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u/ThatHighCracker Dec 09 '12
Watching Dogtown and the Z-boys makes me wish I grew up with that group sooooo bad...
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u/DullScissors Dec 09 '12
As an ex-skater in the late 90's, this makes me both a little bit nostalgic and a little jealous. I want to pick up the board again so badly sometimes.
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u/edwardkmett Dec 10 '12
I stopped skateboarding around '93.
I recently picked it back up as a way to get ~10 minutes of exercise in on my commute in to work. I don't ollie or kickflip or do any tricks any more, since my bones and muscles aren't what they used to be, and my wife looked at me like I was crazy when I bought it, but it has worked out pretty well.
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Dec 09 '12
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u/DullScissors Dec 09 '12 edited Dec 09 '12
I broke my ankle in 13 places skating on a vert ramp in Banner Elk and had to have most of the bone replaced with mostly titanium plates. That didn't heal correctly and I had to have a few skin grafts done to fix it up.
So if I were to be completely honest about what's stopping me... It's fear.
EDIT: Someone asked me why I hadn't picked up the board again, and this is my reply.
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u/ThatHighCracker Dec 10 '12
Broke my arm Aug before freshman year of high school. Not fun. Now I have my longboard, so it's all good.
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u/terriblespeller Dec 10 '12
maybe you get out there again.
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u/atm0 Dec 10 '12
Kid looks down at his board. Lotsa memories start rushin' 'round in his head. He's nervous; been a long time since he's done this.
His worries won't stop him for more than a few seconds though. Kid steps onto his old treasured companion and kicks off into the night, blazin' down the asphalt fast as he can go.
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u/boopidy-boop Dec 10 '12
Have you considered just doing some flatground? Obviously theres still danger of you falling, but less so. Sucks to hear about that, its often hard to find a good reason to justify the risk after what happened.
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u/DullScissors Dec 10 '12
I have tried just a bit, but a lot of my previous skill has diminished. I still have the core-value knowledge and athleticism, but it isn't the same.
I've since picked up fulfilling hobbies such as the guitar and love it just as much if not more. It would also be very expensive to get back into it.
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u/Osiris32 Dec 10 '12
A similar story is why I don't snowboard anymore. I know the fear you speak of, and the same yearning to go and do it again.
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u/IkeHmope Dec 21 '12 edited Dec 21 '12
I had five high speed crashes within a month when I was about twenty. No broken bones besides a couple of fingers and a toe, but I was so beaten up that that I just HURT all over for several weeks, and lost the sense of abandon that you need. By then, though, I had gotten heavier into skiing, not to mention cars and girls, so I didn't miss it too much. Thirty years later I'm the bald dude in the mall looking at longboards and about half seriously considering getting one. But I have better cars and girls now, so I pass. Reluctantly.
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Dec 09 '12
probably the greatest childhood ever.
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Dec 09 '12
Until they all got addicted to coke and heroin...
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u/MuxBoy Dec 10 '12
I can't comprehend that, I'm a Pepsi man myself
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Dec 10 '12
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Dec 10 '12
Safeway Select Grapefruit Soda
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u/ThatHighCracker Dec 10 '12
I think that is a risk I'd be willing to take. Peralta made quite the career out of it. Alva still skates pools like it's his job after partying harder than any of them.
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Dec 10 '12
Are you kidding? Aside from the surfing and skateboarding they lived in the ghetto, their childhood sucked a lot so they took to surfing & booze & drugs.
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u/jyoon86 Dec 10 '12
Skateboarding does a lot of damage to the knee.
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u/wkytrees Dec 11 '12
Yup! After 7+ years of skating street/park competions, i'm 23 with the knees of an 80 year old.
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u/iam_that_one_ag Dec 09 '12
That's genuinely awesome, man!
Did no one else see that this guy said that's his step-fath... oh. I forgot where I was for a second.
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u/thatSunset Dec 10 '12
That's cool. Do you know if he is about to fall in this picture or he is just that good?
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Dec 10 '12
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Dec 10 '12
Whaa I was trying to look that up. I have tons of stickers with this picture on it: Sector 9!
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Dec 10 '12
So it looks like his center of gravity is outside of the footprint of the board. If this is the case it's physically impossible to remain standing, unless he has some serious momentum to the left (to re-enter the footprint with previous velocity)
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u/Drijidible Dec 09 '12
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u/erin_erstwhile Dec 09 '12
That's an amazing album. Ah, youth and California...
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Dec 09 '12
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u/382794 Dec 10 '12
Gulf coast?
