Nothing says true love lie a heart shaped Valentines Day skateboard. Nothing says mediocre comics quite like the Archie Comic book Group either. Still, they have provided the bulk of skateboarding in vintage comic book content, so they have that going for them.
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Are dead malls the equivalent of foreclosed homes with pools for street skaters? Is this spot a bust? The DMV is the only thing you can access, and it’s usually got a huge line. The employees inside are so busy they’d likely be oblivious. Is there a hoard of zombies trapped behind that plywood wall?
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I’ve added 27 adverts from the July, 1990 issue of Skateboard! magazine, published in the U.K.. This is the same publication that started in the 70’s – see Issue #10 from 1978. The issue is kind of thin, coming in at 64 pages. Someone paid for a trip to Brazil and so that’s pretty much the only thing in this issue outside of a page of record review and a couple of comics. The quality of the photographs vary, not quite up to the standards of the bigger mags, but on the positive side, it’s packed full of spots you’ve probably never seen before if you don’t live in Brazil. Theres a thoughtful write up of a visit to a local skateboard factory with discussion of trying to meet the quality standards of the USA based companies. Curiously, the skateboard molds were made out of aluminum. Check out the vintage skateboard magazine ads in the July, 1990 issue of Skateboard!
This is the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. This photo is from a deleted account on Reddit. I originally spotted this in the subreddit TonyHawkitecture where it has appeared more than once. This particular subreddit is hit or miss, a lot of of the images are just vaguely skateable, but we’ve all done that in our heads when driving by a building or some landscape architecture. This spot looks pretty amazing, but allegedly carries a $300 fine and is heavily monitored.
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I saw this in issue in an airport but I didn’t get a chance to flip through it. Alex Cooper is the host of an apparently very popular podcast titled Call her Daddy. This is one of the covers from the November 2023 issue of Cosmopolitan, which based on a promo video might also contain some skateboard shots beyond the cover. You have to wonder if the Venice beach locals ever get tired of their skatepark being overrun by fashion shoots. Seems to happen quite a bit.
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The magazine that bummed out a generation of skaters… I’ve added all the adverts from issue #1 of Action Now magazine, labeled as Volume 7, #1 published in August of 1980. It’s a pretty thin issue and only has 30 ads total. In a few issues the magazine gets beefy again, I’ll bet they thought they were going to be able to pull it off… We’re just 47 ads shy of breaking the 1000 mark. Check them out.
You can quickly got down a rabbit hole when you start searching for skateboards on those Chinese import sites. Here’a couple of beauties: A children’s skateboard with the Spanish word for puberty, and some World Industries and Santa Cruz knockoffs. It’s important to remember that brand products are beautiful, flexible in performance, stable in quality, novel and complete in style. And as always, dangerous actions, please play under guidance of professionals. Bonus Baker knockoffs after the jump.
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A non-skating friend of mine was on vacation and took some pics of a skatepark he happened on in a small town Called San Pancho or San Francisco, depending on who you ask. It’s about 30 miles north of Puerto Vallarta. The locals were friendly and consented to being photographed, so don’t blow it out readers! “Franco, forever in our heart.”
– Thanks to Stephen B for the pics.
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It’s mid 1980 and the term “music video” had yet to be coined. Meanwhile, Devo had been making films to accompany their music since 1976. The skateboarding industry is slumping, so much so that Skateboarder magazine changes it’s name to “Action Now” to include nascent Extreme!®™sports coverage in an attempt to broaden the appeal and hopefully stay afloat. Action Now published a 6 page feature on the making of Devo’s “Freedom of Choice” in issue #1 dated August, 1980. They titled it “Freedom of Choice – The Film.” 1980 was an interesting time for skateboarding and music. The magazine’s record reviews covered X, Devo, Frank Zappa, John Foxx, Emmylou Harris, and a jazz fusion act called The Jeff Lorber Fusion (and the album Wizard Island). There’s an ad for Corky Carroll’s “A Surfer for President” album, and an article on up-and-coming LA bands Human Hands, and Wall of Voodoo as well as a couple of random pics of the Stimulators. Devo blew minds. I know they blew my mind when I unexpectedly saw them on SNL in 1978 performing Satisfaction. I did not know what I was looking at or listening to, but it instantly connected with me on a visceral level. I was in grade school, watching it with an older cousin, and when he dismissed it as “weird and gay” my estimation of him plummeted and my desire to emulate him ended on the spot. I did have the good fortune to meet Gerald Casale in the 00’s, and although he seemed more interested in getting laid, he was kind enough endure my gushing. The entire content of the Action Now article follows after the jump.
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