The object of choice in which I will focus my attention on for the Fall 21 term is a skateboard. While I’ve always had an interest in sports and have centralized my personal artworks around sports, skateboarding is something I have picked up recently. I was always fascinated by “skate culture” and how this has formed entire groups of people following similar cultural ideals and styles. Especially the influence it had on teens in the 90s, the music, fashion, but more importantly the mindset the came from skate. Through the analysis of the word “technology,” it is hard to leave culture out of the conversation. The two go hand and hand, while culture is forever changing and advancing, it demands new technologies, and vice versa.

I hope to learn about the popularization of skateboarding and how this effected people socially as well as economically. When something transforms from a hobby to a sport, this is usually because of some type of capital gain. Companies such as Supreme and Volcom develop into large corporations, sponsoring professional skaters around the world. I’m interested to learn more about the corporatization of the sport and how this was protested by skaters.

During the winter 2021 semester, I wrote a paper on Barbara Kruger in my Critical Issues in Art History class.

"Kruger’s work amongst skate culture has lead to her highest successes, but it has also led to feuds with large companies such as Supreme. With design choices teetering on the edge of plagiarism, a look into Krugers response both verbally and artistically shows dominance in her ability to create original, textbased work."

"Kruger has been producing work since the late 1970s, but her work is seeing its greatest success in the past few years."

View essay here!

Skate culture encompasses the ideas of rebellion against an outdated system with art and expression, dedication and desperation. I would strongly argue that skateboarding has had more of a cultural influence on teenagers in the later half of the 20th century than any other sport or hobby did. This is largely due to the push against skateboarding by authority and older generations. The music, art, and mindset that erupted from skate culture in the last 50 years has been more significant to teen culture than any other sport. Many teenagers today still skateboard, it is making a comeback in terms of popularity. This is due to its individuality in nature. Skateboarding, is an individual sport with customizable, personal tricks, and this makes every skater unique. It makes them different. No two skaters are alike, no two styles are the same. Defying authority and banding together as youth has made a strong statement, and proves to still be in style today.

This timeline explores the major developments in skateboarding over the years, since around 1950, when kids first began constructing their own boards. A couple of key names appear in this timeline, from inventors of different parts that helped revolutionize the board to pro skaters who helped shape the sport itself.

Hover over the images to learn about the importance of this specific year or name in skateboarding! Explore the list of references at the end of the timeline. A special note goes towards The Impossible by Cole Louison, I found this source to be most informative and engaging as his book takes you through the history of skateboarding.

The Origins of Skate Pre-1960s

Skateboarding, born in California, began as an activity to do on a bad surf day. Surfing of course has a much more extensive history than skateboarding, dating back possibly to the 1700s when accounts were made of “wave sliding” in Tahiti.

Some terms still apply to skating as they did surfing, for example “frontside.” This means turning the opposite way your toes are pointing. Surfers used this term “when carving away from the wave they face, a backwards or blind carve.” (Louison, 5).

1959: The Roller Derby Board

Prior to any produced skateboard, kids would fasten rollerskate wheels to planks of board. In 1959 the roller derby skateboard debuted and cost $1.99. This cheap toy model was popular enough that companies were able to make a more quality board by 1962.

1962: Val Surf Shop, North Hollywood

In 1962 Bill Richards began producing skateboards in his surf shop, assmebled by his two teenage sons. Chicago Roller State Company supplied the trucks for these boards, cutting the “four-wheel units in two before shipping.” (Louison, 11) This was the first skateboard store.

By ’63, with more skate shops open and different styles of boards being created, boards were going for around $12. This year held the first ever skateboarding competition at Pier Avenue Junior High in Hermosa Beach, California.

1965: Patti McGee

In 1965 we see the premier issue of The Quarterly Skateboarder for 50 cents.

In this year, Patti McGee won the first intercollegiate skateboard championship and featured on the cover of Life doing a handstand on her board.

This footage is from 1965 when Patti appeared on Mike Douglas’s show, where she taught him and others how to skate. At this time, as Patti explains, skateboarding had only been popular for 4 years, and on the assembly lines in factories, only 2 years.

1965: The Menace

Skateboarding took off in 1965, it was a big year for the development of the sport. However, it was called a menace and spoken poorly of amongst society, especially the older generations.

Car insurance pamphlets at the time even included warnings of skateboarding and to “keep an especially sharp alert for this new traffic menace.” (Louison,13)

By August of 1965 skateboarding was banned in 20 cities. At this time everything came to a grinding halt. Back orders were cancelled, The Quarterly Skateboarderpublished four more issues before it shut down. Skateboarding was declared dead by 1966.