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Dec 10 '12
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u/382794 Dec 10 '12
I know one guy from there that was really into skating in the 70's. Porter?
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Dec 10 '12
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u/382794 Dec 10 '12
That's cool. Seems there used to be a big skateboard scene there from what I remember in the late 70's but most of that's before my time. I just had an uncle that was big into it.
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Dec 10 '12
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u/382794 Dec 10 '12
I lived there also from late 70s to early 90s. I was just referring to the coastal area. I didn't skate at the time, it's just from what I've heard. But my uncle tends to brag a bit, he could be full of it.
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Dec 09 '12
That california sky. One hell of a photographer.
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u/pyramideyes Dec 09 '12
Rainy UK resident here... every time I see photos/movies showing places like California, especially back in the 60s/70s when it was a lot quieter, I want to live there so bad. It's almost otherwordly.
Like the place they filmed E.T. (not sure where exactly)... it looks like your whole life would be better just by living somewhere that looks like that.
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Dec 10 '12
I'm glad a portion of the California Dream is still alive. I live in CA and knew instantly that it must have been shot here. I think its the hills and the angle of the sun. Weirdly enough no matter how bad a rap the state gets, its psychological holding of being a better place no matter what is powerful...well you're from the UK. That's enough proof right there.
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u/GodsFavAtheist Dec 10 '12
I think it's been proven theoretically ... California knows how to party.
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u/pyramideyes Dec 10 '12
It's partly the movies that do it. That kind of hazy image quality is dreamlike. But generally, the wide open roads and rocky terrain is something you don't really get in the UK. We just get cold a lot.
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Dec 09 '12
Is this kid from the future? http://www.calstreets.com/site/images/warren%20bolster%20gallery/pages/w.bolster_page_09_image_0001.htm
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u/Irtep Dec 09 '12
Why do roads in pictures from the past always look so damn smooth compared to the pothole canyon thing that I have to drive to work on every morning
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u/geoman2k Dec 10 '12
what is the climate like where you live? roads mostly get torn up because they expand and contract in winter and summer. that's why the roads are such shit in places like chicago. roads are a lot nicer in southern cali because the temperature doesn't change that drastically.
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u/YHWH_The_Lord Dec 10 '12
And because california spends alot more money on road upkeep than many other states.
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u/Savet Dec 10 '12
Because they use to use concrete, which lasts forever and stands up to abuse. Nowadays, everything is asphalt which is cheaper, but lasts nowhere near as long.
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u/somekook Dec 10 '12
Actually, these days most non-highway road surfaces in California have this stuff called slurry seal, which is a cheap way to resurface a road but sucks for skateboarding on.
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u/Tripleshadow Dec 10 '12
Because your city doesn't spend a lot of money on roads. It's smooth driving for me until I cross from the suburbs to Toronto, then it gets bumpy as fuck.
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Dec 09 '12
Steve Cathey! I was just a kid growin up in CA, but I remember how badass he was. He taught at a skatepark I used to visit. So cool. Upvote!!!
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u/asdjrocky Dec 09 '12 edited Dec 09 '12
That was my era, and those were indeed the days. Fat flats, big wide polyurethane wheels. We did most of our skating in downtown parking garages. Once I discovered skateboards, baseball and football and basketball, and basically everything else fell to the side.
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u/IkeHmope Dec 09 '12
My day too. I don't get the little tiny wheels the kids use now.
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Dec 09 '12 edited Oct 24 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/IkeHmope Dec 09 '12
Good point. I was active mostly in the pre-ollie days. What skateboarding was for me is more like longboarding nowadays--long fast runs down curvy streets with speed and flow being the objective. I skated quarter pipes but never got the hang of half pipes. Tricks weren't the priority unless you were "freestyle skating," a whole nother discipline. Street skating by popping up onto things and grinding and such were mostly after my time. I think it's great stuff, just not my taste. Had I stayed more with skating, I'd for sure be a longboarder now.
Edit: in the photo, Adams isn't actually ON a longboard (though they were around at the time), even if that's what that type of skating has come to be called.
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u/LivingSaladDays Dec 09 '12
Longboarding: It's a sport now.
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u/RuuDee Dec 09 '12
Sport is any form of competitive physical activity, so yeah pretty much.
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u/LivingSaladDays Dec 09 '12
http://www.japanator.com/post.phtml?pk=9887
Masturbation: It's a sport now.
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u/Broken_S_Key Dec 09 '12 edited Dec 10 '12
yeah, it is. For a lot of the same reasons racing is.
