Skateboarding
Sidewalk surfing became a sport twice, crashed twice, and each time came back on a different board. This archive follows the objects and the places as much as the tricks: clay wheels and the urethane that replaced them in 1972, the drained pools of the 1976 drought, plywood vert ramps, the Powell-Peralta videos that built an industry, the handrails and ledges that made street skating, Burnside and the concrete people poured themselves, and the contests that ended up at the Olympics. Women skated from the beginning and are here throughout rather than in a segment of their own at the end. The free photographic record before 1990 is thin and the reason is copyright, not absence, so the early decades lean on film and on Dutch press photography rather than on the Californian imagery everyone remembers.
A chronological documentary of 2,308 moments spanning 1959–2026 on Loreline.
Curated by Olivier · last updated 2026-09-20
Eras
- Sidewalk, The first boom. Boards built from roller skates and boxes, clay wheels, sidewalk surfing, and the 1965 crash that ended it.
- Urethane, The 1972 wheel that made everything after it possible. Frank Nasworthy, Cadillac Wheels, and the second boom it started.
- Pools, The 1976 drought and the empty backyard pools it opened. Vertical riding before there were ramps for it.
- Dogtown, Venice, Santa Monica and the Zephyr team, plus the Del Mar Nationals of 1975 where the style first got seen.
- Vert, Ramps and the air above them. Plywood, coping, and the trick vocabulary that came out of going vertical.
- Bones Brigade, Powell-Peralta and the team videos of the 1980s, which sold boards by making films and in doing so built the modern industry.
- Street, The shift that redefined the sport. Ledges, handrails, gaps, and technical progression on flat ground.
- Video, The canon and the people who shot it. Fisheye lenses, the VX1000, and the part as a form.
- Decks, The board as an object: shapes, graphics, hardware, shops and the trade around them.
- Magazines, How the sport reached people who never entered a gym. The Weider magazines, which are simultaneously the best-documented and least neutral source in this field. Pumping Iron in 1977, which made Arnold famous and which its own director described as partly constructed. Hercules and the peplum cycle, Conan, talk-show appearances, the home-video market where retired competitors made a living, and the internet era that replaced all of it.
- Parks, Skateparks as architecture, from the 1970s concrete boom through to municipal parks now.
- Burnside, Portland's DIY spot under a bridge and the self-built concrete that followed it worldwide.
- Contests, The competition itself, from the first Mr. Olympia in 1965 to now. Larry Scott, Sergio Oliva, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Frank Zane, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman with eight consecutive titles, Jay Cutler, Phil Heath, and the recent run in which most champions were born outside the United States. Note the asterisk that matters: Arnold's 1971 win came with Sergio Oliva banned for competing at a rival NABBA event, which is a firmer objection than anything about 1980. Judging, posing, prize money, and the promoters who owned the federation and the magazines simultaneously.
- Olympics, 1932, 1984 and 2028. The Coliseum, the Olympic Village, the privately financed 1984 games that actually made money, the venues being prepared now, and what the city rebuilt each time.
- Women, A sport women built and then had taken over. The first official contest was the Ohio Regional Women's Physique Championship in Canton, Ohio, in November 1977, organised by Henry McGhee and won by Gina LaSpina, judged on bodybuilding rather than beauty criteria. Doris Barrilleaux founded the SPA in 1978, the first women's bodybuilding organisation run by and for women, and McGhee's USWPA followed. The Ms. Olympia arrived in 1980 and absorbed all of it. Then came four decades of rules aimed at size: the 1992 IFBB guidance that competitors should not be too big, and a 2004 memo asking female athletes to reduce muscularity by roughly a fifth for aesthetics and health. No male equivalent has ever existed. Rachel McLish, Bev Francis, Cory Everson, Lenda Murray, Kim Chizevsky, and the divisions invented to catch the women judged too muscular for the last one.
- Global, 2002–2014. First World Cup in Asia, first in Africa. Zidane's headbutt. Germany 7-1 Brazil. The Women's World Cup audience grows beyond the USA. Spain's tiki-taka peak.
- Music, The soundtrack, and the bands that skate video introduced people to.
- Music, The soundtrack, and the bands that skate video introduced people to.
- Culture, Photography, art, clothing and language around the sport.
- Now, Contemporary skating, from the current professional circuit to what happens in a car park on a Tuesday.
- - 1959 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show newsreel archival footage. Sidewalk surfing as it looked to the people doing it. A short run of footage from Undetermined.
- - Canadian-American Barrel Jumping Contest (1960). Competitors lined up on the ice rink. Various shots of the American and Canadian competitors jumping a line of six barrels.
- - First Australian Championship Surfing Competition - 1964. Surf riding is a long way from whatever area of expertise I might possess (Now there's an understatement). Recently however, in amongst a mixed lot of 16mm movie film, I found this brief (5¾ minute) coverage of the initial Surfing Championship contest held at Manly, NSW, Australia.
