John OMalley - Urethane Revolution: The Birth of Skate San Diego 1975

The Thornhill 360, one of the most beautiful and iconic skate photos of all time. Laura Thornhill, skater. Warren Bolster.

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.com

Copyright 2019 by John OMalley

All rights reserved

Front cover: Bobby Piercy. Warren Bolster.

First published 2019

e-book edition 2019

ISBN 978.1.43966.666.1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018960984

print edition ISBN 978.1.46713.990.8

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For
Joe Twyford
whose Deep Listening
was a superpower.

Chris Strople captured in strobe on the clear plastic Firestone Ramp. Warren Bolster.

FOR LISTENING

Cindy, Di, Betsy, TSJ, Kennedy, MAC

THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

(in no particular order)

Dan Lefkowitz

Margaret M. Whitehead

Don Sheridan

Ding and Judy Fix

Betsey Binkley Gordon

Di Dootson

Jane Rogers

Janet & Mike Tremonte

Warren Bolster

Cindy Berryman

Dave Dash

Thomas W. Hazlett

Gary Holterman

(This was all your faultwe both know this.)

Lance Smith

Bill Bahne

Bob Bahne

Charlie Nelson

Sally Ann Miller

Noel Korman

Ann Myeroff

Tommy T

Adam Dabonka

Wes Humpston

Stan Strocher

Milk SoNo

Laura Thornhill

VERY, VERY, VERY, BIG THANKS TO THE PHOTOGRAPHERS FOR THEIR SPECTACULAR CONTRIBUTIONS:

Warren Bolster Estate

Lance Smith

Larry Balma

Richard Slick Dowdy

Art Brewer

Glen Miyoda

John Malvino

Di Dootson archive

Laura Thornhill Archive

Tracker Trucks Archive

Jim Goodrich

Special thanks to Tracker Trucks for their support. Tracker has a spectacular, 388-page book about its forty-year ride. Its jam-packed with cool photos and stories, and it is one terrific deal; you should tool over to the Tracker website and buy a copy right now. Go ahead, do it now, this will keep.

Note: Some of my photos were smoke damaged a while back, but I decided to run the ones that I loved here anyway.

And finally, I totally hit the EDITOR JACKPOT! with Laurie Krill. Thank you for picking me out of the pile. And thanks to everyone at The History Press who helped bring this book to life.

Tom Sims, longboarding at the Concrete Wave Skatepark, decades before longboarding became cool. So, I ask the question: When did it become okay to exclude long boards in your skateparks? Warren Bolster.

CONTENTS

Concrete Wave Skatepark overview. Warren Bolster.

FOREWORD

If youve never read any of the bits that I publish in the gravity sports rags, youre probably not missing too much. Theyre usually just my field reports from some collision of idiots. I stay out of the frame and hold the material up to the light for a minutetry to keep my head down.

Dont you hate it when some knob breaks into your stream just to listen to himself talk?

But even worse is the Dry White Toast (DWT) of the Reverential. Recount. Of. Facts.

I cant stand any of that tedious crap.

And unfortunately for me, this sitting down and writing it all out nice, is just a big, big, pain in the ass. Id rather open up a genuine White Toast Store, where I butter you an artisanal sourdough slice, singed to perfection. You pay me my five bucks and we each go our own way with bellies full and dignity somewhat intact.

And its not like we havent worn out some good stretch of this road already with the telling and retelling, ad nauseam, of tales of the excellent Dogtown/Z-Boys skaters. They are our brothers, and we love them. Best crew ever. But its thrown shade over what is truly the larger story.

And then one day I saw a posting online from a preeminent Dry White Toast guy, stating correctly, that the seventies skate crewmy crewhad done a poor job of telling their story.

And thats what rang my bell.

But shout over decades of fist-pumping Dogtown liturgy?

Ill pass.

And besidesMe? I like a fish story.

But then one day, I caught a glimpse of a fish story where Im in the frame just an inch and thoughtwell then

Now we have a car chase. Or two

Now we have a plane crash. Or two

Now we have senior White House staff

The Mafia

Fast cars

A Gypsy fortuneteller...

Naked hippie chicks

Colombian narcos

Jacques Cousteau

And the six-hundred-pound gorilla in the room passing out straws

Huge piles of blow

Nowwe have a fish story.

So I guess Im your guy.

Beginning in around 1974, thered be a convergence of these talented and tangent individuals arriving to take up the Surf Life in Encinitas, California. Some of them would become essential in the creation of our modern-day Skate culture.

I cant explain how it was that these few converged on the same backwater beach town at the same time. But for my part, it went like this

Your Tracker Trucks delivered by handsome hippies, Keith Hagen (left) and Lance Smith. Larry Balma/Tracker Archive.

Local surfer Deano, waiting for a ride. Richard Dowdy.

Early flower power, Encinitas. Richard Dowdy.

Russ Gosnell skating the Tracker ramp. Lance Smith/Tracker Archive.

TRAJECTORY (NOUN)

1: The path followed by a projectile flying or an object moving under the action of given forces.

2: A curve or surface cutting a family of curves or surfaces at a constant angle.

I hear those tsks and groans. Yeah thats right, the definition gambit. Lamest opening of em all.

Just give me another minute here