The Birth Of Skateboarding

Posted By
photojack53, United States


I did a search for "skateboard" to see what this site had about them and I'm certain I discovered a mistake about the date of introduction for them. As kids, we made our own skateboards by attaching the two parts of steel-wheeled roller skates to the ends of a short 2" by 4" board. These were certainly not "flexies!" This was in the mid '60's when I was in elementary school. I clearly remember saving to buy my first real skateboard which cost $8.65 and was made of strips of oak glued together to make a beautiful surfboard-shaped plank that had steel trucks with hard pink plastic wheels withball bearings. This had to be in the late '60's, as we moved from that house in 1970. We adjusted the truck to be as loose as was possible, so we could turn quickly. The wheels would flop from side to side they were so loose and wore grooves in the underside of the board. It took strong ankle control to ride one adjusted so loose and we used to put a board across two coffee cans to make a jump and we would ride toward it and jump off the skateboard, clear the jump and land back on the skateboard which had passed below the jump. Those old wheels were so hard that a 1/4 " pebble would lock up one wheel and send you flying over the front of the board. I remember changing the wheels as newer ones came along. We didn't wear helmets or knee and elbow protection, we just bore the scrapes and bruises with bravado back then. It was fun and I know of no one who broke any bones while riding those "ancient technology" skateboards. I'm certain commercially manufactured skateboards were available around 1968 or 1969 and I still have mine to this day.