Category: 1970s
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Concrete Surfer comics
“The Concrete Surfer” comic series from the pages of Jinty teen mag in 1978 by Pat Mills (writer) and Christine Ellingham (illustrator) was compiled and re-released thanks to the Treasury of British Comics in 2020 and it is pure gold. If you love comics and have an ounce of nostalgia for skateboarding in the 1970s,…
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Brigitta Dittmann
If you live in Europe, especially Germany, you’ll be well aware of the iconic skateboarding company, Titus Skateboards which is a family business based in Münster. You can read about the company history on their website and their evolution from starting a small shop importing skateboard products, producing a popular magazine, followed by a sponsored…
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Beatriz Saens
Skateboarding in Mexico in the late 1970s was gaining in popularity among youth, with skateparks opening and companies like Pepsi sponsoring a local team, including a girl named Beatriz Saens. I had heard about Beatriz because Stephanie Fernández, who was the first Mexican girl’s National champion in 1979, mentioned skating with her. The two girls…
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Denise Barter
I am a big advocate for more women in leadership roles throughout the skateboarding industry. Denise Downs Barter (who now goes by Denise Pehrsson) is a great example from the 1970s of a person who garnered a lot of respect from skaters of that generation for her activity in sports management. In Vicki Vicker’s six-page…
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Cindie and Rae Squilla
In the late 1970s, there were some enterprising parents from Pittsburgh who became the co-owners of the New Wave skatepark, and their daughters Cindie Squilla (Bonomi) and Rae Squilla (Keane), and son Paul Squilla benefitted from the opportunity. Rae said “my parents were part owners [of New Wave]. I sort of recall that it cost…
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Ellen Berryman
Ellen Berryman is among an elite group of competitive 1970s pro skateboarders recognized today for being pioneers. But while some individuals are still very much entrenched in this scene and identity, Ellen or El, as she prefers to be called has cultivated her own path, one that led her to become an environmental consultant thanks…
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Lulu Hart
Lulu Hart (Bentley) from Coconut Grove, Florida was age 17 when the iconic photos of her skating freestyle on the South Beach Pier, Miami in 1977 were taken by Jonathan Utz. The photos then appeared in the book, A Secret History of the Ollie by Craig B. Snyder, and Lulu was interviewed for BackSide Skateboard…
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Shaunda Shane
Filling a void in the representation of black female skaters in skateboarding history is critical, and it helps when you’ve got Clyde Singleton, Tony Hawk, journalists, newspapers and public librarians collaborating! The search for Shaunda Shane of Fayetteville is seriously the most heart-warming story. It all began when The Black Archives published a batch of…
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Halloween 1977
This little badass Skate Witch is 6-year-old Erin Oakes from Vancouver, Canada who ripped around on her skateboard on Halloween in 1977!! The photo was taken by her dad, Ken Oakes and published in The Vancouver Sun newspaper (Nov. 1, 1977). Ken Oakes was a photographer who worked for the newspaper, as well as contributed…
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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…
Womxn Skateboard History 