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Shelton, lower left corner 1985 Thrasher Magazine

 Steve Shelton video interview coming soon!!

Shelton on the Cover of Thrasher Magazine December 1983

A special custom limited edition shape and graphic starting the AZPX Viejo Guerreo Series with AZ skate legend Donnie ‘Ho’ Crist

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Event organizer Rob Locker, Foundation for Blind Children Director Cody Fanklin and Tommy Carroll

Skateboarding in and of itself can be a pretty dangerous activity. I mean, just standing on the thing and shifting your weight slightly can cause the skateboard to shoot out from under you and you are on the ground. Add something like ‘lack of sight’ to the mix and you now have a volatile time bomb on your hands.

The above statement is absolute crap and invalid. On December 28, 2013 the folks from AZPX/iSkateboard.org proved it by gathering a group of kids with different levels of visual impairment at an awesome skate facility along with flying in from Chicago their inspiration for wanting to skateboard, Tommy Carroll. Tommy has been blind most of his life and just happens to be a pretty big skate rat. Not only is he a skate rat, he shreds HARD. The kids were from the local branch of Foundation for Blind Children. Kids that Rip! Skateboard School opened up their facility to us for three hours and it was on.

“How the heck do you do a blind skateboard clinic?”, you ask. That is a good question and total lack of planning on my part and the ‘ol ‘flying by the seat of our pants‘ came into play. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? We had lined up a bunch of homies to come out and volunteer their time and skateboards so we could have every kid skate and be spotted at the same time. A majority of the experience level of the kids was a cool zero. But, being skateboarders we take the DIY ethic, toss a kid on a shred sled, keep him/her upright and they’re SKATEBOARDING. Young rippers Mason Locker and Drake Hendrix took Skateboard Education to the next level with some students but that’s an entire other story. Their white knuckle curriculum will soon be standard.

Basically, here’s what went down: Tommy was running a little late and the kids got there before him. This was perfect opportunity to let them just wander around the park without boards so they can assimilate their surroundings. When Tommy arrived we gathered everyone up to listen to him and answer questions, which was pretty awesome and Sam Keeley captured perfectly in the accompanying video. What I didn’t know was this type of event was a first for Tommy. He usually does demos and everything is usually surrounded around him. He really wanted to make sure he was available to the kids and did a lot of one-on-one time (as much as he could). What is all boiled down to though is these kids just wanted to SKATE!! The stoke was thick and kids seemed to have a blast, (some doing mind blowing things on a skateboard) to point of being worn out. Lunch was had and we parted ways having made a ton of new friends. Skateboarding rules.

The rest of the day consisted of an insane sesh at the Lennyland Ramp with Tommy and friends but that is another story and another video coming soon (Hippie Steve teaser photos below)…

The vid is long but Sam did a heck of a job telling the story of an incredible day..

There are so many people to thank for helping to make this event happen, I can’t even try to call everyone out, but you all know who you are. You made a lot of kids happy and inspired.

Check out some photos from Michael Cornelius and Hippie Steve:

Get your tickets soon for this. The Yucca will be lucky to left standing after this night of some local legendary music.

JFASHREDSTEMPE.BPT.ME

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So Rob, when did you start skating and what kind of board were you riding? I got my first board, a Nash “15 Toes” in 1965. It went everywhere with me. I was about 24 inches long. I was a small child and it was a perfect place to begin. The first real board I had was a 29 inch Logan Earth Ski Bruce Logan model with Bennett Trucks and Road Rider 4’s. It was a birthday gift from my awesome grandmother in May of 1975. My first pool ripper! I was so stoked!

That’s Rad! I started on clay wheels. Back then it was mainly freestyle. Did you do the freestyle thing? I was OK at freestyle. I was more into the surf style of skateboarding. The gymnastics parts didn’t connect with me. I loved the surf style of the early DogTown guys. Low pivot, concrete touching, surf style. I started making my own longboards and longer short boards because the skate companies (like Sims) were not making them yet. For me, surf style ruled. It still does.

It’s 1975, you’re a Tempe local. What’s your favorite spots? Initially it started as the basketball courts at Rural School in Tempe. Hoss Rogers, Steve Robenalt and myself would skate there after school and during the summer. From there it was on to Larry’s. Larry’s was our local backyard pool. It was a vacant house with a tight 8 foot deep pool in back. Tile coping, good transition, light blue plaster. We could skate it anytime. Rarely was skating there a hassle because the neighbors were pretty cool about it. That pool was a ‘go’ for a couple of years. We were lucky.

You skated Dead Cat before the graffiti. So did I, I loved that pool. Any other pools you would like to mention? The Bean Bowl on Van Buren was killer. It was an old motel pool with a gutter (no coping), Roman style. White plaster with great tranny. We skated that for a year or two. ‘Mellow Slopes’ was a great pool. Just off of Scottsdale Road, north of Tempe. Killer tranny, dark blue walls. Big bowl, 8 footer, mellow shallow end. There was Roosevelt Pool, Nona’s, Northern Pool. The Pink Sink (small pool). The plaster looked pink at sunset. Howard’s Bowl – everyone skated. There would be 20 guys there to skate it on Saturdays. When the coping got blown out, extensions got added. Cool transition in the shallow end. Tight 8 foot bowl. Lots of rippers there. Dead Cat Pool was the most legendary pool. It still is for Arizona. Big wide open bowl. Two love seats near the shallow. West Siders and East Siders alike skated it for years. There was always stoke in the air. I skated it for the first time the second weekend it was going. Word was out and it was special. Dead Cat was no ordinary pool.

The Desert Pipes were poppin’ back then too…tell us one of your pipe stories. It was probably the winter of ’75 or spring of ’76, I was invited to go and skate some pipes up by Lake Pleasant. We pulled up to the base of a downhill section of pipes. The pipes were joined together and sloped at a 15 or 20 degree angle downward. Three inch gaps between the pipes. I could carve it up to 9:30 or 10 o’clock on one of my longer boards. It was an over-vert speed carve thrill-ride! That spot got popular really fast…then the Beeline Pipe…

How about Skate-in-the-Shade Skatepark? That bowl was epic! The transition was modeled after the Dead Cat face wall. That bowl was big and deep. You had to go fast for it to work. There was big gnarly concrete coping that stuck way out. I was riding Gyro Wheels and Indy SFW Trucks at the time which was perfect for that monstrous pool. I clipped my back truck on a long fast frontside in the deep end (12 feet or so). It pitched me to the bottom. I was knocked out cold. I skated with some of the ‘Badlands’ guys there. Scott Dunlap, Charlie Ransom. Those guys killed that place. Ransom would turn the coping to powder.