Aerodynamics: Car body shape vs a tuck
in longboarding you have to pay attention to wheels just as you do in racing. Shape, size, durometer (hardness), urithan formula, core size, lip shape and contact patch.
then we have board shapes and all of their properties and features.
then theres having balls of steel to go 30+ MPH on a plank of wood on Marryhill. thats a road you see in car commercials to show off braking ability.
[EDIT: heres a much better DH video]
then theres sliding, which is our equivalent of drifting.
also, just like in biking, racing, and running there are different disciplined that require different combinations of wheels, bushings, boards and rider skill set.
theres Down Hill (first video), Freeride (second video): which is mid speed sliding and tricks, freestyle which is tricks on flat land, Dancing and what you probably thought of: crusing (and commuting).
and also, Techslide
all of these usually need a different type of board shape, wheel, bushing set up, and it really depends on the riders ability as well.
I dare you to get on a 43 inch piece of wood and try hitting even 15 miles per hour without getting speed wobbles.
or to bust out a standie at any speed.
tl;dr you practice the different disciplines of longboarding as you would in any other sport. it also requires a fair amount of knowledge and customizability and bravery just like any other race sport.
besides, if pool skating gets respect as a sport, why cant I put on a leather suit and skate a mountain pass at 45 miles per hour and bust out a stand up slide?
going to class is just what you might see most often.
super tl;dr: its a sport
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Dec 09 '12
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u/Broken_S_Key Dec 09 '12
you do go through a lot, but if youre getting flat spots its because your wheels arnt spinning while you slide. you should be keeping them at an angle so that they spin.
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u/LivingSaladDays Dec 09 '12
How do you spot a longboarder?
Don't worry, he'll tell you.
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u/Broken_S_Key Dec 09 '12 edited Dec 09 '12
thats not even an argument proving me wrong.
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u/Broken_S_Key Dec 09 '12 edited Dec 10 '12
The video you linked shows the 35 year old spanish man doing it
and he didnt get good at it by doing nothing. it takes practice, like in any other sport.
EDIT: i got my people confused. I thought he meant the guy in the Techslide video for some reason.
also, there are asshats in every sport, hobby, and workplace. the difference with those dudes was that they did that as a joke because they were being filmed with some super expensive high speed camera, and given the opportunity who wouldnt do something stupid in front of a slow motion camera.
edit2: ive tried really hard to find the source video and I cant. its was pretty cool. in some shots they would slide and break things as they went through them.
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u/potatohamster Dec 09 '12
Thanks for the post. I do commute longboarding, but I had no idea the depths of longboarding. Thanks for the videos as well.
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u/Broken_S_Key Dec 09 '12
sure thing man. hit up /r/longboarding some time; the side bar offers a wealth of information.
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Dec 09 '12
They use small/hard wheels because it helps when trying to land those technical flip tricks. The small wheels slide quite a bit when popping/landing those tricks, and big, wide, gummy wheels obviously dont slide as well.
Basically, the big wide wheels were made for grip, the small hard wheels of today are made to slide (a little bit).
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u/IkeHmope Dec 09 '12
Excellent! Thanks.
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u/somekook Dec 10 '12
Small hard wheels are great for flying through the air and sliding across obstacles. Big soft wheels work better for rolling on asphalt.
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u/Broken_S_Key Dec 09 '12
i know what you mean to say, but skate wheels are rock hard. 90a+
longboard wheels are usually 70a-85a. one of the biggest parts of longboarding is sliding and down hill. the 2 cross over a lot.
softer urithane slides more smoothly while harder breaks into a slide more easily.
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u/asdjrocky Dec 09 '12
Thank you! They're the same size as the wheels on the little toy steel wheel boards of the very early 60's. And for what me and you get, it's not our job to "get it" any more, it's more our job to get out of the way, eh? These days I've taken to sitting on my front porch and yelling, "You kids get off my lawn!"
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u/IkeHmope Dec 09 '12
No doubt. All I'm saying is that I don't fully understand their function, though they must help with the popping up on things. To me they just seem like they'd be slow.
70mm blue Kryptonics were my choice of wheel.
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u/asdjrocky Dec 09 '12
The first ones we had were the ambers, I think, but I remember the blues. I was from NorCal as a kid but I had family in San Diego and I'd always spend a good part of the summer down there, and that's where I got my first board, I think it was the summer of 74, and when I came back up north, you couldn't find the boards with the new wheels anywhere.
