save them, so each session had less blocks which made is quite interesting to grind the noping and do tricks. Then it went pretty fast. A trailer with a digger showed up one day and they started to destroy the
house and the garage. Thanks to neighbour Frank who talked to the workers again, they destroyed the pool at the very end so we could still skate for another two weeks!
Toon Dierckx. Backside ollie over the hip
Dietsches. Rock n Roll
A big thank you to Hans, Silvi, neighbour Frank and of course all those who helped build and skate the pool over all the years. You know who you are.
First session: Novemember 1st, 2014
Last Session: June 30th, 2020
- Dietsches
Jakob Kern. Frontside rock
Skubi. Stale sh above the noping
OMSA POOL RIP
Dietsches. Backside layback Dietsches. Backside layback
LA CORNICHE ANNECY, FRANCE
PHOTOGRAPHY by RÂM LEGRAND // WORDS by VALENTIN SULCE
We’ve been friends since a young age, all coming from Annecy and the suburbs. We started to hang out together at our local skatepark a long while ago. Thanks to skateboarding videos and photos, little by little, we started to get interested into the DIY culture. Since a long time we got the idea of building a DIY spot. We started to build our rst piece of curve under a bridge wich was right away taken over by a tribe of gypsies. This made us really frustrated. Then during the lockdown, we were thinking about this concrete platform lost in the forest near by our skatepark, where we used to hang out away from the crowd. To us it was evident that this would be the perfect place for our next DIY spot.
During the lockdown, we had nothing else to do than give Life to our new project. Later on we could show to the rest of our crew the rst super rad pirate quarter we made with less than twenty bucks. As the rest of the crew got
involved, we quickly started to build another couple of inclined planes and a short curve with it’s extention even steepper than the rst one. None of us has ever worked in a construction domain, so we had to improvise at all times.
Our dude Râm was really motivating us by constantly making footage of the spot before it eventually got destroyed by the cops. To our knowledge this is the rst DIY spot in Annecy.
Unfortunatly by the end of July, a group of crackheads installed their camp on our spot, but and after some dealings with them they disappeared over night and left behind them loads of garbage and dog shit, but funny enough, before leaving they took our concrete and lled a hole in one of our curves.
This is about it, with our short building experience we are now deadly motivated to make it way bigger.
Valentin Sulce. Feeble to fakie
Emilien Capana Ruiz. Grayslide
Valentin Sulce. Indy nosepick
Valentin Sulce. Frontside Hurricane
Le Gang
BOOK / ZINES REVIEWS
SKATEBOARDING IS NOT A FASHION:
The Illustrated History of Skateboard Apparel Vol. 1
The rst of a two book series, OLD SCHOOL (soon to be followed by Vol. 2, NEW SCHOOL), from the creators of the book MADE FOR SKATE: The Illustrated History of Skateboard Footwear and the SKATEBOARDMUSEUM in Berlin, Germany. This 600 page book is packed with skateboard history with 100s of skateboarding and skate clothing photos, along with 100s of stories and histories about “skateboarding fashion” from the 50s to the 80s, from the surfer days to the punk days, and everything inbetween. A very interesting and well documented presentation even for those who think they aren’t following any trends or part of any fashion: “Whether you admit it or not, skateboard boarders have always paid a lot of attention to their clothes.” With thoughts and interviews with skaters such as Christian Hosoi, Je Grosso, Neil Blender, Mark Gonzales, Chad Muska, Lance Mountain, Tony Alva, Steve Olson and many more, this book is the most authentic and sincere account of the history of fashion in skateboarding that will delight you with their tales and imagery even if you are think you wouldn’t be interested.
