Where did Fat Willy’s fit into all this? At the time their stickers seemed everywhere and therefore absolutely no part of the underground skate culture. Both this and the Boogie designs adverts may seem innocent enough now, but at the time they would have stood out like sore thumbs.
That sounds very snotty, but at the time these things mattered to us. There was a constant (amiable) struggle with the advertising department to convince them that we had very little to do with genuine surf culture, let alone the High Street variety. In this we were skate snobs, of course, and fighting a pointless battle.
The crossover and blurring of all these boundaries is now a done deed and it paid my wages for many years at New Deal. But there is a part of me that still clings to the notion that there was something special about the pure-skate companies.
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Fat Willy’s in R.a.d? Surely not…
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New Deal Skates Mail Order Advert 1989
Ouch! Something of a sensitive subject… Here’s an example of an early New Deal Skate advert from the days when the shop was in the “In Shops” near Harrow and Wealdstone station, before they moved to the skatepark. And, yes: they were doing mail order right from the start, although the “HSC” name came later.
From these beginnings grew the organisation which had such a dominant position in the UK skate industry ten years later and which imploded last year (2005) with much collateral damage — including me!
Ouch. But if that hadn’t happened, this would not be here.
There’s an irony in that New Deal’s beginnings were in retail, but it was the attempt to expand that side of the business (through the purchase of High Jinks and Skate of Mind) which brought about the end of the company.
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Identify Death Box Babies and Win
We could run this competition for real again, since I have no idea who these smiling babies are. Each of them grew up to have a pro model on Death Box. No doubt Sean Goff was one, but who were the others, please?
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USA skateboard manufacturers selling direct in the UK?
Back in 1989 Airbourne Zorlac were premature in setting up their own distribution in the UK (run by the Abrook brothers). Now it’s becoming more and more common. Meanwhile those companies themselves are no-longer necessarily American owned as the skateboard business matures and goes global.
Other adverts on this page are from Rodolfos, USAmerican Skates and Wheels and Waves.
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Pete Dossett, Half-Cab to Mayday at Beast Manor
Shooting sequences under floodlight = never easy. But worth it sometimes. Party time wasting is so much fun.
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Lija at Beast Manor
“Lija gets on with what he wants to get on with. Including competitions sometimes, but not on this occasion” — that was the oblique caption to this full-page picture of a skater who deserved more coverage than he got at this time.
They attracted like-minded souls. Visiting vert skaters would beg rides out to the ramp in search of their own kind and would smile when they got there and found them. And the party would rage on. Right through autumn it raged on. There wasn’t really any need for an excuse like John’s birthday — they just played on and on while a different world skated to a different tune all round them.
This is the story of those sessions, of all sessions, of the forgotten art of vert skating which has nothing to do with the competitions you see so often. (more…)
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Big Ramps and Barbecues at Beast Manor
One of the most fabulous private ramps soared for a while in the home-counties just North of London. A Fallbrook equivalent, perhaps, sessioned by a select group of local initiates and visitors.BARBECUE AT BEAST MANOR
Look at the trees in these pictures, look at the leaves. See how they change from green to gold, and then drop off. This story is a fake. It’s not about a barbecue at Beast Manor at all: it’s about the end of the summer of 89.
In fact the party in the pictures took place: there was a barbecue to celebrate John’s thirteenth birthday. But there was a party every weekend at Beast Manor, come to that. As the skate scene in Britain fragmented into micro scenes, each jealously guarding their fragment of street, bank or mini-ramp, a band of good old vert skating boys took to the hills north of London… Out of the remains of an old midi-ramp scene grew a new one which had acquired the taste for vert.
Age, years of skating or technical skill did not matter. All that counted was attitude: a commitment to skating and playing hard all weekend long. Occasionally they would bust out on forays to vintage skate places in the surrounding area, but for the most part they would shred on their big ramp — free from the snake sessions, the posing and the trick-up-manship of the overcrowded minis.
CAPTION: Treating the skate establishment with total contempt: Lunn, Grapefruit to Fakie
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Vintage UK skateboard mail order adverts for Christmas 1989
Billy’s and Off Beat Sportz often appeared on the same page. Both were solid supporters of the skate scene throughout these years, as was Superbike in Ilford. There’s a fascination is seeing these old prices as well as the restrictions imposed on the graphics by the technology of the day. That Superbike advert looks as if it was reproduced from a fax — presumably the only way of meeting the deadline.
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Gelfand, Goff and Gonzales: 3 very different skating Gs
G is also for Gator… Alongside various skate gods of different eras we also find references to Steve Douglas’ “Go For It” zine from the dark ages and (topical note: there was a fuss about a BBC DJ using the word “gay” raging at the time of this post) Gay Twists.GODOY Art & Steve
Prime example of a surprisingly rare species: skating brothers. Originally had a double model out on Skull then went their separate ways (H Street and Circle A). Then re- joined to form Iron Cross skateboards
GAFFER TAPE
The wonder stuff: essential skate accessory for patching/ holding together everything from shoes, to pads, to ramps. Always scam it: it is NOT DONE to own your own roll.
GATAIR
Boosted 360 Foot-plant originated by Gator (Mark Antony)
GATOR
He’s used this name consistently but,See: ANTHONY, Mark
GAY TWIST
Fakie 360 Mute Air
GECKO
Seventies UK skate manufacturer/ distributor. Imported brands like ACS, G&S, Powell Peralta at one time. Also manufactured Pacer Catalina boards which gives a clue to the current incarnation of the same people as Pacer.
GELFAND, Alan ‘Ollie’
Rose to prominence from Florida in late seventies along with Mike McGill. One of the first Powell Peralta skaters. Bequeathed the no handed aerial which was named the ‘Ollie’ after him. (more…)
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Rollermania pictured as pirates (by themselves)
For me this page is all about the Rollermania advert. Other UK shops and distributors often expressed strong views about Tony and Lou’s shop. It was a Bristol cult for many, many years during the dark ages and throughout the revival of skateboarding in the UK. There’s got to be a conscious irony about portraying themselves as pirates, I think. They were certainly fiercely independent and added spice to the whole business at a time when it was small enough for personality to really count.
The Sports Unlimited advert is an example of what might happen when someone didn’t supply their advert copy in time, for whatever reason.
