list. I think that tagline is supposed to read “The 1 Ultimate High.” Aside from the vaguely Celtic typeface, it’s an interesting choice for a time when any given correspondence with a smaller skate brand seemed to have about a 50% chance of including a short handwritten a religious message. I’m not sure why I sent any for this catalog in 1984, since I never really rated the Action Sports brand. I think it might have been because the Invader had a sly look to it.

Girl is Not. 4 Letter Word has a good read on Stephanie Person, a female black professional skateboard from the 80s. I could not recall her specifically appearing in mags in the 80’s but she did, and I do remember the featured “Sugar and Spice” article in Thrasher. Her experiences as a black female skater in the 80’s are unique even to other female skaters in the 80’s and not all for the reasons you’d expect. It’s notable that her career and sponsorships were result of her smart thinking and persistence. I only wish this had been a little more in-depth. One amusing side note: The editors’s note has to explain what a Swatch is for younger readers. – Thanks to Jason Lilly for the tip.

Way back in the dark ages when I was a kid and not just a kid at heart, I was in love with Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and Johnny Lightning cars. And then I saw Darda cars. Pretty much the same scale, but they also had the added benefit of a friction motor with rubber treads. These things would fly, and you could navigate loops without the need for a gravity assist. Also unlike Hot Wheels, the tracks were multicolored, and they just looked cooler. The cars had a different aesthetic too, slightly chunkier, probably so that they could encase the motor. Some (if not all) models had a pressure switch on the back which could be used to store the kinetic energy until activated. Set 2 cars on the track and start the first one off, when it returned to the start it would hit the second car and activate it. Meanwhile, if you were fast enough, or had another pre-revved car available, you could keep the race alive. The downside? They were from Germany, and were only readily available in Europe, or the boutique toy stores. In 1984 they made a very strange looking skateboard set. Granted, the few…

This is a Sire records promo photo (technically just a graphic printed on photo paper) for their 1987 Winter CD Sampler. Remember CD’s? Remember Sire? They were sorta cool for a while (Hello! Ramones!) and then not so-cool, trying to distance themselves from punk by promoting New Wave. 1987 was a couple years after signing a distribution deal with Wartner Brothers, which would explain Bugs Bunny. This is sort of a sad, trying-too-hard phase, with Bugs wearing a leather motorcycle jacket and riding skateboard. They made a full color t-shirt of this image too. Interesting that large corporation like Warner Brothers would brave the wrath of Nancy Reagan and mock the Just Say No campaign. Proof positive, once again that skateboarding, and even new wave are a bad influence. – Thanks to Cool Steve for the tip. (No relation to Pizza Steve.) [Source: Ebay]

Animal Chin came out 30 years ago, and what better way to celebrate that than to build a replica of the Animal Chin ramp. It grew from an idea to make a spine ramp to recreate the famous 4-way invert shot, but ultimately ended up as a complete reconstruction, minus the tunnel. Unlike the original, this ramp will last longer than a couple days, and has a permanent home at Woodward. If you’re going to recreate the Chin ramp, you might as well throw another party with Johnny Rad. [Source: Ride]

Here’s an excellent time capsule of skateboard harassment from a local Springfield Illinois news channel concerning a proposed ban on skateboarding downtown. Local business and civic leaders speak out against “skateboard terrorists” in advance of the ban, which ultimately passed. The video was digitized from a decrepit old VHS tape, so there are tracking issues and the sound doesn’t always sync right, but it’s still a good watch. One of the skateboarders makes a reasonable request for a public skatepark to serve the needs of the population, and they did get one after only 25 years. – Thanks to Nick Rudd for the tip.

The Video Toaster was an Amiga computer-based video effects editing system. A hardware and software combo, it was pretty much the first consumer desktop computer system available for video editing. The first one came out in 1987. I can vividly remember going to a computer store to watch the demo tape and gape at the the computer on several occasions, convinced I would do great things if I could afford one. The stills above are from the Video Toaster 4000 which came out around 1993, and features Tonyy Hawk in some recycled Bones Brigade video footage. Of course this predates Tony’s appearances for Apple Computer on behalf of Final Cut Pro. The demo reel is cheesy as hell, and therefore well worth watching. I assumed that the Video Toaster products were purely a 90’s phenomenon, but they were actually being marketed until 2010. – Thanks to Stephen B for the tip.