I often think about how different my life would have been if Todd Huber had not sent up the four issues of his Skate Trader zine. There was something about what Todd created that rekindled a powerful skate stoke in me. This was now the second time I felt a momentum pulling me back into skateboarding. I first experienced this when I got back into skateboarding in the mid-80s. The video of Rodney Mullen at a freestyle contest completely blew my mind. As a result of the Skate Trader’s longboard ads I knew I needed to find one quickly!
I called a shop called Full Tilt close to where I worked. I had spotted an ad for the shop in a fanzine called 360 Spins. This was all happening in 1995 - I was 31. At the time, I was selling photocopiers and other office equipment. I had been married for about six years and had a one-year-old daughter. When I called Full Tilt to ask if they had any longboards in stock, I was delighted to find one. I rushed out and purchased it. While I was pleased to have found a longboard, the overall experience of riding it wasn't that great. The deck felt mushy and not very responsive. There is only one thing left to do: continue my hunt for the perfect ride.
The way I viewed it, there was a direct connection to longboards and the feeling of returning to the roots of skateboarding. The effortless feeling of gliding and flowing brought me back to when I first started with my clay board. But back in 1996, with the X Games heating up, there wasn't much focus on just cruising down the sidewalk. The skate shop in my area only carried one type of skateboard: street.
Yogi Berra once said, "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be." While I understood where Yogi was coming from, I must admit that a powerful old-school skate nostalgic energy was taking over my mind. I had this burning desire to find a skateboard that was reminiscent of the feeling of riding in the 70s. Eventually, I connected with a company called Acme, based in California. Apparently, they had created some fibreglass slalom board reissues. Acme told me about their distributor in Canada, S & J Sales, which still might have some decks available. So, in October 1995, I contacted them to see if they had the deck I was looking for.
I remember that first call to S & J as if it were yesterday. In truth, I had no business calling a distributor, let alone visiting one. I was just a skateboarder on the hunt for an elusive product! S & J were kind enough to invite me to visit their warehouse, which was located about half an hour from my house. Jason (the "J" in S & J Sales) showed me around their premises. I felt like a kid in a candy store and immediately became mesmerised by all the incredible skateboard products. There were rows and rows of decks, wheels and trucks. It was overwhelming, and the place was buzzing. Jason told me that while they didn't have anything like a "FibreFlex," they were carrying a brand new company called Sector 9. He thought I might appreciate what they were doing and brought me over to a special section of the warehouse. I had never heard of Sector 9 before.
When Jason showed me the pintail, I was blown away. I couldn't believe the craftsmanship and attention to detail. I recognized the Sector 9 logo as an illustration of Steve Cathey, a skate hero of my youth. Right there and then, I picked up this longboard and a copy of Big Brother Magazine. The magazine was brand new to me, but I’ll save my BB stories for another chapter.
I immediately set the board up when I got home and headed to the streets. It was truly a fantastic experience. The board worked beautifully, and I was delighted with my purchase. In fact, I was so happy with this Sector 9 deck that I sent a fax to the company telling them exact feelings. I was astonished to receive a fax from them.
The SkateGeezer Page continued to attract visitors, and I started to think about what more I could do to promote what I perceived to be a "skateboard renaissance." While many people view the 1970s as a golden era of skateboarding, I realized I could carry this "gold" forward. The devotion to skateboarding that I experienced at 12 was now hitting me again two decades later.
Longboarding was my way back into skateboarding, which mirrored my early experiences. When I took my pintail out for a ride, people would stop me and ask me what type of skateboard it was. It was an odd sensation because I knew in my heart that longboarding had the potential to be huge, and yet the skate industry was ignoring it altogether. If you open any skate magazine at the time, there was zero coverage - except for one cover story Thrasher did in October 1995.
As there wasn't longboard coverage or advertising in the skate media, readers weren't being exposed, and therefore, the shops weren't getting demand from potential customers. It was a vicious circle, perfectly illustrating what the industry had grappled with during the meeting in 1994. Time to revisit the Gentleman’s Agreement:
"Modern street skating is rad, but we must add to it. Just think if we could have the street scene of today PLUS the mini ramp scene from 89 PLUS the vert scene from 86 PLUS the street scene from 85 PLUS the freestyle scene of 81 PLUS the pools and park scene from the 70s etc etc. With skateboarding ten times as big, pros could earn ten times as much money, and companies can make money. If we want those days back we need to open our minds and not limit skateboarding. That's what skateboarding was all about when we started. There were no rules; it just mattered that you were doing it and having fun."
It's painfully obvious the skate industry had the answers back in 1994 but wasn't sure how to proceed. Then the X Games hit, and skateboarding took off again. But at its core, the industry hadn't addressed the fundamental issue - how to open their minds and not limit skateboarding. As a result of being pretty much ignored or marginalized by the skate industry (including media), longboarding started to bubble up in popularity in places adjacent to skateboarding - mostly surf shops on the coasts of the USA and around the world.
As 1995 moved into 1996, I wound up leaving my job at one photocopier company and joining a much larger company. I was recruited to be part of a graphics team selling massive copiers that were extremely expensive ($250,000+). These machines were mostly sold to printers. I was assigned to try and sell these machines to book publishers. Unfortunately, as I learned, most book publishers didn't print in-house - they went to outside printers. So, I tried my best to get appointments to meet with book publishers, hoping they might have more other office equipment requirements. It became a tough slog, and sadly, I didn't achieve much success.
Despite my sales career deflating, I was still in a good place. This was mainly because longboarding had fully reignited my skate stoke. In the summer of 1996, I decided to promote "The Old School Skateboard Association Meet-Up." I publicized the event as best as I could. The Toronto Star (with over 500,000 readers) put it in their events section. I even wound up on Breakfast Television. I did a five-minute interview explaining to viewers all about my love of skateboarding and why old-school skaters should attend. Despite my best efforts, ZERO people showed up to the reunion. While I was somewhat disappointed, I just took things in stride, spent time with my family, and rolled around the parking lot next to the park.
As I mentioned, my sales at the photocopier company were not stellar. I tried my best to book meetings to explain all this great technology, but I wasn't very successful. It was, therefore, astounding when Nick Pitt of Warwick Publishing agreed to meet with me. Somehow, I must have ground him down! In the fall of 1996, I finally had a chance to meet with a real live book publisher and talk about how our technology could benefit his company.
When I met Nick, his desk was dwarfed by what he called "The Slush Pile." This was a massive pile of paper (at least three feet tall). It was all the unsolicited manuscripts and book ideas that he had accumulated over the past several months. It was incredible to see just how many book pitches he received! His desk looked like controlled chaos.
We started the conversation and slowly it moved towards technology. At one point, I asked Nick whether Warwick Publishing had a website. He replied, "No, but we're considering getting one." Then, I said something that would start a chain of events I could not have predicted. "That's a great idea, Nick," I said. "In fact, I have my own website."
At this point, Nick could have said something like, "Ok" or "Good for you." But he didn't say that. Instead, he asked me what the website was about. When I told Nick it was about skateboarding, and directed him to the SkateGeezer Homepage, he was intrigued. Then Nick uttered these life-changing words. "Skateboarding....hmmm. You know, we were thinking about doing a book on skateboarding. Would you be interested in writing?" At that moment, I realized I might have just jumped the slush pile.
