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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us June 4, 2005 Skateboarding ... here to stay New movie shows it’s not the destination – it’s the ride By Chris Honore Tidings Correspondent “Skateboarding is not a crime!” Well, clearly it’s not. If it were, there’d be a whole lot of young and not-so-young boys (and a few girls) in serious trouble. But this declaratory sentence, a bit defensive, certainly rhetorical, often found written in slashing letters across T-shirts or backpacks, is interesting — for what it says and doesn’t say about a sport that’s more than a sport and one that’s not about to go away anytime soon. JUSTIN DEMMON does a jump from out of the bowl and lands safely at the Ashland Skate Park. Through evolution, modern skateboarding is a relative of early 20th-century recreation, but is more a way of life. Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings But why? Why hasn’t skateboarding gone the way of the hoola hoop and countless other fads that have swept the nation only to fade into obscurity? First, not to stretch a point too far, skateboarding has its roots in the early 20th century, when old metal roller skates were pulled apart and attached to a two-by-four with a milk crate nailed to the front and handles sticking out for controls. Your basic homemade scooter. At some point, kids looking for a less encumbered ride ditched the wooden crate and started cruising along on just the platform and skates, and no one paid much attention. Gradually, in the late 1950s, modifications were made. Clay wheels replaced metal and were attached to the board by trucks (the flexible axles holding the wheels), increasing boards’ maneuverability. Sidewalk board riding was launched in a serious way. In 1959 the first Roller Derby Skateboard was for sale. By the early 1960s, something happened that would change forever the direction of riding a board with roller skates attached. Actually it was more than one thing. Think of it as a synergistic confluence of events. Here’s what happened: In southern California, surfers, looking for something to do when the waves went flat, discovered that the moves they made on a surfboard were easily transferred to the skateboard. Grab a board, find a gentle hill or sloping parking lot and hop on for a nice ride, throw in a little zig and a little zag for good measure. The first skateboard contest was held at Pier Avenue Junior High School in Hermosa Beach, Calif., in 1963. By 1965, some 50 million skateboards had been sold. Boarding was hot — and then it was not, fading like a vacation tan. One of the problems was safety. Though the boards (called a deck or platform) were streamlined, the wheels, now clay, did not grip the sidewalk well and riders were crashing with disastrous results. Cities began to ban skateboards, citing public safety concerns. By the mid-’60s, eulogies were being written for what was seen as a passing fad. But then something else happened that would once again change the history of skateboarding. A group of surfers, known as the “Z Boys,” who plied the waters beneath Venice’s Pacific Ocean Park, a ghostly shell of a former amusement park, in an area that was nicknamed “Dogtown,” looking for a new ride when the surf was flat, took up skateboarding — but with a twist. Instead of sidewalks and playgrounds, they began searching for empty backyard swimming pools, those kidney-shaped, steeply sloped concrete bowls that were ubiquitous in Southern California. About the same time, a surfer named Frank Nasworth visited a friend at a plastics factory in Purcellville, Va. The factory made urethane wheels for roller skates used at local rinks. The wheels gave excellent traction, making for a sensational ride compared to clay wheels. Nasworth brought the wheels home with him to San Diego, deciding they would fit nicely on his skateboard. They were a hit and revolutionized the ride. Suddenly manufacturers began making trucks designed for the new wheels, and skateboarding took a great leap forward. And even with a few speed bumps along the way, it hasn’t looked back. The Dogtown boys? They took their newly outfitted boards and began riding (and trespassing) the many empty swimming pools in “Dogtown,” going “vert,” meaning they learned how to get air as they soared above the swimming pool edges. No longer was it flatland skating using the basic move of skateboarding, the “Ollie,” meaning stepping back on the tail of the board and spinning or jumping. Things had gone extreme and half-pipe ramps and iron rails and serious street riding were not long behind. And there’s one other important distinction that separates skateboarding from other sports, such as tennis, for example. This is a sport that is more than a sport. It’s a lifestyle. It’s language (there’s a lexicon of terms), and music and fashion — and above all, attitude. According to Sean Crosby, owner of Ashland’s Low Down Board Shop, skateboarding, unlike those team sports that are played throughout high school, is an individual expression. Like surfing. “You express yourself with your skills.” Regarding the attitude? According to Crosby, there has always been an aspect to the sport that has an outlaw component. “Guys that ride like to do things outside the box.” And for those reasons they’re often not accepted for their different styles, meaning dress and perhaps off-center outlook. Certainly a part of being a skateboarder is image: shoes by 88 or Vans, T-shirts and hats with manufacturers’ logos, or the names of hot skateboarders. Some, according to Crosby, wear baggy pants and shirts with buttons down the front and listen to “hip-hop” music (they’re called “fresh”). Others wear fitted jeans and T-shirts and listen to “speed metal” music (they’re called “hesh”). And there’s “fresh-hesh” for the crossovers. All part of a distinct subculture. Skateboarding is also, in the main, self-taught. Imagine, no teams, no coaches, and what each boarder learns he or she does so by trial and error: watch, imitate and refine. Mason Huggins, a local skateboarder of remarkable talent, who is currently sponsored by Lib Technologies and on the way to France to compete in the “Quicksilver Bowl Jam,” said he is completely self taught. Now 16, he’s skated for more than 10 years. “I just watched and visualized the moves.” Essentially it’s kids teaching kids by example, as Huggins stated, with endless hours of practice. When Huggins was asked if there was one thing he would like to impress on the public, it was that skateboarders are, like him, going to school (he was home schooled and now attends Rogue Community College) and are not punks. All kinds of kids ride, and the greater Rogue Valley area is replete with skate parks from Ashland to Medford to Grants Pass and as far away as Klamath Falls. Who would have thought? Take a rectangle of wood some 32 inches long and 7 3/4 inches wide, add state-of-the-art wheels, aluminum trucks with flex, place it in the hands of a fearless kid, and you have a sport that is morphing with every passing year. “Fresh-hesh” or “Z Boys of Dogtown,” skateboarding is, for countless kids, the source. It can change their lives. And it’s not about the destination; it’s all about the ride. 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