I remember they used to drain Big Surf and allow people to skate. Did you get in on that? I went to a contest there in ’75 or ’76. A lot of California guys were there. Doug ‘Pineapple’ Saladino, John Hutson and a few others, mainly freestyle guys. In the back they had the baffle-a small slick, vertish wall, with a round lip. I spent most of the day there skating that. Stoked on it. I’d love to skate it again.

OK Rob, enlighten us on what a ‘Field Card’ is. I understand your alias was ‘Van Doren’. If you got busted skating a pool here, the police would not cite or arrest you. They would get a card to fill out your identity and personal information to have on record. This was called a field card. Everyone that skated knew this, so nobody carried a wallet or ID. When we got popped, we would give fake names. They were the names of our skate heroes. Alva, Adams, Peralta, etc. Mine was Van Doren.

You were tight with Doug Hopkins of the “Gin Blossoms”, with whom you met skating. How did that come about? Doug was a cross-town rival, kind of. We went to the same high school (McClintock in Tempe). He was an awesome freestyler. He went to the Long Beach Nationals in ’75 or ’76 and did well. He had all the flat land gymnastics tricks down. My friends and I were more interested in skating banks, pools and pipes. Our other common ground was music. That’s where we really bonded. Were were the best of friends. He was like a brother to me.

In the 1980’s you got back into skating. Ramps were all the rage. Do you like skating ramps? I dig them. Especially the five and six footers. I never built a half pipe, only quarter pipes. I built one with a plexiglass window in it. I was making boards to ride also. I like riding longer decks and Sims was the only one mass producing longer boards (this is all “pre-concave”). I liked wider tails, so I made them myself.

Flash forward to the late 1990’s. Skateparks are popping up everywhere. What are your favorite parks to ride? PV Skatepark is still my favorite. I haven’t been there in awhile due to the city’s whacky times it opens the place. The schedule does not work for the working guy. I love the flow of PV. Shorter board or longer board, it’s always a good time. Pecos is a gas when it’s not crowded. Union Hills is my home park for the last few years though. I love the people who localize that place. That park and its people that frequent it have changed my life. It’s a gas to skate that back bowl too.

You’ve got two sons, do you guys still go out and skate? Oh yeah! My youngest son Nate is an awesome skateboarder. He’s great to skate with. Good vibes, good attitude and good bag of tricks. Foot and flip tricks. He has a new twist on a trick just about every time we skate. It’s cool.

We are both surf style skaters. I got my style from the DT crew. How about you? Me too. Craig Stecyk III, Glen E. Friedman and Warren Bolster captured a very special time for skateboarding. The Bicknell Hills photos, the Paul Revere Banks footage, the Fruit Bowl photos…I could go on and on. I really dug Shogo Kubo’s style. I dug Tony Alva and Jay Adam’s style. That’s the style I was shooting for. I still totally dig those cats.

My goal is to be floating frontside airs at the age of 60. Do you plan on skating into your 60’s and beyond? Laybacks and Bert Slides ‘till the very end!

I want to send a ‘shout out’ to my crew. It’s my second family-you all know who you are. I love you all.

Right on Rob! Great talking to you. Keep ripping my brother, and thanks for the interview. -HO

Article first ran in 2010 - Introduction to the Introduction:

1. When did you start skating? I started skateboarding in 1979.
2. So you hail from Long Island, NY. When did you move to AZ? I moved to Arizona in 1978 at the age of 8.
3. My buddy Charles Amparan say’s you guys met in high school. What school was it? Charles and I met at Apollo High School.
4. Will you tell us a story about the infamous Taco Ramp? Ah yes the taco ramp how could I forget. That’s where it all began for me. Lets see it was my freshman year at Apollo back in 1985 I believe. Charles Amparan was the only skateboarder at our school at the time. I thought Charles was cool because he had the word “FEAR” written on his black and white Converse. He rode his board around campus and he did sweepers off the hoods of cars in the school parking lot. Charles was and still is very punk rock by the way. I asked him if I could go skating with him over the summer and he agreed. Charles took me to the legendary taco ramp where I met the one and only Pete Johnston, or the ”Taco Man” as they would say. The ramp was 12 foot wide and 9 foot tall with 10 foot tombstones. I could not have asked for a better ramp to learn on. I was super stoked because the ramp was only 1/2 mile from my house. We put together a crew of guys including Pete Johnston, Charles Amparan, Ruben De Clay, Rob “Psycho” Locker, myself and good ol’ Wayne. We had many sessions at the ramp over the next couple of years. I began to progress very quickly and before you knew it Pete was taking us to ramps, pools, pipes, banks, ditches, demos and contests everywhere. We even went to punk rock shows like JFA and the Circle Jerks. This was around the time that my skateboarding career began and I owe it all to guys like Pete, Charles and most importantly to the Taco Ramp itself.
5. So I understand you won the Jeff Popour Ramp contest. What was going on in your head after that? Yes I got 1st place at Popour’s. It was the first time I was able to put together a solid run in a contest. I skated against Chris Livingston and as I remember the judging was very close. In my opinion Chris and I were tied for first. Just sayin!
6. Brian Brannon asked you to ride for JFA after the Metro Demo. Is that how it went? Yes that was how it went. Charles was already riding for JFA at the time and he encouraged me to skate in the demo. Earlier that week I learned how to pull a “Gay Twist” so I just showed up, skated pretty good and did several gay twist’s in the demo. I think Brian Brannon was impressed with my skating so right before the show started he introduced me as the newest JFA Team rider. He also dedicated the song “Skateboard” to me, which was the first song in their set. When the band began to play we started slamming and stage diving. As you can imagine the energy level was high. It was definitely a night to remember.
7. Flash forward to 1988. You got a shot in Thrasher doing a frontside boneless @ Thrasherland. What other memories do you have of Thrasherland? I skated Thrasherland for many years. We were Westsiders and Thrasherland was our home park. T-land had a snake run, a full-pipe, a 6-foot tall mini ramp, a 3-foot tall mini ramp with a spine and two vert ramps. I remember one summer at Thrasherland they had a mini-ramp contest series. It was a total of five consecutive contests. I ended up placing 2nd overall.
8. I hear you skated for Gordon & Smith Skateboards. How did that come about? Henry Hester who was team manager for Gorden & Smith at the time attended one of the Thrasherland contests. Later he told a team rider named Cody Boat that he was interested in sponsoring me. Pete and I drove to the factory in San Diego to meet with Henery Hester and the owner of G&S Larry Gordon himself. Long story short they ended up putting me on the team that day. It was my first major board sponsor. Before I left I got chance to meet my favorite skateboarder of all time the legendary Neil Blender. Neil was upstairs in the art department working on some of those crazy stickers. This was around the time I began skating in N.S.A and C.A.S.L contests.
9. So how long did that last? I rode for G&S for about 5 years from 1987–1992.
10. I hear you were a big influence on Chad Muska @ Tower Skatepark. Would you like to elaborate on that? Sure. First of all I would like to say that Chad Muska is an all around great guy. Chad and I were introduced by a girl I was dating who lived in Sunnyslope where Chad grew up. She was always saying, “You have to see this little kid Chad skate he is so good!” Finally Chad and I became friends. We skated local spots like Tower and the Jai-lai Courts over on 24th Street. Chad was very young at the time. I think he was probably in 6th grade when we met. The first trick I saw Chad do was an ollie impossible and I was pretty dam impressed. I did not realize that I had influenced Chad until years later when he talked openly about it during an interview he did (long after he made it big). Looking back now I realize that I impacted a kid’s life who turned his own life around and impacted millions of kids lives. I can live with that. I am very proud of Chad and what he has achieved in skateboarding. Period!

