Author: Natalie Porter
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Kelly Moran
Kelly Moran of Burbank, California was a skateboarder in the late 1970s, who had connections in the film industry considering that her sister played “Joanie Cunningham” in the sitcom, Happy Days. At age 19, Kelly became known as the “Skateboard Girl” for the soda brand Royal Crown (RC) Cola, appearing in commercials and advertisements, like…
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Slow Impact 2024
In just over a week, I’ll be flying down to Arizona to be part of the Slow Impact skateboard festival conference event in Tempe, February 16-19! I’ve got a lightning talk for your enjoyment called, “Female and Non-Binary Skateboarding Zines of the 1980s and 1990s: a skater librarian’s methodical f**k you to archival silence.” Decided…
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Judith Cohen
The original draft of this post from June 12, 2023, was an attempt to alert the skateboarding world that I was looking for Judith, as my internet sleuthing for one “Judy Cohen” was unsuccessful. And sure enough, a random Google search led Judith to my site and thankfully prompted her to write. Judith Cohen described…
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Leslie Anne Miller
Leslie Anne Miller was a competitive skateboarder in the early 1980s, and like her peer, Diane Veerman (Desiderio) she had a classic 80s look! Freestyle was her preference, and Leslie was consistently placing strongly, even against the guys. Note: sometimes her name is misspelled “Leslee Ann Miller.” Photo: this nose wheelie image by Per Holknekt…
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Peggy Oki
Peggy Oki almost needs no introduction considering her legacy as the lone female skateboarding member of the gritty Zephyr team, a Venice Beach crew which formed in the mid-1970s and took on mythic proportions thanks to the 2001 documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys (dir. Stacy Peralta) followed by a fictionalized version, Lords of Dogtown in 2005…
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Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem is an iconic journalist, activist, and feminist, who co-founded the magazine Ms. in 1972. So, you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon photos of Gloria on a skateboard from 1965! The posed photos were taken by Yale Joel for her article on Pop Culture called “The Ins and Outs of Pop…
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Michelle Kolar-Scott
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,…
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2023 Reflection
There’s been so many highlights of 2023, but mostly I’m just grateful to be able to keep building community while learning about fascinating women in skateboarding history by researching, interviewing and writing! In review… There’s so many skateboarders to give shout outs to, but PJ McKenzie (aka Pam Judge) was a special interview, since this…
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Merry Christmas – 1977
Back in December 1977, I was just a wee babe at 3 months old, but this is the skateboarding vibe I was born into, and I love this photo. Kid just scored a Freeformer split tail board and a Kiss album on vinyl. Stoked!! Happy holidays everybody. Back to Top
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Second Wind zine
In the early 2000s, Faye Lynn Richards based out of Albuquerque, New Mexico created her own skateboarding zine called Second Wind. Faye became a sponsored rider for the Idaho-based company Concrete Divas around the same time as she was publishing her zines. Second Wind was reviewed by Clarkie in the “Gurlz! On! Boardz!” section of…
Womxn Skateboard History 