Author: Natalie Porter
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Cherry Skateboards
Cherry skateboards was a female-run board company sponsoring women riders, founded by Emily Oliver in February 2003 to April 2009 with support and product design by Shodie Lyon. They were based out of Breckenridge, Colorado and filled a void in a time when mainstream skateboard companies were still hesitant and resistant to consider developing diverse…
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Robin Logan
Robin Logan was raised in Hermosa Beach, California by her mom Barbara along with three older brothers. She watched Brian, Bruce and Brad surf and skate everyday, and at four-years old Bruce set her up on a skateboard. Robin shared in Skateboarder that, “When I was seven, we would do demos in department stores… Bruce…
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Celebrity Skaters
There’s no doubt that skateboarding is cool, so it’s inevitable that celebrities are going to want to give it a go. Over the years, we’ve seen an interesting mix of actresses take part and I have to ask, who “wore it better?” The most surprising actress has to be the elegant Katharine Hepburn, and it’s…
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Edie Robertson
Edie Robertson from Santa Barbara was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2019 for her diverse skills across all skateboarding disciplines and competitive results in the 1970s. Born in 1962, she was just a toddler when skateboarding first appeared, but she was ready to roll into the second wave, trying out her friend’s…
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Wendy Bearer Bull
As the only female member of the Makaha Skateboard Club, launched in 1963 by Larry Stevenson in West Los Angeles, Wendy Bearer Bull represented and became an early skateboarding role model. Note: The handstand photo is from the Los Angeles Herald, August 28, 1965, and Wendy is age 13 She started skateboarding alongside her brother…
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Mystery Skater – Laurie
According to The Guardian, these photos are of “Laurie” at Hermosa Beach, CA practically levitating off her board (which is a baffling photo in itself) and then being hounded by a cop in Redondo Beach. The photographs are by Spot who was a musician / photographer living in Hermosa Beach and became known as a…
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Terry Lawrence
The legacy of pro skater Terry Lawrence (@silvereagletraders) and his skateboarding journey is awesome. In his own words, “My name’s Terry Lawrence. I’m 57 years-old, my pronouns are he/him/his and I’m transgender. I was a professional skater in the ‘70s and early part of the ‘80s, when I was skating, I was skating as a…
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Krishna Swenson
Krishna Swenson was a skateboarder who owned the WILD ramp at the Castillo Street House in Santa Barbara, and absolutely ripped! She appeared in the May 1990 issue of Thrasher in an article called “Keeping up with the Santa Barbarians” by John Dettman. The caption states, “Owner of the WILD ramp and dominant backyard skate…
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Robin Alaway-Lerum
Robin Alaway was a skateboarder in the mid-1970s who became sponsored by R.A.C.O., a Los Angeles skateboard company, providing demonstrations for them at hardware stores from Texas to New Mexico, before moving on to the Logan Earth Ski team, and launching a UK brand called “Skuda.” While her style channeled her background as a dancer,…
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Live and Let Ride
The first documentary film to focus solely upon the women’s skate scene was produced by Tara Cooper in 1999. Cooper’s independent production was called Live and Let Ride and was a 30-minute film that addressed many issues relating to women’s skateboarding experiences like their limited representation in mainstream skate magazines, lack of opportunities to compete…
Womxn Skateboard History 