The Skateboarding Timeline...

You've seen Lords of Dogtown. You've read about the Z-Boys. You watched the 900 go down, and you'll see Shaun White land that 1080 soon... Fill in any other gaps in the history of skating right here on our own little grind down memory lane...

A Brief History of Skateboarding
Words: Adam Salo

1940s
Around the time that the Allied forces were about to open a serious can of Whoop Ass on the Axis powers in Europe and really kick WWII into high gear, a smaller yet highly notable historic event was happening somewhere on American soil. Though it isn’t known who did it or where it happened (Scientist continue to argue the relevance of carbon dating and the origins of the skateboard to this day), somewhere, some little badass had the tenacity to steal his sister’s roller skates (she was being a bitch anyway), break one in half and nail the wheels and axles of that puppy onto a sketchy 2X4. In this singular moment, the skateboard was born. What would follow in the decades to come, no one could have predicted.

1950s-1960s
Like the kid in middle school that has Red Bull in his backpack for everyone, skateboarding skyrocketed to massive popularity in its early adolescents. Fueled by the rising popularity of surf culture (some chick named Gidget swore it was the bees knees and all of America believed her), skateboarding came along for the ride.

Surfers, and those land-locked folk with no access to waves, realized that some of the speed, turning power and stoke of surfing could be readily accessible on a skateboard without the nuisance of always waiting for that next big set to come ashore. Surf companies like Hobie and Makaha saw the dollar signs out on the sidewalks and began carving pieces of maple into miniature bullet-shaped versions of their surfboards for mass-market sales.

And then, in a flash, skateboarding went from boom to bust. As America moved on to the next hot trend, only a few diehards kept the flame alive still pushing through the streets with their stone-aged clay wheels.

1970s
In 1972, around the time a handful of Venice Beach, just down the street from Red Bull Headquarters, surf grommets were becoming a serious nuisance at Jeff Ho’s Zephyr Surf Shop, a man named Frank Nasworthy helped skateboarding take a giant leap into the future. Nasworthy’s Cadillac Wheels were the world’s first urethane wheel. Urethane, a grippy plastic polymer, held the board to the pavement through hard turns and had the ability to absorb the inconsistencies of asphalt and cement in ways the clay wheel never could.

Back at Zephyr, Ho and his partner Skip Englomb took a crew of kids and began molding them into a skateboarding force to be reckoned with. Armed with urethane wheels and an unwavering devotion to style and aesthetic, the boys from Dogtown ushered in a new era. Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta and Jay Adams were among the pioneers who saw so much potential in the ever-expanding urban landscape. From ditches, to banks to pools and hills, there were no limits to what could be ridden. A passionate writer, and skater, C.R. Stecyk knew that what was going down in his Venice neighborhood was unlike anything else happening in the world. Together with photographic luminary, Glen E. Friedman, Stecyk began reporting from the field for the fledgling Skateboarder magazine in a series of short pieces that would later be known as “The Dogtown Chronicles.”

In the late 1970s skateboarding was reaching its second great peak in popularity. Concrete skateparks were popping up all over from San Diego to New Jersey to Kona, Florida. Pro skaters like Skateboarder magazine’s 1977 Skateboarder of the Year, Tony Alva, were traveling the world, living like rock stars. Meanwhile, somewhere in Florida, a young skater named Allan “Ollie” Gelfand invented a trick that would change the face of skateboarding forever. Gelfand figured out that he could pop his board into the air on ramps without the use of his hands by using the leverage and momentum of his feet when he applied pressure on the tail of his board while simultaneously dragging his front foot forward and jumping. The resulting trick was dubbed the “ollie” and it is the singular most important trick in skateboarding history.

1980s
In the early ’80s another Floridian, Rodney Mullen took Gelfand’s invention and went ape-shit with it. Mullen, a freestyle champion, took the ollie to flat ground and built on that foundation to create many of the tricks that are staples of modern street skating. The kickflip, the heelflip and the 360 flip are just a few of the tricks that Mullen would give to skateboarding. Respect is due.

In 1985 Stacy Peralta and his business partner, George Powell released The Bones Brigade Video Show a film showcasing and promoting their Powell Peralta team which included Mullen and a knobby kneed teen named Tony Hawk. With the speed of skateboarding’s progression gaining momentum daily, videos and magazines were the only way for skaters across the country to keep up with the latest trends, tricks and changes.

