SKATE::MEGASUPEREXTREMEGETYOURSWAGON
Ever wonder what the fuck happened to skateboarding? I do on a daily basis. I find myself wondering how what was once considered a “silly fad” has become more blown out than Jenna Jameson after 5 days on set. It may sound harsh but its the reality of what was once a collective of bored surfers who decided they would chop up a pair of roller skates, nail it to a 2 x 4 and surf suburbia.
When I think of skateboarding in the 60’s, I think of a few homies cruising the streets hitting rocks and slamming on their faces all while laughing about it. If it weren’t for boredom and curiosity we wouldn’t have this piece of 7 ply maple, 8 bolts, 2 trucks, 4 wheels and 8 bearings that we call a skateboard. Which has brought me to where we are right now at 1:51 am on May the 26th.
The way I see it is that the majority of people have forgotten where they’ve come from and how they got where they are. Example the “Core Skate Shop” I find it odd when a new shop opens and claims to be “Core” what are you the “Core” of? To be a “Core Skate Shop” its a title that you earn not that is coined and fabricated before you have a board on the wall. Example numero dos, the big corporations that have decided skateboarding is the hottest thing since Bo Derek. My favorite is the over advertising and logo-ing, like Monster, where were you when skateboarding fell on its face in the 80’s? Oh you weren’t even around thats right, I see the letter M more than the letters that make up my name, thats kinda sad. Don’t get me wrong 0.01% of me is stoked that skateboarders are making 6 - 7 figure incomes the other 99.99% just wishes skateboarding would become hated overnight so it can return to what it really is, the brotherhood that it was born to be.
I was more or less born into skateboarding. My dads been on a board since 76, I came into the picture in 83 and ever since I can remember there was a skateboard in eyesight. Not always a setup but something that related to skateboarding, whether it were an old tore up pair of shoes or a helmet with stickers from an era forgotten. Just one 5 minute conversation with my dad about how shit was back then is amazing. There was no mega super extreme get your swag on bullshit, branding, complex marketing schemes, transparent gimmicks, kooks on scooters, mega corporations throwing money around like confetti and contracts dictating how you should look. There was and always will be more to it than the general public can process. You ever hear the saying “Dumb it down to the lowest common denominator” I have more than a few times, this doesn’t apply to skateboarding, it is what it is and no matter how hard you try you’ll never break it down.
Fast forward to 9/6/1993 these six numbers hold a place in my life that marks the day I got my first complete, it was a Chapter 7 ever slick with 49 mm Jahmal Williams wheels and Grind King trucks. If you just started skateboarding now would be a good time to start googling shit. Your probably going wtf theres a 10 year gap in the middle of this retrospective, reason being I didn’t skate yet. That summer of 93 was the year that defined what the rest of my life would become, one giant skate trip.
Skateboarding in the 90’s was interesting, it was still transitioning from the big boards and wheels of the 80’s to the toothpick and bearing condom era, the tricks that were once done on vert ramps were now taken to the streets. This was the era of progression, I remember skating with the homies in Jan Ree every chance we got. The crew was Myself, Jeff Sharp, Daniel Sharp, Scott Burgess, Jeff McCasky, Kimo, Justin Gates, Brian Summers, Jared Swift and whoever else happened to have a skateboard, needless to say we were what made up the outcasts of Jan Ree. It wasn’t so serious back then all we did was skate curbs, eat shit trying to ollie up shit, roll off loading docks and hit rocks and slam like the early few that braved the board. We had no idea of what being a skateboarder consisted of, WE JUST SKATED, we created that feeling of this thing called fun, there were no cameras, freakouts, reality show deals, T.O.G’s or anything you can do I can do better attitudes, it was fucking fun as hell. As we got older friendships dissipated and everyone went their own way, this was around 99 - 00, some still skate, some are married with children and 9 - 5 comfort of the American dream, some are successful business owners, a few are no longer with us RIP Erick Sannes, Jason Orpilla and Alex “Stubbs” Blanco. I value all my friendships past, present and future, without the people that have come into my life at one point or another I wouldn’t be the 27 yr old “kid” that I am today. I’d like to thank everyone who’s path I’ve crossed and who put that hand out when it felt like there was no way to my feet.
The one question I ask myself daily is,“How did I get here, Who pushed me along the way and lent a hand when I fell, Who will I lend a hand to so they can dust themselves off and get to where they are going?” I didn’t write this to preach about my philosophy of life. I write this to inspire not only myself but those who read it to never give up on what your passionate about no matter how fucked it may seem. For every culture there is a subterranean escape from what is being force fed to the masses, life underground has a way of preserving the aspects of what we love from the starving machine of Corporate America.