There was even a short film based in Montreal that “depicts skaters as rebellious and fighting against police,” (Beal, xv), called The Devil's Toy.

1972: Skateboarding's Second Phase of Fame

Through new technologies such as “the application of polyurethane to skateboarding wheels” (Borden, 12), skateboards became more modern and user friendly. Frank Nasworthy was credited as being the founder of these wheels. Two years later, by 1974, he would have sold over 120,000 sets, indicating that skateboarding was once again making a comeback.

1976: Rodney Mullen

Rodney Mullen came from a strict, yet wealthy household with a stern father. After months of scheming with his mother and becoming obsessed with his friends skateboards, he asked his father for a skateboard. The first time Rodney had asked, he was shut down quickly with the explanation that skateboarders were bums. After this carefully rehearsed interaction with his father, backed by his mother, Rodney was finally allowed to skate, it was 1976.

Within weeks, the 10 year old was better than the local skateboarding teenagers, and his father was the first to notice. “You’re better than all of those older guys.” (Louison, 37). The stigma that was created during the 70s which correlated skaters to being “bums” was largely to do with their bold, rebellious stances against the main stream. Long haired, pot smoking, baggy clothed school drop outs was the image many associated with skateboarding. Arguably, these teenagers paved the way for youth freedom amongst society, within their households too. Rodney “Mutt” Mullen would become one of the greatest skaters of all time.

1976: Innovation

Grip tape, introduced by Bruce Walker a couple years earlier, became commercialized in 1976 and “standard practice.” (Borden, 14). By this year, due to all the new innovations in skateboarding, manufacturers made over $250 million in turnover.

Skateboarder magazine re-launched during this year, selling out 300,000 copies immediately. Famous skate company Bahne peaked at selling a thousand complete skateboards a day.

What made the sport revolutionary is that from this time onward, skateboarding held more purpose. The practice is now “an ongoing dialectical engagement between young people and the law," (Carr).

1978: The Ollie

Alan Gelfand invents the ollie, the trick that “would revolutionize skateboarding in the future” (Beal, xvi)

1990s: Freaks and Geeks

Unlike more conventional hobbies and past-times, such as school sports teams and clubs, skateboarders were more independent and exploitative of their sub-status. Rodney Mullen would describe skaters as having “their own look, own clothes, own way of looking at the world.” (Borden, 24). These skaters saw themselves as societies freaks and geeks, they were often described as outcasts and rebels. This also has to do with the age range of skaters, with the majority being under the age of 20.

The millennial generation of the 90s was the most influenced by skateboarding, targeted as a youthful market. While skateboarding has always appealed to the youth, it was now being marketed as something that was rebellious and cool.

1995: The First X Games

The first launch of the X Games was in 1995, creating some of skateboardings first celebrities. Sponsorships linked to skaters now made them recognizable globally. It is no surprise that Tony Hawk took home gold in two events. From here there is a fast development of merchandise such as clothing, skateboards, and video games. In 1999, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater debuted and became one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. In this year he also landed the first ever 900 at the X Games.

1996: Tony Hawk

It would impossible to write a timeline of skateboarding without including the legendary Tony Hawk. Every sport has a superior athlete, someone who takes talent to the next level and pushes boundaries to the extreme. While basketball has Michael Jordan, skateboarding has Tony Hawk. With a childhood of skateboarding similar to that of Rodney Mullen, Tony Hawk became skateboardings superstar in the 1990s. By 1996 his brand Birdhouse Skateboards became hugely successful. The X Games, along with Hawks incredible talent, brought popularity to skateboarding like never before.

2010: Popularity Continues to Grow

By 2010 over 2000 skate parks are in operation in the United States and the skateboard industry is worth an estimated $5 billion. (Beal, xx)

2020: Tokyo Olympics

Controversy over whether skateboarding belongs in the Olympics in mostly discussed among skaters themselves. Skateboarding first came to the Olympics in the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics, which was met by a lot of resentment by skaters. “F*** the Olympics” trended on social media as “old-school skaters stick to the idea of skateboarding as essentially a do-it-yourself, unruly and daring counterculture and safe haven for nerds, misfits, and the underprivileged who neither comply with the physique nor the mindset of mainstream sportspeople.” (Manzenreiter).

The ideals created by the skate culture in pervious decades is still held onto by many. This shows true in the push against the professionalization of skateboarding, when many believe it should remain an amateur street sport.

Bibliography

Beal, Becky. “Skateboarding: The Ultimate Guide: Hardcover.” Barnes & Noble. ABC-CLIO, Incorporated, January 9, 2013.

