Tag: Skateboard History
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Equal Time Mystery Skaters
In the late 1980s, with the skateboarding industry promoting itself as a domain for men and boys, assuming that there was no point in marketing to girls and women, the zine Equal Time (1989 – 1992) by Lynn Kramer and then JoAnn Gillespie, was especially important. The zines were filled with letters, stories, drawings, rants,…
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Laura Thornhill-Caswell
An archive on the history of women skaters wouldn’t be complete without Laura Thornhill (Caswell) with her massive list of contest wins. Her legacy is very much tied to the 1970s, and the photos of her taken by the legendary photographer Warren Bolster are iconic, among many others. When I tell people I’m writing about…
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Bristol Girls Team
When the first UK National Championships was hosted at Crystal Palace in London (originally planned for July but delayed until August 10th, 1977 due to rain) there was no category for women and the female skaters from Bristol were not impressed. In the Evening News special report that was printed in September 1977 it was…
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Diane (Veerman) Desiderio
Diane (Veerman) Desiderio was a competitive freestyle skateboarder who embraced the 1980s with big hair, big earrings, and work-out gear as a whole look, including the slouchy socks (or maybe those were just her shin guards)! In July of 1983, the NSA Paramount contest results in Los Angeles includes Diane (under her maiden name Veerman)…
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Colorado 1970s Slalom
From 1975-1978, there was a thriving skateboarding scene in Colorado primarily focused on slalom racing in the Rocky Mountains, and it included a crew of women. These skateboarders were celebrated in the August 1978 issue of The National Skateboard Review, with a photo of Barb Hellberg, Janice “Berger” Rumberger, Kathy Ruh, Lisa Wilson, Cindy Langhill…
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Kym Agresti
Kym Agresti from Santa Cruz was a skateboarder who published the zine Hectic Times from 1990 to 1995 – a total of nine issues. According to a review by Flipside of Issue Number 4, the zine included “Lots of reviews, skate stuff and pics from the Keynote Club. Good looking and worth a read if…
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Jana Payne
Jana Payne (Booker) has been repeatedly recognized as a major influence on skaters like Vicki Vickers, Kym Milburn, and Terry Lawrence and has now been inducted into the Skateboard Hall of Fame (2022). Jana is also a survivor of childhood sexual assault which came about through her skateboarding coach in the 1970s and has been…
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1960s News Clippings
At this point, all of these 1960s newspaper clippings feature “mystery” skaters! Give me a shout if you have more of the back story. Thanks in advance! Names, newspapers and dates all listed below. Back to Top
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Debbie Bragg
Auckland, New Zealand in 1978 opened up a kickass skatepark called Skatopia in the Manukau suburb, which was sponsored by Coca Cola. It emulated the park plans from Skatopia in the U.S. Sadly, it was demolished in 1982. Here’s some vintage Youtube footage from 1979: I stumbled upon a group photo including Debbie Bragg in…
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Kim Adrian
While interviewing skateboarder Kim Adrian it occurred to me that I was speaking to a true “skater’s skater” – someone who skated for the love of it, committed to the actual doing of skateboarding versus self-promotion. I also believe that she should be on everyone’s radar because based on the photos that were shared, Kim…
Womxn Skateboard History 