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Natas, Mike V, and The Gonz - photo by J. Grant Brittain

This is a blast from the past. Three absolute legends and early street pioneers in the same shot — Natas Kaupas, Mike Vallely, and Mark Gonzales. What I love about this photo is that each skater had such a recognizable, individual style. In many ways, each one went on to define a certain niche within modern street skating. Natas would pave the way for the extremely technical side with all his curb wizardry and early handrail exploration, whereas Mike V set the stage for the gnarly, “hesh” stuff like gaps, street grabs and a whole litany of foot plant variations. And then there’s the Gonz who… somewhat defies pigeonholing. But perhaps the Gonz did and still does represent the side of skateboarding that has remained spontaneous, off-the-cuff, and truly innovative.

The point is, back in those days, the only thing that mattered was how good you looked on your board and how hard you ripped — regardless of what kinds of tricks you were doing or on what. That’s all but disappeared these days — today’s street skating has a small minority of eccentrics, but for the most part, there is a herd mentality in terms of what’s cool as far as trick selection and terrain. The footage begins to blend together, as we’ve placed more emphasis on precision and perfection than raw passion. It’s interesting that a subculture that was built by a desire to be individual and rebellious has become so conformist. Skate how you want to skate, not how the magazines tell you to. 

Here’s Natas’ part in Streets of Fire — welcome to History 101 if you somehow haven’t seen this before.

Seriously, and you wonder why I post up ancient artifacts like this. If kids can’t even do their homework when it comes to skateboarding, we’re in some deep shit.

This is a pretty awesome little video I found floating anonymously through the Internets. It’s a short history of skateboarding in New York City called The New York Skate Movie and it features a ton of old footage and interviews. Deathbowl to Downtown may have stolen its thunder just a little bit (actually, a lotta bit), but it’s still an interesting view into NYC skateboarding’s glory days. Basically, before it was just 16-year-olds in front of Union Square who care more about what shoes they’re wearing than if they can actually kickflip in them.

You know, skating might have been born in California, but it was when kids in Connecticut, and New Jersey, and New York got a hold of it and actualized it in their own environment, that it really came to life. 

Given that it’s coming an East Coast skater like Mike Vallely, that quote might come across as a bit biased, but I think there’s a good amount of truth in there regardless. Skateboarding has always benefited from an influx of different viewpoints and perspectives. Whether you prefer a backyard pool session to an afternoon of ledge dancing is besides the point — without a constant surge of originality, without new ideas, skateboarding will get boring. Which is exactly what happened to competition vert. Look at it this way, without new ideas, we’d all still be wearing huge jeans, and that alone should be enough proof of evolution for all the creationists out there. Go to hell, you bunch of goddies.

The relentless push of progress does take its toll, though. Edmund Burke said that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” however, he was not a skateboarder. Unfortunately, this is not the case in our beloved subculture, and simply knowing of a time when security guards had better things to do than harass skaters is not enough to make that the case once more. Retrospectives like this one are valuable because they can provide a glimpse of a time that we’ll never get to experience for ourselves.

It’s a shame — these days, cities often view skaters as more of a nuisance than the passed-out junkies littering their many delectable stair sets. Which is fair, I guess, since skateboarding is pretty noisy and everybody knows that city-dwellers really value peace and quiet.

We knew this day was fast approaching, but now there is an official date — on January 15^th, the Brooklyn Banks will be completely shut down until at least 2014 while the city works on repairs to the Brooklyn Bridge, which is like, total bullshit, ‘cuz who cares about that thing anyway?

The optimists out there are holding out hope that afterwards, the city will work with the skateboarding community in New York to make the Banks skateworthy again, and possibly even better than before. For the record, I’m not an optimist. Like, at all. You’ve got a week, New Yorkers. Everybody else, have a moment of silence, and just watch this retrospective interview about the Banks with Mike Vallely.

Best skate park in the world… because it wasn’t supposed to be a skate park. 

A lot has been said about the Brooklyn Banks over its celebrated history, but I think that really says it all. And thank god there’s that level in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, right?

Here’s to the next filthy ditch or homelessness hideaway that makes skateboarding history, somewhere out there, just waiting to be found.