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The photo of my father was taken in Southern California around 1965. I love the wide sidewalk. It's perfect for learning how to skateboard, a love which was passed down to my brother and me. View full size.
Sick photo. One of my friends was supposed to give me a board like that. It belonged to his dad but unfortunately I never got it. I would have been cool to have though.
Tony,
I was 5 years old here (1965) and was the first kid in the apartment complex to get this "steel wheeled" red painted beauty.
It was hard to go over the cracks in the sidewalk, as well as any little pebble, I credit this board for teaching me balance, which later helped me in motocross. The place here is West Covina. Note all the oil spots on the road, seems like all cars leaked back then!
Love Dad
What a great picture. I am currently collating information, pictures and memorabilia for a display about the birth of skateboarding. Please let me know if it would be OK to reproduce this photo. Also, if other members can provide any suitable images, I would be very grateful.
Thank you.
Robin (in the UK)
Robin@RockTheJoint.com
I think I participated in the full scope of skateboarding. When we first moved to California in the late fifties, new friends showed us how to dismantle roller skates and affix the two ends to the bottom of a 1 x 6 plank, producing a rig much like the picture. We kids kept this sport going through high school on a home-made basis. The sound effects in Jan and Dean's "Sidewalk Surfing" song were unmistakably steel wheels on concrete. In 1965 I saw my first factory made skateboard using quieter composition wheels, whose owner did daring tricks like handstands far beyond our simple ambition to get a fast ride. Decades later I sprained my wrists attempting to ride my nephew's neoprene-wheeled board whose shaped, non-skid flexible deck clung to my feet and prevented me from hopping off to avoid a large crack.
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