SKATEBOARD TO HELL BOOK
A book of illlustrations by passionate Slovak skateboarder Rob Haberl who draws action shots of skateboarding legends from some classic photos with his own artistic twist. Some of the legendary skaters featured in the book include Eddie Reategui, Eric Dressen, Natas Kaupas, Neil Blender, Je Grosso, Keith Meek, Lee Ralph, John Lucero, Tommy Guerrero and way more. You can check out the artwork and ordering info at @skateboardtohellbook
CAMP HERESY (Random Acts of Summerly Fun)
An eight page full size illustrated booklet by Besil Wrathbone from Germany full of beautifully illustrated, somewhat disturbing, slightly comical images of old religious men with no clothes feasting, walking sea creatures on the beach wearing crocks or tied up stomping grapes along with some naked nuns for good measure. @wrathbone_art
FILTHY DITCH CREW #8
A b/w half size zine from Los Angeles with cover artwork by Space Bat Killer for this special Coronavirus issue which analyzes through a crossover circle graphic what Coronavirus and Skateboarding have in common: Immense Physicall Toll, Isolation from family and friends, and public enemy. Features include a Filthy Ditch brew review, Jack from The Shinning with a shovel and a skateboard in a ditch, Tyler from Cemental ’s top 5 pools skaters, a review of CDs rolling around in the car, random photos, a tribute to Grosso and more goodness. @ lthyditchcrewzine
CEMENTAL SKATEBOARD ZINE #11
Stay inside? This issue of Cemental, a b/w half sized zine from San Diego, features an interview with ATV Elijah Akerly, zine reviews, top tier pool skating photos by editor , favorite pools and such with Tony Farmer and an interview with Trevor Bradbury and some more pool and wooden bowl articles. One of the best zines out there right now. @gonecemental
BELOW THE RAIN #14
A miniature self laminated zine from the ever creative Michael Heitz from Germany. This “recycling issue” is truly unique and each one of the 100 copies are made original with di erent paper stocks throughout, some color, some glossy. Subject matter includes skateboarding, polaroid photos of women, collages, and drawings. Very artistic and enjoyable. For a copy email: michael-heitz@gmx.de
RRL #3
Rural Skateboarding
zine out of Switzerland
curated by Daniel Bismor, the man behind ZINENATION focusing on DIY spots in the countrysides around the world. This third issue, black and brown, half size format features an interview with our guy Kenji Tanaka who runs Underdog Distribution, about skateboarding life in rural Japan, Stuart Walker, skatepark and DIY builder in South Africa and Olivier Lambert, French movie maker who made a lm about a grassroots festival started in the french countryside in the 2000s to raise money for a skatepark which pushed a DIY ethos a decade later and shaped their scene today plus way more epic content - an intensely inspiring issue. www.rrlzine.com
SZROT #21
A b/w skate zine from Poland written in Polish but includes an english translation and a burned DVD of their Rozkurwiel Tour X which you can watch at confuzine.com after a quick internet search along with the whole article, or seek out the real zine which has a much more creative layout than you will nd on our website, even though the photos are in color there. But choose your poison, analog paper grit or soulless internet color.
GNARBAGE #7
Japanese skate zine in the classic b/w fanzine format with photos by @thisis31 JP at Stockwell, Jordan Bunnell at Kowalski land, Sota at PFK, an interview with last issue’s cover boy Mattias Nylen from his Japan trip, Isumi Pool in Chiba Japan, Burnside, Marginal , and Scarland in Japan!
@gnarbagezine
UNEARTHED #13
Californian central coast skate zine, 24 pages featuring Vert skateboarding in Houston with an Adam Ottenberg interview, an article about Frankie Hill, Tommy Guerrero live at Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz, product reviews, VHS video reviews, photo gallery and a motel pool skating article.
@unearthedskateboarding
CRE(ARTE) #10
Argentinian skate fanzine written in Spanish featuring an interview with photographer Fabri Larralde and his transition and street skate photos from around Argentina and an interview with our good friend Deso @kutickworks from Slovenia after a recent trip to Argentina. The interview is in both Spanish and Slovenian. Deso also scores the centerfold pull out poster to pin up on your wall shot at the DIY squat in Ljubljana that he helps keep alive. This issue was created during isolation for COVID-19. Zines available through @lucasbrunac
OFFENDED
A vulgar display of perverted artwork by everyone’s favorite blader hating shit striring Confusion Magazine contributing artist Weasel Face. 24 pages of full color illustrations on heavy duty paper with some graphic “adults only” comic strips along with controversial Santa Cruz skateboards “tributes” including the “Squelching Hand” and “Gasher Quief Meek”. Sold out - but more o ensive shit can be found at @weaselfaceart // weaselface.bigcartel.com
“It’s better to have skaters in your garden than football fans in the living room.”
Oliver Poczekajlo. Boneless in the pocket.
Photo: Jo Dezecot
Pascal Thomas. King of SNAM. Layback front smith grind.
Photo: Jo Dezecot
SARTHOPIA
Oliver Poczekajlo. No Comply tailslide. Photo: Quentin Desjardins
Pierre Jambé. Front smith
Photo: Jo Dezecot
Photo: Greg Dezecot
Nic Rivera. Heel ip money grab on the ll free quarter
Photo: Russ Sakurai
FERNSIDE
HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW - A DIY STORY
PHOTOS by CHRIS DANGAARD, RUSS SAKURAI and VERONIKA REINERT
Nestled between million dollar Newport Beach homes and a thriving industrial zone a handful of local skaters gave birth to Fernside. The long rectangular shaped slab of cement is about a hundred feet long and sits next to a drainage ditch. Nobody is sure who built the rst mini cinder block ledge in the middle of the slab but it had been there for about four years.
