Sports

10 Rad Photos From The History Of Skateboarding

history of skateboarding
Chris Cantore
Written by Chris Cantore

Amazingly enough, skateboarding, once deemed a counter-culture activity, will be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, or Tokyo 2020.  Steadily documented since the mid-sixties, the sport’s influence on Southern California lifestyle (and beyond) is undeniable — from fashion to music to art.

Against the Grain: Skate Culture and the Camera, a traveling art exhibition, celebrates the history of skateboarding with the photographers who documented the movement including Spike Jonze, C. R. Stecyk III, Glen E. Friedman, and J. Grant Brittain.

Glen E. Friedman; “Chuck Askerneese and Marty Grimes at Kenter Canyon”; 1975.

history of skateboarding

Grandma, Thrasher, 1984. Swansea © Skin Phillips

Curated by former San Diego resident Jaime Marie Davis, the exhibition, which already opened / closed in New York and London, will land in North America in 2019, followed by Tokyo in 2020.

Bones Brigade, Chin Ramp, 1987 © J. Grant Brittain

history of skateboarding

Video Days, Jason Lee and Mark Gonzales, 1989 © Spike Jonze

Bones Brigade, Chin Ramp, 1987 © J. Grant Brittain

Utilizing archived material from magazines such as SkateBoarder, Thrasher, Transworld, R.a.D, and Sidewalk, the photographs are beautiful moments in skate history (as seen below.)  For more, visit https://atg-exhibition.com/

Todd Swank, Push, 1987 © J. Grant Brittain

Palace Originals, Lucian Hendricks, Crystal Palace, 1985 © Dobie Campbell

Aloha, Mark Gonzales, 1998. Stadtisches Museum, Koln, Germany © Skin Phillips


Untitled (Chris Maalouf, Montreal), 2015 © Sam Muller

 

 

About the author

Chris Cantore

Chris Cantore

Morning Radio Guy turned Digital Media Dude.
Host of The Cantore Show podcast.
Be Cool, No Kooks.