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11. You skated for AZP (Arizona Pride Skateshop). When did that come about? I began skating for AZP back in 1991. They had a shop in Tempe and a shop in Flagstaff. AZP owner and good friend Brian Harper built a sick portable half-pipe on a trailer that was pulled by a Hummer. We had a GREAT team of riders Randy Colvin, Colby Carter, Chris Livingston, Dave Palmer, Chris Farrell, Jeff Ferris and myself along with many others. AZP hosted a variety of events including some Mill Avenue block parties, a Lenny Kravitz concert, a beer festival in Flagstaff and even a frat party in Tempe once. Those were definitely the good old days.
12. You rode for those guys for a while. How was it? I rode for AZP for about 7 years.
13. So how did you end up in Venice California? By the mid 1990’s? Living life in the fast lane finally caught up with me. So in 1998, I left Arizona and moved to Los Angeles to start my life over. I ended up renting a small apartment on Venice Beach right around the corner from Jesse Martinez. You have to earn respect in that neighborhood and it took me several years!! Then one day I found myself skating with legends like Jay Adams, Jim Muir, Steve Olson, Christian Hosoi, Eric Dressen and many others. In the summer of 2005 Eric Britton and I went up to Mammoth Lakes to skate in a mini-ramp contest. I ended up taking first place in the contest and got sponsored by LIB Tech that same day. I should also mention that Eric killed it and took second place. During that time I also rode for Dark Horse Distribution (Grind King), Pep Wheels and Old Star Skate Shop in Santa Monica. I am not sure if it was the ocean air or the friends of Bill W. but somehow my life slowly got better. Finally in November of 2008 I decided to move back to Arizona to buy a house and to be close to my family and friends once again.
14. How did you hook up with Old Star? One day while riding the bus I discovered a mini-ramp that was being built in a church parking lot in Santa Monica. I told a few people about the ramp and the word spread quickly. One day I met a guy there named Jim Callens the soon to be owner of Old Star. Jim told me that he wanted to open a skate shop in Santa Monica and he asked me if I would like to be a part of it. Less than one year later “Old Star Skateboard Shop & Ramp Factory” opened its doors in Santa Monica. I ended up being the team manager for the shop. We had a nice mini ramp there with a wall ride that went up the side of the building, it was pretty sick. We had many BBQ’s and skate demo’s there over the years. Each demo we would invite a different team like Grind King, Baker, Consolidated, Millenium, Black Label, 151, etc. As you can imagine some sick skating went down at Old Star. I still see Jim from time to time and we try to skate whenever we can.
15. So when you moved back to Phoenix all of a sudden there are a shit load of killer skate parks. Were you stoked? What are your favorites? Yes I was definitely very stoked! My favorite parks are Goodyear, Rio Vista and McDowell Mountain Ranch. Currently I am riding with a pretty big group of guys. We hit a different skate park each week. It’s a lot of fun.

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16. Rob from AZPX is giving you a signature model. That’s a huge compliment. You gotta be diggin’ that. When does it come out? What got the ball rolling on this project? I agree it is a huge compliment and I am super stoked! The board comes out sometime in April. Rob and I threw the idea around for quite a while before we began working on it. AZPX team manager & photographer Pat McGinnis and I met one night to have dinner and to discuss the project. Pat and I agreed that the graphic should tell a story about my life and the places I have been. The two images that jumped out at us right away were the Phoenix Bird and the Dog Town style cross. The bird represents Phoenix, AZ where I grew up and symbolizes rebirth or renewal. The cross represents Venice, CA where my life took a new direction. Basically I lived it, Pat helped me visualize it and Rob the amazing artist drew it. We are VERY happy with the way the project has turned out.
17. I have heard about you for a while. We finally got to skate @ Goodyear. You killed it that night. What do you think about that kidney? I remember that session and thank you for the compliment. The Kidney at Goodyear is one of my favorite pools in Arizona by far. I have always enjoyed Kidney shaped pools mainly because the lines seem to flow endlessly and because I grew up skating similar pools at parks like Del Mar.
I’m having my 50th birthday party @ Goodyear in September. You have to be there and if you want to hook me up with one of your boards I won’t be upset. Thanks a lot for the interview. Keep ripping and good luck to you. Thank you Donny. I look forward to your birthday party. I will have a board ready for you. Take care until then.
Special thanks to Charles “Shitty” Amparan for helping me lay this out. -Donnie “Ho” Christ

Quick update December 2013:

The Zuke is still ripping harder than ever today. He is now the curriculum program director at Kids That Rip Skateboard School. Richard is currently training some the best young skateboarders in the country: Trey Wood and Jett & Jagger Eaton. Rich is also on the Board of Directors for Uncle Skate Charity.

______________________________________

I want to thank the Ho-man for really going out of the way and delivering his best Viejo Guerrero yet. He even got quotes from other notable AZ skateboarders to reminisce about the one of the Valley’s true skateboarding institutions: Charles ‘Chuck’ Amparan. I myself fully give Charles credit for ruining my life-and at the same time-saving it. Chuck turned me onto skateboarding. He gave me my first set-up (I still got the blue Gullwing trucks)! Charles took me to my first pool, ramp and street session. So Chuckie, THANK YOU. And fuck you at the same time.

