JAMSKATER.NET™
P.O. Box-13004 ▪ Los Angeles, CA. 90013
Phone: 213.624.2214 ▪ Cell: 310.245.4357
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JAMSKATER.NET™
P.O. Box-13004 ▪ Los Angeles, CA. 90013 Phone: 213.624.2214 ▪ Cell: 310.245.4357 |
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The Z-Boys were a group of skateboarders from Venice Beach in the 1970s who are credited with popularizing skateboarding and essentially creating the punk/skater subculture that now exists. Oh, and they essentially invented vertical skateboarding and took skateboarding from the horizontal to the vertical. The Z-Boys grew up in Dogtown, a neighborhood in Santa Monica, California that was, at the time, a rundown, working-class area. Surfing was the initial impetus that brought the Z-Boys together. They surfed adjacent to the dilapidated and dangerous Pacific Ocean Park pier without the acceptance of outsiders. They later turned to skateboarding when the Z-Boys was formed and they were admitted. Experimenting at first with hand built decks with adopted clay roller-skate wheels, they quickly created the most revolutionary technique and style in skateboarding history after the creation of urethane wheels. They adapted new and emerging surfing methods onto the pavement, namely riding low to the ground while touching the pavement and sliding through fast, hard, and sharp turns. The invention of polyurethane wheels not only catalyzed the revival of skateboarding, but approximated the soft and smooth feel of surfing to the street. They first gained national attention in 1975 at the Bahne-Cadillac Skateboard Championship. Their unique style of riding became an instant hit, and drastically shifted the world of skateboarding from a flatland freestyle, which resembled gymnastics, to the fast and aggressive form that it is today. After the competition they started skating heavily in empty swimming pools, which were plentiful due to the 1970s California drought. Here again they changed skateboarding when Tony Alva hit the first aerial maneuver, which quickly came to dominate the sport.
Eventually their own popularity and the promise of more riches started to break them apart. By the end of 1976 they had all gone their own ways to separate teams. Soon after skateboarding started to wane and money started to dry up. The Z-Boys never reunited.
The Z-Boys wouldn't stay down forever. Over time skateboarding regained its popularity, especially with new skaters like Tony Hawk gaining rock-star-like celebrity status, and in 1999 SPIN Magazine decided to do an article on the Z-Boys. This article led to a 2001 documentary called "Dogtown and Z-Boys," which in turn led to a dramatic "Lords of Dogtown" movie (2005). Now in their middle-age years most are or have been married with children and have moved on with their separate lives. Some like Tony & Jay still skate pools and anything else they can get their skate on with and do it as often as they can. A few like Tony & Stacy have been able to successfully made a living in the skating industry. Myself, I still skate and sell boards for DogTown Skateboards.
Regardless of what the darker days and the trials and tribulations of life brought to the Z-Boys, they revolutionized skateboarding in taking it from the horizontal to the vertical and were heavily instrumental in making the sport what it is today. They are and will forever be the legends of the sport that is skateboarding. Jeff Skatapunk.
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