When We Was Rad: Skateboard History from UK Vintage Magazine

Blue sky picture feast from the finest bit of British concrete at the time. I don’t know which makes me smile more at this distance: Davie Philip’s style or the pure-fun aspects of the other two pictures.

It also suddenly strikes me that it’s been a very long time since I’ve been to Livingston and I miss it. Livi was a hugely important place for me in the eighties, alongside Crystal Palace and Harrow: it shaped my notion of skateboarding.

Very rare to see a whole page devoted to pictures of one skater. But in the case of Jamie Blair at Livingston, it makes perfect sense. Along with Davie Philip, Jamie Blair was a huge influence at this time, both through his skating and through the pioneering “Skater Owned Shop”, Clan Skates in Glasgow. They were also both extremely friendly people, with a remarkably calm aura which somehow permeated their skating. Jamie’s style was never more assured than at Livingston.

I was talking about Livingston at the “goodbye to Harrow Day” last week. With Harrow and Southsea under threat we’re heading towards a situation where Livingston will be one of the oldest skateparks in Britain (I hope Rom’s still OK). At the time this story was written, though, I still thought of it as “new” and “state of the art” — even though this competition was staged to celebrate the first re-surfacing and the first of the improvements, in the form of coping.

People came from far and wide to celebrate the re-opening. I can certainly see Brighton represented by one of the five, yes five, people in the opening shot of the new bowl/pool at the bottom of this page.

Livingston was the greatest of British parks at this time because it had been designed and built with care after the early mistakes and just before the idea of building any facilities for skateboarding would have seemed a waste of money. In fact for decades Scotland probably had the greatest park in Europe.

This Death Box “Pete Dossett” advert looks like one which might have a story behind it. Although it seems fairly roughly put together, it uses two spot colours, which means that it would normally have been expensive.

Death Box were still just starting out (in fact the company is called “Dee See Supplies” in this advert), so the colour would have been a big investment.

I wonder what was going on? Did Billy Brown push them into the extra cost, or did he cut them a deal? Was the colour and afterthought?

I’ve just finished reading a novel which deals with someone trying to stitch together events from the past from fragmentary details (“In Another Light” by Andrew Grieg), so that probably explains why this thought intrigues me now. But that’s a work of fiction, and Flip is very real: these are fragments from a true story.

You can tell a lot about the state of skateboarding in 1988 from this list.

On the ‘big, organised’ front we have the AES competition series contests in Belgium and Prague. Coming up on the inside is ‘commerce discovers skateboarding’ in the form of the Rockit/Swatch Skate Tour in Narbarth and Newquay. But the ones which really speak of what was happening for me are “Street Sesh” in Church Square, Scunthorpe and the enigmatic “Meet 12 Central Library” listed for Birmingham on August 28th.

Skateboarding behind the Iron Curtain (then still just about hanging on) was a sign of bigger changes to come. So was the Swatch Rockit tour within our own little world. But, for me, it was the stuff in Birmingham and Scunthorpe which really mattered.

In fact I think I was delighted when I got caught up in traffic and missed the plane to Czechoslovakia. I hated all those big competitions and I’m not sure how I would have reacted to Western skaters discovering that they could afford to drink restaurants dry in the days before stag and hen parties became regular sights in Prague.

The roots of R.a.D were in the skateboard dark ages: the time when skateboarding was underground. Although we wanted everyone to share our passion and wanted everyone to skate, I for one didn’t really wanted the trappings which were to come with mass acceptance.

The legendary Mac was responsible for pioneering freestyle/street/bank crossovers (540 on banks, anyone?), the original Death Box graphics, and the R.a.D cartoon for a while.

I wonder where he is now? In 2007 Jeremy Fox was trying to track him down for the Death Box European reunion, but had a bit of a struggle.

Mac, if you’re reading this, I hope it’s OK to have this scan here?

Hot Wheels were one of the most consistent advertisers in the magazine. They were fiercely dedicated to BMX and probably felt very sad at the direction R.a.D was taking. I have great sympathy for that position having survived for years in a world where skateboarding had been completely eclipsed by roller-skating (disco, to rub salt in the wound) and then BMX.

All manner of celebrities names are dropped in this glimpse of how things were when the notion of skaters as VIPs outside of the skate world was a novelty.

Interesting to see that Nick Philip took some of the pictures. This must have been just before he left for California. John Chennels supplied the Sean Goff and Todd Swank pictures.

Vernon Adams wrote the words and I’ve managed to extract the text from a scan of the magazine in his honour:

A plane. A time. A smell. Where am I going? Where have I been? A one way ticket from Clubland on a return trip to the mainstream. Acceptance, but on whose terms? Exploitation? Or some backyardramp fantasy? The Night of the Living Skate Zombies was certainly one thing.unique.

