Skateboard Tow Rope

My first skateboard was a yellow plastic rRoller Derby banana board bought from a Sears catalog outlet in Midland, Michigan. I was in grade school in the 70’s, and soon after, all my neighborhood friends had skateboards, including Gene & Gary Wang, who lived across the street, as well as a kid names Allan Lockwood (I think?) For a while my driveway had intricate slalom courses drawn in chalk, complete with tank installations and pill boxes, firing at us of course. What can I say, I was a prepubescent male. When the driveway became too confining, we developed a sort of Rollerball-lite game that involved pairing up into teams made up of one kid on a bicycle towing another kid on a skateboard behind some jumprope tied to the back seat of the bike. The objective was to circle the block, trying to make the other team wipe out. It was great fun until I sent a skateboard flying at Alan, who got his glove caught on the back of his tow bike and wad dragged on his rear end for 20 feet before he came loose. He had a giant friction burn on the side of his ass and hip that hurt like the devil, and that was the end of the public enthusiasm for bicycle skateboard chariot races. If we had had these bespoke skateboard tow ropes we probably would have felt like gladiators and might have kept at it. The packaging makes some dubious claims: “Control your speed – Makes skateboarding safer!”

– Thanks to Terence Sideras for the pic.

UPDATE: This is actually from the Skateboarding Hall of Fame.

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8-Bit Zombie – Thrashor, Alf, and Gizmo

When I published that old No Fit State post one of the characters caught my eye. I didn’t recognize Thrashor, and wasn’t sure if he was an actual thing or just one off made up for the pin, but it turns out it was some cross licensing from an outfit called 8-bit Zombie that makes mostly t-shirts and stickers, but also made a Thrashor action figure that looks pretty rad. More rad than their Rad Alf t-shirt and the Gremlins shirt that features Gizmo on a skateboard. They make some Screaming Hand variants too.

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Commodore C64 Skateboard & Computer in a Box

This started as another David ODK post that I rescued out of drafts and embellished. It’s an Italian special edition Commodore C64 computer that came in a box with a skateboard! David found the board on Etsy back in 2015, and I had a screen cap from Facebook that showed a box with no info whatsoever. It was hard to tell if it was real or not, but it is real. Regular googling and reverse image searches came up with nothing but a thousand pictures of vintage skateboarding video games. However, some finessing turned up a decent image on 20thcenturyvideogames.com.

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Reggie and Me #111: Rash Crash and Scoot Skate

Reggie and Me #111 came out in January of 1979 and has not one, but two skateboard storylines, although one is a short half pager. I might actually be finally starting to appreciate the Archie Comics group… I thought I was vaccinated but I guess not. There’s just so much skateboarding through the years in their titles. No other publisher has given skateboarding that much love, despite how it’s usually the same storyline. I’m surprised Reggie had his own title, he’s sort of the antagonist whenever he does make an appearance. Nobody likes Reggie.

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Dasio Skateboard: Yeah! Not a Toy.

Spotted at a Daiso store in Redmond, Washington. The packaging sends mixed messages. On one side it says “Yeah!” but the other side says “Not a toy.” What is it then? A Unique puzzle eraser. I don’t care what they say, I’m putting this in the “toys” category. Erase and Destroy!

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Turtle Spotted at Goodwill

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle spotted at the Goodwill in Forest Grove, Or. It was only $1.99 and now I’m regretting that I left it there, but I’m trying to downsize… I think his name is Michelangelo or Andy Warhol, possibly Jackson Pollock or maybe even Robert Indiana.

Street (style) Donuts

Photo of a mobile from the Seattle area in 2018 if I recall correctly. Website has since lapsed. There was a line of middle aged guys arguing about donut ledges vs doughnut transitions… Ok no there wasn’t. Sorry, that was the best I could do. Also, that’s a cat towing the skateboarder!