I wrote an in- depth Tony Alva article/interview and also completed a double article with Mimi Knoop & Nora Vasconcellos. Please check out the magazine at Barnes & Noble or click below. Thanks for reading – Ozzie
Buy Skateboarder’s Journal: TheSkateboardersJournal
Doug Lejeune – FS Deathbox
My pool pals Doug and Randy were in town a few weeks ago. We rode some backyards, laughed a bunch, escaped arrest and basically had a really rad time. My good friend Sean Mazza came along for the ride one day. He’s a destroyer! Cam came by for a few grinds. He was laid up and on the mend from a shoulder injury. He put trucks on and left smiling.
Sean Mazza
Cam
The shallow stairs were conquered, the deathbox was violated and everyone took home a good memory. Thanks to Brandon Wong for the images. Skate- Ozzie
Mr. Muller
Doug and Randy part one: doug-lejeune-and-randy-muller
Brandon Wong over the loveseat. Image: Russ Sakurai
I love skateboard photographers that actually ride skateboards. Brandon Wong is having another photographic show. This time he is including Russ Sakurai. I am super stoked to be attending and I hope everyone stops by to check it out and support these two talented skate photographers. See you there on Saturday. Skate- Ozzie
Sam Beckett- crail
I met Sam through Alex Perelson and Brian Fick. They all came out to ride pools one summer Sunday. The air was hot and difficult as the summers are particularly brutal here in San Bernardino. We rode three different pools. I recall that it took Sam a bit of time to adjust to the harsh weather and tight transitions of the backyard pools. You see, Sam is a vert skater from England. He is a bright spot in vertical skateboarding’s future. Technical, powerful and well-rounded, Sam can put together some truly insane vertical skateboarding.
BS Smith deathbox
When he came back out to ride pools again a few weeks after his first visit, Sam had adapted very quickly and was immediately more comfortable in the pools. He ripped! I’ve had the opportunity to ride the DC vert ramp with Sam, Alex, Brian, PLG and the others. They are definitely advancing the discipline of vertical skating to another level. I am glad that Sam Beckett is here. Thanks to Brian Fick for the image. Skate- Ozzie
Tonight was stellar. Hollywood. Crowded sidewalks. Neon. The Skateboard Mag was celebrating its 100th issue! Photographs of skateboarding. Ray Barbee playing music. A huge room overflowing with skateboarders. The walls were covered with some amazing photographic works. Some greats… Lance Mountain’s FS Invert channel hop by Brittain, Geoff Rowley – Acosta image at the flume and a photo of Spanky that absolutely ruled. It was a glass fronted building wall ride shot from inside. People had fun, the vibe was stellar and the show went off properly! Thanks to everyone at The Skateboard Mag for all you do. Thanks to MRZ & Ray Barbee for the ride up and the good conversation. Congrats to everyone involved. Skate- Ozzie
throngs
works
portraits and memories
Ray Barbee
Upland Hester Series 1978
I’m keeping my ear to the ground. I continually hear rumblings on the grapevine about full pipes out in the desert of central California. I hear rumor and innuendo. Myth. Legend. The California/Colorado pipe project of the 1970′s has come and gone. Now, that was some epic pipe-riding time! Salba, Schneider, Waldo, Cortum, Senatore, Valdez and the entire G&S contingent all played in the hothouse climate of the desert pipes that entire summer long, long ago. Epic images from that time still surface. Pipeline put in the big full pipe in the late 70′s. Some of the greatest skateboarders of our time came out of the Mt. Baldy spillway and the Upland Pipeline. Someone once told me a story about a certain dam with a pipe. It was pretty far underground and the entire thing sloped down into the darkness. This person related that back then, he put a brand new Caster together with trucks and wheels and all for that mission. On the first run, he got pitched from about 10:00 o’clock and lost his board. It scuttled off into the darkness and he and his friends said that they heard that thing bouncing into the depths below for what seemed like forever. Echoing. The black abyss. Somewhere out there, deep under the earth, is a brand new Caster set up just waiting for an Army Corps of Engineers employee to find. Wouldn’t that be something?! Anyway, I will keep my ear to the ground. I might get a few turns in someday… Thanks to Goodrich for the images. Skate- Ozzie
