Jason Mitchell, Seismic Nationals 2007, Hybrid Slalom.  Photo by Greg Fadell Northern California Downhill Skateboarding Association
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Skateboard History (385 Posts)
Topic Post
'FiSh'.....!
On 9/29/2008 Rene CANNONBALL Carrasco wrote in from United States  (71.129.nnn.nnn)


What happened to 'Fish?"

That guy was a good racer !

'FISH' TALKIN' TO 'SUMDUMSURFER' @ 2004 SK8KINGS SK8JAM - H.B.

Blurry Photo: By Cannonball.




====================================================

 
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more Stuart Singer
On 9/9/2008 bob wrote in from United States  (198.105.nnn.nnn)

More on Stuart Singer.

Here body shop's website.

http://www.stuartspnb.com/

 
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Stuart Singer
On 9/9/2008 Bob wrote in from United States  (198.105.nnn.nnn)

I just discovered the History area here.

Saw some people asking about Stuart Singer.

Here is an article from 2003. Last I heard he had an auto body shop in Dallas, and did hotrod kind of stuff there.

http://www.barefootcentral.com/march_2003.htm

 
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Doug, Caddy, Pat...
On 9/7/2008 caddy wrote in from United States  (206.135.nnn.nnn)

Photobucket

 
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Michael...
On 8/5/2008 Rene CANNONBALL Carrasco wrote in from United States  (71.129.nnn.nnn)


My condolences and good thoughts go out to
Michael Kings Family for their loss...

-Michael's description sounded like he was RAD skater,
and a BIG part of Florida's Skateboarding History !

I wish my brothers and I could have met or
skated with him !





Hey Bruce -
sounds like your film you mentioned was probably
Escape Country !

Yes - - - THAT PLACE WAS VAST - - -
nothing but black top & dirt !

-when you were done skateboarding there -
you usually had a LAYER or coating of dust & dirt
all over your skin, hair, and clothes !


-you goin' to San Diego ASR in Sept. ?
Maybe I'll see ya there.



Here's some of my favorite photo's from ASR...

2004 ASR -
RENE CARRASCO WITH THE LATE GREAT "UNCLE" DAVE NUUHIWA SR.



2005 ASR -
RENE CARRASCO MICKEY MUNOZ AND RANDY CARRASCO.



2005 ASR -
RENE, GREG NOLL, RANDY AND DAVID CARRASCO.




2005 ASR -
RENE, RANDY, AND DAVID CARRASCO WITH CORKY CARROLL.




Take care,

.....-Rene Carrasco.

WWW.RENECARRASCO.COM












======================================

 
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Florida Skater Mike King passes away
On 8/2/2008 Bruce Walker wrote in from United States  (65.33.nnn.nnn)

For Immediate Release
August 01, 2008


Michael Arthur King, 54, passed away suddenly on Saturday, July 26, 2008. He suffered a heart attack while driving home from a game of golf in his hometown of Palm Bay, Florida. Mike was able to pull to the side of the road but was gone by the time medical help arrived.

A native Floridian, Mike began skateboarding in the late 1960's and became one of the east coast's early pioneers of the sport. He made his mark in skateboarding in the early 1970's skating the infamous Haulover underpass in North Miami Beach. Mike later became a member of the Walker Skateboard Team and competed regularly in contests, routinely driving the Walker team van around the state, ferrying teammates like Rodney Mullen and Jim McCall to contests and demos. As one of the sport's elders, Mike's advice and coaching of the team was an extra bonus to sponsor Bruce Walker. "Mike King was an original. He was such a benefit to have along when we traveled because he kept our teamriders out of trouble by keeping them on track and focused. He was well known for his upbeat, positive attitude and he effected those around him in a very positive way." recalled Walker. "He will be sorely missed."

In 2002, Mike King was nominated for induction into the Florida Skateboard Hall of Fame. While he has not yet been formally inducted, Mike's name has continuously appeared on the nominee list and will again be in consideration for the upcoming induction ceremony, scheduled for January 2009 at Surf Expo in Orlando, Florida.