Borden, Iain. Skateboarding and the City: A Complete History. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019.

Carr, John. Legal Geographies—Skating Around the Edges of the Law: Urban Skateboarding and the Role of Law in Determining Young Peoples' Place in the City, 2010.

Casil, Amy Sterling. Tony Hawk: Skateboard Mogul. New York: Rosen Pub., 2009.

Holthus, Barbara G., Gagné Isaac, and Wolfram Manzenreiter.Japan through the Lens of the Tokyo Olympics. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2020.

Louison, Cole. Impossible: Rodney Mullen, Ryan Sheckler, and the Fantastic History of Skateboarding. Rowman & Littlefield, 2011.

Martin, Michael. Skateboarding History: From the Backyard to the Big Time. Edge Books, 2006.

Raney, Arthur A., and Jennings Bryant. Handbook of Sports and Media. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014.

During the fall 2021 semester, I wrote a paper on Sky Brown for my History of Sports class. Sky Brown, at the age of 13, has become the youngest member of an Olympic skateboarding team, as well as one of the youngest females to ever compete in the Olympics.

She is ranked 2nd worldwide for female skateboarding, and won bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She continues to blaze a trail for young women to follow their dreams, and she is setting a new standard for skateboarding professionalism amongst a society that rejected the sport for so long.

View essay here!
View interactive map here!

A look at skateboarding’s history in terms of geographical significance. I have chosen locations that speak to the history of the sport, its origins and places of noteworthy changes throughout time, as well as locations that are important to local skaters of that area. Urban legends, if you will. The fascinating thing about skateboarding is that since it is a street sport, there are no shortages of neat spots around the world to skate. Places that were not supposed to be skateparks were overrun and utilized by skaters. The only difference is that, over time, this became less of a nuisance and menace to society, and more of an accepted part of social culture. Underground slabs of concrete that were once seen as a hub for outlaws, drug-using, rebels to society are now attended by hundreds of people of all age, race, and gender. There are even events held at some of these locations in which the public attends. While in the 1960s, organizations were formed in Toronto to protect the rights of skaters from the police, in the 2010s, cities in South Africa applaud and encourage skateboarding as a way to keep youth off the streets and away from gang violence. The influences of skateboarding have developed drastically over the past several decades.

Skateboarding is something that does not vary from country to country. While researching the geographical influences on the sport, I found that there were always more commonalities than differences. I read a great article about this journalist/skateboarder who travelled to different countries to experience their skate culture. One consistency was that, regardless of the language barrier, he was always able to communicate through skateboarding. The sport needs no explanation, as with any sport, there are formalities and subtle “etiquettes” to how you behave around others in your sport. I found this revelation grounding in a way, whether it was Nairobi, Vietnam, or Hong Kong, the skateboarding was all the same. It doesn’t matter what language you speak or what environment, government, political influences you grow up with, the scrapes and bruises are all the same.

The mapping assignment differs from the timeline assignment because it offers a different visual perspective. However, I favour the timeline better because the linear thought process of the progression of time makes more sense to me. Since the map also follows a certain order, slide by slide, it is difficult not to replicate a timeline- especially since most locations are significant to a certain time in history. I found myself putting the slides of the map in order of date anyway, and this inevitably displayed the concentration of locations originating in California for the most part, as skateboarding grew out of California. This map was also challenging because I found most sources were North American based. I had to dig much deeper to include other parts of the world, but this was challenging because skateboarding really did originate and develop in North America and therefore most of the significant locations to the history of skate are within one continent. Also, as I previously explained, the sport does not vary from location to location, it holds the same practices and etiquettes around the world, so this makes it challenging to find varying significance from skatepark to skatepark. Since the sport is so individual-based, there are no coaches or “team practices,” this means that each skater will have a favourite spot to skate, as well as their own opinion on which spots around the world are significant to the sport.

Click the link above to explore the interactive map! Also, while I was scouring the internet for exciting new information and sources, I came across this website which allows you to see every single skatepark in the world! I was skeptical at first but, sure enough, Guelph’s little skatepark just off of Wellington and Edinburgh is there. Take a look around at this amazing tool and utilization of a map.

Bibliography

Borden I. (2017) Skateboard City: London in Skateboarding Films. In: Hirsch P., O'Rourke C. (eds) London on Film. Screening Spaces. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. 

Doeden, Matt. Skateparks: Grab Your Skateboard. Mankato, MN: Capstone, 2006. .

Hayes, Martha. “Teenage Skateboard Superstar Sky Brown: 'I Begged My Parents to Let Me Go with Team GB'.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, July 17, 2021.

