How it all began:
Sup Dudes, so skateboarding is an extreme action sport we all know and love as is with cool skate parks and awesome stuff like that, and it only keeps getting better. However, a lot of our little dudes out there have no idea how this amazing cultural phenomena all came about. so let’s enlighten you guys for a moment.
How it all started:
Skateboards became an adaptation of the famous skates that everyone loved to enjoy during the 50’s. The details on who exactly started skating are to be debated but it is unanimously believed that it was an alternative for surfers during the early 50’s when the waves were flat. Many variations of the skateboard were created during that time and it gained massive popularity. It was called “sidewalk surfing”.
Mass production of the skateboard began in the 60’s from southern Cal surfing companies that built surfboards. Before all of this though there was a sort of beta of what the skateboard we know now called a crate scooter that had a handle on it to help for steering and later skaters used planks. The first sight of these awesome tools of fun was seen and reported in Paris, France in the mid 40’s.
Moving into the 70’s skating had gained tons of popularity even the point of television shows such as “surfs up” and magazines like “the quarterly skateboarder.”
How’s it hanging? Hope all is well, I appreciate you coming to check out the blog and see what we have going o, on our end.
Today we are going to continue our segment on how the skateboarding culture all began and understand our history and stuff you know?
cool! So let’s get into it.
I wanna pick back up in the 70’s and into the 2000’s to the present so that you guys can see the progressive evolution of our culture and what brought us here.
The 70’s
So in the 70’s a resurgence and popularity in skateboarding emerged, but with a different emphasis. Skateboarders were discovering skating in empty pools and learning to lift themselves off the edge of the pool and that is where the predecessor to the huge ramps you see now began. Moves like the aerial were dominant during this time as skaters learned to ride up the sides of the walls and lift themselves up ver the edge and turn around to go back down and skate like a back and forth motion from one end of the pool to the other. Skateparks became widely popular as the intricacy of very skating increased and evolved, the smooth surfaces of these skate parks would allow the boundaries of vert skating to be pushed and many skaters to start excelling in this arena.
Comercial skateparks were not as available as they are now so many skaters had to rely on ramps which allowed them to do the vertical moves or poor man’s pools if they had no access to pools.
Skateboarding’s monumental moments in the 70’s
- Frank Nasworthy developed the polyurethane wheels branded as the “Cadillac wheel” for skateboards.
- Tracker Trucks developed axles for skateboards which it possible to make wider boards giving skaters better control.
- Del Mar Championships were held with over 500 competitors, the largest competition since the 60’s.
- The Z-boys revolutionized the landscape of skateboarding by introducing a skating style the resembled the surfing style of Californians.
Skateboarders were cash kings during this ear as many of the skate companies were owned by skaters themselves. Vert ramp skating had taken a predominance over the sport even though street skating was well and thriving. It’s just that not every skater could afford vert ramps. Rodney Mullen was a pioneer during this era inventing tricks such as the “impossible” and the “kickflip”. Skating during this era ended up facing much opposition due to the government, business and locals in different municipalities complaining about the sport since freestyle and street skating was prominent.
The 90’s
The 90’s witnessed a massive resurgence in skating in the streets due to a recession in the economy at the time and the unaffordability of going to skate parks and buying ramps. Tony Hawk and many other prominent skaters famous since the 80’s kept the spirit of skateboarding alive during this tryingtony hawk skatecide time in the country. In the 90’s the most noticeable trend was the street style skating moves being translated to the vert world. So we saw the vert variations of the street tricks on ramps.
To learn more about the history of skateboarding, or to learn more about this wonderful sport in depth, you can visit our blogs. We have all the information you need to become an exceptional skateboarder and take your tricks to the next level.