Dogtown and Z-Boys
Documentary film (2001), An AOP Production
Director: Starcy Peralta, also did movies: Lords of Dogtown, Riding Giant,
Made in America
- Documentary about the pioneering 1970’s Zephyr skating team.
Stacy Peralta:
- first skateboarder to land lucrative sponsorship deals.
- left skating at age of 19 and open his own company Powell Peralta
- sponsored skateboarder Tony Hawk for 11 years
This documentary introduced us to history of skateboarding and Z-boys skateboarding team. It help me a lot to understand first meanings of skateboarding and the history.
“Two hundred years of American technology has unwittingly created a massive cement playground of unlimited potential, but it was the mind of 11 years old that could see that potential”.
Graig Tecyk 1975
“People were really living the movement”
“We were all punk kids man, we were tough kids, we wanted to be something”
“I was on summer vacation for about 20 years” Jay Adams
“It was cool to be in magazine, but all we wanted to do was skating”
“They were bad asses, they were the freaks of the sport”
“No one skateboarded, road the board, no one was aggressive as radical as they ever were”
“Zepher team has guys with all different styles and really started the revolution” Tony Hawk
- in 1975 second issue of skateboarding magazine come out with first article about dogtown skaters: ‘Aspects of the Dowhill slide’ by Carlos Izan
- Z-boys had their own group of skaters, not local people weren’t allow to skate or surf in places they did
Zepher’s team included 12 members:
Shogo Kubo, Bob Biniak, Nathan Pratt, Stacy Peralta, Jim Muir, Allen Sarlo, Chris Cahill, Tony Alva, Paul Constantineau, Jay Adams, Peggy Oki, Wentzle Ruml
- the place called “Dogtown’ was situated in Santa Monica, California, it was surrounded by 3 beach, the perfect place for surfing, but it wasn’t really place for summer occasion
“ It was dirty, it was filthy, it was paradise” Skip Engbolm
- the surfers had outcast behaviour
- in 1972 Jeff HO, Craig Stecyk and Skip Engbolm opened first surf shop in Dogtown.
“ They were other surf shops, but they didn’t have the bad boy images”
“They were a specialist surf shop, if you wanted the most high performing surf, this is the shop come to”
- They created new identity based on colour and shapes of surfboards which was revolutionary, Jeff ho was exploring all kinds of design concepts. The most of inspiration came from art tradition of local gangs and vivid colour of car culture, which was totally something different. The usual aesthetic of surfing was very clean, pattern blue, rainbows and sun sets images. The new group of surfers wanted show the identification of the environment, like where they lived and who they were.
“ Urban graffiti on surf boards”
“ Go Home, it was status saying nothing is going to stop us and we’re gonna do everything we want and screw you if you don’t like it, we don’t care”. This is was basically their attitude.
Ocean Park Pier (known as OPO)
- in the old days it was European community, replica of Venice on Italy
- celebration of humanity, people having good time and they are free
- in middle 60’s it runs down
- 1967 closed down, something which was beautiful and fantastic went to the death.
- now it was centre for pyromaniacs, junkies, artists and surfers
“it was like a dead wonderland”
- there was special place Cove, secret spot for surfers and also very dangerous because they would ride through pieces of piles and wood also flowed around
- there was one pile felt on the other and they could ride trough it, which was pretty tricky
“I’d never seen that many surfboards breaking in my life”
- around this place they would spray signs to warning people to keep out
“You didn’t go near that place if you didn’t live there or knew people, because you’re gonna get hurt”
“That was extremely heavy local spot”
- you had to earn to surf there and later on you had to be good surfer to get on Zephyr’s skateboarding team.
“They were young aggressive people, almost like a mafia”
“If you were wearing navy blue Zephyr shirt, you were the shit on the neighbourhood”
- reflecting more the hardcore urban side of the fence street kids
- most of the kids came from broken homes and the Zephyr’ s shop provided an identity of home for them it was also place to hang out, everybody there did little jobs (clean the floor, roll the joint for Jeff etc..)
- the family dis-funcionalism came out aggressively in surfing and skateboarding.