Mike King is survived by his wife Maria, sons Chris, Richard, and Patrick, and daughter Michelle. His funeral service was held on Friday, August 1, 2008 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Palm Bay. In lieu of flowers, an education fund has been set up. Donations can be made out to Patrick S. King c/o Riverside National Bank, 4625 Babcock St.NE, Palm Bay, FL 32905.

 
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Escape Country
On 8/2/2008 Bruce Walker wrote in from United States  (65.33.nnn.nnn)

I've been trying to figure out why I never heard of Escape Country. I'm still not sure why nobody ever mentioned it to me during my several trips to California in '76 and '77. After reading several posts about the place, I now realize that I probably have some Super-8mm footage of what is likely Escape Country. The footage was taken of Jacky Grayson, Lewis Graves and maybe Jeff Klugel skating it in late 1976, filmed with my camera, probably by Greg Mungall. I wasn't on that trip myself and I've never seen or skated the place. The footage is of a giant drainage ditch that appears to be made of asphalt. It has a flat bottom between the side slopes and the whole thing runs at a slant from the top of the run to the bottom. At the bottom, the ditch ends in a rounded area that actually creates a very wide, drawn-out "bowl". I use the term "bowl" very loosely. It appears that this drainage ditch is not a real or natural drainage ditch, but rather something created to look like one. This lends credence to the concept or idea that it was created specifically to ride or skate on. Separate from the ditch, there's also an incredible distance of winding, snaking, flat asphalt paths that run through a very large area with lots and lots of surrounding dirt. In the footage, there doesn't appear to be any buildings or other structures and I cannot see any "skate terrain" or other structures that would be normal to skateboarding as we know it. If this was a skatepark, it would have to be the largest ever in history, in terms of actual square footage. I will ask Jacky, Jeff and Greg about anything they might remember about the place. I can't ask Lewis Graves though, because he passed away several years ago. Unfortunately, none of the information gleaned from this footage tells anything about WHEN this place was built.

Later,
Bruce Walker

 
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EsCaPe CoUnTrY (more)
On 7/20/2008 Buddy Rawls wrote in from United States  (64.12.nnn.nnn)

Ok, I got the book.
I have to admit reading the book and hearing about the Escape Country park, I never realized what I was seeing in the past. I have seen lots of photos of the place back in the 70's. But 1) I never realized it was built as a skateboard park. I had always thought it was a go cart track (or similar). Also, The huge resorvoir pic in the pic was the first time I had ever seen that. 2) I never pieced together that Escape Country was the same place. Too funny. So now a small puzzle has been completed. I learned about Escape Country, and how it fit in with old pics that I never even realized was a purpose-built skateboard facility.

Rene thanks for the props about the book. It is a great resource. I got it $7 delivered, cant beat that.

Next, the Steve's South Bay park. I dont recall seeing that park before in the mags. BEing an outsider of the california scene, my only connection was in the 3 mags at the time.

 
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EsCaPe CoUnTrY......
On 7/14/2008 buddy rawls wrote in from United States  (128.158.nnn.nnn)

thanks for the input. I went ahead and snagged a used one on Amazon.

 
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EsCaPe CoUnTrY......
On 7/11/2008 Rene CANNONBALL Carrasco wrote in from United States  (71.136.nnn.nnn)


Buddy Rawls -
( -sounds like a Jazz/great's name )

Man O Man, I kept checkin' my Gmail account
and that City Planner never got back to me -
regarding Escape Country's beginning. ,,,,,,hmmm.


If you look at Rhynn Nolls' book:
'SKATEBOARDING PAST PRESENT FUTURE' ( Schiffer Books )
-on pages 90 91 92 93 94 there are photo's of Escape Country.

Photobucket">

-GREAT photo's BTW ~ by legendary Surf Photographer Leroy Grannis.


On page 91 - the photo is of the snake run event -
the fellas in the striped shirts are:
me, brother David, and John Strazizitch.

On page 92 is a photo of the snake run course .
I don't think you have EVER seen a snake run that long. Ever.

Even back then they had big read out lighted numbers
displaying the racers times. ...Way ahead of their time.
( similar to the 'racing drag strips' timers - back then. )


In those photo's you can see the vastness of the area -
with mountains close by, and all that dirt and asphalt !