When I think of skateboarding in the 60’s, I think of a few homies cruising the streets hitting rocks and slamming on their faces all while laughing about it. If it weren’t for boredom and curiosity we wouldn’t have this piece of 7 ply maple, 8 bolts, 2 trucks, 4 wheels and 8 bearings that we call a skateboard. Which has brought me to where we are right now at 1:51 am on May the 26th.
The way I see it is that the majority of people have forgotten where they’ve come from and how they got where they are. Example the “Core Skate Shop” I find it odd when a new shop opens and claims to be “Core” what are you the “Core” of? To be a “Core Skate Shop” its a title that you earn not that is coined and fabricated before you have a board on the wall. Example numero dos, the big corporations that have decided skateboarding is the hottest thing since Bo Derek. My favorite is the over advertising and logo-ing, like Monster, where were you when skateboarding fell on its face in the 80’s? Oh you weren’t even around thats right, I see the letter M more than the letters that make up my name, thats kinda sad. Don’t get me wrong 0.01% of me is stoked that skateboarders are making 6 - 7 figure incomes the other 99.99% just wishes skateboarding would become hated overnight so it can return to what it really is, the brotherhood that it was born to be.
I was more or less born into skateboarding. My dads been on a board since 76, I came into the picture in 83 and ever since I can remember there was a skateboard in eyesight. Not always a setup but something that related to skateboarding, whether it were an old tore up pair of shoes or a helmet with stickers from an era forgotten. Just one 5 minute conversation with my dad about how shit was back then is amazing. There was no mega super extreme get your swag on bullshit, branding, complex marketing schemes, transparent gimmicks, kooks on scooters, mega corporations throwing money around like confetti and contracts dictating how you should look. There was and always will be more to it than the general public can process. You ever hear the saying “Dumb it down to the lowest common denominator” I have more than a few times, this doesn’t apply to skateboarding, it is what it is and no matter how hard you try you’ll never break it down.
Fast forward to 9/6/1993 these six numbers hold a place in my life that marks the day I got my first complete, it was a Chapter 7 ever slick with 49 mm Jahmal Williams wheels and Grind King trucks. If you just started skateboarding now would be a good time to start googling shit. Your probably going wtf theres a 10 year gap in the middle of this retrospective, reason being I didn’t skate yet. That summer of 93 was the year that defined what the rest of my life would become, one giant skate trip.
Skateboarding in the 90’s was interesting, it was still transitioning from the big boards and wheels of the 80’s to the toothpick and bearing condom era, the tricks that were once done on vert ramps were now taken to the streets. This was the era of progression, I remember skating with the homies in Jan Ree every chance we got. The crew was Myself, Jeff Sharp, Daniel Sharp, Scott Burgess, Jeff McCasky, Kimo, Justin Gates, Brian Summers, Jared Swift and whoever else happened to have a skateboard, needless to say we were what made up the outcasts of Jan Ree. It wasn’t so serious back then all we did was skate curbs, eat shit trying to ollie up shit, roll off loading docks and hit rocks and slam like the early few that braved the board. We had no idea of what being a skateboarder consisted of, WE JUST SKATED, we created that feeling of this thing called fun, there were no cameras, freakouts, reality show deals, T.O.G’s or anything you can do I can do better attitudes, it was fucking fun as hell. As we got older friendships dissipated and everyone went their own way, this was around 99 - 00, some still skate, some are married with children and 9 - 5 comfort of the American dream, some are successful business owners, a few are no longer with us RIP Erick Sannes, Jason Orpilla and Alex “Stubbs” Blanco. I value all my friendships past, present and future, without the people that have come into my life at one point or another I wouldn’t be the 27 yr old “kid” that I am today. I’d like to thank everyone who’s path I’ve crossed and who put that hand out when it felt like there was no way to my feet.
The one question I ask myself daily is,“How did I get here, Who pushed me along the way and lent a hand when I fell, Who will I lend a hand to so they can dust themselves off and get to where they are going?” I didn’t write this to preach about my philosophy of life. I write this to inspire not only myself but those who read it to never give up on what your passionate about no matter how fucked it may seem. For every culture there is a subterranean escape from what is being force fed to the masses, life underground has a way of preserving the aspects of what we love from the starving machine of Corporate America.
AJ Omstead Jr
"Continue in forward motion and we shall meet"
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