- - Surfing Championships (1964). VS Crowds of surfing enthusiasts gather at Avalon Beach to watch championships. VS Surfers competing and the main competition is between Bob Brown and ex- champion Midget Farrelly.
- - Patti McGee 1965 National Skateboard champion TV commercial. Women skating, across eras and disciplines. A short run of footage from United Kingdom.
- - 1965 American Skateboard Championships - Anaheim, California. This program clip is from the 1965 Skateboard Championships in Anaheim California.
- - First International Skateboard Championships 1965 Anaheim, California. May 24, 1965 San Diego was well represented at the First International Skateboard Championships which were held over the weekend in Anaheim. These are three members of the nine-man Gordon and Smith Fiberflex team which came away with second place among the twenty teams competing.
- - GIRLS Skateboarding 1965 Skateboard Championships. Some of the girls at the 1965 Anaheim Skateboard Championships
- - Skaterdater (1965) | The World's First Skateboard Movie | Fully Restored by The Academy. Watch "Skaterdater" (1965), the groundbreaking short film written and directed by Noel Black and widely considered the world's first skateboarding movie. Restored by the Academy Film Archive and made available online in partnership with and the Noel Black Estate, this timeless 18‑minute classic captures the spirit of 1960s Southern California skate culture like no other film.
- - ABC Wide World of Sports Skateboard in 1965. SURGERE MAGAZINE. El primer campeonato de skateboard del que se tiene constancia se disputó en una escuela de Ciudad Hermosa, en California, al que acudieron unas 100 personas. Pero no fue hasta el año siguiente (1965) que se hizo el primer campeonato oficial de skateboard, allí mismo, siendo incluso retransmitido en el programa de la ABC “Wide World of Sports”.
- - 1965 Skateboarding - East Bay, California - Home Movie Footage. This video was edited from a series of scanned 8mm home movies shot in Oakland and Berkeley California during the spring of 1965. It's some of the best footage I've seen from that era.
- - 1965 Wide World of Sports. Steel and clay wheels on asphalt, before urethane changed the ride. 26 minutes of footage from Undetermined.
- - Neil and Jeb Bush on Skateboard circa March. Decks and components in United States.
- - Skateboard Contest Virginia Beach 1965 By Buddy Riggs Video Editing Will Lucas surf64.com. A corresponding photo from this same event is dated Feb.1965. A note from Judy Riggs: "The video was shot accross the street from W.
- - 12) TV-Beitrag von „ABC Wide World of Sports“ zum Anaheim Skateboard Championship (1965). Beitrag des amerikanischen Fernsehsenders „ABC Wide World of Sports“ zum Skateboard Slalom Championships im kalifornischen Anaheim 1965. Das Video zeigt Jungen die auf einem künstlich errichteten Slalom Downhill gegeneinander antreten.
- - 1966 CALIFORNIA POOL BUILD 8mm FILM. San Fernando Valley - California, USA, 1966, 8mm film transferred to digital by v.o. Music performed by the Van Orbitson band, song - Johnny B.
- - New York 1967 archive footage. Please comment if you recognize more subjects. If you want to buy a high quality copy of this footage to use it in your production, please visit:
- - World Roller Skating Championships (1967). Various shots skaters warming up on roller rink. Panning C/U of Mary Wilcox, American competitor, taking part in the ladies free skating.
- - IceCapades from 1967 8mm film. Sidewalk surfing as it looked to the people doing it. 4 minutes of footage from Undetermined.
- - Geyer Family 8mm Film Archive - 1967. Early board riding on California streets and schoolyards. 29 minutes of footage from Undetermined.
- - Vintage Super 8 Home Movie: 🏒Winter 0f 1967-68Hockey🥅. There are no names associated with this film reel. If you like what you see here, please hit that
- - Janet Lynn - 1970 World Figure Skating Championships - Free Skate. Riders and the structures that included or excluded them. 6 minutes of footage from Undetermined.
- - Skateboard Contest Rhode Island Cranston 1970 by Pete Pan - Editing Will Lucas surf64.com. Jane Pan riding down the hill on a Hobie Skateboard at the house in Narragansett, before she was Jane Pan.
- - Jan Hoffmann - 1970 European Figure Skating Championships LP. Here is a very rare video of a young 14 year old Jan Hoffmann skating a brilliant freeskate at the 1970 Europeans that were held at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Leningrad, now St Petersburg. Despite his tender years this was actually his third Europeans.
- - Bob bekian 1970s. Bob Bekian doing a frontside air in the 70s.
- - 1970's Beverly Hills Pool Skating - Z-Boys. The Zephyr Competition Team (or Z-Boys) were a group of American skateboarders in the mid-1970s from Santa Monica and Venice, California.
- - 1970's Skateboarding Raw Archive Film Footage From the Epicenter and Birth of it All.. This footage has been described as SkateBoarder Magazine on video. Raw archival footage of Kenter Banks, Paul Revere Banks, Keyhole, 1975 Del Mar Nationals contest, Marina Del Rey Skatepark, various other skateparks, 1960's school yard banks, Desert Pipes, Pepsi Skateboard Team demos, and so much more.