When did you start skating?
I started skating in 1975 at the age of 7. My cousins had skateboards. They had their boards one day and said ‘how many 360′s can you do? I tried it and went 180 and fell on my ass. They laughed, so I said “Can you do this? I pushed as fast as I could along the sidewalk and carved down and up the curb in front of my house. That X-mas, I woke up in my bed with a little plastic board, what’s weird is that it wasn’t under the tree, it was in my bed. I rode that board for the next three years. In ’78 my neighbor Kevin came back from Cali saying “you still riding that little thing? He told me how he saw these huge boards with super wide trucks. He exaggerated a bit, holding his hands two feet apart, describing the width of the board. I was on a mission to get a big skateboard. I found a 7ply Variflex at a Walgreens and never rode plastic decks again.

You have been a part of the JFA team forever. How did that come about?
In 1986 I went to a skateboard contest at Jeff Popour’s ramp. A bunch of pros came out. That was the first contest that I entered. I didn’t qualify, but I skated in the same heat as Brian Brannon. He noticed my logo on my t- shirt and asked what it was. I said it’s a joke flower. I think he liked it so I said I would draw something for the new zine, “Bow to No Man” my friend Richard “Zuke” Zuccarello skated in the B class and won. I convinced Brian to put “Zuke” on the JFA team. We kept in touch, and more contests, sessions, shows kept going on until the International Skate Association held a three week contest. The contest was two qualifiers and a final. I got third at each event. After that I was on the JFA team. I had heard JFA since I was in eighth grade. I went on to see them at the “Our Neighbors Suck” house, play a gig during my freshman year in ’83. There was a ramp in the backyard and the JFA guys were having what looked like a private session, because when we went in the back they shut the lights off. That didn’t stop anyone from skating. I heard someone knocked the extension chord out causing the lights to go off.

So Charles, back in September of ’88 you and a bunch of Phoenix locals were featured in an article called Skatetown. It was written by the infamous Brian Brannon of JFA. Getting in Thrasher was huge, were you stoked?
Yeah, I was stoked. What tripped me out the most was seeing my picture as the two page spread. Doing a photo shoot with Mofo was a big deal, but I didn’t think I would get a spread shot. My dad was proud of me, my friends were stoked also. I was visiting a friend of mine and his little sister had my picture on her wall. It was surreal.

You have had a lot of crazy skate sessions, Would you like to share one of your memories with us?
I went with the JFA team for a vert ramp contest in Las Vegas in 1988. Actually the whole trip was memorable for a lot of reasons. During the jam format practice Brian Brannon was doing the sickest frontside one wheelers smacking his truck on the way back in. I knew about when he would end his line so I would go after him. Total snake session going. After one of my runs, Pat Nogho said “you JFA dudes are pool skaters huh…I can just tell”. I looked at him funny and was gonna say something when he added “I just think that’s so fucking rad!” We were done at the ramp for the day so we took what seemed like the longest car ride in history to go skate the Blue Tile Lounge .Another snake session ensued, I was in the shallow end, I looked right at Jon Fabriquer’s board as it hit me right between the eyes. He bailed in the deep end shooting his board out from under him. It was just went so fast. The whole session stopped, I looked around and took a run as blood poured down my face….A few hours later that night after getting stitches at the hospital, Jon came over to our hotel room and made a peace offering. That was cool of him, he wanted to know I was alright.

In November of 97′ you made it in Thrasher again. You placed second in the vert contest at the Warp Tour. That had to be cool skating in front of that many people. How was it?
For that contest, we had to go to Cali. We were skating for the AZ semi-finals, but they had to put it on in cali for some strange reason. Just standing on the vert ramp deck was epic. There was a stage at each end of the velodrome, the ramp was off to one side in the middle. I hung out up there most of the day, watching the bands, drinking beer, having a very good time. For the contest, the skaters from Cali and AZ all went at the same time. Two of the AZ guys didn’t skate when their names were called but I just gave my best effort, didn’t bail hoping I wouldn’t come in last. The best part was the pro demo. New guys, old guys just ripping.

We’ve done some gnarly downhilling…Fountain Hills and South Mountain. Your knee has been a little skecthy so you haven’t been able to go. Do you miss hitting the hills?
Most definitely, I miss the rush. Downhilling is the pure essence of skateboarding. I really took for granted how demanding physically it really is to bomb hills. I don’t mean cruising, I mean throwing down a tuck and going as fast as you can. Sometimes I wouldn’t even take the first run casually. Then I wrecked three times in the span of a month. My helmet should have 2 bushes and a mailbox on it. I will most likely pick it up again now that summer is over.

Donnie went the extra mile and got some quotes about the Chuckster from 3 generations of some of Arizona’s finest skateboarders. We’ll start with the ‘young crowd, fellas!’…I know Charles knows where that one came from….

From Josh Heath:
I think the first time I ever skated cactus banks was around 86 or so, my brother took me there, and we were calling them the “army banks”. Other skaters were always there, so I guess it was a pretty popular spot. In my perspective, this was one of my first skateparks, before there were actually skateparks. To me, and I’m sure a lot of others… it has always been a very special spot. This is the place where I first ran in to Mikey Williams & Jason Lemankiewicz, some time around 1990 we became a crew, and did our best to skate & destroy every corner of the valley.

Fast forward now to ’96 or ’97 or so… The three of us all work at sk8 shops, and lived near Cactus banks which we’d been sk8ing them every day, usually by ourselves. Sk8ing wasn’t too popular at the time, so we may have kinda felt like we knew all the only real locals. On the particular day I’m thinking about right now, we were sk8ing a yellow trashcan on the top of the bank that was formed by the truck ramp. It was probably hot that day… (I don’t know for sure), but it seems like we kept taking breaks, sitting perched at the top of the opposite bank that was our runway, and we noticed this crew of people making their way up towards us from Peoria down the center of the banks. They were kinda ominous looking, from far away. Too far away too recognize faces, but they were all dressed in black. The way their style was, and because we were in such a large, empty urban area, I think they seemed like a cross between mad max apocalypse people, and the daggers; carving, and tick tacking down a empty LA street. As they got closer, we could hear their tunes, there was maybe five of them, three chicks I think, and two dudes, one of the chicks was holding a boombox on her shoulder, I cant remember what the hell they were rockin now, but It had to have been some frickin punk. The girls were walking and the dudes were skating. We might have clowned on them to ourselves as they approached; after all, it was 90′s & mall punx had quickly been replacing all the legit punx from the 80s. We’d never seen these people before, so we were probably kinda thinkin’ they were posers. They weren’t! They’d been around for what seemed like a lot longer than us, and they were legit! The main thing I remember was Dan Lowe. Holy Shit!! This dude ollied the whole truck ramp! He was doing the first popshuvit tailgrabs I’d ever seen in person over the trash can, so high and powerful… I had never seen anyone skate like this, his style wasn’t necessarily old skool, but it showed history, and he definitely schooled us! There was nothing old about it. He had years beyond me on his board, and it was obvious, a true power rider. Charles Amparan was there too. He was sk8ing also, their boards had spray painted stencils on the grip tape that said “Shitty” I think it was in cursive. These guys were pure inspiration… They were the shit!