Take care,

.....-Rene Cannonball Carrasco.








====================================================

 
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Ocean Bowl
On 7/10/2008 buddy rawls wrote in from United States  (128.158.nnn.nnn)

Thansk for the link, I have been to that site a few times, but do not remember the history page, and thats something I normally look for. I was in DC back around 2001/2002, but never got a chance to drive over to the ocean bowl. I ended up hitting the Vans pool many times, though.

Anyway, it looks like ocean bowl lagged Skatcity and Carslbad by a few months. still very early stuff though.
The park boom really cranked up in the summer of 76. By 77 it was in full swing. By late 77, even the non coastal type areas were even getting into the picture with parks.

whats the story on Vernon?

 
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Assfault
On 7/9/2008 joe i wrote in from United States  (67.189.nnn.nnn)

I personally skated two asphalt parks in the Delmarva area. One in rehobeth behind City hall and one in Ocean City. History here http://oceanbowl.com/History/history.html

 
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Mt. Thrashmore
On 7/9/2008 PG wrote in from United States  (198.151.nnn.nnn)

I think the asphalt park you are thinking about was called Mount Trashmore. It was built on a old Landfill. THe park os in Virginia I believe. It use to have a asphalt snake run.

PG

 
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asphault
On 7/9/2008 Fatboy wrote in from United States  (67.94.nnn.nnn)

wasn't that asphault park in Maryland or something? I remember pictures of it.

Vernon park was...............interesting, like Herb said. The big trick in the "bowl" was to fly out and land disaster-style. Lotsa snapped decks! The "halfpipe" was horrible too, one side higher than the other and more of a "V" shape than a "U" shape.

And because it was on a hill, you'd be screamin' at the end of the snakeruns! We used to ride the snake catamaran - FUN!

But hey, it was pretty smooth!

 
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saddleback mountain
On 6/19/2008 buddy rawls wrote in from United States  (128.158.nnn.nnn)

wasn't that a huge motocross facility too

 
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*EsCaPe CouNTRy .....Hang Gliding, BMX Racing, Skateboarding, & Music !?
On 6/18/2008 Rene CANNONBALL Carrasco wrote in from United States  (71.129.nnn.nnn)


Buddy Rawls ....

I talked to a senior city planner @
Rancho Santa Margarita,
and she said that she would get back to me
about WHEN Escape Country Skatepark was actually built.

It was wierd, back then....
the skatepark was up on Saddleback Mountain...
-there was Hang Gliding, BMX Racing, and Skateboarding
GOING ON - ALL IN ONE PLACE !

I understand that some Hang Gliding World Records
were set there too !


They would have Skateboard Racing early morning
on Sundays ( finish around 1:00 PM )
-and when we would be going home - - -
winding back down the mountain roads - - -
we would see HUNDREDS OF BIKERS & VANS passing us by -
riding UP TO Escape Country,
where they would hold Music Concerts
on Sunday afternoons !*&^%# #
( hey - it was the 70'S ! )

Well, I heard that someone got STABBED
at one of those Music Concerts -
So.....that's why they closed-up Escape Country !


Trippy, huh ?





Take care,

...............-Rene Cannonball Carrasco.










================================




Take care,

.............-Rene Carrasco.

 
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vernon, NJ
On 6/18/2008 buddy rawls wrote in from United States  (128.158.nnn.nnn)

I am not familiar with Vernon, but I do know there was an asphalt park real early on on the east coast. It may have been Vernon. the first ocean bowl park was pretty early too.

the parks i am trying to really trying get on are the ones that existed prior to carlsbad and Skatboard city. these parks are always touted as the first, but there was definitely purpose-built terrain (not just a lot set aside for skateboards) prior to those. Frederick and escape country were definitely open in 75. An internet friend in the S/C area sent me pics of frederick. there is still one turn in place, right now.

 
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vernon nj
On 6/11/2008 herbn wrote in from United States  (67.83.nnn.nnn)

vernon had to be fairly early, there should be a list compiled of lets say the first 100. cherry hill was 79/80 i think, i went for maybe a year or two during highschool, vernon was the first skatepark for me,i think it had my attention for a couple of summers there 77/78 (?) flying down the snake runs was really cool,emphasis at the time was in the bowl and halfpipe, which kind of sucked,they were built across the grade of the hillside and one side was higher than the other.

