Z-town Boys and Skateboarding

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The first skateboards were made in the 1950’s being used as an exciting activity to take part in when the waves were down. From then and now the sport has changed tremendously, thanks to a group of young skaters from a slum area of Venice Beach or Dog-town, as the locals called it, known as the z-boys in the 1970’s. Even though skateboarding was already known and invented, the z-boys are the ones who made skating famous and took it to new heights in popularity. But how did they do this? The Z-boys made this sport what it is today, and played a very important part in the history and evolution of skateboard style and quality.
During the 1950’s when skateboarding first got it’s legs it was a very popular activity to take part in during vacations to ocean side tourist attractions, or as an activity after surfing. Yet, by 1965, skateboarding had diminished in popularity completely, therefore almost every skateboard manufacturer went out of business. . During this time the only people who even wanted to skateboard were surfers who needed something to ride to practice their surfing while the waves were flat. Due to the fact that there were no skateboards being made or sold, those who wanted to skate had to take it upon them-selves to manufacture their own boards. Using any kind of scrap they could find to build a usable board out of, such as metal scrap pieces or old planks. These determined surfers had to unscrew the trucks and wheels off of roller skates and attach them to the bottom of their boards. And because these kids were from very poor families for the most part, and next to non had jobs of their own, they had to resort to taking the trucks and wheels off the roller skates secretly in the stores. Although.., the clay wheels th...

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..., for better most would say. But that is part of the culture that the Z-boys had created, that being who cares what other people think. At the end looking back, the Z-boys were nothing but a group of troublesome friends looking for the next big wave, who changed the world.
“Children took the ruins of the 20th century and made art out of it” (Skip Angblom) .

Works Cited

Cave, Steve. The True of Dog-town and the Zephyr Team. About.28 February, 2014. Web.

Peralta, Stacy. Stecyk, Craig. Dog-town and Z-boys. Documentary. 3 January, 2001. 28 February, 2014. Movie.

Stecyk, C.R. Friedman, Glen. Dogtown: Legend of the Z-boys. Book. 2002. 28 February, 2014.book.

Fan based. Zboys.net. 1997. 28 February, 2014. Web.

Owen, Tony. The Evolution of Skateboarding: A History from Sidewalk Surfing to Superstardom. Skateboardingmagazine. March 5, 2013. 28 February, 2014. Web.

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