Summer of 1958 I went to a nearby new construction site and got a scrap of 2x4.
I then took one of my sister's metal clamp on type of steel roller skates and took it apart.
I nailed on the toe section of the skate with bent over nails to the front of the 2x4 and the heel section to the back end of the 2x4.
The whole contraption was about 12 inches long and 2X4 skinny.
I would put one foot on it and scoot along with the other foot until I got up some speed.
Then I would put both feet on it and go a few more very wobbly yards.
Soon enough I learned that if I hit a small pebble the darn thing came to a grinding halt and would throw me forward onto my face.
In 1963 I lived next door to a very large family, a bunch of Mormon brothers who I hung out with.
One day we all went up to a local hill and started flying down the sidewalk on our homemade skateboards.
I hit a crack in the sidewalk and my board instantly came to a dead stop.
I flew forward and landed on my forehead on the concrete.
I got knocked out cold.
I saw my first commercial skate board in 1964 or 65 can't recall the exact year.
A dude showed up with it in school.
It was painted red and had something he called 'trucks.' It still had metal wheels.
I stole $10.00 from my mother's purse and got one, a lot of money back in those days.
Ya, I got found out and man was she mad as hell.
Hobie made a skate board with composition wheels.
Someone said the wheels were made up of ground walnut shells.
Those wheels were lass prone to stopping instantly on pebbles or side walk cracks.
My sister purchased one of those first Hobie skateboards, that exact skateboard she owned, with all of our wear and tear on it, now resides in the Huntington Beach CA Surf museum.
I rode that thing more than she did.
It had a tear drop shaped deck that was thick.
A true antique!
Flash forward to 1972.
Michael McDonald and i would go to the top of High Drive in Laguna Beach and ride downhill.
We had no gloves, knee pads or helmets.
He and I would do our best to fly downhill while attempting to stay on our super wobbly skateboards.
We did all right.
But our hands and knees got scraped up from frequent crashes.
By time my own son got to skateboarding, things had progressed to the point that skate boards were no longer wobbly and had sophisticated wide wheels and fancy trucks and wide skate decks with anti slip tape on the decks.
He and his friends were doing stuff we would never have dreamed possible back in my day.
My son did stuff on skate boards that really beat up his body and made him a warrior of sorts along with his friends.
Now we see "Skaters" being outlawed and controlled.
When i was a kid we could skate Board anywhere at anytime.
Of course we did not do rail slides on walls and railings etc. Nor did we wax up curbs and such.
Things have sure changed:
Skateboard 'Bombing' to be Outlawed Under City Leader Joe Buscaino's Proposal: Kid Skaters Would Also Have to Wear Helmets
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/02/skateboard_bombing_helmet_buscaino_law.php
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