A HUMBLE BEGINING
...Summer 1958, Hula hoops,"Flying Saucers"(no one I knew called them "Frisbees") where among the essentials that every kid had to have. Steel roller skates where as plentiful as crab grass. The clackity clack of recycled steel on concrete sidewalks was more familiar then the moans of that shaky kid called Elvis. Out of this mix of latch key kids came a wonderful creativity spawned from boredom and sheer energy. The tinyest amount of imagination would turn a couple of boards, a pair of skates and any sort of hill into a racecourse with speed demons hellbent for glory. One fine day I saw a kid zipping along faster then a real car. The vehicle was pure genius.
...We called it the "FLYING CROSS". Simple to make you take a half a skate (2 wheels for the uninitiated) place it right under the axis of the cross and put your butt right over the other side. Lean back and you FLY! Lean forward til the board touches down and you have a brake. Lean to either side and you can turn literally on a dime. I became a total devotee to this new vehicle. A junior Henry Ford, with visions of building a sleek racer I took my father's tools out to the ol' garage and did the tools, the garage and every pair of skates I could get hold of great injustice. In a short time I was challanged to ride "standing up." I tried and still feel the pain from those eary attemts. If one kid did anything in that neighborhood, soon 6 did. So I do know for a fact 2 and 4 wheeled skateboards were being "tried" in 1958.
A LITTLE LATER
....Well life is funny, A divorce and I was sent to my Mom's home country for a year. When I came back I had a two brand new older brothers. One day one of them comes home with this new idea for practicing surfing ,,"THE SKATEBOARD" In 1963 the first of the new non-ferrous wheels became the big whoop. In a whole other part of L.A. a group of us where trying to conquer N.Ave. 63. No one had the "huevos"to ride it all the way from the top. Hour upon hour had only wrought scrapped body and bruised ego. ...I had this cousin, tall 6'4" and fresh out of Westpoint. Waiting for duty as an "advisor" in a place called Viet Nam. He was visiting the folks and came out to see what this new toy we where playing with was. I handed him mine, quick as a wink he stepped up on it and started sliddddding."HEY HOW THE #@* DO YOU STOP THIS THINGGGG???. Now I don't know if I ever could have been articulate enough in my life to instantly instruct somebody on zen,time and balance but he really did not need my help. Gyrating like bigbird on acid he rode that baby all the way down the hill. Even after walking the almost half mile back he was fumeing! Why did'nt you tell me? he said with an angry stare. "Duh I, I ,I din't know ya was gonna do dat" was the best I could muster. After seeing it could be done ona stright fast run, at least a half a dozen of us also conquered the avenue that afternoon. Thanks cousin Paul! other adventures . Download your hosts "HARD AX MP3"ANYWAY YOU LIKE IT PEACE BABY!