Fall Asleep While Learning About Skateboarding

In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep while learning about skateboarding. Skateboarding, a popular recreational activity and sport, has evolved from its roots in the 1940s when surfers sought a way to surf on land. Over the decades, it has grown into a global phenomenon with various styles, tricks, and competitive events.

Discover the history of skateboarding, the development of the modern skateboard, and its cultural impact around the world. Whether you’re a seasoned skater or new to the sport, let the soothing details of this episode guide you into a restful slumber.

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster.

Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled,

Skateboarding.

Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard.

As well as recreational activity,

An art form,

An entertainment industry job,

And a method of transportation.

Originating in the United States,

Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years.

A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market is worth an estimated $4.

8 billion in annual revenue,

With 11.

08 million active skateboarders in the world.

In 2016,

It was announced that skateboarding would be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo for both male and female teams.

Skateboarding made its Olympic debut in 2020 and was included in the 2024 Games.

Since the 1970s,

Skate parks have been constructed specifically for use by skateboarders,

Freestyle BMXers,

Aggressive skaters,

And more recently,

Scooters.

However,

Skateboarding has become controversial in areas in which the activity,

Although legal,

Has damaged curbs,

Stoneworks,

Steps,

Benches,

Plazas,

And parks.

The first skateboards started with wooden boxes or boards with roller skate wheels attached to the bottom.

Crate scooters preceded skateboards,

Having a wooden crate attached to the nose,

Front of the board,

Which formed rudimentary handlebars.

The boxes turned into planks,

Similar to the skateboard decks of today.

Skateboarding as it exists today was probably born sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s,

When surfers in California wanted something to do when the waves were flat.

This was called sidewalk surfing,

A new wave of surfing on the sidewalk as the sport of surfing became highly popular.

No one knows who made the first board.

It seems that several people came up with similar ideas at around the same time.

The first manufactured skateboards were ordered by a Los Angeles,

California surf shop,

Meant to be used by surfers in their downtime.

The shop owner,

Bill Richard,

Made a deal with a Chicago roller skate company to produce sets of skate wheels which they attached to square wooden boards.

Accordingly,

Skateboarding was originally denoted sidewalk surfing,

And early skaters emulated surfing style and maneuvers and performed barefoot.

By the 1960s,

A small number of surfing manufacturers in Southern California,

Such as Jack's,

Kibbs,

Hobie,

Bing's,

And Makaha,

Started building skateboards that resembled small surfboards,

And assembled teams to promote their products.

One of the earliest skateboard exhibitions was sponsored by Makaha's founder,

Larry Stevenson,

In 1963,

And it was held at the Pier Avenue Junior High School in Hermosa Beach,

California.

Some of these same teams of skateboarders were also featured on a television show called Surf's Up in 1964,

Hosted by Stan Richards,

That helped promote skateboarding as something new and fun to do.

As the popularity of skateboarding began expanding,

The first skateboarding magazine,

The Quarterly Skateboarder,

Was published in 1964.

John Severson,

Who published the magazine,

Wrote in his first editorial,

Today's skateboarders are founders in this sport.

They're pioneers.

They are the first.

There is no history in skateboarding.

It's being made now,

By you.

The sport is being molded and we believe that doing the right thing now will lead to a bright future for the sport.

Already there are storm clouds on the horizon with opponents of the sport,

Talking about ban and restriction.

The magazine only lasted four issues,

But resumed publication as Skateboarder in 1975.

The first broadcast of an actual skateboarding competition was the 1965 National Skateboarding Championships,

Which were held in Anaheim,

California and aired on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

Because skateboarding was a new sport during this time,

There were only two original disciplines during competitions,

Flat hand freestyle and slalom downhill racing.

Animated cartoons of the time occasionally featured skateboard gags.

Two Roadrunner cartoons made in 1965,

Shot and Bothered and Out and Out Route,

Feature Wile E.

Coyote riding a skateboard.

One of the earliest sponsored skateboarders,

Patty McGee,

Was paid by Hobie and Vita Pak to travel around the country to do skateboarding exhibitions and to demonstrate skateboarding safety tips.

McGee made the cover of Life magazine in 1965 and was featured on several popular television programs,

The Mike Douglas Show,

What's My Line,

And The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,

Which helped make skateboarding even more popular at the time.

Some other well-known surfer-style skateboarders of the time were Danny Bearer,

Torger Johnson,

Bruce Logan,

Bill and Mark Richards,

Woody Woodward,

And Jim Fitzpatrick.

The growth of the sport during this period can also be seen in sales figures for Makaha,

Which quoted four million dollars worth of board sales between 1963 and 1965.

