I love some good prepackaged skateboard parts from the 70’s. It’s rare (for me at least) to see them come from France. Punch appears to be the brand name. I tried to translate “Couvat Oyonnax” but it it came up blank. Nearest I can tell is they are regions in France. Thanks to Dimitri Jourdan for the picture.

Les Bidasses en Vadrouille is French movie made in 1979, and was the first of several starring the French band band Martin Circus. The title translates to “The Soldiers on the Move,”and it looks like they were “soldiers” in at least three titles. Here’s a translation of the plot synopsis: After the big maneuvers, four young soldiers, René, Sylvain, Gérard and Alain, arrive at the end of their military service and take a two hundred kilometer ride with a latest model AM17 assault tank nicknamed “the Invincible” in order to reach their base. Forced to clean the machine, the soldiers will cause panic in a market and involuntarily commit a hold-up. Part of this zany journey involves an extended skateboard (planche de skate) sequence. – Thanks to Doc Skaterock for the tip

The Volcano ( or Le Volcan as it is named in France, where it resides) was originally designed by Oscar Niemeyer and opened in 1982. These pictures are from Atelier Cambium, a firm involved in an extensive remodeling project that looks like it involved digging up everything underneath and around it in order to reimagine the space. At first glance it looks like a fun skate spot, although you’ll need big soft wheels to navigate some of the bricked areas. However, If you look closer you can see they have applied a short railing in certain areas to keep people off the walls. Why they want people off the walls? Some will likely say insurance and liability reasons, although I don’t know how big of a problem that is in the EU. I suspect it’s in order to keep the space from being used in more creative ways that tend to annoy the stuffed shirts. Source: Atelier Cambium

This is the cover of Elle Zen from the Spring 2018 issue. I couldn’t find any more photos from the cover session, but the web site had a couple “articles” including one that translates to “3 good reasons to go skateboarding.” From the picture I assumed at least one of them was going to be fashion accessory or dating related… but they’re all very good reasons: To feel good about yourself. To be fit. To have fun. They also have another article titled Mettez-vous au longboard! Although article is actually about surfing, it is inexplicably illustrated with a woman posing on a skateboard.

French Furniture designer Hervet-Manufacturier makes some really interesting looking angular furniture the looks like it what people thought the future was going to look like in the 70’s. It’s got a heavy Space 1999 vibe to it. And of course they also make some expensive hardwood retro “artisanal” cruisers. While they were at it, they released a formica laminated, laser engraved, limited edition Daft Punk skateboard that sold for $288. Hervet-Manyfacturier went with a retro mail order catalog inspired promo image, while Daft Punk’s chose a glossy 70’s skatemag style advertisement. [Source: DesignBoom] – Thanks to MC for the tip.

This Installment of skate able architecture features the Frac Centre located in Orleans, France and designed by Jacob + Mcfarlane [Source: CJWHO Photos: Nicolas Borel] – Thanks to MC for the tip.

Not to be confused with Jodie Foster’s Army, because, you know, I have to spell everything out since being diagnosed with a phobia of people not getting my very obvious jokes. What are the questions that annoyed Jodie Foster in the 70’s? “Do you have a boyfriend? Are you really a skateboard champion? Did you go crazy after Taxi Driver?” Bonus spread of Lief Garret/Jodie Foster skateboard romance after the jump, and you might as well check out the extensive 2009 Skate and Annoy interview of JFA’s Brian Brannon when you’re done.

Two more from Vintage Toy Advertiser. On the left, an ad from a 1977 issue of the French comic book Pif Gadget with a contest to win among other things, one of 300 rolling surfboards AKA “surfs a roulettes” AKA skateboards. On the right, a crazy skateboard shirt from a 1978 issue of Pif Gadget. It’s 1978 and there’s no skyhooks on that skateboard. How did they get that photograph of an unobstructed bottom view of a skateboarder seemingly getting air? Was he skating on a sheet of plexiglass? It’s clearly just a rolling shot, so where’s the harness and the wires?

Domesticated and proud of it. The Pantoufles à Pépère are slippers made in France for French hipsters. The web site also has a few images of skateboards on it. – Thanks to David ODK for the pictures

Oggy and the Cockroaches is a French cartoon that sometimes airs on the Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network channel here in the US. It’s not very good from a writing/directing standpoint but it occasionally has a good gag. There’s an episode called “Skate Fever” from season 4 that features what may be the first ever appearance of fnigerboarding in a cartoon. The cockroaches have glued the cat onto a skateboard, and are following him around as he crashes into things. They make a quick detour into a toy store to pick up cockroach sized skateboards from a giant pile of fingerboards on display. As a whole, the cartoon is pretty heavy handed, lots of gratuitous TNT and slapstick cartoon violence that isn’t set up very well, but there are a few good gags and the art direction is occasionally interesting. The first episode supposedly aired in 1998, so that would date Skate Fever (episode 54) to about 2002 or so. The skateboard that Oggy finds belongs to a pro named “Roller Dude,” and it features a nose bone, which is interesting, at least if you’re the kind of skate nerd who is used to visiting Skate and Annoy… Check out a…