As the decade waned with Flock of Seagulls haircuts and the unfortunate over use of neon, skateboarding once again hit a low point. Skateparks across the country closed and skaters were once again forced to adapt to new terrain. The ramp scene went backyard where wood replaced concrete as skinny vert ramps and miniramps began to dot the landscape. Skaters who found ramps to be few and far between began adapting their transition skills to street terrain using curbs and banks instead of the coping and tile of bowls and ramps.

1990s
In the early ’90s skateboarding got small both literally and figuratively. The industry powerhouses of the 1980s were dying out, unable to adapt to a changing market that shrunk significantly since its last boom. The face of skateboarding was changing too as street skating became the dominant discipline and technical skating reigned supreme. Wheels shrunk from close to 60 millimeters in the late ’80s to an all-time low near 30 millimeters in 1993. With street skating taking over, some scenes were more popular and productive than others. San Francisco’s scene, centered on Justin Herman Plaza in the Embarcadero, became a focal point and the EMB crew became some of the most recognizable skaters in the world. Guys like Mike Carroll, Henry Sanchez and Jovontae Turner were breaking new ground everyday with what was possible and what limits could be pushed.

In the mid ’90s skateboarding’s popularity began to rise and a paradigm shift occurred when the skateboarding world began to really to open their eyes beyond the enclave of California. On the East Coast, harsh winters of snow and rain made for rugged asphalt and broken cement. The tiny wheels and boards popular in California just weren’t practical for the East Coast skaters. So, fed up with following the trends of the West, skaters in Philadelphia, D.C., Boston and New York began to make their own way. Larger wheels and boards resulted in simpler skating that concentrated on speed, power and style more than technical advancement. East Coast skaters like Ricky Oyola, Reese Forbes and Jefferson Pang showed the world that innovation wasn’t always about how many times the board flipped beneath your feet.

In 1995 ESPN helped launch the first X Games, a counterpoint to the traditional sports celebrated in the Olympics and other such events. Skateboarding was, and continues to be, one of the X games’ most popular fixtures.

In 1999 during X Games V, Tony Hawk spun the world’s first 900 on a skateboard. It remains a standout moment in the career of one of skateboarding’s most phenomenal and influential ambassadors.

That same year, a nine year-old tike and now Red Bull phenom named Ryan Sheckler earned his first magazine cover pulling a melon grab ollie on the January issue of Big Brother magazine.

The 00s
At the turn of the new century, skateboarding was celebrating its greatest boom yet. With widespread cultural acceptance, popularity and appreciation, this boom time shows no sign of going bust. More skateboards are manufactured than ever before. Skateparks are, once again popping up all over and municipalities are recognizing the necessity to accommodate the rising interest in skateboarding among people of all ages.

Danny Way introduced what was possible in the new Mega ramp discipline and innovators like Bob Burnquist and Jake Brown eagerly followed suit testing skating’s latest frontier.

Meanwhile, the boundaries of street skating continue to expand. 20 stair handrails, monster gaps and technical skating performed with style are all par for the course. Skaters like Eric Koston, Daewon Song and Marc Johnson keep pushing the bar on what is possible without losing sight of what looks good and what keeps things fun.

In ’03 Ryan Sheckler turned pro at the tender age of 14. Already a phenomenon, Sheckler set the contest circuit on fire in his rookie year. He earned 1st place in the Park event of the Summer X Games and went on to win the street events in the Gravity Games and Slam City Jam events that same year.

Also debuting his first pro appearance as a skater in ’03, 17-year-old Shaun White earned a respectable 6th place in Men’s Vert at the Summer X Games. White, who’d been competing pro in the Winter X Games for snowboarding since ’00, kept his head under pressure while skating with his new pro skater peers, most of which were over a decade older than him.

In ’05 White earned the Silver medal at Summer X Games and came ridiculously close to pulling the unfathomable 1080 trying it over 50 times. Coming closer than anyone to the mother of all vert spins, Shaun is poised to make more history and could have some tricks up his sleeve for the summer of ’07.

After Sheckler earned the Silver medal in Men’s Street in 2006 (just narrowly defeated by his hero, Chris Cole), Ryan had quite a productive year skating, competing and filming for upcoming video projects. Sheckler earned a spot on the coveted and revered Plan B pro roster and things are only looking up as this young powerhouse really comes into his own.