When I was 8 years old (1964), my little brother and I made 'em outta old metal roller skates nailed to scrap lumber. With following accessory...
me too...makaha, not that year tho, that year I think was pretty close to its inception. Iam remember when the wheels changed to urethane...I was in heaven. Still skating to this day.
Inception year was 1963, according to web search info--I know little to nothing about skateboards. But I did have a 1964 Makaha. You see, it was a birthday gift to me from my Naval Aviator brother when I was 13, 1964. The next year my brother lost his life on his way to Vietnam in an F-4 Phantom. On his desk they found a book on marine sciences and fish encyclopedia with a birthday card for me. So I remember well, all too well....... The skate board had a wood deck (maple, I think) and blue wheels, new technology at the time. Wish I still had it, but some asshole stole it from me as we lived in PR and there everything has a price on it for a bag of smack.
We had a red board with some white writing and silver metal wheels, then some piece of junk from korvettes some years later, but my first true love was a lime green alan gelfand powell with clear grip tape, independent trucks and lime green sims snakes, really soft, the best wheels i ever had, rode 'em to nothing, and that was replaced by the best board i still ride today, santa cruz concave, trackers, sims snakes, but not soft or nearly as good as those bright lime green ones.
I used to drag the back yard picnic table out to the top of the driveway and lean some 4x8 sheets of plywood against it and call it a "ramp." Then we graduated to a spot we called "the ditch," which was a drainage ditch that looked like this - \_/ Good fun... After that, a local dentist built his kid a real half pipe in his back yard... birdhouse style. The rest is a fog........
1rst custom bort was cut from an old water ski. Had good trucks? and B52 Wheels. They were hard and could power slide for daze. Had to put tail pads on the tail because of the skis slope. Skated bowls with it for yrs. then got a variflex deck. Skatin' daze are done due to old manzitis. Brand new skate park a mile away. O well.
Lol. Yeah, i rigged up my share of "ramps" in the late 70s. A bunch of cinder blocks or a woodpile with a couple half rotten sheets of plywood just leaned up against them...sketchy as hell. Of course, i'd alwys have to spray paint some lame graffiti on it like "RAMPAGE" or whatever ridiculous sayings were floating around at the time. We did have a golf course with a small ditch running through it. Except for the occasional expansion holes that would catch the unsuspecting stoner's wheel and face-plant them into the wall, it was an excellent ditch with smooth surface, a decent amount of flat bottom, perfectly angled walls and a slightly rounded transition (no hard kink). Big sessions there...golfers hated us and we got chased away frequently.
lol reminds me of good times I remember when I was a youngin,this huge lumber yard a few miles away off the highway closed down,so it was abandoned and we made it our spot.u used to be able to do that,now u will probably get caught and go to jail for trespassing. this place was the real deal what we did with it.it had the main building,2 side barn lookin sheds on the side,and in the back was this huge concrete enclosed pit.we had fukin wars at this place lol,rival crews coming to try to take over.i swear it was like a half ass woodward lol,we had shopping carts with plywood,gaps,tabletops,etc.this was when I did bmx. we used to chill at this place every day for probably a year,i think we got raided once,it was so cool lol.we'd have huge parties,like 60 ppl lol.this spot was near the woods and off a highway so there was nobody to complain.now its a Walmart lol.
My first board was a Nash Executioner. My first real board was a Hosoi Hammerhead. Then I rode Powell for years. We built Quarters, halfs, launch ramps and even some bowls. In the 80's we didn't have the fancy skateparks we do today.
My first board was a John Lucero. I loved that thing to death and some a$$hole stole it. I think this is a good thread to find out how old everyone is without directly asking.
Ok, I found this clip on the board I rode in high school. Clay wheels, a big step up from the metal wheels. Urethane wheels didn't come out until the 1970's, so i was wrong, it wasn't urethane. I am as old, or wee bit older than Barry. Our generation brought you sex, drugs, rock n roll, ended the draft. You're welcome. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ-xHEUTImI
