Wes Humpston needs no introduction of course. He is the Dogtown skater and artist who was behind so much of what we've come to associate with the Dogtown art of the 1970's. As my refrain always is, there is "o.g." and then there is "O.G.". For m…
Wes Humpston and the Dogtown Skateboards
Wes Humpston needs no introduction of course. He is the Dogtown skater and artist who was behind so much of what we've come to associate with the Dogtown art of the 1970's. As my refrain always is, there is "o.g." and then there is "O.G.". For m…
Is This the Greatest Grip Art Ever?
Okay, I admit it; the title of this post is an exercise in hyperbole, but I do find myself asking that very question -- knowing all the while that there really is no satisfactory answer to it since there is not standard by which to make such a judgement. Grip tape can be a…
Bernie Tostenson Follow-up: Brand X Team Deck Variant
As a follow-up to our last post on the skateboard art of Bernie Tostenson, I wanted to share a little variant on the superb Triple X team deck. Essentially it's the same graphic, but in a different colourway and with the Brand X labelling -- instead of "Triple X.&q…
The Skateboard Art of Bernie Tostenson
S ome of the very best known skateboard artists out there are names like Wes Humpston, Jim and Jimbo Phillips, Sean Cliver, Marc McKee, Andy Jenkins and Ed Templeton -- to name a few. Rightly so of course. These names have contributed a very great deal to the corpus of skat…
Seldom Seen Deck Art: Steve Caballero "Cab Man" Deck Inspired by Ironman
Here is a deck you don't see every day. Steve Caballero's early 1990's "Cab Man" deck from Powell which features, of course, Ironman for the deck art. Image source: "Moloko-plus" on SNB
Cab himself notes the rarity of this particular deck and …
Spidey de Montrond: The "Swindle 2" Story
Skate Culture is very excited to be able to present the following guest piece, written by Spidey de Montrond for this site. The article not only gives readers a history of his Santa Cruz model and skating career, but also details his current career with Pocket Pistols Skate…
Denny Riordon: Bridging the 70's and 80's
Early on in my skateboarding life, I fell in love with the Denny Riordon "People in My Head" graphic as advertised in TWS in 1988. I still consider it one of the great bits of skate art, though -- regrettably -- I have no idea who actually did the graphic. Here wa…
A Future Skate Pilgrimage -- For Now a Virtual One
Some people dream of making a pilgrimage to some holy site or shrine that is particularly important to them, whereas others of us dream of a pilgrimage to the "shrines" of skateboarding. For some while now I've been thinking about what would be a fun and inte…
Basic "Six Million Dollar Man" Team Deck: Rare 1990's Skate Art
Speaking more on the subject of rare decks from the 1990's, here is a Six Million Dollar Man team deck from Basic skateboards.
Here are a couple of details from the deck:
1990's decks can be so very fun. They have a character that is quite distinct from the classic …
The Wonder Twins: Rare 1990's Skate Art
As skate art is concerned, I am admittedly primarily drawn to and focused upon decks from the 1980's as well as the original Dogtowns from the 1970's. This is in no small part due to the fact that I was born in the first half of the 1970's and so it was the 1980…
Two Dogtown Originals
Wes Humpston's skate art is, of course, legendary and has a well deserved cult-like status. As skate art goes, I am not certain you can find any more precious relics than the hand-drawn Dogtown boards that were created in the 1970's. Those boards are not only of int…
"Ah, Venice!" Part II (Or: "How Much Skate History Can You Find at One Venice Intersection?")
Check out this great shot from Jim "Red Dog" Muir and Dogtown Skateboards , showing their classic Dogtown style deck ("OG Rider custom fades with a small spoon nose mid eighties style concave") right in the heart of Venice, California. (Take note of the …
Sean Cliver's Disposable 1 Now Ready for Order
For those of you who don't already own a copy, the 10th Anniversary reprint of Sean Cliver's book, Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art , is now in stock and available for order from the publishers, Gingko Press. You can purchase the book either in a softcover or …
Rarely Seen Red SMA Natas Kaupas Deck
Recently, this rarely seen red Santa Monica Airlines Natas Kaupas deck (from the pre-Santa Cruz era) came up via the good folks at the Skateboard Museum in Switzerland.
One more commonly sees this particular deck in either a black or white dip and, as such, I couldn't r…
"Ah, Venice!" (Or: Venice O.G.)
"Ah, Venice!" Most of the time, when people talk about the sights and wonders of Venice, their thoughts will most likely turn to gondolas and water-filled canals walled in by gothic and Italianate architecture. I think of that too, of course, but I also think of a…
Claus Grabke's Custom Topside
While most of the attention for skateboard art is focused on what is on the bottom of the deck, occasionally you are really "wow-ed" by what some skaters personally did on their topsides.
I am not referring here to the silk-screened art that is often on the top of…
More Jay Adams
Just a couple of more Jay Adams items I wanted to share. The first is a home video, recorded in 1989, which shows Jay Adams skating at one of the area skate spots. I find this particular video particularly fun to watch, precisely because it is so authentic, so "raw&quo…
Your Legacy Lives On Jay
The skate community and skate culture took yet another blow today with the loss of another pioneer, Jay Adams. Your legend and your legacy lives on Jay.
Sean Cliver's "Disposable" to be Reprinted this Autumn
Good news is afoot for those who are tired by the prospect of having to pick this volume up at around $100 secondhand, as well as for those interested in skateboards and skate art generally. Sean Cliver's Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art (also informally known a…
An Interview with Spidey De Montrond on Skateboard Collecting
Skate Culture is a site interested in, amongst other things, the history of skateboarding and skateboard art and so naturally I am also interested in the collecting of these pieces for artistic as well as historical and nostalgic reasons. Now some might see skateboards onl…