By 1966,

A variety of sources began to claim that skateboarding was dangerous,

Resulting in shops being reluctant to sell them and parents being reluctant to buy them.

In 1966,

Sales had dropped significantly and Skateboarder magazine had stopped publication.

The popularity of skateboarding dropped and remained low until the early 1970s.

In the early 1970s,

Frank Nessworthy started to develop a skateboard wheel made of polyurethane,

Calling his company Cadillac Wheels.

Prior to this new material,

Skateboard wheels were metal or clay wheels.

The improvement in traction and performance was so immense that from the wheels release in 1972,

The popularity of skateboarding started to rise rapidly again,

Causing companies to invest more in product development.

Nessworthy commissioned artist Jim Evans to do a series of paintings promoting Cadillac Wheels.

They were featured as ads and posters in the resurrected Skateboarder magazine,

And proved immensely popular in the early 1970s.

In the early 1970s,

The precursors to the modern skateparks for skateboarding would be the repurposing of urban hydro and storm water infrastructure,

Such as the Escondido Reservoir in San Diego,

California.

Skateboarding magazine would publish the location and skateboarders made up nicknames for each location,

Such as the T-Bowl,

The T-Bowl,

The T-Bowl,

And the T-Bowl.

The Fruit Bowl,

Bellagio,

The Rabbit Hole,

Birdbath,

The Egg Bowl,

Upland Pool,

And the Sewer Slide.

Some of the development concepts in the terrain of skateparks were actually taken from the Escondido Reservoir.

Many companies started to manufacture trucks,

Axles,

Specially designed for skateboarding,

Reached in 1976 by Tracker Trucks.

As the equipment became more maneuverable,

The decks started to get wider,

Reaching widths of 10 inches and over,

Thus giving the skateboarder even more control.

A banana board is a skinny,

Flexible skateboard made of polypropylene with ribs on the underside for structural support.

These were very popular during the mid-1970s and were available in a myriad of colors,

Bright yellow probably being the most memorable,

Hence the name.

In 1975,

Skateboarding had risen back in popularity,

Enough to have one of the largest skateboarding competitions since the 1960s,

The Del Mar National Championships,

Which is said to have had up to 500 competitors.

The competition lasted two days and was sponsored by Bonds Skateboards and Cadillac Wheels.

While the main event was won by freestyle spinning skate legend Russ Howell,

A local skate team from Santa Monica,

California,

The Zephyr Team,

Ushered in a new era of surfer-style skateboarding during the competition that would have a lasting impact on skateboarding's history.

With a team of 12,

Including skating legends such as Jay Adams,

Tony Alva,

Peggy Oki,

And Stacey Peralta,

They brought a new progressive style of skateboarding to the event,

Based on the style of Hawaiian surfers Larry Bertelman,

Buttons Kalohiokalani,

And Mark Liddell.

Craig Stachik,

A photojournalist for Skateboarder Magazine,

Wrote about and photographed the team,

Along with Glenn E.

Friedman,

And shortly afterwards ran a series on the team called the Dogtown Articles,

Which eventually immortalized the Zephyr Skateboard Team.

The team became known as the Z-Boys,

And would go on to become one of the most influential teams in skateboarding's history.

Soon,

Skateboarding contests for cash and prizes using a professional system began to be held throughout California,

Such as the California Free Former World Professional Skateboard Championships,

Which featured freestyle and slalom competitions.

A precursor to the extreme sport of street luge that was sanctioned by the United States Skateboarding Association,

USSA,

Also took place during the 1970s in Signal Hill,

California.

The competition was called the Signal Hill Skateboarding Speedrun,

With several competitors earning entries into the Guinness Book of World Records,

At the time clocking speeds of over 50 miles per hour on a skateboard.

Due to technology and safety concerns at the time,

When many competitors crashed during their runs,

The sport did not gain popularity or support during this time.

In March 1976,

Skateboard City Skatepark in Port Orange,

Florida,

And Carlsbad Skatepark in San Diego County,

California,

Would be the first two large-size U.

S.

Skateparks in the U.

S.

To be open to the public,

Just a week apart.

They were the first of some 200 skateparks that would be billed through 1982.

This was due in part to articles that were running in the investment journals at the time,

Stating that skateparks were a good investment.

Notable skateboarders from the 1970s also include Tai Page,

Tom Inouye,

Laura Thornhill,

Ellen O'Neill,

Kim Cespedes,

Bob Biniak,

Janna Payne,

Waldo Autry,

Robin Logan,

Bobby Piercy,

Bobby Piercy,

Russ Howell,

Ellen Berryman,

Shogo Kubo,

Desiree Von Essen,

Henry Hester,

Robin Alloway,

Paul Hackett,

Michelle Mata,

Bruce Logan,

Steve Cathy,

Eddie Robertson,

Mike Weed,

David Hackett,

Greg Aries,

Darren Ho,

And Tom Sims.