“It Wasn't Skateboarding in 1965. It Was 'Skurfing' | CBC Archives.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, June 15, 2021.

Lombard, Kara-Jane. Skateboarding: Subcultures, Sites and Shifts. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.

Louison, Cole. Impossible: Rodney Mullen, Ryan Sheckler, and the Fantastic History of Skateboarding. Rowman & Littlefield, 2011.

Mitchell, W. J. T., and Barbara Kruger. “An Interview with Barbara Kruger.” Critical Inquiry. The 7 University of Chicago , 1991

O'Connor, Paul. “Handrails, Steps and Curbs: Sacred Places and Secular Pilgrimage in Skateboarding.” Taylor & Francis, October 17, 2017.

Poissonnier, Greg. “These Are the 9 Global Spots You Have to Skate.” Red Bull. Red Bull, September 24, 2021.

Radikonyana, PS. “The Contribution of Skateboarding to Societal Challenges.” African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, Volume 6. AJHTL, 2017.

Rowe, Shelby. “The Carlsbad Gap: A Historical Look at One of Skating's Most Challenging Obstacles.” The Lancer Link, February 24, 2012.

If your browser does not support the graphic above you can view it in a separate tab here!

My skateboarding network is divided into three separate clusters of nodes. This layout helps easily show the connections between three different types of media. You can click and drag any one of the nodes to help spred out the cluters. The first cluster, centred mainly around The Quarterly Skateboarder, outlines the connections between print media- magazines and early print advertisements. This way of advertising and communication was popular in the 60s and 70s, and with this, skateboarding magazine companies began to grow and develop.

The second cluster of nodes, in terms of chronological order, surrounds Titus Dittmann. This cluster more so revolves around the lack of media surrounding skateboarding, and illustrates how these challenges influenced the underdevelopment of the sport throughout Germany. The division of Germany into East and West created immense amounts of struggles for skateboarding in terms of being able to advertise, communicate, produce, and develop. This suppression of media coverage held Germany back at least a decade in terms of skate development, compared to the United States. For example, the first skate shop in Germany, Titus Rollsport, didn’t open until 1978, whereas in the United States, Val-Surf opened in 1962. This setback wasn’t due to lack of interest by German youth, it was simply prohibited, illegal, and this created a large gap in terms of the sports development. This illustrates how the influence of media, or lack thereof in this case, can hold back a society from cultural development by years. While the rest of the world was embracing skate culture and evolving with the sport, it is almost as if Germany was in its own bubble.

The third cluster of nodes surrounds skateboarding in 2021. The last two years in skateboarding’s development have been groundbreaking. This surge in popularity is attributed to factors such as the Covid-19 Pandemic, the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and social media platforms such as TikTok. This cluster embraces the digital means of communication and exposure to skate culture. Several nodes are the result of skateboarding’s growth in popularity, while several others feed into what influenced the surge in popularity. Never before in history has there been such ease in sharing information: advertisements, skate videos, exposure to popular skate parks and local companies. Viral videos sent skateboard sales skyrocketing, for both big and small businesses, and skateboarding was even recognized in the Olympics for the first time in history. Thanks to our digital culture in 2021, skateboarding has made a comeback like never before.

With these three clusters, the viewer can easily compare different types of media and their influence on the sport. It can also be concluded how influential our modern-day social networking is, in terms of launching something’s popularity much faster than print was able to in the past. It took decades to develop skateboarding to where it was officially “popular,” i.e., large-scale magazine companies, sponsorships, national events such as the X-Games, and globally recognized corporations and merchandise. In the past two years alone, skateboarding has shown a similar level of development that had previously taken decades. This, as I propose in my cluster of nodes, is due to social media influences and the digital world that encompasses our modern lifestyle.

 

Bibliography

Atencio, Matthew, Becky Beal, E. Missy Wright, and ZáNean McClain. Moving Boarders: Skateboarding and the Changing Landscape of Urban Youth Sports. University of Arkansas Press, 2018. 

Bantock, Jack, and Amanda Davies. “Teenage Skateboard Sensation Sky Brown Saddened by Plight of Afghan Girls.” CNN. Cable News Network, October 2, 2021.

Borden, Iain. Skateboarding and the City: A Complete History. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019.

Carr, John. Legal Geographies—Skating Around the Edges of the Law: Urban Skateboarding and the Role of Law in Determining Young Peoples' Place in the City, 2010.

Doggface208. “Fleetwood Mac (This is the one) thanks everyone VIBE,VIBES, VIBEZZZZZZZ.” YouTube Video, 0:22. September 28, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcWA2wEFkeY.