- They put maxim in creating new moves and styles
“We were all hungry for recognisation”
“Everybody brought something to the team, everybody did something different, everybody had different style and that was the whole thing all about”
History:
- in late 1950’ s skateboarding was popular young sport
- the skateboards had a form of small surfs board, the style of surfing
- emerged as alternative sport for teenagers
- skateboarding competitions (national popularity) but it lived short, in 1965 skateboarding crusted (literally over nite), hula hoop replaced it
- early 1970’s skateboarding was viewed as another passing kidy fad, since then it was impossible to get proper made skateboarders
“If you wanted skateboarder back then, you had to go to store, buy a pare of roller-skates with clay wheels, then go to harber store, buy solid piece of wood (like oak, maple), borrow saw and make surf shape and you had skateboard”
- clay wheel were very dangerous for skating, lots of injuries
- in 19721972, Frank Nasworthy invented urethane skateboard wheels, which are similar to what most skaters use today, called ‘Cadillac Wheel’ REG.T.M . It was a start of new revolution in skateboarding, skaters were able to do hard turns and more trick.
“It was begging of what skateboarding is today”
- surfers would surf just in morning, because the wind blow out the waves around 10 o’clock, the rest of the day surfers skateboard (practise for surfing).
“Surfing had everything to do with everything, and skating just kind of went along after when the waves weren’t good than you skated”
“Surfing was it and skating was just extension of our surfing”
- when the team saw one surfer touch waves while he was surfing they copy it and started to do it in skateboarding (touching ground)
“We were always touching the pavement it was all about feeling what you’re doing, feeling your wheels graining and pivoting around your hand”
- you had to look good on skateboard, have a good style
“You could do all the manovers, but having great style was you were really shooting for”
“Style was like the most important thing”
“Style was everything”
- all of the members of team did surf style, which hold them together
- everybody had different style, because of their personality
“If you had bad style right, right there, you had one mark against you”
- when the skateboarding started, skaters didn’t make money out of it, but when skateboarding become part of mainstream (being popular, competitions etc..) they started earn some money and some of the members of Zephyr’s team made quite lots of money
“We weren’t making money out of it, we didn’t think there was any future in and we were doing it because we loved doing it”
“Skaters by their nature are urban guerrillas: they make everyday use of the useless artefacts of the technological burden, and employ the handiwork of the government/corporate structure in a thousand ways that the original architects could ever dream of” Craig Stecyk 1976
- in 1970 the California hap problem with water supply, the city government didn’t allow to water lawns, filled pools with water or served water in restaurant, as the result California was full of empty pools. The Zephyr’s team used them for skateboarding. Pools were perfect for skateboarding because of the smooth surface.
- California draws served as mid-wife to the skateboard revolution, as hundreds of pools across Las Angels were left empty and unused
“Once pool riding came in, that’s like all we wanted to do”
- first when they started riding the pools they didn’t’ t know what to do, because it was totally something new. First thing they did was go over the lights in pools.
“It was like completely foreign, mentally and physically, but the fact we were surfers we know which movements needed to be done, we just didn’t know if they were possible yet”
“We were definitely the first guys in whole Dogtown group, to really take it on the top, to the lip and actually grounded and piv it on the lip”
“ You have to understand, that what they were doing on the skateboard, it was never been done anywhere else before, there was no such a thing”
- people would come around from mils to see pool riding
- when skateboards found a pool full of water or rubbish, they would take it out
- they also had few hours or a day to ride the pool,
“We would find some full of water, but they had to be empty one way or another, the water had to go, and they had to be ridden”
“When you have a empty swimming pool, you know it might be open for a day or day and half and that’s it, you got a skate for as long as you can”
“It was totally just illegal burden session”
“You could feel the energy coming out of the pool”
- they kept the riding in low profile, they didn’t want people to come around and ride the pools, there was not enough space. If someone wanted to big someone they had to have meeting about it.
