Category: 1960s
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Jane Panagiotis
A photo of Jane Pan (short for Panagiotis) from 1968 appeared in an ad for Watershed Skate Shop / Surf Shop out of Rhode Island in the July 1988 issue of Thrasher (*shout out to editor, Michael Burnett for the heads up) giving a nod to the shop’s “hardcore roots.” What I love about this…
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Gerry Bowden
A photo from 1965 of a crew of young skateboarders hanging out from the Polk County History Center based in Bartow, Florida led me to their database to see if I could find out more about the girls who were included. Two of the skaters were named – Gerry Bowden and Paul Daniel III. I…
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1960s News Clippings Part 2
Every so often I do a deep-dive into newspaper clippings, which are often just average kids on the street having a good time. I have a new batch of photos and stories from the 1960s. Check out 1960s News Clippings Part 1 for the initial motherlode! Back to Top
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Celebrity Skaters 2
I’ve got another batch of celebrity sightings to share, starting with Lucille Ball in 1965, followed by Brooke Shields and Sandy West in the 1970s. See: “Celebrity Skaters” from back in 2022 for a feature on Jodie Foster, Farah Fawcett and Katharine Hepburn, not to forget the story on Gloria Steinem! For an episode of…
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Canadian Skurfing
In Canada, we do things and call things a little differently than our American counterparts. Thanks to a friend and former Skirtboarder, Frédérique Luyet I was directed towards archival footage and an article from the CBC about “skurfing.” The definition of “skurfing” according to the Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail was “a craze which…
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Dutch Female Skaters
The Netherlands has a long history of skateboarding dating back to the 1960s when Mr. Beenhakker, the owner of the Eerste Sprangse Metaalwaren Industrie (ESMI) roller-skate factory in Deurne, expanded into skateboards. The owner is interviewed in a fantastic vintage film on the NCRV Teen Magazine from November 5, 1965. The film includes a group…
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Linda Finley
In 1964, C&D Skateshop in southern California organized a team of youth who were avid surfers to provide demonstrations as part of the “Skate Board Division” of the Surf Team. There’s a vintage group photo with everyone on the team barefoot, including one Linda Finley in the middle, possibly at a contest since there’s trophies…
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Dogs on Skateboards
It’s hard to resist a pet, let alone a puppy on a skateboard! Lately, there’s been a variety of dogs, kittens, birds and even a tiny turtle going viral online as they embrace skateboarding. A perfect hit of dopamine for any skater. But this isn’t a contemporary phenomenon. Jenny Goodman, age 10, received some attention…
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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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Badass Barefoot skaters
It takes a certain level of confidence to skateboard barefoot, but back in the 1960s and 1970s many preferred it, especially those with a background in surfing. This era was also pre-grip tape, so it was more likely that surf wax or adhesive spray was applied to boards, as described in this article by Jenkem…
Womxn Skateboard History 