It’s weird how you can inhabit a area for such a long time, and never run in to certain people, but then after one such chance occurrence, they seem to be everywhere you go. After a little while I began to see the “Shitty” guys, and their “entourage” all over the place. They were regulars at Trent’s ramp, I’d see them at parties, “worlds greatest show” contests and they even showed up for the legendary “Korny” demo.

Well, another 10 years or so has passed since those days, and I’m happy to say, I still run into these dudes at heated sessions, and at backyard parties. They have stayed true to their art, and continue to progress, Dan Lowe still has long lost secret maneuvers, tucked way high up his sleeves, and he can reveal them on demand, at any time, proper, with the same powerful, and inspiring style. And Charles Amparan still sprays Shitty on his grip tape, but now he skates decks that he himself has made (maybe he was making them already back then…not quite sure)… A true DIY artist! Shitty Custom Skateboards is a underground reality!

Chuck at the legendary Nude Bowl

From Wrex Cook:
What can one paragraph say about Charles? The man should have a book written about him. I suppose that I’ll just tell a story about him instead. My favorite story to tell is actually the first time that I met him. I can’t remember the contest, but I remember it being thrown by the West Coast Connection crew out on the west side of Phoenix in ’83 or ’84. Everyone was getting in their practice runs on the course and I see this dude skating on the other side of the course.
People were skating all over the place, but one guy stuck out of the crowd like a thistle on a golf course. He was doing the weirdest array of tricks. You know, the kind of tricks that make you wonder if he was a little mental or something. A flurry of obscure foot plants and odd street plants with a whole bunch of slides and slashes in between. Definitely not the stuff we saw in the mags. This guy was in his own world. So the contest gets started and Charles is called to start his run. So far the contest has run in the traditional manner where each skater is trying to impress the judges with their imitation of what is going on in the magazines and on videos at that era. Not Charles. The announcer calls out Charles name and we look over at Charles and see him placing a pile of dirt on the nose of his board. We look at each other and wonder what the hell this guy is doing. Suddenly he starts pushing at his launch ramp next to the judges table really fast. He hits the ramp and does a method air and ejected the dirt off of his board directly into the faces of the judges!! Everyone busted up and howled!! Needless to say, he didn’t get a good score, but that’s not why Charles skates. While everyone was trying to impress the judges, Charles was trying to give them the finger. His style was completely individual and extremely punk. He didn’t care about glory, stats and style. His skateboarding was a personal art form and he never let anyone influence it. I have more stories about Charles & our JFA touring days but this is my favorite by far. I have a lot of respect for Charles and I am honored to be one of his friends.

From Joey Albillar:
I’m a newcomer to the ‘friends of Charles club’. I first met Charles during the infamous downhilling sessions in Fountain Hills. We went through a phase where we would take a few downhill runs and then the coolers would break open and the beer caps would pop like the fourth of July fireworks! We would drink beers while we were downhilling, start with a full beer at the top of the run and have an empty beer at the bottom. Not too long after that, the artificial confidence would really set in. We would start higher and higher up the hills so we could go faster and faster. Charles and I hadn’t taken the most killer hill ‘Golden Eagle’. 18 percent grade warning from the top yet but we were in condition that day to take on the Grim Reaper. Grim must have been occupied draining the backwash out of our empties, or couldn’t catch us, because Charles and I survived bombing Golden Eagle from the top hitting speeds of at least 45mph!

From Donnie ‘Ho’ Crist:
To me, Charles is the valley of the suns version of Jeff Ho. He shapes it and he rides it. His boards are anything but ‘Shitty’. Charles has a multitude of shapes that are beautiful and functional. And he can ride those mutha fuckas! Charles is the real deal and a true Viejo Guerrero!

Editor’s Note:
I don’t know if it’s the Ho’s fault, but editing this thing was a true nightmare, the only person to have perfect spelling and punctuation was Wrex Cook. The rest of you need to go back to school, fools!

Charles Amparan’s Shitty Custom Skateboards Gallery

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1. How many years have you been skating?

If I count from the time I got my very first metal wheeled skateboard around 1967 and began sidewalk surfing with one knee on the board and the other leg pushing along, it’s 40 years. Ive never not owned a skateboard since so that could count. If I count from the time I was addicted in 1975 with my first taste of urethane wheels, it’s 33 years!

2. You skated in Mexico City in the 70′s. How did this come about?
My family moved to Mexico City in 1974 because of my dads job and we lived in a hilly part of town. It was a new section and there was new development all over the place. The new roads they built were so smooth and perfect for downhilling. The board I had at that time had clay wheels. Believe it or not clay wheels on a smooth asphalt road was a good ride. They tended to slide out on turns so if you if you werent trying to slide – watch out ! Other than the downhilling wed bring our boards to school and ride freestyle on the tennis courts at lunch. Some of my friends had these awsome new wheels made out of this space-age material called urethane. I had my sights set on one of those boards since the downhill session was eating up my clay wheels.
The end of that board was like Fred Flintstone getting a flat on his stone wheeled car. Remember how Fred’s cartoon stone wheels would just disentegrate? Thats what happened to my clay wheels in the end, they just chipped apart where I couldn’t ride them any more.

3. You grew up with (Ping!) Steve Pingleton, is he the person who got you into skating?
If anybody got me into skating it was my mom. She outfitted me with my 1st metal wheeled skateboard, 1st clay wheeled skateboard and 1st urethane wheeled fiberglass hawaiian print board with a kicktail that looked like a ramp that went up to vert. Those early boards were all like 5 inches wide max ! Trucks were probably 2 inches wide too ! My mom was totally cool on skateboarding. My 1st ramp was one sheet of 1/4 inch plywood bent up to vert. We used metal shelf brackets and screwed the ramp to the carport wall. She didn’t even have a fit the few times a board got away and shot up to put a hole in the carport ceiling.

