Find Peggy on Social Media In the mid 1970s, Peggy Oki cemented her place in skateboarding history as the wildly influential Zephyr Team’s one and only Z-Girl. If you ask her, however, she hardly noticed she was the only girl. Her ability to hold her own alongside teammates Tony Alva and Jay Adams wasn’t a …
Introducing polyurethane wheels to skateboarding with his Cadillac Wheels in 1973, Frank Nasworthy paved the way for the second great boom of skateboarding in the 1970s. Skateboarding’s popularity had waned in the ’60s after reaching its peak with freestyle. Everything had seemingly already been done with the standard clay wheels of the time. Then Frank, …
John Humphrey became the first licensee of a skateboard patent after going into business with Albert C. Boyden to produce the Humco Surfer in 1963. Having clearly made a name for himself in skateboarding history, he did so even more so in American history long before, as a U.S. Naval pilot. In 1944, John’s ambition …
Today’s street skateboarding is a far cry from the pool-influenced riding of the 1970s from which it was spawned, and the Gonz had a lot to do with that. Mark Gonzales, the pioneering and consequently obliterating ripper of all oncoming terrain, subject to the variables in which he chose to place before his path, naturally, didn’t set out to …
Find Glen on Social Media Glen E. Friedman, considered by many to be the most important photographer of his generation, started his illustrious career by first being published in Skateboarder magazine at the age of 14. He is most well known for his influential and iconic images of rebellious artists ranging from classic skateboarding, punk …
Find Black Flag on Social Media The seminal hardcore punk band Black Flag gave voice to an anti-authoritarian, non-conformist message that deeply resonated with and inspired skateboarders in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Rising up from the streets of Hermosa Beach, California, with a do-it-yourself, against-the-grain approach to underground popularity, Black Flag emerged like …
Danny Bearer was a pioneer in the truest sense of the word, developing his fluid and flashy style at the same West Los Angeles schoolyards in the mid-1960s that the Z-Boys would skate a decade later. Danny was a perennial all-star in football, basketball and baseball throughout his youth, and was a runner-up in the …
Jay Adams has been called “the original seed” of skateboarding. As an original Z-Boy, he is considered one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. The 1975 Del Mar Nationals were a big turning point in skateboarding history, when the world got its first taste of the Zephyr crew. Jay was the first of …
