Category: 1960s
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Suzie Rowland
Suzanne Rowland-Levin was originally a surfer who pursued skateboarding in the early 1960s along with her friends. This time-period was considered the First Wave of skateboarding primarily based around the Palisades, CA. Several teams were forming and gaining sponsorship who didn’t seem particularly interested in recruiting girls, but that was not a deterrent. In 1963,…
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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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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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Calhoun Sisters
Robin and Candy Calhoun were the daughters of surf, swim, and dive legend Marge Calhoun, who was the first female world champion surfer when she won the Makaha International competition on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1958. Marge began surfing after having her daughters and was not your typical 1950s housewife. Photo: Sisters Robin and…
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Colleen Boyd Turner
Colleen Boyd Turner is a fine addition to the Skateboarding Hall of Fame (2021), and as her Instagram account proves, she’s still very active in her seventies! I highly recommend checking out her page, as it is a wealth of skateboarding history and an inspiration for womxn skaters, especially those with grandma status. Colleen shared…
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Patti McGee
Patti McGee (born August 23, 1945) began surfing at age 12 in San Diego and was part of the Pump House Gang in her teens. When she saw a skateboard in 1962 at the Hollywood Teen Fair during her Easter vacation, it seemed like a great option for days when there was no surf. Pat’s…
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Linda Benson
Linda Benson, a world champion surfer from the late 1950s and ’60s was the first woman to have a signature skateboard when Hansen Surfboards designed the “Linda Benson Model” in 1964. Benson explained to Patty Segovia and Rebecca Heller in their book Skater Girl what the early skateboards were like. “We were riding 2x4s cut…
Womxn Skateboard History 