desert pipes 1977
Burnett, Mountain, Gonzales, Fletcher, Caples
“Experience is cheap… if that’s the company you keep.” I love skateboarding. Thank you to everyone that comes out and rides with me. Thank you to all the photographers for the images. Skate- Ozzie
Chris Miller, Hewitt, Zach Miller, Wisniewski, Riverside Ed
me, Beckett, PLG, Chet Thomas, Al Brunelle
me, Wisniewski, Salba, Taylor, Conway and Neider
“Be kind. Remember that everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Thompson
Tony Hawk- taking flight
I was driving today on a cluttered and crowded freeway. I looked about me as I drove at barely fifteen miles per hour. Crawling. Frustration. People seethed and looked absolutely miserable. I smiled to myself. Poor humanity. Arriving in Orange County, I drove a nearby side street trying to take a short cut to work. There was a strip mall and a long street lined with shops. I saw men and women bustling on the sidewalks. They were peering at cell phones or checking their reflections in the glass-fronted shops. Outward appearances. The wrapping paper. It has been said by numerous theologians that America suffers from a spiritual malady. A sickness of the soul. It would seem so. An amazing man by the name of Swami Prabhupada brought Krishna Consciousness to America in the 1960′s. He stated that many people in the U.S. are only concerned with the outside of themselves. The television, magazines and movies tell us that if we wear certain clothing, drive expensive automobiles and chase after flesh… we will be successful and happy. It probably works for a time… Yet, even the softest skin becomes like leather to a person that has touched it too much. Prabhupada stated that our souls are like a bird in a golden cage. Our souls want to be fed and free. The bird cries from within the confines of its lonely place. The owner ignorantly polishes the gold cage and neglects the bird. The message is: feed the bird. Thank you to Brian Fick for the image that was previously published in Skateboarder Magazine. Skate and feed the bird. - Ozzie
Jeff Phillips at Neil Blender’s house -1985
Jeff Phillips was a ‘Superman’. I had the wonderful opportunity to skate with him in Virginia Beach in 1986 or so. He was cool, positive and stoked on everyone that was riding that day. I remember some guy dropping in for the first time and Jeff was giving the him advice. Jeff Phillips yelled like crazy when the skater did it! He was just as stoked to see someone pushing themselves as he was to be riding. We all miss him. Remember Jeff today. Read it and weep. Jeff Phillips. We all lost a great skater and a friend. Thanks to Jim Goodrich for the images. Skate- Ozzie
Jeff- Virginia Beach 1985
Ben Bridgers- Image: William Sharp
After Malibu on Saturday, we continued on with our weekend by having a good old-fashioned plaster blaster at the house. Pool pals came and went all day. The Malibu crew hit it early and we rode a few backyards and then they left. Around noon, other friends came over, they brought food and drinks, the music was pulsing through the yard and the session heated up. It wasn’t too difficult to get fired up anyway as the thermometer was reading at just over one hundred degrees outside! We would take a few runs and then slip into the cool air-conditioned darkness of the house to drink water and get ready for another attack. Everyone was ripping! Ben Bridgers was leaving us for the east coast so we made sure he would be missing us all.
Ripperside Shawn- celebrating a birthday and hoisting some air time.
Al Brunelle – Stalefish. Image: William Sharp
Ripperside was well-represented. Gomez and Shawn were here to hold it down. Shawn was celebrating a birthday and blasted a few airs while Gomez made us all stoked with some big sweepers. Al Brunelle was low key with chest high stalefish, disasters and fifteen wall runs that were mind blowing! Someone please turn this guy Pro! Tristan Rennie, Scott Cooper and KB all put in some ripping runs and braved the heat all day. Thanks to the crew, thanks for the food, thanks for coming, thanks to William Sharp and Brandon Wong for the images. Good luck Ben! Skate -Ozzie
Scott Cooper
Gomez- Ripperside sweeper
Tristan- FS Boneless
