"What I'm trying to say is: it's not baseball, pal. We don't live by wins and losses... that's someone else's dream, not mine. " -NB Curious sign of things to come... transworld's first street symposium article from 1986.
Had a lot of requests for this after I posted up its '90 counterpart last week. Lots of naysayers out there.
I feel it should be stated that the term "street" is applied here about as broad as possible since the form was still in its infancy. So if the inclusion of some of these dudes strike you as a little odd (Ffej, Gator, Stacey... those downhill dudes from Future Primitive with the puffy gardening gloves), its because street skating as a whole really hadn't figured itself out yet. Note that half the photos in this article don't even involve ollies.
Stoked on the early Gonz, Natas, and TG flicks... and its nice to finally see some GSD up here (i've been working on his post for a few months now... still not happy with it).
And Blender's answers are still amazing quarter of a century later.
This is begging to be brought up...
Big up to JC, Jaycee, JRog, Royce and that dude at Pizza Jesus who gave me a free slice just for knowing who Tanya Morgan is.
Thanks for all the support everyone. Seriously.
17 comments:
Keep on Chops!
5312 Gol...You throw an Edan reference in that title? Keep killing it Chops!
Thanks for putting this up--never seen it until now. The closest place to get Transworlds in '86 was a bookstore 7 miles away. A local liquor store carried Thrashers in '85, which was about as random as seeing Lowcard at the same place in 2003.
Despite the humor of a shin-padded Ffej rolling laybacks at Derby in a "street" article, I'd say the terrain was very indicative of (post-park era) street skating in '86. Parking garages, ditches, hills--whatever you could get your hands on (even freestyle tricks in the garage when it was raining).
any houstonian locals know the current whereabouts and condition of the brick bank-to-ledge in the cab photo?
snd for the sd's, gemco banks??
gemco shots are priceless! i had that mag, but it's long long gone.
Blown away! ...And I agree with Mr. Beats...
You got free Pizza Jesus? We have to have a talk...
Better than the other one. So is that Blender Sadlands photo reversed? Looks like a mean switch frontside ollie.
crazy. Definitely before my time. I never even knew this article existed. Gonz was idolized just as much back then as he is now.
Who is that in image 3? That's one of the greatest things I've ever seen.
Interestingly Rocco seemed to have the best comments.
Blender's probably reversed. The logo on his shirt is on the right.
You went way back for that one. I think Gonz had already achieved a certain status / notoriety even back then- one of the first skateboarding interviews I ever read was the Thrasher "brainwash victim" Gonz interview; the intro said that he was regarded by some as the best street skater in the world, and by others as a complete failure as a human being. There was a sequence of him ollieing (what became known as) the Gonz gap in SF. My 6th grade brain was tripping.
Gator held Gonz in "no regard." He was my least favorite skater (personality-wise) after I read that. That still holds true.
As usual, Chops, you produce something much appreciated by the masses. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. Its the best combo with my morning coffee.
That pic of Gonz at Gemco is sick as hell. I also like the angle of the shot of Natas olleing on that little bank. Must have been one of the "small banks" by his house that he always mentioned in interviews. One thing about these old shots that amazes me - its magic in the making. Everything was so undefined, and no one knew what was possible with skateboarding back then.
One request: Gotta get some more Tommy up here soon! The Sick Boys-era shots of him doing stales and knee tucks off jump ramps are timeless.
Anonyn, I hear you about Gator, man. He always seemed full of himself. The Stoked documentary confirmed that, especially when he said he doesn't miss skating at all. I've never been in jail, but I can imagine that you'd miss doing EVERYTHING. Then again, he killed a woman and put her in a surf bag, so who the hell knows how that guy's mind works.
Chops - I've got a copy of GSD's "This Is (Not) My Life" zine that he did a while back. I can hook you up with some scans from that. The only problem is that it's only about 4.5 X 5.5 so I'm not sure how they'd turn out. I think there's at least one GSD pic in my Homeboy collection too, I'll have to look.
Love the post!
thanks everyone.
anon2, i remember reading a few years ago that the gemco banks had been completely demolished. could be wrong though. i live in pennsylvania.
blender shot is definitely reversed.
keith, before my time as well. picked this one up on ebay... funny story, i won this auction, in part hoping to find some gsd images, turns out that i was buying the magazine actually from gsd (I think)...
and if thats not gsd who i bought it from, sorry about all the weird buyer feedback i left involving helen keller and moon tans. haha
anon3, the names on there but i really can't remember who it was.
coals, i believe the brainwash victim site has that thrasher interview scanned. he's in my links.
fuck gator.
mike, always down for some tg. definitely soon.
beancan, i might take you up on that offer... even if its just a scan of the cover. email me. you're from erie... i met a dude a few years from around there that had a matt hensley foot tattoo. pretty sick and i always think of that whenever that town comes up. sound familiar?
thanks loo.
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