- - 1970's Before Dogtown Skate Scene. Chris & Rob's Skate Art Colorado Springs 1970's Skate Scene, see if you can find yourself...
- - Hovis 'Bike' advert 1973 (Britain's favourite TV ad). The wheel material that made every later trick possible. A short run of footage from United Kingdom.
- - McWaid Films - Skateboarding Whittier 1973. A special guest appearance at the end by Cathy Kenyon and Richard Muller :-)
- - 1975 Hang Ten Championship: The Moment Skateboarding Went Global. PART TWO: In 1975, skateboarding was about to explode like never before. This pivotal year wasn’t just about boards, though; it was a time of major shifts in pop culture and history.
- - stacy peralta at del mar 1975 zboys dogtown. The Zephyr shop team and the surf-derived style it carried onto concrete. Santa Monica and Venice in the mid 1970s. The Dogtown scene and the people who made it. A short run of footage from United States.
- - The 1975 Hang Ten Championship: The Day Skateboarding Became a Sport. Part One: In 1975, skateboarding went from the streets to the arena, forever changing the course of its history. The Hang Ten World Skateboarding Championships, held at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, was a pivotal moment that officially made skateboarding a competitive sport.
- - Z Boyz at Del Mar 1975. Drought-emptied concrete skated as vertical terrain.
- - original tony alva at del mar 1975 zboys dogtown. The Dogtown scene and the people who made it. Z-Boys era footage and recollection. The Zephyr shop team and the surf-derived style it carried onto concrete. A short run of footage from United States.
- - Urethane & Trophies: The 1975 Contest That Changed Skateboarding Forever. In the mid-1970s, skateboarding rapidly evolved from a casual California surfer's pastime into a global phenomenon . Propelled by the introduction of urethane "Cadillac" wheels, riders experienced unprecedented speed, smoothness, and distance, opening up an entirely new world of possibilities .
- - Z-BOYS at Del Mar Nationals circa 1975. A few quick clips of the Infamous DogTown Z-BOYS at the Cadillac-Bahne/ Del Mar Nationals (circa '75) - when they changed the face of Skateboarding forever (no sound). Looking back on the event, in 1976 it was said in SkateBoarder magazine " The boys made quite an impression with their hard-driving, low-slung, pivotal, bank-oriented moves.
- - 70's Skateboarding - DogTown - Kenter Canyon Schoolyard, West Los Angeles -1975. This is a short clip from the Scott Dittrich film 'FreeWheelin'" that featured Stacy Peralta (the ambitious and polite Z-Boy). In this clip you see him skating the legendary Kenter Canyon school yard banks with other members of the Zephyr skateboard team sometime in 1975.
- - 1975 SUPER SURFER SKATEBOARDS Tv Commercial for Canada. Tv commercial for SUPER SURFER Skateboards to be shown on Canadian Tv.. Shot by Jamie Budge, the inventor of the Windskate and producer of the surf film THE CALIFORNIANS, which some of this footage is in.
- - Z-Boys team at the Del Mar Nationals, 1975. Dogtown and Z-Boys (dir. Stacy Peralta, 2001).. Skaters included Peggy Oki, Jay Adams and Tony Alva, and Oki won the women’s freestyle event. This clip is part of a 100 video playlist, linked by QR codes in Iain Borden "Skateboarding and the City: a Complete History" (Bloomsbury, 2019), the definitive book on classic and contemporary skateboarding.
- - Nadia Comaneci - First Perfect 10 | Montreal 1976 Olympics. Santa Monica and Venice in the mid 1970s. 3 minutes of footage from France.
- - The Rathole Pool Skating 1976-1977. The closed down Townhouse Motor Inn in downtown Pensacola. We skated this pool from around 1975 to 1978.
- - VENTURA Skateboard Contest 1976 (GO FOR IT). Sidewalk surfing as it looked to the people doing it. 10 minutes of footage from Undetermined.
- - skateboarding olympics 1976. Riders and the structures that included or excluded them. 5 minutes of footage from Australia.
- - Stacy Peralta. Bowl riding.
- - TONY ALVA 1976 skateboarder of the year and world champion from DogTown. This is a very rare clip of the one and only original Tony "Mad Dog" Alva as he appeared on network television in 1976 on " ABC's Wide World of Sports.
- - 1976 SKATEBOARD CONTEST. Z-Boys era footage and recollection. 5 minutes of footage from Undetermined.
- - 1976 Chevy "Sports" commercial - Camaro, Monza & Corvette - No Sound Raw Footage. Not sure what this was, possibly Raw Footage for Local Chevy Dealers to run their own Commercial with their own Voice Over. Music has been added using youtube likened music program
- - Judi Oyama Rich Oyama 10-76. Judi Oyama slalom skateboarding in brown you, beige flower shorts, and white helmet.
- - Skateboarder on Pipe. A daredevil boy on drainage pipe at Point Fermin cliffs, San Pedro, California.
…and 2,258 more moments.
Full text archive: /loreline-text/skateboarding.md