Rumours abound of fashion mongers drifting into skating as its credibility rises. But from the first whispers this was plainly different. The build up was well publicised and calculated- tempting the punter with fruit too ripe: NEW TERRAIN. Food for skater’s appetites, offered for the taking, with no fee to session.

Outside the Limelight many could be seen. ‘Tree entry for you and your stick it said. Very few weren’t married. Wurzel headed the impatient throng trailing down the avenue. Passers-by looked on. ‘Clubbin Diary’ said 70s retro: never had so many been seen by so few

The parting of the doors revealed a sight of joy. A DJ perched high in God-like overview, surrounded by TV monitors flicking frames ofwheeled gods of a different kind. Below this altar another: a mini-ramp of epic proportions – 4 feet high, 12 feet wide with 7 foot transitions and tight-rope sized platforms for those about to entertain.

While others drank in affordable locals, the skate crazed started to session. Within an hour a hefty line-up of names and latter day jesters were snaking their way onto the virgin surface. Wiring the ramp was paramount for some,second nature to the more experienced. Someone more at home than most was Tod Swank. He lives under (literally) a ramp ofexactly the same dimensions. It showed. He blazed all manor of lippy tricks. Davie Philip showed up with hissmooth style, bringing along his Backside Pivot to Tail. Smith Grindsetc. Goff skates everything and anything with authority: he tweaked his airs to the max and took apart the lip with fervour.

Phil Chapman, Wurzel, Owen Neider, Crispin, Bob, Lunn, Damon, Smileon, Ian Lawson and Rob Dukes participated with merit. Others were no less worthy of mention, but memories dissolve in large cans of Pils. One who could not be forgotten was Pete Dosset. Anyone could be forgiven for thinking they were watching him skate a half-pipe: his tricks were no different. Hand- plants, Airs and the Lip passed through his recital as early morning crept towards dawn.

Girls in leather mini skirts and rich Arab club-goers had left in amazement hours before, but the stamina freaks raged on while night busses and skaters entwined to form mobile platforms for critiques of the evening’s events.

The ramp that John and Ross built, that Dan Adams, Rob Dukes and Will assembled,was good. Although Vision and Slam City’s money couldn’t help the lack of thick ply which Martin Herrick exposed with his weighty repertoire. Kevin Staab and Joe Johnson didn’t bother to skate. They headedstraight for the V.I.P. lounge where they met up with a Gaye Biker on Acide and left in search of the Damned.
All said and done, this was a good evening. Some even likened it to the old open party nights at Rolling Thunder. Everyone enjoyed themselves: they were provided with everything that could be needed: music, beer, videos, bands, pro skaters and the ultimate main attraction- new terrain.It’s not every day a ramp springs up in middle of London.
Almost any club entrepreneur could have supplied the ramp, but it would have only been a side attraction- used only to be fashionable on their restricted terms and then discarded like last year’s designer outfit. Here skating was the focus, unrestricted, ‘by skaters for skaters’, containing that certain anarchist undercurrent only skaters sow and then thrive on. Ultimately a success…

Early signs of skateboarding about to cross-over into mass culture. This event took place in the Limelight Club which was a notable establishment in 1988.

Sponsorship was provided by Vision and Slam City.

Even if this wasn’t the first event of its kind it was certainly one of the first. The idea of having a skateboard ramp in such a stylish venue was very new at the time. These days it’s gone through being commonplace and may even be developing a retro charm.

The top photo of Wurzel was by John Chennels and the overview at the bottom was by Paul Sunman. Vernon Adams wrote the words.

Two things in this month’s instalment of news from America catch my eye. First is Steve writing about Vans planning to build a big skatepark. I think at this point it was to be at their factory, not the shopping mall extravaganza which came later. But I think that the move towards providing big and exciting facilities was an important one which turned out to be the shape of things to come.

There’s also a mention of various Australian (and Kiwi) skaters making the move to the USA. I also find that very interesting in the light of the huge impact the Australian skate scene was to have on the whole industry.

I’m fascinated by the dynamics of this, the way people from places with relatively small scenes, places where you had to be fanatically motivated to be able to skate at all, were able to prosper to an astonishing degee once they got into California. Steve Douglas, of course, being another obvious example of the phenomenon. As is Bod, who gets a mention on this page as just having moved to Venture.

The photo of Bod was by Dan Schaaf.

I thought I had written about the photo of Steve before, but a quick search suggests that I haven’t. We once got a complaint about this picture from someone who resented the idea that we were employing “some kid” to write our American news page.

The picture had been taken many, many years before at one of the notorious ESA Awards ceremonies at Bowes Lyon House in Stevenage. It shows Steve winning the junior vert skating award, or something like that — the culmination of his first big season in skateboarding, I think. As such it was one of the key moments in a career which went on to help shape skateboarding worldwide. I am always astonished when I think of what the person in that photograph went on to do in a world which we would not have dared imagine at the time the picture was taken. A world which he helped create.