Tag: Skateboard History
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Skateboarding Hall of Fame 2024
Last night, the Skateboarding Hall of Fame at the Vans Headquarters in Costa Mesa, CA recognized their 2023 and 2024 inductees, and there was a fantastic line-up of women receiving recognition. I was literally there “in spirit” because about two months ago I received a phone call from none other than Laura Thornhill-Caswell, encouraging me…
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Jean Rusen
Jean Rusen Keyser (aka Calamity Jean) is someone who has successfully challenged the myth that skateboarding is purely a youthful pursuit, best taken up as a pre-teen before you have a chance to be deterred by pain and distracted by adult responsibilities. Jean is a skater, surfer, musician, and mother of two girls, Jada and…
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Dogs on Skateboards
It’s hard to resist a pet, let alone a puppy on a skateboard! Lately, there’s been a variety of dogs, kittens, birds and even a tiny turtle going viral online as they embrace skateboarding. A perfect hit of dopamine for any skater. But this isn’t a contemporary phenomenon. Jenny Goodman, age 10, received some attention…
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Joanna Field
Joanna Field is from Pacific Palisades and was a skateboarder who worked at Marina Del Rey skatepark back in the late 1970s. Photo: James Takakura Joanna was good friends with all the regulars, including Christian Hosoi, Jay Adams, among others. She even used her creative talent to hand-draw a fun Christmas card (left) for the…
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Child Prodigies 1970s
Child prodigy skateboarders are fascinating, especially today in this highly visible realm of competition leading up to the Olympics. Back in the 1960s, since skateboarding was essentially branded a child’s toy, the majority of skaters were kids, while in the 1970s most of the sponsored pros were teenagers. There’s several names of youngsters that appear…
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Sally Affleck
Sally Affleck (Felice) of Australia was a competitive skater starting out in the late 1980s, consistently holding her own throughout the 1990s and beyond. In North America, you might have unknowingly seen her within Thrasher in the February 1995 issue that contained a six-page collage of female skaters in the “Girls Who Skate” article, chock…
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Collaborations – Backside & Adjacency Bias
It’s been an exciting week with everything happening at once! First up, an article that I wrote for Adjacency Bias which focuses on skateboarding in the NorthWest, was published online. It was fun to really zero in on a specific region and trace the history of women skaters with meaningful connections to Oregon, Washington, and…
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Kerry Cooper
Kerry Cooper (Germain) was a 1970s skater who is mostly under the radar, but her name occasionally appeared in contest results, starting back in 1976. At the Ventura 2nd Annual Skateboard Championships, Kerry placed 2nd in freestyle behind Laura Thornhill for Girls 11-14, ahead of Tracy Alaway, Bonnie Kaplan, and Gloria Blanchard. Contests were still…
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The Frumpies
The Frumpies were a punk band that formed in 1992 out of Olympia, WA who also happened to have skateboarding and Riot Grrrl connections. According to Wikipedia, the original members were Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Billy Karren (who all played in Bikini Kill) and Molly Neuman of Bratmobile, with the addition in 1993 of…
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Janet Church
Janet Church (Atkins) from Anaheim, CA was documented by her little brother, Dave Church (RIP), who was also an active skateboarder, carving the Fish Bowl in 1977, which is such a stylish and iconic photo. Janet was sponsored by Hobie at the time, rocking her Vans shoes and Hang-Ten socks, and I would love to…
Womxn Skateboard History 