NHS inducted into the Skateboard Hall of Fame and my Smithsonian inducted helmet

Amazing evening at the HOF event. It was great to see so many old friends, many I hadn't seen since the late 70's. Bob Trophy photo. NHS's Bob Denike's post on FB. To the 400 skaters we sponsor now on all our brands and the thousands in our past and all our current and former employees and customers throughout our history, this belongs to you. Thank you. #skateboardinghalloffame #santacruzskateboards #independenttrucks #40yearsdeep @nhs_inc #thankyouskateboarding

Article from the Santa Cruz Sentinel about the icon HOF award.

Hung out with my longtime skate BFF Cindy Whitehead and many other amazing skateboard women from the past and present. I got called Peggy Oki several times but that's okay. Not many Asian Women Skateboarders that skated 1970's. Cindy has an amazing following and blog I got to design the layout and use the F word.

I met up with Betsi and Jane from the Smithsonian to give my Flyaway helmet to them for a women's skateboard display they are working on. It was great timing since I had just gotten all of the Santa Cruz Skateboard downhill gear from Larry Balma from the Need for Speed museum show he had at the California Surf Museum. One year later to be exact. Simple hand off and very cool to know it will be with Patti McGee the matriarch of skateboarding's classic skateboard as well. Laura Thornhill just inducted into the HOF and Cindy Whitehead amazing Sportstylist® are going to give them something as well at a later date as well as some of the other women we use to skate with.

Board Rescue article interview with Gary Holl Action Sports Now

Article about Board Rescue board members photo taken at the 2011 Tim Brauch skateboard contest at Lake Cunningham skate park photo by Jay Watson.



We have our second annual Art Show and Fundraiser coming up in September. This will be held at the Santa Cruz Boardroom in Santa Cruz California. This year’s amazing contributing artists include Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain, Jason Adams, Christian Cooper, Jimbo Philips, Steve Olson, Duane Peters and many more. We will also be at this year’s Tim Brauch Bowl contest at Lake Cunningham Skateboard Park in San Jose, CA on September 25. In order to get more details on these events you can follow us on FaceBook and our website.

Action Sports Now

Goodbye Eric Swenson you will be missed

Eric I will miss you. I know Rich will deeply. You were always the quiet one of the foursome. I remember the first years of Indy when you and Fausto drove down in your little red truck on Friday's to NHS (When it was where the Boardroom is now). Jay and Rich would come down from their upstairs offices and stand around the truck and chat. You guys would always talk shit and grab a few trucks and look at them like pieces of jewelry. Their was always a great sense of pride and satisfaction for the weeks worth of hard work. You two would make them and Jay and Rich would sell them what a great combination sometimes Gwynn would come down when Fausto drove the vet but usually it was always just you two. We would skate on the bank sometimes Jay and Rich would as well. Jay in his two footed stance that looked sketchy but he always managed to make a good carve and make the little transition at the bottom.

I will always have the great memories of the first session with Indy's at Newark Skatepark. I remember Rick Blackhart ripping and grinding the trucks even with the swing arms. He would bitch about them and made suggestions which you guys listened too which led to the Indy truck we have today. Back then we had trucks that broke and were stiff and had no turning radius.

I will always be grateful that during my peak slalom and downhill racing years I was one of the few skaters that had the $200.00 a pair full suspension trucks. It was like having the Ferrari of skate trucks, they gave you so much traction that you could turn as hard as you wanted around the cones and never worried about sliding out.

Thank you for all of what you have given to us. I hope you are in a peaceful place.

For anyone who didn't know the history.
Read the "Built to Grind" book. It truly the real history of skateboarding. Their was so much skate politics back in the day. Skateboarder Magazine being in bed so to speak with LA brands and photographers. Photographers shot mostly Southern California skateboarders and never giving NorCal skaters, Santa Cruz or Independent Trucks any play that they came out with their own magazine. Thrasher which led to all the other publications.

Buy it from Thrasher not Amazon.





Skate history it's not what you might think.



News story today

New York Times

For the record for all the negative posts in regards to NHS and Independent Trucks not posting something. It hits them more deeply than you can imagine. They will get shit for if they do or don't post on their websites. Maybe they just want all the push to go to the Thrasher Magazine website or the SkateDaily.net think about it before you judge.

The Skateboard: The Good, The Rad, and the Gnarly is out

We did this shoot last Feb on a stormy day. Haven't seen the book but heard it just came out. We shot at Lake Cunningham Regional Skate park and in Santa Cruz at the Santa Cruz Skate park. My photo by Lucci Griggi for a Skateboard Book that Ben Marcus a local surfer/skater/writer originally from Santa Cruz was putting together. I set up the photo shoots with Rick Blackhart, Richard Novak, Doug Haut, Bob Denike, Steve Caballero, Keith Meek, Gary Holl, Michael "Smiley" Goldman, Tim Piumarta, and a few others. Sent them on their way to Thrasher to shoot more folks. The book is done and I look forward to seeing the final project. Below are shots they took prior to coming North.