 
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Skatboard City
On 6/9/2008 buddy rawls wrote in from United States  (128.158.nnn.nnn)

Thanks a lot guys for the info on Skatboard City. Bruce Walker's tieing the dates together is awesome.

the next question is where does Escape Country, Frederick Street, and others fit into this? they were all purpose built skate facilities, built prior to Carlsbad and Skatboard City.

Surfers World, from the 60's, was also something to consider. However, you have to draw the line between a lot (even with a slant) simply set aside as a area for skateboarding, as opposed to actual purpose built terrain. I definitely consider Escape country and Frederick as true blue skate terrain.

 
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Skatboard City
On 6/6/2008 Jack wrote in from United States  (68.126.nnn.nnn)

Hey Bruce, good to see you here. I skated Skatboard City in August of 1976 after myself, Jeff French and Tom Filben finished our cross-country skateboard trek. I have some Super 8 footage of our visit, I'll try and get it posted.

Drop me an email if you have time: jack@theskateboardersjournal.com

 
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First Skatepark
On 6/5/2008 Bruce Walker / Florida wrote in from United States  (65.33.nnn.nnn)

Charley Gonzalez is absolutely correct that Skatboard City in Port Orange, Florida opened before Carlsbad Skatepark in California. His January, 1976 date for Skatboard City is accurate in that the park was definitely under construction in January, and he was perhaps hired by the owners that same month. I'm pretty sure however, that the Port Orange park didn't actually open to the public until late February or possibly even the first week of March. I remember because in mid-late February we drove up from Melbourne Beach because we'd been tipped off that the last section of concrete in the big bowl had just been poured the day before. We set out at 5:30am and arrived at Skatboard City at 7am because we knew the construction crew would be showing up soon and we didn't want to be kicked out after driving for an hour and a half. Jacky Grayson, Jeff Klugel, Greg Mungall and I climbed under the locked fence and skated for a couple of hours before anyone else showed up. I filmed the session, got pretty good footage, and to this day, have still never released that footage to the public, which is true of most all of my early film footage. The final stages of construction continued for one more week and then Skatboard City officially opened.

About 2-3 weeks after the Port Orange park opened, I flew to California and skated and filmed the Carlsbad Skate Park. That was late March, 1976. Warren Bolster was there shooting and told me the park at Carlsbad had opened roughly 1 week before I arrived and that's why I'm certain that Skatboard City opened before Carlsbad.

A couple of weeks after that I was skating and filming the freshly poured concrete bowl at the Paved Wave in Cocoa, Florida. That session was about 2 weeks before the Paved Wave opened to the public.

From that point, there was a flurry of new parks opening all over the place and I skated as many of them as I could get to, which turned out to be quite a few. Warren Bolster told me I was the guy who had ridden more skateparks than anyone. I suppose I held that distinction for at least a short while.

I hope this information helps clear some things up.

Later,
Bruce Walker

 
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Boulder Board
On 5/11/2008 bman wrote in from United States  (68.231.nnn.nnn)

Boulder Board on the Bay. Been a while since I've seen one like this, very rare!

VINTAGE SKATEBOARD NOS Skateboard Rare Dogtown
------Boulder Custom------- Item number: 130221253737

This thread should move to Vintage equipment.

 
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Triton Pictures
On 5/10/2008 Pauliwog wrote in from United States  (65.122.nnn.nnn)

Hey BMan, Thanks for the link, I checked it out and that brings back good memmories. Adios -Paul

 
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Triton
On 5/9/2008 bman wrote in from United States  (205.142.nnn.nnn)

http://www.artofskateboarding.com/Pg/aos_pg_results.asp?cat_search=z&comp_search=288&skate_search=z&artist_search=z&pagesize=15

 
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E.H. Wallboard
On 5/9/2008 bman wrote in from United States  (205.142.nnn.nnn)

I have an undrilled / ungripped Wallboard stashed away in my garage. I will have to post pic for you. I was a team rider......

 
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