I’d say Ping was the one friend I started skating with that never quit. That was the awesome thing, ‘cauz before I’d hook up with some friends that skated and over time, they’d quit and I’d hook up with new friends that skated and so on. I met Ping at High Roller skatepark in 78 and we’ve been close friends ever since. Thinking about it, Ping is my oldest continuous friend who I’ve never lost touch with – hey 30 years this year ! He moved away to Seattle way back in the early 90′s but his mom lives here in AZ so we skate every once or twice a year at least when he comes back. Ping always had the connections to the hot pools and secret places to skate. I wouldn’t have skated most of the rad spots around AZ if it hadn’t been for him. Back in the day you could buy beer at 19 years old and Steve scored us lots of 6 packs on the way to the Dead Cat Pool sessions. He was a grade ahead of me and is responsible for my beer cravings to this day!

4. You skated the legendary dead cat pool in the 70s and the 80s, any good stories to tell?
Dead Cat was one continuous good story. For those that don’t know the pool, it was made of a type of whitish concrete that didn’t chip away like most plaster pools. It was huge, you could pour at least 6 regular size pools in it and had the lights on the side walls so the face wall was free of the light hole. Also it had four love seats. Two of them were long like a 10 foot bench on the side walls. And best of all, not a bust ‘cauz it was at burned down mansion house out in the boonies and didn’t have many close neighbors.

During rainy season years in the spring there used to be these little micro beetles that would swarm the area and lots of them would end up in the pool. They would literally cover the whole bottom. You’d have to sweep them up and fling them out with a dust pan. Once you got as many as you could, it was then ridable but the beetles you did run over would make the bottom and your skate wheels so slippery it was dangerous so you were limited to carves and risk it on a kick turn. I must admit though we pulled some crazy Cess Slides ! After a while the pool walls would be marked with tracks of beetle slime.

The last time I rode Dead Cat before its demise in 87 the Sheriff arrived to bust us about two hours into the session. The funny thing was that we pretty much just ignored him and kept on skating. There were about 15 of us skating and we talked to him and gave him every lame excuse in the book why we should be allowed to stay there and it was at least a half hour later when we packed it up and left. We got the whole thing on video tape, it’s funny to watch and see him pacing back and forth on the pool deck and us just keep taking run after run !

5. Skating the desert pipes really prepared us for the high roller pipe; don’t you wish Arizona had a full pipe to ride these days?
Actually for me it was the other way around. My first pipe I rode was the blue fiberglass one at Christown Mall. I think it was around 16 feet across. They had a mobile skatepark that was there for a couple weeks. This was probably 1977 and when High Roller opened up in 1978 the pipe quickly became my favorite sesh spot. We had the most extreme sessions there with Shelton, Morgan, Kenny, the Ping brothers, Don Ho and lots of others. It was toward the back of the Park so it doubled as a great party spot to make sure we didn’t wear ourselves out too much without taking a break ! And yes… I wish AZ had a full pipe to ride these days. They just opened up a decent one in Vegas though that I rode a couple months ago. We need to do a road trip !

High Roller though was awesome, that’s the only place I ever rode in contests and in the pipe during one of the contests I couldn’t believe I scored perfect 10s from all three judges during each of the three separate runs that night. Come to think of it out of the grand total of maybe three local contests and the AZ State contest held there, I never took less than 1st place ! Wooo Hoooo my place in history ! ! !

Ping introduced me to the desert pipes which were so smooth and sooooo big. Memories? Big scary downhill runs, walking through the pipeline from the far side to avoid security. At least 10 minutes in pitch black. No flashlight of course. Luckily no face plants into equipment or falling into some bottomless pipe hole, Best memories of all is at the Hassayampa Pipes running from the security guard back into the pipeline blackness while those who didn’t run got busted and then later that same day running from the sherrif and hiding in the river bed while those who didn’t run got busted. Skating – Love it !

6. I never did get to ride the Love Bowls, but you were featured in Thrasher Magazine riding them. Who took the photo?
I don’t know about “featured”, but a picture taken by none other than Steve Pingleton took the photo and Brian Brannon wrote a cool article titled Phoenix Skate Town. September 1988 Thrasher Mag. It’s got a lot of old skoolers pictured in it. Todd Joseph, Steve Shelton, Me, Chicken Butt, Brian Cook (Wrex), etc. Any Phoenix skate historians would do well to dig up a copy of that issue ! I’m raging over it right now – glad it survived the last 30 years in my sacred box of skate mags. Primo story by Brian about Phoenix Skate History. Brian – you are the best skate writer – hands down.

7. You have been shooting skate photos since the 70′s, now you are shooting skate videos. What is the title of your maiden project?
My maiden project is Mission Unstoppable. A video of our downhill crew bombing South Mountain road ! Matter O fact, I’m burning some more copies as I’m answering this here question. The DVDs go fast and we pretty much give them out for free to our friends and bros we meet skating. We shot it over this last summer in 07 after being clued into an extreme beautifully paved 3 1/2 mile road at South Mountain AZ. It drops over 1000 feet ! It’d get so hot in the day, we were getting up at 4:00am to get skating at 5:00am. Been getting rave reviews, it’s got your nearly fatal crash from Holbert lookout and a Bootleg Live BucketHead Zeppelin Riff Set timed to some major video effects etc. etc. etc. I could go on and on but you just have to see the film !

8. We both fell out of skating for awhile, now we are back better than ever. Aren’t you glad we got back on our boards?
Definitely!! Lots of people think I’m crazy ‘cauz I’m a Viejo Guerrero and should be sitting on the couch getting fat and having a mid-life crisis, but with all these parks popping up here in the North Phoenix Locale and good friends to sesh with I’d be missing out on my second childhood. I’m skating with friends that I’d fallen out of touch with 30 years ago. Viejo Guerro is in the blood. I’m just glad that the wave of skateparks didn’t happen when I was like bedridden in some rest home or something. I would just have lost it and probably cruised my wheelchair over to the GoodYear Bowl deep end and done a roll in to end it all !

9. You’re a fast learner, you are the only person I have been able to teach front side berts to. Were you always a fan of surf style?
Actually you’re getting me into surf style now. You, Don Ho are the surfiest skater I’ve seen. When I was a kid I could never do good front side carves and now you’ve helped me learn them along with front side berts. So basically I’m new to surf style and you’ve been a good teacher. Thanks !

