Category: 1970s
-
Amy Pike Bradshaw
On Instagram, Amy Bradshaw has tagged herself @oldlady_skater, an identity which she celebrates. Over the years she has documented her skateboarding progress in photos and videos, her wavy silver hair flowing, and has garnered a devoted following. Amy was born in Inglewood, CA in 1964 and started skating around age 9. In an interview for…
-
New York mystery 1978
In Skateboard World magazine for December 1978, there’s an article about the scene in New York called, “Skating in the Big Apple” by Mark Diamond and Charles Feldman. In Brooklyn, there was a team called “Performance Skateboard” which met up at Prospect Park, even though it wasn’t an actual skateboard park, and more of just…
-
Gale Springer
Gale Springer (Chorpash) grew up near Venice Beach, and was a skateboarder in the late 1970s and early 1980s from age 12 to 19. She enjoyed competing in bowl, pool, and ramp. Gale and her twin brother, Johnny Springer were also Gale Webb’s little cousins, and became part of her early demonstration team around Southern…
-
Francine Hill
Francine Hill was one of the photographed skateboarders who appeared in Cindy Berryman’s fantastic article, “Let’s hear it for the ladies” which was published in the August 1976 issue of Skateboarder, rallying for support (including equal contest pay) for the growing talent of female riders. Francine is taking a tight turn in a 9-foot deep…
-
Wendy Bedell
Wendy Bedell (Sprague) was a skateboarder from Hawaii, featured in the February 1978 issue of Skateboard World with a photo of her landing a kickflip at ‘A’ala Park in Honolulu by Don Bradburn. More recently, thanks to her co-worker who decided to Google search Wendy when she mentioned her skateboarding background, Wendy and I connected…
-
Jaime Luster
The photo of Jaime Luster by Jeff Ruiz from the July 1979 issue of Skateboarder, where she’s dwarfed by a massive trophy after winning the USASA Overall champion award for her age group, is pretty rad! Jaime was a solid competitor in the girls’ 10 and under category, and based on her results, she especially…
-
Pattie Hoffman
Pattie Hoffman received her induction into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2018 for her skills, contest results, and contributions to the scene which began back in the 1970s and peaked in the early 1980s. Pattie was born in Pennsylvania but moved west to California with her family, where she attended high school in the…
-
Patti – Kanoa Surf
A girl named “Patti” was documented by the photographer Albert Moote on June 20th, 1976 skateboarding “The Channell” in the Hollywood Hills area. She’s cruising around the banks, including one spray-painted with graffiti calling it “The Jammer’s Wall.” Before I noticed Patti’s name, I thought these were photos of Cara-Beth Burnside since she has a…
-
Naomi Harris
Naomi Harris (often misspelled “Noémie” in French media) was born in England, but based out of France and was active in the skateboarding scene in the late 1970s, competing in freestyle and slalom. She was acknowledged in several magazines, starting with Skatin’. In Issue No. 3 from 1978, Harris was pitched “face to face” next…
-
Canada’s Champion
I first wrote about PJ McKenzie (Pam Judge) back in May 2022 after sourcing just a few photos of her online, and then stumbling upon a few more through newspaper databases. Once I realized that she was Canada’s first female skateboarding champion (back in 1977 / 1978), I knew that I had to meet her!…
Womxn Skateboard History 