the year skateboarding broke

T H E Y E A R S K AT E B O A R D I N G B R O K E
Text:
Dave Swift
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Heath Kirchart. Photo: Atiba
Less than five minutes before this switch frontside
flip was shot in Encinitas, Tom Penny had landed
bolts on a standard frontside flip. Photo: Swift
Philadelphia’s 1995 skate scene was led by Ricky Oyola. This guy
found and skated more spots within that city than anyone else in
history. Glass ride to fakie. Photo: Gee
1995, the year skateboarding broke.
This was the dawn of a more mature era of skateboarding. For better or worse, skating was
a part of the zeitgeist. Aided by the film Kids and the launch of the Extreme Games, we were on
the world’s radar, and—with the big pants/small wheels era behind us—we were looking good.
The internet was just beginning to ping, and we had no idea how far we were about to go.
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Spots come and go, but this one being ollied
in New York City by Bobby Puleo still remains
skateable today. Photo: Blabac
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East Coast transplant, Josh Kalis, locks into a
frontside noseslide on a tall San Diego handrail
in his Toy Machine days. Photo: Swift
The campus at UCSD in La Jolla was the
home of many untouched spots in 1995.
Steve Berra solidly catches a kickflip over
a newly discovered hubba. Photo: Swift
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El Camino High School in Oceanside had a seven-stair rail a
perfect distance away from this ten-stair rail Geoff Rowley is
noseblunt sliding to do a line, and many did. Photo: Swift
The mainstream officially grabbed a piece of
skateboarding when ESPN debuted their version
of a skateboard event in Newport, Rhode Island,
originally called “The Extreme Games.” Chris Senn,
frontside boardslide amidst an extreme color
scheme. Photo: Brittain
Danny Way’s first contest (and contest win) after a
broken neck kept him from skating for more than a
year. SPoT contest, Tampa. Photo: Brittain
With speed and confidence, Kris Markovich
conquered rails and gaps with ease. Frontside
boardslide to fakie, Oceanside. Photo: Swift
About an hour after Ed Templeton landed this
frontside feeble in Escondido there was a conversation about Ian Mackaye. Photo: Swift
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In ’95, Heath Kirchart was just beginning to carve his
name into skateboarding’s history. Backside kickflip
on an Orange County bank. Photo: Atiba
Jeremy Klein could overcome obstacles with the best of them. The powers
that be tried to skatestop Beryl School in Los Angeles but Jeremy just 360
kickflipped to fakie, and switch manualed over the obstacle. Photo: Atiba
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In ’95, Jeremy Wray was pretty much the perfect
skateboarder—power, style, and guts. Curved rail
lipslide in Oceanside. Photo: Brittain
Out the car, a few ride ups with some self-encouraging words and a dead locked-on tailslide
all the way to the bottom. Chad Muska had it like
that in ’95, Hillcrest. Photo: Swift
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Philadelphia was boiling over with skate talent in 1995. Matt Reason
ollie shifty in The City Of Brotherly Love. Photo: Gee
Gap to 50-50 from a weird angle at night in 1995? Jamie
Thomas making the impossible possible. Photo: Swift
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Guy Mariano doing a body jar in a Los Angeles
backyard pool in 1995? Damn straight he did.
Photo: Mountain
Hubba Hideout in San Francisco was getting merked
by many, including Eric Koston, who nollie noseslid it
like it was a curb. Photo: Swift
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Street skating in San Francisco was being taken to a
whole other level by guys like Drake Jones, captured
here mid-street gap backside flip. Photo: Blabac
Bob Gnar (Bob Burnquist) appears on the North American scene with
a vert win at Vancouver’s Slam City Jam. Mute to fakie. Photo: Swift
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