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This installment of Viejo Guerrero is for Arizona Master Skate Archivist Steve ‘Ping!’ Pingleton. I met Ping! at the Casa Grande Bowl ’bout ’89 or ’90 and we hit it off instantly. The dude was so far removed of what skateboarding “looked like” I knew immediately he was as hardcore as hc gets. Not only did this uber nerd carry a camera everywhere, he was also one the earliest computer artists, airbrush technicians and concert bootlegger. I wanted to grow up and be Ping! Needless to say that meeting turned into an endless barrage of skate missions, camping trips, concerts and epic parties. Ping! was stoked on how he could call me jonezin for pool info and I would always say “I’ll call you back in 5″, and the sesh was on! That’s enough of my Ping! ass kiss sesh. Here’s Donnie Ho’s interview of the mighty Ping! and some kill visuals to go along with it. Oh yeah, go to DesertPipes to check out Ping!’s archive.

1. How many years have you been skating?
A little over 30 years, since about 1976 or so. I never stopped during the great vert “black hole” of the late 80′s – 90′s when all the skate parks closed and vert skating died off. I skated downhill, pools, ramps, etc. to keep going.

2. When and where did you lose your vert-ginity? How was it?
We use to ride our bikes down alleys in grade school looking for pools. I think we had about 6-7 pools in four to five neighborhoods around my house growing up. We saw what was being done in the skateboarding magazines, so we took it from banks to pools pretty quickly. The first pool I really remember we called “Shaw Butte” pool. This pool was a nice round egg bowl with easy alley access. I remember some of my friends (Morgan, & Larry Mead) used to ride barefoot in that pool. I have some photos of Larry doing front side grinds and you can see his toes plus trucks. I tried skating barefoot and it did help to grip the board, but after getting bruised feet I went to leather moccasins then Vans when they came out. I remember my first big trick was front side carves over the light in my leather moccasins at Shaw Butte pool. Once I hit tile, then coping, I could never stop. It’s funny, thirty years later front side carve grinds are my favorite “soul” trick lately. What a long strange trip it’s been…

3. I remember skating the infamous “Dead Cat” pool with you and your brother John. You used to do those crazy airs off the love seat onto the side wall. Wouldn’t it be cool if one of the skate park builders would replicate that pool?
Yeah, those were good times! We rode that pool for five years straight. That pool was so unique, the massive size, the gnarly coping, the obstacles like the loveseats and a burned down mansion! Roman shaped pools are pretty rare. I have skated a few smaller back yard Romans but they were no where close to the Dead Cat experience. I think it would be a great design for a skate park bowl, i.e. round bowl, inverted loveseats in the corners, square sidewalls with more loveseats and death boxes. Dead Cat pool was truly a training ground for us all. It was so big and deep, you could go really fast on the super smooth plaster. You really had to have your shit together to ride there! I remember we all ripped that place up. You, Shelton, Joe Albilar, Jimi Howard, Morgan McCarthty, Slater, and my brother John. All the Westside/Litchfield crew, AZ legends were born there. I still have these excellent Dead Cat pool dreams like thirty years later. I will never forget that place.

4. I remember skating the desert pipes by Lake Pleasant, and then swimming at the flumes. Any comments on the Desert Pipe era?
The desert pipes were so epic, where do I even begin? The desert pipes really set us apart from Cal, especially in the 70s. We had the best skate terrain in the world. At first, at Lake Pleasant, we were just carving the huge pipelines, because we were riding pools and didn’t know how to kick turn at high speeds. Once the pipes hit the magazines and the boys from Cal. came out and showed us how to ride the sections, it was on! The AZ locals caught on immediately. Those down hills were so fast and smooth you could go as high as you dared to go, and we did. Since the pipe projects were so remote it was cool to be able to skate pipes, swim in the CAP canals, camp and party in the desert which was all we wanted. Security was pretty weak, except in the Indian Reservations and we had lots of fun adventures. Lake Pleasant was close to Phoenix and the biggest project. It was the beginning of it all. I tried to document as much as I could on my website www.desertpipes.com. I have shared lots of photos from my personal stash as well as stories. I even put together a DVD of videos from my personal collection.

5. I think its rad that you and Joey had the fore site to capture those images and sessions with photos and video. I wish I would have saved some of my old skateboards and taken more pictures when I was young. What got you into photography?
Actually, it was the old school master skate photographers who first got me stoked on shooting skateboarding photos. Cassimus, Jim Goodrich, C.R. Stecyk III, Glen Friedman, Bryce Knaights. All those dudes who shot for the skate mags back then. Skateboarding photography was a challenge. The photo equipment was pretty primitive back then and good cameras were pretty expensive for us in High School/College. As far as video’s we felt lucky if someone could borrow their dad’s VHS cameras. I got my first 35mm camera from a friend name Mike Lanning about 1982 or so. Much respect to Mike, he was a great skate photographer and a big influence on me and Joe. I remember we built a darkroom at his apartment near Joe’s house and we all nearly died mixing fixer with no ventilation in 110 degrees during an Arizona summer heat. Joe Albillar went to High School with me and was a naturally talented skate photographer. He still continues to amaze me to this day. My mom was very supportive of me too. I hate to admit it, but I got busted in High School shoplifting film on my way to California with friends. My mom still let me go! I was poor but had to have skate photos. I did whatever it took I guess.

6. The High Roller days were awesome. We had some bionic sessions there. Do you remember skating the hell out of that place and then partying at North Mountain Park then going back to High Roller and skating all hammered?
OMG, dude you were there. How can we ever forget those days! Looking back we were so blessed to have the quality skate park we had. High Roller’s design was so far ahead of its time. It is one park that I would love to see replicated. The big full pipe/flat wall was as good if not better than the original Upland Pipeline Skate Park. They had much better bowls. Yeah I remember the raging keg parties at North Mountain Park in the 70′s & 80′s. The cops could not control it at all. Since we were all under age North Mountain/Shaw Butte were good party spots on the way to High Roller in Sunnyslope.
Crazy things I remember about High Roller were; huge follow the leader sessions in the free style area at night (10-20 people) jumping the fence at night to skate the clover bowl and pipeline under the street lights, skating drunk on top of roofs at Keg parties on North Mountain then back to the skate park. We also were lucky to have Skate in the Shade (12ft keyhole) in Tempe, Permanent Wave, Thrasherland and tons of banks and pools. High Roller was also such a proving ground for early AZ skaters. Even the pros from California came to respect us at the High Roller contest.

