Tag: Hobie skateboards
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Barb Odanaka
Barbara Ludovise Odanaka’s return to skateboarding as an adult was the ultimate power-move and it was such a privilege to interview her (June 22, 2023) and be the recipient of her story that is so inspiring even with its moments of heartbreak. Please note that Barb has given me permission to share details of her…
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First Championships – May 1965
In May 1965, the first International Skateboard Championships was hosted at La Palma Stadium in Anaheim, CA. The event was televised by ABC’s Wide World of Sports and an article was published in the August 1965 of Skateboarder Magazine. Skateboarding was a booming youth activity, although the equipment was quite primitive and notorious with its…
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Laurie Turner DeMott
The first appearance in a skateboarding magazine of a female skateboarder (and photographer) was of Laurie Turner from Berkeley, CA in Volume 1 / Number 1 Winter 1964 issue of The Quarterly Skateboarder on page 37. The caption reads, “Laurie Turner of San Diego submitted three photos above with a note that the money received…
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Vicki Vickers
While attending the National Surfing Championships in Port Isabel, Texas, Vicki Vickers at age 14 overheard Dogtown skater, Nathan Pratt declare that “Girls Can’t Skate.” At age 18, in her Who’s Hot!” article within the December 1978 issue of Skateboarder she told Jim Goodrich that she took Pratt’s comment seriously and immediately started skateboarding! Vickers…
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Gina Esperanza
Gina [Esparza?] Esperanza appeared to be a prodigy skateboarder in the late 1970s, based out of San Diego with her home skatepark being “Skateboard Heaven” in Spring Valley. She was a competitor in both Freestyle and Pool and would pick up a sponsorship from Hobie. Skateboard Heaven had a variety of bowls, snake run, clover…
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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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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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Kim Cespedes
Kim Cespedes started surfing in sixth grade at Imperial Beach in San Diego and lived in Hawaii for a few years before re-locating to Northern California at the end of Junior High. In a 2018 article for Vogue magazine, she explained that “Surfing really is my first love. It’s what made me a great skateboarder”—and…
Womxn Skateboard History 