The History of Skateboarding

Nobody knows for sure when skateboarding officially was created, but many people agree it were only available in the late 1940's or early 1950's. Surfers in California were always looking to catch a trend, but wanted something "to surf" when the waves were flat. No one knows who made the very first board either -- it appears that many people had similar ideas around the same time. These first skateboarders began "surfing on land" with wooden boxes or boards with roller skate wheels attached on the bottom.

 

With time, these boxes turned into planks, and eventually companies started producing decks of pressed layers of wood -- like the skateboard decks you see today. Throughout the 1940's and 1950's, skateboarding was regarded as something to complete for fun besides surfing, and was therefore often referred to as "One-Wheel Skateboard Lawsuit" ;.

 

As sidewalk surfing took off, a few surfing manufacturers, such as for example Makaha, started building skateboards that resembled small surfboards. The popularity of skateboarding currently spawned a national magazine, Skateboarder Magazine. In 1965 an international championship was broadcast on national television. The growth of the activity during the 1960's is also apparent by taking a look at sales figures for Makaha, which quoted $10 million worth of board sales between 1963 and 1965 (Weyland, 2002:28). Yet, sales dropped dramatically the following year and in 1966 Skateboarder Magazine stopped publication. The popularity of skateboarding dropped and remained low before the early 1970s.

 

Currently, Frank Nasworthy began creating a skateboard wheel made from polyurethane, calling it the "Cadillac", as he hoped this will convey the smooth ride it allowed the rider to feel. There were also tremendous improvements in traction and performance. When the brand new wheel was launched in 1972, the popularity of skateboarding began increasing again. Many companies started manufacturing trucks (axles) especially created for skateboarding, and continually looked for ways to increase performance. As the gear became more maneuverable, the decks got wider, reaching widths of 10 inches (250 mm) and over, thus giving the skateboarder even more control. Through the mid-1970's "banana boards" became popular. This term described skateboards manufactured from polypropylene that have been skinny, flexible, and had ribs on underneath for structural support. These were for sale in plenty of colors, but bright yellow was probably the most memorable, thus the name.

 

As skateboarding continued to be popular, manufacturers experimented with an increase of exotic materials and metals, such as fiberglass and aluminum, but many skateboards were made from maple plywood. Skateboarders loved the improved handling of the boards and started inventing new tricks. In 1976, many swimming pools were left empty because of the California drought. Many well-known names, such as for example Ty Page, Bruce Logan, Bobby Piercy, Kevin Reed, and the Z-Boys (so-called for their local Zephyr surf shop) started initially to skate the vertical walls of these swimming pools and started the vert trend in skateboarding. These vert skaters could now skate faster and perform more dangerous tricks, such as for instance slash grinds and frontside/backside airs. This caused liability concerns and increased insurance costs to skate park owners. Many closed their doors. Because of this, vert skaters started making their particular ramps, while freestyle skaters continued to evolve their flatland style.

 

In the 1980's, skateboarders invented new vert tricks: the no-hands aerial (later known as the ollie) by Alan Gelfand in Florida and the almost parallel development of the grabbed aerial by George Orton and Tony Alva in California. However, the majority of individuals who skateboarded during this era couldn't afford to construct vert ramps or didn't have use of nearby ramps, so street skating gained in popularity. Freestyle skating remained strong throughout the 1980's with pioneers such as for instance Rodney Mullen inventing many of the basic tricks of modern street skating like the Impossible and the kickflip. The influence freestyle had on street skating became apparent during the mid-80's, but street skating was still performed on wide vert boards with short noses, slide rails, and large soft wheels. Skateboarding, however, evolved quickly in the late 1980's to allow for the road skater. Since few skate parks were available to skaters currently, street skating pushed skaters to look for shopping centres and public and private property as their "spot" to skate. Public opposition, and the threat of lawsuits, forced businesses and property owners to ban skateboarding on the property. Due to this, by 1992, the game had declined in popularity again and lacked the mainstream interest attract new skaters.