Skateboards
If you’ve ever sat down to the iconic Back To The Future (Part I) flick, then you probably have a vague idea of how a skateboard might have looked in the 1950s. If you recall, Marty McFly was running from Biff when he grabs a board with wheels and boxy front from a boy. Marty rips the box from the board and makes a humorous escape, leaving Biff and his goons covered in manure. This is an interesting reinvention of the true history of skateboards, however. Marty, unfortunately, is not credited with the invention of the skateboard. Here’s how the skateboard slowly made it’s way into real rather than make-believe history.
Skateboards used to be homemade in the early part of the 1930s. Perhaps the skateboard is the result of the Great Depression, but this theory is not certain. Back then, children would attach wheels to a plank of wood with a handle to ride down the street. It wasn’t until almost three decades later, however, that skateboarding was invented in California by people looking for something similar to surfing but out of the water. Roller skate wheels were attached to the bottom of a two-by-four and were later used without a handle. These were first seen around 1958 to 1959. No one person is credited with the invention of the skateboard.
By the turn of 60s, skateboards soared in popularity, with some nice stylistic changes. Newer skateboards had a wider, flatter bottom with wheels that really felt like the rider was on top of water. Companies like Makaha and Hobie were admittingly inspired from surfboards and surfboarding. It wasn’t even half a decade before millions of skateboards were sold to newbies, wannabes and pros alike.
The first skateboarding competition took place in 1963 in California near Hermosa Beach. Back then, skateboarding had no safety equipment per se. If you fell, you got hurt and waited six weeks for the bone to heal. A few years after the California competition, some stores refused to sell skateboards while mothers corroborated and didn’t buy them. Skateboarding has since made a come back.
The history of skateboarding made it to the 1970s and tricks became both more artistic and athletic. For the first time ever, empty pools became skate-havens and concrete ramps and metal pipes were installed in parks for skaters to hone their skills. The media got involved, too, with movies, magazines, videos and skate apparel. What was once thought to be a fad turned into fashion. Stores opened that sold only skateboards and apparel.
It was the mid-70s that showed the most important advances in skateboard history. The back of the skateboard had an incline for better foot placement. Urethane wheels gave skaters better traction on slippery surfaces while tricks became more airborne with improved trucks (wheel axles) and faster speeds. Skateboards, additionally, were made stronger and wider. Rather than a mere seven inches across, the average with of the 70s skateboard was nine inches. This gave skaters more foot placement options and better control when going vertical up inclines.
The 1980s showed that skaters were not allowed into mainstream, so an underground attitude was born. Skaters started building their own ramps and turning old playgrounds into skateparks. Often, plywood ramps were built in alleys, driveways or backyards. With these changes, the history of the skateboard changed as well. The trucks that held the wheels were stronger and larger. Skaters could put more weight and balance on areas of the skateboard that used to break or crack. Skateboards became more flexible in a way that allowed for more variety and less stiffness.
Just as skateboards changed over time, so did the attitude towards skaters. Rather than be an underground sport, lids were lifted. Televised coverage brought the sport a whole new crowd. Skateboarding is a one of the newest spectator sports, with more and more televised events from ’95 to ’05. Skateboards are now available in surf shops, skate shops and even online. Today, skaters can earn a nice living doing what they love to do. As trends change and style improves, the skateboard will surely take on new designs to fit the rigorous expectations of the skaters and observant crowds.
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