Lords of Dogtown

I was a teenager in the late 70s and my musical and cultural tastes are a reflection of that.  Although I was only tangentially impacted by the skateboard culture, it had a much bigger imact on my younger brother Ted (aka Jackson) and his buddies.

Some of those guys comment often on this blog and one of them, Pat, uses Tony Alva as his handle when he comments on this blog and others.  That shows you how big an impact the skateboard culture had on those guys.

We went to see Lords of Dogtown last night.  We took the whole family.  It's a great movie and really explains how these kids invented modern skateboarding and the impact that it had on them and their lives.

And the soundtrack is fantastic.  It's worth seeing the movie just for that alone.

If you remember the first time you saw polyurethane wheels, go see this movie.

Comments

[Jason Chervokas]

hey fred, did you ever see the documentary on which the docudrama is based? It's excellent.

[Tony Alva]

I've yet to get out and see this flick. I was hoping that Jackson and I might be able to sneak it into our schedule while he was in town, but it didn't work out. I'm also a little nervous about whether Stacy Peralta cheezed up what truly is an amazing story. The documentary "Dogtown & Z-Boyz" was so good itself that I'm skeptical that a fictionalized docu-drama was needed. Most reviews for "Lords" are positive, so I'll get over my fear and check it out, perhaps this weekend.

There are a few aspects of Dogtown that made it such an easy association and idol worship thing for me back then. First, it was the music. These guys dug the same music we were listening to (still do) in the late 70's and early 80's. You’re very familiar with the repertoire I’m sure.

Second, and most impactful, was the photography. Skateboarder Magazine and its editor Warren Bolster captured the energy and grace of the evolving art of vertical skating (was not, and will never be a sport to me). Warren was a fairly well known Surfer Magazine photographer who was asked to start Skateboarder Mag by his boss at Surfer. Surfing photography is some of the best pictures you will ever see. Warren and Glen Friedman shot pictures, and Craig Stecyk wrote the narrative of what was happening in coastal LA, and specifically, Pacific Ocean Pier. We’d wait for our issues to come in the mail and spend hours looking at the pictures. We’d read each issue cover to cover. The advertisements were as good as the rest of it. Great pictures, great stories. It made LA seem like some kind of Utopia if you can believe it. I just picked up a Warren Bolster retrospective book and the photos are even better than I remembered.

Third, and most obvious, was that these guys were the poster children of rebellion. They had the long hair, they listened to loud rock music, they scoffed at the ballet/acrobatic style of the old school skateboarders, they NEVER wore safety equipment and often skated barefoot (insane to even think about now). They knew no limits. Nothing was more inspirational than hearing their stories of breaking into peoples backyards and shredding their empty pool.

It’s interesting watching footage of these guys through the eyeglass of age, and it’s fascinating to see the style differences between them and all the others. Dogtowner’s are surfers at heart and now it obvious to everybody.

I love to watch the spaceage wizkidz of skateboarding today. The stuff they are doing today is mind blowing to be sure, but it in my opinion it lacks style diversity compared to days of yore.

If you haven’t see “Dogtown & Z-Boyz” documentary, I’d HIGHLY recommend it. Once you see the 8mm footage of these guys fearlessly surfing through the remnants and wreckage of the old Pacific Ocean Pier it will all make sense to you.

“If I could stick a knife in my heart,
suicide right on stage,
Would it be enough for your teenage lust,
Would it help to ease the pain? Ease your brain?”

Sums it up quite nicely…

Pat Phillips
Aka Tony Alva

[Robb]

I just wanted to echo the comments....Lords is the Hollywooded version, check out Dogtown and Z Boys for a more biographical feel.

[Jernej]

Another highly inspirational (surfing) documentary is Riding Giants. I'd say it's even better than Dogtown and Z-Boys.
BMX riders also got their documentary via Joe Kid on a Stingray but I have yet to see it.

I miss some riding characteristics and the style those guys had. It was so incredibly fluid it reminds me of le parkour philosophy. You don't see it often these days. Bob Burnquist perhaps...

[jackson]

Holy shit, I can't believe you just outed Tony Alva....okay now i'm gonna read the rest of the post.....

[jackson]

....okay, I'm back...
Great post Fred, certainly a memorable one now that the Pat's outta the bag.
As you stated, I was affected greatly by skate culture, and it came in the form of Tony Alva, the real one, but more importantly through the one we know. That Tony Alva, outed Alva, as I will cal him, was my big skate hero, then and now.

Oh yeah, Skateboarder Magazine - the only magazine I stole more copies of than Playboy.

One last thing, to this day, when I see a UPS truck, I think "My new skate?"

[Tony Alva]

Oh man Jackson... I thought I was the only one who had that weird association with the UPS truck! They come to my center multiple times a day and each time he drives by my window, I think a new skate is coming from the Val Surf Shop out in CA! Waiting on a new skate was pure blissful torture, and that was before express services.

I remember all my skateboards and could list each one of them in chronological order and how each was equipped. The one that meant the most to me was the one featured in the photo I sent your brother yesterday. I earned the money for it myself with my first job pimping sodas at Army football games when I was 15. Took the entire season to save for it and I still had to beg my Dad to front to postage for me. It was a Dogtown Jim Muir deck, Tracker Full Track trucks, with “Z” Roller wheels. Since my order exceeded $120, Val Surf threw in 30” of Bearfoot Grip Gnarly Stuff grip tape and a bunch of stickers (the stickers!!!). Man, I don’t think I slept an hour during the waiting period until the magical UPS man finally arrived three weeks later. Anytime we’d see the UPS guy we’d chase him down and ask him, “You got a box for so and so’s house?”

Thanks for the kind words and rustling my memory loose.

“You coming to the ramp today after school?” “Nah, no can do. It’s been two weeks since I sent my order in and the UPS man might come by”. “OK, see ya tomorrow…”

TA “the fake one”