Michelle Kolar-Scott was a freestyle / street skater with the best of them back in the 1970s and was interviewed in 2016 by Lorrie Palmos in a fantastic feature for Girls Who Ride which included photos of Michelle ripping up the curbs and throwing down kickflips!
Michelle shared that she was raised in Hermosa Beach, just three blocks from the beach, which meant easy access to surf and being surrounded by surf culture. Michelle took up skateboarding in 1973 with the support of her whole family, and chose it as an activity to pursue when the waves were flat. “My parents always encouraged me and my brother in music and surfing and skating… My mom & dad were busy working, but always let me go to any skate or surf contests, or skate and surf in general. They never discouraged us” (Palmos).
Michelle’s twin brother, Michael was also skating and surfing. The siblings both received a “Black Knight from Arnold’s hardware store in downtown Hermosa. It had clay wheels… Then my bro made me a homemade board in his woodshop class at Pier Avenue Jr. High in 1974,” (Palmos) which they finished off with Cadillac wheels.
While her early skateboarding buddies were primarily guys (Paul Hoffman, Chris Chaput, Shreddi Repas, Steve and Pat Rocco, to name a few), she was so relieved when she connected with Cindy Whitehead, who believes they met down on Hermosa Pier. Michelle said, “I was getting sick of hanging with the boys! LOL… Then I also hung out with Deanna Calkins, Vicki Vickers and once in awhile, Laura Thornhill” (Palmos). Cindy, Laura, and Michelle even made a little cash when they performed a skateboard demo for Pepsi.
Michelle and Michael soon started skateboarding for the same team called Juicy Lucy’s. Apparently, it was a store “that was on the Strand in Hermosa that would sell icy slurpy type things. Then I was sponsored by Tai Stiks (boards) and E.T. Surfboards for everything else. Cindy got me sponsored by Puma and then Shreddi Repas got me sponsored on Sunspot Wheels” (Palmos).
There were many cool roadtrips that Michelle recalled and most of them involved Cindy, like meeting Tom Sims at the Sims factory in Santa Barbara, going to the Upland Pipeline contest, and the Marina del Rey Skatepark, so obviously Cindy was a major inspiration. Michelle also mentioned Thornhill and Debi Eldredge of the Unity skateboard team as key skaters who inspired her.
In 1979, Michelle placed 2nd at the Oceanside freestyle event behind Lynnette Fraas for the “Independent Girls” division, but the highlight was winning her division in San Diego. “I beat the best, freestyle amateur girl at the time. I can’t remember the year… I remember Per Welinder saying to me on the way home, ‘You just won the nationals.’ That stuck in my head…” (Palmos).
[I wonder if it was the Oasis freestyle event in 1979 in San Diego, but can only find 1980 results]
Michelle’s brother posted footage of Michelle competing in freestyle back in 1980 at Lakewood skatepark, which is followed up with an interview by Cindy!
In the interview portion, Michelle says that she is 20 years old and had just won the Amateur National contest and expressed frustration about not receiving any press – “They didn’t even print my name or anything. They blew it!” To participate in contests, Michelle would work full-time and pay for the travel herself. Michelle still encouraged girls to get into the sport, to practise regularly, and observe others to learn new tricks.
Unfortunately, even with contest success the opportunities for sponsorship seemed to fade for freestylers in the late 1970s as skateboarding started to focus purely on the action in pool and bowl. Michelle chose to pursue surfing with intent and slowly left the skate scene behind. It’s too bad because once the skateparks shut down in the early 1980s, street skating took over and Michelle certainly had those skills.
Mike posted some footage of Michelle surfing Santa Cruz in 1991, showing some fancy footwork and control:
At the time of her 2016 interview, Michelle was the Team Manager for Hotline Wetsuits, taking nature photography, and some surf / skate photography. She expressed that in regard to women’s skateboarding, “I love where it’s going now and seeing that it’s evolved and that it will keep evolving!! Super Stoked. It puts a big smile on my face” (Palmos).
Photos by Michelle’s friend Vern and SPOT
Reference:
- Lorrie Palmos, “Michelle Kolar-Scott,” Girls Who Ride #9 (July-September 2016): 68-73.
Womxn Skateboard History 