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Skateboarding Vancouver

The Skull Skates Collection At the Vancouver Museum
A Concrete Wave Edition
by Peter Ducommun

Most skate books easily fit into a certain category. Be it graphics, history, technical instruction, product based or photo centered. Skateboarding Vancouver breaks the mold and includes all catagories without becoming too much to handle. The book is the companion to an amazing exhibit Vancouver Museum entitled: The Skull Skates Collection. The book is peppered with photos of the exhibit throughout, and it seems like quite a show (check out the link at the end of the review for images from the show). The content of the exhibit centers around Skull Skates and their board graphics and shapes through the years. However, these boards just provide the framework, the skeleton (yeah, I said it) if you will.

Starting with wood scooters and clay wheels the book details the clay wheel era in surprising detail. Highlights include great shots of the Roller Derby skateboard kit (add your own board!) and the first pro model skateboard, a Phil Edwards, from 1963. The seventies section is introduced with the birth of urethane and follows the Logan Earth Ski and introduction of the Alva shaped sticks.

Around this point we see the first photos of Canadian skaters. For a while you might have forgotten that this book reflects Canada’s skate scene, but as the eighties bloom Skull Skates kicks into full gear. You get great photos and stories behind the classics: The Diehard, Skeletal, Mutant, The Hackett, the Olson, Swank, and the punk boards featuring Gang Green, Wasted Youth, Social D. Who could forget the the mighty Hosoi Hammerhead? To put these boards in context the book also includes classic boards of the time including the first Gonz, Guerrero, Gator, and some lesser know classics like the Dogtown Aaron ‘Fingers’ Murray and Zorlac Gargolye. These guys know their stuff and the images are great.

The ninties section is more of the same with Skull Skates boards shown in detail and legendary decks thrown in for good measure. By this time you can really see the progression of the deck shapes as well as the shift in attitude and style.

The book then focuses on three skaters that have meant a great deal to the Vancouver scene: Kevin Harris, Rob ‘Sluggo’ Boyce, and Moses Itkonen. Great stuff here with quality photos as well as theie pro deck graphics. The last chapter touches on snowboarding a tad, and even throws in a skimboard…but at this point it’s clear that Skull Skates is all about skateboarding.

Past just another skating history lesson, Skateboarding Vancouver documents a company and the scene it was born from. It’s great to see a company not only call out it’s own achievements but praise the products and people that made Vancouver a great skateboarding city.

For a virtual walk though of the musuem exhibition click here. Buy the book from Skull Skates online, Tailtap.com or at your local skateshop

- Chris

10/23

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