- Zephers team had training sessions everyday, their leader was Skip Engbolm (owner of surfer shop and he also started Zephyr team)
- In 1975- zephyr team enter national competition for first time , it included slalom (wooden ramp) and small wooden platform for tricks. The team had much more different style than other competitors. The traditional style was like gymnastic on skateboarding (hand stands on the board, they also didn’t bend their knees) and sometimes it reminded ballet. On the other hand Zephyrs team reflected surf style (touching ground, doing spins) and the energy of it.
- The jury didn’t know how to mark it because they haven’t seen it before
- The team wanted to show how a real skateboarding is done
“The world wasn’t ready for the Z-boys” Warren Bolster,. Editor of skateboarding magazine 1975
“The difference between us and them was very real”
“We were the rock&roll and heavy metal of Dogtown”
- after six moths from the completions the zephyr’s team broke in pieces and the surf shop closed.
- Skip Engbolm didn’t have enough money to compete with other team, who wanted to buy the members of the team
- Skateboarding started be very popular articles in magazines
- The articles and photography has huge impact on skateboarding, because it reflected the culture and attitude, and kids wanted to be like them
- Everyone loved them and wanted to be like them- it turned to like rock style
- Skateboarder magazine was the best selling magazine in 1978
- When the skaters were paid for skating it was like:
“We were being paid to ride skateboards, imagine kid today being approached by Nike and Nike said: we’ re going to pay you 10 000 dollars to spray graffiti all over the city, we’re going to sponsor you to spray graffiti, that was like in 1970’s”
Chris Cahill - Went to work shaping kneeboards for Nathan Pratts Horizons West Surfboard Shop.
Nathan Pratt - Later on founded Horizons West Surfboard Shop, occupying the same space as the Zephyr surf shop. He is married with two children and lives in Somis, California.
Jay Adams - Left to skate for Logan Earth Ski. Later on Adams had a hard time coping with stardom and served time in the Hawaiian State correctional facility on drug related charges. In the documentary, Dogtown and Z-Boys, Adams was in recovery and on work release. He shrugs his shoulders in the on-camera interview and says, "I was on summer vacation for 20 years."
Allen Sarlo - Became a real estate agent and surfing champion. He lives with his wife in Malibu, California and has two children.
Stacy Peralta - Joined G&S to skate professionally. Peralta stopped skating after some time and started his own skateboard company. He discovered two promising southern California youngsters, Tony Hawk and Steve Caballero, who would become the skateboarding trendsetters in the 80's and 90's. Peralta was also a pioneer in extreme sports video, a medium he turned to to promote his skateboard company. His handheld, point-of-view filming style and rock soundtracks are the dominant style for today’s action films. He later went on to direct the 2001: Dogtown and Z-Boys, a Sundance Film Festival winning documentary that he also co-wrote with Craig Stecyk. He also wrote the 2005 film Lords of Dogtown, starring Heath Ledger, Rebecca De Mornay, Emile Hirsch, Victor Rasuk, and John Robinson. Tony Hawk also had a cameo role in that movie. Stacy Peralta has a son and lives in Santa Monica, California.
Tony Alva - Also went on to skate for Logan Earth Ski. He then went on to start his own skateboard company, Alva Skates, in Oceanside, California. He also has a signature Vans skateboard shoe. He has two children and skates pools every day.
Bob Biniak - Retired from skating in 1980. He married and went on to play professional golf. Sadly though, Biniak passed away on February 25, 2010 from a massive heart attack.
Paul Constantineau - Also went on to skate for G&S. He now works as a machinist and lives in Santa Monica, California.
Jim Muir - Owns and operates Dogtown Skateboards. He has a son and lives in Venice, California.
Peggy Oki - The only female in the Zephyr Competition team, rejected skating in favor of surfing, and has competed in surf contests all over the world. She also went to college at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is an environmental activists and fine artist/graphic designer, and lives and surfs in Carpenteria, California.
Shogo Kubo - Is married and has two children. He works and lives in Hawaii and still surfs and skates to this day.
Wentzle Ruml - Went on to skate for Rector. He now owns and operates an aquaculture farm. He is married and lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Although the Z-Boys have moved on to other things throughout the years, the Z-Boy movement continues to this day as an expression of performance, innovation and style.
Post by Petra