7. Now in the 21st century, living in the North West you get to ride some killer parks. How do you like skating those huge parks?
I moved from Phoenix to Seattle in 1994 (13 Years Ago) It was a huge lifestyle change for me. My entire AZ wardrobe was shorts & shirts. I froze my ass off when I first moved here!!
There were no pools here but good snowboarding and mountain biking which was a
good alternative for adrenalin fixes. About 2000-2002 Dreamland/Grindline
was born in West Seattle and they started building these sic/scary skate parks all over the pacific northwest. Looking back I think Seaskate at Seattle Center (11 ft combination bowl) the original Ballard Bowl (sweet 10ft combi bowl) & Sumner set the standards for all the epic skate parks we have now. One of the best sessions of my life was at Seaskate
(Seattle Center) during the Experience Music Project “Hey Punk” event in 2001, with Brian Brannon, Duane Peters & Tony Alva on a late summer day before the demo. I shot about seven hours of video during the three events from 2000-2002. I am just finishing up editing the DVD’s with all of the bands and skaters. The new parks rule, they just keep getting gnarlier. I have two full pipes over 18 feet within 1 hour of my house. The closest is 20 minutes away. Big cradles are way fun, Lincoln City is incredible, similar to Arlington and Goodyear. Portland has the raddest skate parks right now. Pier and Vancouver are so scary. It’s a good time to be alive and skateboarding!!!

8. Seeing you have skated in the last four decades, do you see a difference in the skate scene today as opposed to the 70′s & 80′s?
The major differences I see are in the equipment and the magazines. It really amazes me that there is so much money and emphasis now in street skating. Vert skating is making a comeback with the X-Games, Gravity Games, Concrete Rodeo and Oregon Trifecta. Those guys Burnquist, P.L.G. Sandro Diaz, Shawn White, Bucky, Danny Way, all risk their lives skating BIG vert walls!! But the big money goes to the street skaters doing flippy tricks over stairs and rails. (WTF?) Has the sport been totally sold out to the big corporations just to sell shoes and gear to poser kids from the suburbs? It seems like its more about the money now than the soul of the sport. Don’t get me wrong, I do respect street skaters for irritating the local cities enough to build the new generation of skate parks. It’s just the exploitation of the sport and commercialism I really hate. In the seventies we were the pioneers and it was all a rad new adventure. The eighties started out with cool skateboarding and Punk was in, then it died because of the greedy, paranoid adults. The nineties were the “great void” for us vert skaters. All of the skate parks were closed and street skating became popular. In the 21st century vert skating is being reborn with all the new terrain. I predict it will re-emerge on top again.

9. You’re a seasoned veteran and a true Viejo Guerrero. Any advice for the groms?
Respect the locals, watch and learn from everyone. Don’t follow fads or trends and do what feels right for you. Ride what works best for your style, screw what others say. Wear your pads and helmets because 20 years from now you’ll be glad you did. Safety equipment is cheaper than a trip to the hospital. Skating consistently with soul & style is way cooler than any flippy, or robo trick that you finally pull off after 20 tries. Above all, have fun because that’s what it’s all about.

10. Well Steve, you’ve skated over 30 years so far and you’re riding as good as ever. If you keep it up you could hit the half century mark. What do you think; do you have another twenty years in you?
Boy Don, I sure hope so bro! You know I just had shoulder surgery 6 weeks ago for a torn rotator cuff but I actually feel lucky compared to many skaters. For my age I have not had that many major injuries. I got nine stitches in my forehead by dropping my back truck into the death box on a front side air off of the loveseat at Dead Cat with no helmet. Joe A. drove me to the hospital. I dislocated my shoulder in 2003 but other than that I have had sprains, bruises and cuts but nothing major. I think vert skating is a really good aerobic exercise, especially pipe skating. I skate 2-3 times per week for one hour or more. I also snowboard a lot and do some mountain boarding and hiking. My body really needs the hard exercise, and the adrenaline is really the best drug. I hope to be skateboarding as long as my old body can handle it. Vert skating can be brutal, but with all the (sic) new skate parks being built it’s just way to stay stoked on life and I will keep skateboarding everything as long as I can…peace…

Steve Pingleton: I lived in North Phoenix, but our crew were still considered West Siders. I remember my Mom used to drive me & my brother out there, drop us off in the mornings, then pick us up in the evenings, usually we were usually pretty baked going home but she was cool. Once I was old enough to drive, I recall us making “beer runs” at a nearby convenience store with Morgan & Jimi (go in, grab the beer, then RUN) then heading out to the pool. Deadcat pool was unique because it was so HUGE, we could have sessions with 5-10 guys in the shallow end snaking each other. I remember sessions so big, half the people would be partying in the shade, then after the skaters got tired, we would all switch. I also recall I got 9 stitches in my forehead from a frontside air off the loveseat, the last thing I remember was dropping my back trucks into the death box on the side wall. My bro’ Joe drove me to the hospital, Deadcat spilled a lot of our blood, but it was worth it. It was our own private skateboard club, and the West Side ruled it, good times for sure.

Deadcat pool was the AZ skaters “Dog Bowl”, the huge pioneer monster pool out in the country, like the giant pipes out in the desert we rode too. Perfect plaster, sometimes slick as ice, a sweet 10′ ft. + bowl, lots of vert with knarly “rocks” for coping, and a big stone fence to keep it all secret. The sunsets out there were EPIC, I still have dreams about Deadcat pool 30+ years later. There will never be another place like that for AZ skateboarding…

Steve Shelton: DEADCAT – the ultimate proving ground, you either tore it up or had to sit and watch. You got hurt. We dropped in on you anyways – always staying aggressive. With every transition imaginable – four love seats, one past vert. The main bowl facewall – perfect surface for slides and huge airs. Steep and deep straight sidewalls, but watch out – four filter drains and two main drains would stop you in your tracks for a major slam. Squared coping with chopped-off facewall edge for savage grinds and tailslides.
You would dream of new lines at night that became reality by day – if you dared. Locals only – Westside Rules – you’re not one of us? Then go home!
The fact that Dead Cat existed through the 70′s and 80′s is a testament of it’s importance. The frontier of poolriding and its rapid evolution. The music changed and so did the ride. More committed & aggro pushing the limits on a daily basis, we lived as if only for another to ride her. R.I.P.

Donnie ‘Ho’ Crist: I grew up in Maryvale, Arizona. Deadcat pool was my local spot. Before I was old enough to drive I would skate to Dead Cat, rip it all day then skate home. I learned fronside and backside airs there. I also learned how to drop-in in the deep end. In my opinion Dead Cat was the best pool in Arizona, ever. The Dogtown crew had the Dogbowl, we had Deadcat. I remember riding with Todd Falcon and Steve Shelton. They would roll up in Todd’s truck, crank Double Live Gonzo and it was on. To this day I still miss that pool.