Alex, Logan, and Jack recently enlisted the help of around 20 other people who built the ll free quarter that sat at the back end of the area. Like everything that would eventually be built there, the quarter is pretty gnarly but it would become the cornerstone of the spot. Apparently at some point a disgruntled person tried to destroy one of the support columns for the quarter but after only destroying a portion of it gave up. The boys later repaired it and made it ridable again.
They added a tight wall quarter to the opposite end of the spot and the addition of “Maria’s boob”, a bump connected to the original ledge providing a pump to both ends of the spot.
The spot continued to expand over the course of about ve months and was being sessioned by all ages and levels of skaters. There wasn’t any negative vibes going on and for the most part whoever showed up was welcome to skate it, however, make no mistake the spot and its obstacles aren’t easy to skate. In fact Clayton Graul described skating the spot as “extremely violent”. The smaller wall is super tight and at some point the guys decided to add another layer of cinder blocks extending the vert, the thing was gnarly for sure but some were making grinds, ollies and other lip tricks daily. I asked Nic what the spot was like for him and he said: “it’s crusty, but it’s home”.
Several days ago Nic went down there for a session and discovered that the entire spot had been cleaned out, most likely by the city at the request of some grumpy rich neighbors.
I asked Fern what his thoughts were about skating the DIY: “Skating there is like hitting a gnarly street spot, it’s pretty rough. I think the gnarliest thing I did there was carrying bags of cement down the trail in order to build.”
The recent Covid pandemic caused a lot of park closures leaving skaters with few to no options for places to skate and the original crew who had started the build were reluctent to continue because of it. One day during a session Fernando started hyping up Aidan and Nic to build more so they would have more to skate. Not too long after that the crew, along with Nic’s kids were hauling in wheelbarrows full of supplies and the build was back on.
I asked him how he felt about the spot being destroyed and he said: “We had a good run for about four months. I felt really satis ed about the work we did there. I spent a lot of time there cleaning the spot and keeping up with it. As far as
Fern Arroyo. Decking a rock to fakie. Photo: Chris Dangaard
it being gone now, well that’s just how DIY’s go. On to the next spot.”
I asked Aidan what it was like building and skating the spot, he replied: “Super tits hog tying paint hu ng turd throwing good ole fashioned fun. I think the best thing I pulled there was a wicked at ground G turn around the boob.”
Regarding its destruction he said: “I was super not stoked to see it go but low key stoked because I was over it, the energy wasn’t there once we gured out it was probably going to get destroyed but that didn’t stop us from spending our minimum wage earnings on muddy fun times. On to bigger and better things.”
Nic told me: “I was bummed as soon as I saw the spot was gone, especially since my kids had worked hard to help build it. I guess that’s how it goes with DIY spots though. I instantly called Fern and started talking about the next spot.”
In closing I would have to say that every DIY has its own life, from birth to death and like life itself, its all about what you do in-between.
Thank you to everyone who put work, time, money, and e ort into Fernside
- Chris Daangard
Nic Rivera. Frontside ollie.
Photo: Veronika Reinert
Aidan Weschler. Tailblock.
Photo: Chris Dangaard
Dezmin Lane. Front rock. Photo: Chris Dangaard
Ville Lepisto and Mikael Rautio. Double backside disasters at Suvilahti DIY in Helsinki, Finland #SAVESUVILAHTIDIY Photo: Keke Leppälä
Charlie Martin. One foot ollie in the corner at WSVT in San Diego
Photo: Chris Dangaard
Matt Wilcox. Sad plant at the Desert Skate Ranch pool Newberry Springs, California. Photo: Chris Dangaard
TO LIVE AND DIY IN AZ
WORDS by RAD PINCKARD // PHOTOS by JAMIE COGGINS
Arizona is best known for record breaking heat, racist politicians, and the color beige. Honorable mentions also include some of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in the world, and pretty sunsets! But the only thing sicker than the Corona virus is our stalwart, persevering community of skateboarding lunatics. Most of the world avoids the Grand Canyon State like the plague during the summer months, and for good reason: going outside hurts. AZ skateboarders, however, refuse to let the triviality of 115+ degree weather and very serious risk of overheating/heat stroke hinder our right to play on our wooden wheeled playthings. “ This is the wild west.”“At least there’s no snow!” and “It’s a dry heat.” - are amongst some of the rally cries we use to vindicate our self destructive obsession. A large portion of our skaters play it safe by only skating early in the morning, or late at night when it’s only a brisk 105. But you’re not here to read about half-ass yellow-bellies. You want to hear about the salt of the earth foot soldiers who sacri ce blood, sweat, tears and SWEAT to
contribute to our ever-growing DIY scene. The champions mixing quick-crete and slappin’ mud in one of the hottest places in the world for no reason but the love of skateboarding. Chris Gobber and Brandon Smith (aka: BK the Builder) are a couple of essential names that will always come up in a conversation about the Arizona DIY scene. They are directly responsible for some of the most unique and wildly fun concrete playgrounds I’ve ever had the pleasure of attempting to skate on. Whether it’s in a front yard, an abandoned parking lot, or just literally in the middle of the Sonoran desert, if these boys have a dream they will build it. Wheelbarrows, trowels, and lots of water at the ready, they, and many others, have brought our entire skateboarding community together, united to erect and relish countless spots that will live on in Arizona skateboard history long after some bastard city workers have them torn down. So next time you nd yourself in the Valley of The Sun, don’t bitch about the heat; stay hydrated, grab your board and go hunt for some hidden desert gems.