Manufacturers started to experiment with more exotic composites and metals,

Like fiberglass and aluminum,

But the common skateboards were made of maple plywood.

The skateboarders took advantage of the improved handling of their skateboards and started inventing new tricks.

Skateboarders,

Most notably Tai Page,

Bruce Logan,

Bobby Piercy,

Kevin Reed,

And the Z-Boys started to skate the vertical walls of swimming pools that were left empty in the 1976 California drought.

This started the vert trend in skateboarding.

With increased control,

Vert skaters could skate faster and perform more dangerous tricks,

Such as slash grinds and frontside-backside airs.

This caused liability concerns and increased insurance costs to skate park owners and the development,

First by Norcon,

Then more successfully by Rector,

Of improved knee pads that had a hard sliding cap and strong strapping proved to be too little too late.

During this era,

The freestyle movement in skateboarding began to splinter off and develop into a much more specialized discipline,

Characterized by the development of a wide assortment of flat ground tricks.

As a result of the vert skating movement,

Skate parks had to contend with high liability costs that led to many park closures.

In response,

Vert skaters started making their own ramps,

While freestyle skaters continued to evolve their flatland style.

Thus,

By the beginning of the 1980s,

Skateboarding had once again declined in popularity.

The 1980s was fueled by skateboard companies that were run by skateboarders.

The focus was initially on vert ramp skateboarding.

The invention of the no-hands aerial,

Later known as the ollie,

By Alan Gelfand in Florida in 1976,

And the almost parallel development of the grabbed aerial by George Ordon and Tony Alva in California,

Made it possible for skaters to perform airs on vertical ramps.

While this wave of skateboarding was sparked by commercialized vert ramp skating,

A majority of people who skateboarded during this period did not ride vert ramps.

As most people could not afford to build vert ramps,

Or did not have access to nearby ramps,

Street skating increased in popularity.

Freestyle skating remained healthy throughout this period,

With pioneers such as Rodney Mullen inventing many of the basic tricks that would become the foundation of modern street skating,

Such as the impossible and the kickflip.

The influence that freestyle exerted upon street skating became apparent during the mid-1980s.

However,

Street skating was still performed on wide vert boards with short noses,

Slide rails,

And large soft wheels.

In response to the tensions created by this confluence of skateboarding genres,

A rapid evolution occurred in the late 1980s to accommodate the street skater.

Since few skate parks were available to skaters at this time,

Street skating pushed skaters to seek out shopping centers and public and private property as their spot to skate.

Public opposition,

In which businesses,

Governments,

And property owners have banned skateboarding on properties under their jurisdiction or ownership,

Would progressively intensify over the following decades.

By 1992,

Only a small fraction of skateboarders continuing to take part in a highly technical version of street skating,

Combined with the decline of vert skating,

Produced a sport that lacked the mainstream appeal to attract new skaters.

During this period,

Numerous skateboarders,

As well as companies in the industry,

Paid tribute to the scenes of Marty McFly skateboarding in the film Back to the Future for its influence in this regard.

Examples can be seen in promotional material,

In interviews in which professional skateboarders cite the film as an initiation into the action sport,

And in the public's recognition of the film's influence.

Tony Hawk has stated that there are plenty of legendary pros that I know of that started skating because they saw that film.

Skateboarding during the 1990s became dominated by street skateboarding.

Most boards are about 7 1⁄4 to 8 inches wide and 30 to 32 inches long.

The wheels are made of an extremely hard polyurethane with hardness,

Durometer,

Approximately wheels are made of an extremely hard polyurethane with hardness,

Durometer,

Approximately The wheel sizes are relatively small so that the boards are lighter and the wheels' inertia is overcome quicker,

Thus making tricks more manageable.

Board styles have changed dramatically since the 1970s,

But have remained mostly alike since the mid-1990s.

The contemporary shape of the skateboard is derived from the freestyle boards of the 1980s with a largely symmetrical shape and relatively narrow width.

This form had become standard by the mid-1990s.

By 2001,

Skateboarding had gained so much popularity that more American people under the age of 18 rode skateboards than played baseball,

Although traditional organized team sports still dominated youth programs overall.

Skateboarding and skate parks began to be viewed and used in a variety of new ways to complement academic lessons in schools,

Including new non-traditional physical education skateboarding programs like SkatePass and Skateaston to encourage youth to have better attendance,

Self-discipline,

And confidence.

This was also based on the healthy physical opportunities skateboarding was understood to bring participants for muscle and bone strengthening and balance,

As well as the positive impacts it can have on youth in teaching them mutual respect,

Social networking,

Artistic expression,

And an appreciation of the environment.