International Olympic Committee. “Female Skateboarders on The Rise.” Olympics. International Olympic Committee, October 5, 2021. https://olympics.com/en/news/female-skateboarders-on-the-rise.

Marchal , Chloé. “Skateboarding from California to Berlin, Interview with Martel Persien.” Le Journal International, June 4, 2018. http://www.lejournalinternational.info/en/skateboard-de-californie-a-berlin/.

Miller, Claire. “How TikTok and Skater Girls Are Sending Skateboard Sales off the Wall.” NPR. NPR, April 19, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/19/986527276/how-tiktok-and-skater-girls-are-sending-skateboard-sales-off-the-wall.

Person. “The Madman of Münster.” Transworld SKATEboarding. Adventure Sports Network, January 30, 2008. https://skateboarding.transworld.net/news/the-madman-of-m-nster/.

Severson, John, ed. The Quarterly Skateboarder 1, no. 1, 1964. https://skateboarding.transworld.net/skateboarder-archives/skateboarder-magazine-volume-1-issue-1/.

For my final assignment for CTS*2010 Digital Approaches to Culture, I chose to create a narrative using a zine. A zine is a really old tradition where an artist creates a simple, fast, completely unprofessional and unpolished book or magazine. They were intended to be copied several times and sold for next to nothing. Zines include both text and images, self-made drawings and cutouts from newspapers or magazines. Zines are small in size, they consist of eight pages are have a “do-it-yourself” quality. They started to appear in the 1930s and held anti-authoritarian messages. I thought it was a neat opportunity to tip my metaphorical hat to the origins of zines by using skateboarding as my theme because the sport holds some of the same rebellious, anti-authoritarian themes. It is also interesting to note that the historical value of zines is now being recognized, thanks to the ease of circulation via the internet. The sci-fi fascination of the 60s (Star Trek), the punk scene surrounding the 70s and 80s influenced popular zines such as Slash, Dazed, and Sniffin’ Glue, focusing on the culture surrounding punk music, and the grungy, dirty zines of the 90s. Today zines cover ever theme imaginable, with the influence of social media and the ease of shared information, zines are not limited to one aesthetic. However, it is hard to identify a theme or trend while you’re in the middle of it. It is only when time has passed that we can look back and point out such “obvious” trends of a certain time period.

Creating this zine was a really exciting opportunity to use all of the information that I’ve gathered over the semester and summarize it in my own words. All of the sources I have cited in the timeline, mapping, and networking assignments have fuelled the knowledge I currently have on skateboarding. Going into this subject back in September, I had little knowledge of skateboarding and skate culture. I was limited to a sample of what I had seen in popular culture, mostly shows and movies that depict skaters in a certain way. It was so cool to see how skateboarding has morphed and changed over the decades. In the 60s, the teens that essentially invented the sport were immediately slapped on the wrist because their “hooligan” activity would interrupt traffic and lead to lots of injuries, especially because of the clunky clay wheels. Its resurgence in the 70s is what made skateboarding globally recognized. This is where large companies started popping up and capitalizing on the skate craze. Inventors and innovators made the boards slick and modern, and new polyurethane wheels enhanced the abilities of the board. Skateboarding really evolved from a hobby to a sport in the late 70s and throughout the 80s when legitimate competitions were circulating globally. The punk scene in the 80s led to the stigma surrounding skaters and their… image. I argue, though, that the 90s was the prime decade for rebellion among the skating community. Cities were littered with “no skateboarding” signs, every shop owners worst nightmare was a group of loitering, pot-smoking skaters outside their storefront. It is kind of funny to reflect on that, as I am a product of the 2000s, it is hard to imagine that many kids outside to begin with.

The days of kids and teens wreaking havoc throughout town died in the early 2000s, and especially now in 2021, the culture is completely different. Skaters aren’t “bad” anymore, they are not out smashing windows and tagging walls. Instead, our modern day of skate birthed a new culture, one of inclusion. While half of the people on social media are skating for the aesthetic (“do it for the gram”), everyone genuinely has good intentions with the sport. As of 2021, skateboarding was included in the Olympics for the first time in history. It is now a respected sport, whereas in the 90s there would be no way in hell it would be part of something so official and traditional as the Olympics. Skaters were punks. Well, skaters are still punks, but they are good people. People of all age, race, gender, size are in skateparks. You cannot lump skaters into a category anymore (one of male-dominated vandals) because absolutely everyone out there is different. Videos circulate around the internet of teenage boys holding the hands of little girls trying a ramp for her first time at the skatepark. Strangers helping strangers. This is the skateboarding culture of 2021, one that has changed and morphed over the decades, and I am so excited about it.

 

Click here to view the digital interactive zine!

 

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