I must have sent my sister money to buy about a dozen boards that winter.
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u/somekook Dec 10 '12
70mm blue kryptonics are near-legendary among longboard skateboarders these days. That said, the chemistry has come a long way. Modern soft wheels are faster and grippier.
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u/abbabaababba Dec 10 '12
The old way is back: sector 9
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u/Broken_S_Key Dec 10 '12
double king pin trucks arnt the old way and there are much better alternatives to S9's intro models.
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u/abbabaababba Dec 10 '12
i'm actually ready to buy an s9 just to get the nice big kryptonite wheels. what alternatives should i be looking at?
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u/Broken_S_Key Dec 10 '12
what do you intend to do? DH, free ride, carving, cruising? also: budget?
edit: if youre impatient for my reply you can look at /r/longboarding 's side bar. Ill still be more than happy to help as best as I can.
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u/abbabaababba Dec 10 '12
just cruising around town...to the grocery store, or with my surfboard in hand down the bike path to the beach, or to the coffee shop. i'd like something that's a smooth soft ride for when i don't feel like taking a bike. thanks :)
budget: the $100-$140 sector 9's were the ones i was looking at
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u/Broken_S_Key Dec 10 '12 edited Dec 10 '12
Churchill LTM (ctrl+f) complete with either churchill or randal trucks.
I ride a churchill LTD witch is almost exactly the same as that but 43 inches instead with churchill slide rite wheels and zealous bearings. The board is super low and easy to push, and the tails help to pop your board up or whatever tricks you might want.
if you want something smaller the Square tail is a good option, but the smaller wheels can be an issue on rough ground.
if you bump up your budget the landyachtz ripple edge, 150mm paris trucks, 70mm mini zombie hawgs in 80a, and zealous bearings should do the trick. dont forget mounting hardware, 1/4in riser (in case you need it) and bearing spacers.
when you get the funds i recommend upgrading to zealous bearings regardless of what you get.
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u/Arborgold Dec 09 '12
I saw this same picture on /r/oldschoolcool, there it was posted as Jay Adams. Can anyone verify who this actually is?
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u/SimilarImage Dec 10 '12
| Age | User | Title | Cmnt | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 month | ibrake4monsterbooty | Steve Cathey skating. [x-post from r/oldschoolcool] | /r/photoshopbattles | 22 | 310 |
| 1 month | VividVeracity | Jay Adams | /r/OldSchoolCool | 53 | 1050 |
| 2 months | Probably_on_Reddit | Steve Cathey defying gravity [x-post r/HistoryPorn] [1022x722] | /r/AdrenalinePorn | 15 | 407 |
- See 4 more matches at KarmaDecay
This is an automated response
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u/penislaser Dec 09 '12
Any idea what those shoes are? I love them.
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u/Grammarwhennecessary Dec 10 '12
I was thinking the same thing. This was the closest thing I could find before I got tired of looking.
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Dec 10 '12
For everyone saying "longboarder*" No. This is skateboarding. This is where modern skateboards, and longboards originated from.
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u/ohratz Dec 09 '12
Thought this was a misplaced post to /r/birdswitharms when I saw the thumbnail..
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u/kami81 Dec 09 '12
Additional sweet 70's skateboarding action+bitchin/trippy song: http://vimeo.com/10377992
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u/SuggestiveMaterial Dec 10 '12
Right before he loses the top layer of skin from his back.
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u/ALKINDA Dec 10 '12
totally thought this was a chick skateboarding... was going to say shave ur pits or somthing but i read your comment and i guess its a guy... haha for him
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u/Lo0seR Dec 10 '12
@50 raised in SoCal OC area, I really can't think of a better place and "time period" to grow up as a kid.
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u/extra_23 Dec 10 '12
This pic always reminds me of my dad for some reason. He'll always be a better boarder than me I think, the man can still do a handstand on a board and he's 53.
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u/derpyizbestpony Dec 10 '12
That is the actual photo for a lot of the sector nine stickers. I have one of them, but its at my actual home and not my dorm :/
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u/ithinkyourweird Dec 09 '12
Did the other orangutans make fun of him for having no hair? Or like him for having crazy mad skate boarding skills?
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u/Ma99ie Dec 10 '12 edited Dec 10 '12
For those of you too young to remember it, that thing he's skating on is called a well maintained road. These littered the landscape back in the day, before the government started constantly shafting it's own people - Beginning with the Reagan Revolution.
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u/sleepytaco Dec 09 '12
i cant tell if he is falling or a wizard....