Back in the '70s there was a harsh drought in Southern California. As a result of this drought, many homeowners could not keep their pools filled. Enter the Z-Boys. Led by then-kids Stacey Peralta, Tony Alva and Jay Adams, the Z-Boys brought surfing to the pavement. When they discovered the dry pools - and that they could skate them - they began to pave the way for some of the most well-known skate boarders of our time like Tony Hawk, Andy MacDonald and Bob Burnquist.
The Z-Boys began experimenting in the vertical world by skating pools and helped further progress the widespread popularity of the sport, in a way, helping it become what it is today in all it's disciplines. One of the original Z-Boys, Stacey Peralta, went on to become one of the more successful of the bunch and later produced a documentary, Dogtown and Z-Boys, chronicling this fascinating point in time.
Now, looking at this sufferfest of an economic crisis that we're mulling through, I find it fascinating as hell that adults and kids alike in Southern California are doing the same thing the Z-Boys did; only this time around it's not a drought caused by weather that's keeping pools dry, it's the drought of our economy.
5 comments:
i've always thought there was a lot of heart and soul in the dogtown story. i too am interested to see what creativty comes from these struggling times as it always seems to incite creative revolutions in our minds, especially the youth.
are you saying that ryan sheckler will have to learn to skate tranny and pool coping in order to stay competitive in the x-games and maintain his current "hero status" with 14 year old girls since street skating will go to the wayside of the pool warrior? is that your contention joe? is it?
I love that documentary, and for a second, you could convince me that the guy in the pool is you. PS. I'm adding you to my blogroll.
for a second i wish the guy in the pool was me. but i wasn't born yet when that photo was taken in the late '70s...
baby....
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