The Skateboard: The Good, The Rad, and the Gnarly

The story of the simple skateboard is part thriller, part underground, underdog success tale. It’s chock-full of innovations, far-out graphic artistry, and ever-more-incredible hot-dogging feats. And the story’s told in this book with contributions from the stars themselves—Tony Hawk, Stacey Peralta, Jeff Ho, the Dogtown Z-Boys, and more. Beautifully illustrated with historical posters, ads, and memorabilia along with new action photography, studio skateboard shots, and unique portraits of the stars, this is a fitting tribute to an American classic.


Tony Hawk



Steve Olson



Skip Engblom

The Fancy Food Show in SF inspiring and fun

Went to the show yesterday in the rain. Was worth the drive in the storm. Went to Chris Cornyn, seminar 10 Do's and Don'ts seminar focusing on positioning and packaging products for success... Worked with him years ago when I was the art director of Rockshox. Super talented guy who changed his focus to food. His agency is Dine Marketing in SF. Years ago I wanted to work with Newman's Own and met with Peter the marketing head back in the early 90's. He liked my work but didn't see any food packaging in my portfolio. I was disappointed not to get the work but knew he was right. Richard Novak of NHS helped put me in line with Peter Beckmann of Beckmann's Bakery. He had 50 people interested in designing there logo, branding and packaging. All of us submitted one round of designs. He then narrowed it to a smaller group of 5 and paid us for another round. Then down to 3 people, to two and then one. We would meet at Shoppers Corner in Santa Cruz at 5:30 am and put our mocked up bags on the shelves. He met with each of us individually on different days. Ever since that project, I wake up early and get tons of work done. Long story short I got the project to design the branding, packaging, vehicle graphics and more. Love seeing the breads everywhere and the trucks on the road. I have a few food labeling projects lined up and hope to keep branching into this industry again along with the actions sports my two favorite interests. I am a foodie fan, buy local, buy organic, worm farmer and gardener.

The Top 5 trends have been been picked by a panel of food experts at the 35th Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco
The top trends identified are:

• Good-for-you foods
• Coconut
• Gluten-free
• Exotic citrus
• Nostalgic foods

Spicy was not mentioned but was huge as well as sea salt. My
Favorite chocolate at the Fancy Food Show was the poco dolce sooo good. The tiles with salt rule!


Most interesting thing at the show for me was the Paul Frank pancake mix. I saw PF start with wallets in the surf industry. He grew and grew and then somehow got pushed out of his own business. PF is in Target, doing bikes, helmets, and now food. I've always had bitter sweet thoughts to this but love PF stuff. What if you started something you loved and then got pushed out and then saw it go big without you. I hope he is happy and doing something fun.

Santa Cruz Design and Innovation Poster

Poster for the Santa Cruz Design and Innovation skate event. Coming up May 28, 2009 at Nextspace in Santa Cruz.
Davy and Ruby from Parachute Creative did most of the work I did a bit of art direction. Collaboration at Nextspace is awesome.
Maya Delano is the wizard events planner and the one driving is Chris Yonge the bus so to speak. Thanks Paul from SCSS and Fringe.

Looking forward to the event.
Thanks

Sponsored by: Santa Cruz Surf and Skate Shop, NextSpace, Parachute Creative, Santa Cruz Skateboards and Khiro Skateboard Products.

Skateboarding is one of the thriving action sport industries in Santa Cruz, CA that combine design, innovation, and technology. Skateboarding industry leaders will discuss how local talent has contributed to the continuing success of this sport from product design to iphone applications. This will be an amazing opportunity to network and learn from designers, innovators and professionals from the skateboarding industry.

Don Bostick
President/Director World Cup Skateboarding World Cup Skateboarding, the Professional Skateboard Tour and Organization http://www.wcsk8.com

Danny Keith, CEO of Santa Cruz Skate Shop Founder of www.grindouthunger.org http://www.dannykeith.com http://grindouthunger.org/about/

Erik Florio, CEO and Founder of Whagaa, Go Learn to Skate iphone application
http://www.whagaa.com

Judi Oyama
Creative Director and Founder, Maximum Impact Design
http://www.maximumimpactdesign.com
VP of Board Rescue
http://www.boardrescue.org

John Hutson is tentative
World Champion Downhill Professional Skateboarder World Record Holder
Event Date and Time:
05/28/2009
Location:
NextSpace 101 Cooper St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Ticket Purchase