Opening page: Rad Pinckard. Frontside ollie over the loose beer can and tea coping. This page: Rad Pinckard. Layback over the death box. Kyle Shi ett. Corner tailblock. Brandon Smith (BK the Builder) boosting over camp HellFire.
LINES & CARVES
ARTWORK
by JON ANDER “KALI”
Who are you and where do you call home?
My name is Jon Ander Lara Aragón, but everyone calls me Kali. Thanks to my brother, he’s older than me, I can say that Lasa Skatepark [in Basque Country] is my home. Lasa Skatepark is a little core of skaters and good people. To me it is a place where usually gather several generations united in a common sense of belonging with a family feeling. I can’t talk about Lasa Skatepark without mentioning certain people like Pipas, Basi, Piwi (RIP), Dani, Kako, Nano (RIP) - all Lasa Crew.
What’s your philosophy on life?
I don’t really know if I have my own philosophy of life, but thanks to the education I received at home, and the experiences that skateboarding has given me, skateboarding and many important people, I could say I rely on “Live and Let Live”, respect, attitude and skate.
Do you see skateboarding as a sport, a way of life, or an artform?
To me skateboarding has always been a way of
escape, and that’s how I met it. Trying to get out from a reality that had nothing to do with my own thoughts about society. I think nobody saw skateboarding as a sport those days, it was a kind of experssion, a lifestyle. I lived the old times of skateboarding, thank god! hahahaha.
From where did your Lines and Carves style originate?
The Lines and Carves style came from a mix of di erent ways of thoughts. They are just lines and curves, like everything we see day to day. Everyone has his paranoia and a way to represent the forms. I create casual images with the movement, then I complete them with di erent color combinations and textures. I enjoy creating volumes and perspectives, as visual e ects.
La Kantera is a central focus of much of your art, tell us about this spot and it’s in uence on you as a skateboarder and as an artist?
I’ve spent so many hours, days, in La Kantera, really good moments. There you can nd great people and skaters. There has always been a magical conection of di erent feelings. It’s a place of utmost respect. All the time I’lI have it’s lines and curves on my mind, it’s a way to keep all those experiences alive.
Name some artists whose work in uences you?
First of all, I need to talk about my uncle and my dad, they are not skaters but they are an important in uence on my way of creating. Another great source of inspiration has always been the photographs by my friend Pipas. Even as a child I remember seeing his photos and freaking out.
Also the gra ti movement was very important to me in those days. I always ipped out on graphics from Alien Workshop. Over the years, I found out who was their creator.
I remember the day when I met with my friend Pipas, he came with Little Swastika. When I saw him I knew he was someone special. I could say that
way
Jon Ander “Kali”. Nollie pivot fakie at La Kantera
Photo: Jaime Ruiz de Gopegui
every single creative person that I’ve met has in uenced me. One of those signi cant people is Manu Olagorta. What materials do you work with in your artistic creations?
I don’t like to put lters on the expression. Every tool and all di erent materials are valid. It depends on the moment and whatever you have in mind. Now I’m living in a very tiny house so I’m working in small sizes, trying di erent inks and markers.
Do you listen to music while you draw or solely the sound of your environment?
Music makes all the sense. I’m always listening to music when I’m creating, and I love practically all music styles, well, not all of them.. hahahaha. And indeed skate’s sounds are music to me too.
Current projects and future artistics projects?
Now I’m just focusing on survival. I would really love to paint some murals, working at a large scale. For sure vI want to go on with my work cooperating with the poetry of Eduardo Castillo. For the future I have some projects in mind, but I would enjoy sharing my work and cooperating with some skate brands.
What’s the biggest problem in the world right now? Sometimes I think the worst problem in the world is the human being itself, we are like a virus, often self-destructive. What really scares me is the lack of humanity.
Any last words?
This is all I can say at this time. I know I’m probably forgetting to mention many people and many experiences. Thanks a lot for this opportunity, it’s a fucking pride to be a part of this.
Thanks to everyone who has been with me unconditionally. RESPECT, LOVE, and SKATE. For all those who are no longer here, and to all those who always support me: Judas - @snaking_ commando, Urtz, Low, Cristian, Kako, Pope, Ian, etc.)