In 2003,

Go Skateboarding Day was founded in Southern California by the International Association of Skateboard Companies,

IASC,

To promote skateboarding throughout the world.

It is celebrated annually on June 21st to define skateboarding as the rebellious,

Creative celebration of independence it continues to be.

According to market research firm American Sports Data,

The number of skateboarders worldwide increased by more than 60% between 1999 and 2002,

From 7.

8 million to 12.

5 million.

Many cities also began implementing recreation plans and statutes during this time period as part of their vision for local parks and communities to make public lands more available,

In particular for skateboarding,

Inviting skateboarders to come in off the city streets and into organized skateboarding activity areas.

By 2006,

There were over 2,

400 skate parks worldwide,

And the design of skate parks themselves had made a transition as skaters turned designers.

Many new places to skateboard designed specifically for street skaters,

Such as the Buckeye Park,

Are now open to skateboarders.

Many new places to skateboard designed specifically for street skaters,

Such as the Bussie in Milton Keynes,

UK,

And the Safe Spot Skate Spot program,

First initiated by professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek throughout many cities,

Allowed for the creation of smaller alternative safe skate plazas to be built at a lower cost.

One of the largest locations ever built to skateboard in the world,

SMP Skate Park in China,

At 12,

000 square meters in size,

Was built complete with a 5,

000-seat stadium.

In 2009,

SkateLab opened the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and Skateboard Museum.

Nominees are chosen by the IASC.

Nominees are chosen by the IASC.

Efforts have been taken to improve recognition of a cultural heritage,

As well as the positive effects of encouraging skateboarding within designated spaces.

In 2015,

The John F.

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington,

D.

C.

Hosted an event at which skateboarders accompanied by music did tricks on a ramp constructed for a festival of American culture.

The event was the climax of a 10-day project that transformed a federal institution formerly off-limits to the skateboarding community into a platform for that community to show its relevance through shared cultural action in a cultural common space.

By raising £790,

000,

The Long Live South Bank initiative managed in 2017 to curb the destruction of a 40-year-old spot in London,

The South Bank Undercroft,

A popular skate park due to urban planning,

A salvaging operation whose effects extends beyond skateboarding.

The presence of a designated skating area within this public space keeps the space under nearly constant watch and drives homeless people away,

Increasing the feeling of safety in and near the space.

The activity attracts artists,

Such as photographers and filmmakers,

As well as a significant number of tourists,

Which in turn drives the public away from the park.

Recently,

Barefoot skating has been experiencing a revival.

Many skaters ride barefoot,

Particularly in summer and in warmer countries,

Such as South Africa,

Australia,

Spain,

And South America.

The plastic penny board is intended to be ridden barefoot,

As is the surfboard in spots like the Great Barrier Reef,

The Great Barrier Reef,

The Great Barrier Reef,

And the Great Barrier Reef,

As is the surfboard-inspired handboard.

Electric skateboards became popular during the 2010s,

As did self-balancing unicycles in a board format.

The sport of skateboarding made its Olympics debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo,

With both men's and women's events.

Competitions took place during July and August 2021 in two disciplines,

Street and park.

With the evolution of skate parks and ramp skating,

The skateboard began to change.

Early skate tricks had consisted mainly of two-dimensional freestyle maneuvers,

Like riding only two wheels,

Wheelie or manual,

Spinning only on the back wheels,

A pivot,

High jumping over a bar and landing on the board again,

Also known as a hippie jump,

Long jumping from one board to another,

Often over small barrels or fearless teenagers,

Or slalom.

Another popular trick was the Bertelmann slide,

Named after Larry Bertelmann's surfing maneuvers.

In 1976,

Skateboarding was transformed by the invention of the ollie,

By Alan Ollie Gelfand.

It remained largely a unique Florida trick until the summer of 1978,

When Gelfand made his first visit to California.

Gelfand and his revolutionary maneuvers caught the attention of the West Coast skaters and the media,

Where it began to spread worldwide.

The ollie was adopted to flat ground by Rodney Mullen in 1982.

Mullen also invented the magic flip,

Which was later renamed the kickflip,

As well as many other tricks,

Including the 360 kickflip,

As well as many other tricks,

Including the 360 kickflip,

Which is a 360 pop shove it and a kickflip in the same motion.

The flat ground ollie forms the basis of many street skating tricks,

Allowing skateboarders to perform tricks in midair without any more equipment than the skateboard itself.

A recent development in the world of trick skating is the 1080,

Which was first ever landed by Tom Schar in 2012.

Reviews

I skateboarded in the mid 60’s so I found this one fascinating. And still fell asleep midway thru the article. Good one!!