Blue Tile Obsession

july 18th. 103 f....hot hot hot....

 

blue haven hidden

relentless

vector control door magnets

250 gallons/minute

honestly!

Dave Reul & Sallie- working.

Ruelers truck....what it takes.

you think?

silent midnite drain sesh w toby

....just another typical morning.

upland dan.

all they make me give...

Relentless. The name of the game is passion. Few skaters want to work for the privilege. It takes an inordinate amount of devotion to give all it takes.  In Salbaland, we do. It is what we are. I would have it no other way. Skate Long-Ozzie

TA- Los Angeles

www.burlschoolmag.com

I went to Culver City with Mich & rode with TA back in April. We also rode this little blue ‘jelly bean’ pool in LA  I met a guy there named Rick who was shooting photographs of Tony. He took a photograph of an invert I did & sent it to me. Ultimately, he saw my blog & eventually asked me to write a story for his magazine ‘Burl school’. Here is the effort. Its a bit of history on the IE & pool riding. Just click on ‘magazine- new issue’ then its about a dozen pages in. The magazine has cool features on Hot Rods, bikes & music. Thanks to Rick, Brian Walnum, Zach Petschek . The photographs are great. Skate-Ozzie

http://brianwalnum.com/photo/

Ozzie- with Salba K-beam & rickety quarter pipe. 1978 (nice afro/hair farm)

Ozzie @ Hoffers halfpipe. No flat-bottom. 1979

Growing up in Pennsylvania as a skateboarder was very difficult. I had to pay dearly for my riding time. Weather, poverty, lack of skate pals; these all played a part in making my life a misery at times. We had a school yard that had an asphalt bank on it. Nearby, a few older skaters made a quarter pipe. Del Collins, Ron Hoffer & Scott Kreiser were early PA influences. They eventually moved on or couldn’t keep up with the progression.

My friend Jim Howell & I met there at the school but didn’t ride together much just yet. Del had a half pipe in his attic. That’s how it is back East in the winter. You move your ramps inside a garage, attic, basement or barn or build them there permanently. Baskin Ridge, NJ. barn ramp & Buster Haltermans’ are just a few examples. However, these came much later. I built my first halfpipe in  a backyard by my house in 1977. I had quarter pipes in the yard, basement, and attic before that.

Back then, I knew nothing of trick-to-trick riding. I built one side with 3 feet of vert and the other side just below vert. I would do a high kickturn on the vert side, then do a trick on the low side. This was how I learned. I would study the magazine pictures of Bobby Valdez doing his handplant (cast on arm in Powerflex ad), then go outside and kill myself for days. I used flat cinder blocks as coping & glued linoleum bathroom tiles under these to mimic a backyard pool.

We rode a U-shaped, no flat -bottom plywood halfpipe called Hoffers until its demise in 1980. It was splintered, with no decks, 4 feet of vert and only a 2X4 as coping. It was hell climbing out on that ledge to drop in for the first few times. On my first attempt, I landed on my head &  cried. Del & Hoffer grabbed me by my arms and legs; throwing me in a rosebush. I untangled myself;  bleeding & whimpering…then, climbed back up there and made the drop in the summer of 1977.

Those guys were no joke. They didn’t last though. It would be Jim Howell & I . We carried the flag after that. We eventually rode Cherry Hill, Virginia Beach, Spinning Wheels & all points in between. Youth. We just wanted to ride pools & parks like our California brothers…but it took a bit longer for us to do so. Besides the parks I mentioned, we had little to ride unless we made it ourselves. But, that is another story altogether. Remember where you are from & what you are. I am proud to be a skateboarder with 35 years of time served. Skate Long-Ozzie

John Fowles wrote a novel in 1963 called ‘The Collector’. Its a powerful story of passion, sexual slavery and evil. I own a copy & like the novel immensely. However, in the late 1980s, Leonard Lake & Charles Ng read this book & subsequently acted out its pages in the real world. They started ‘Operation Miranda’, named after the character in the novel. In doing so, Lake & Ng unleashed a fury of sexual perversion, human slavery & death on perhaps as many as 50 innocent victims. I don’t know why I tell you this, but I know that it’s far healthier to collect old skateboards than it is to collect sex slaves. Leonard Lake was captured and ate a cyanide capsule; dying before justice could be meted out. Charles Ng, ran for Canada, was extradited & tried in Orange County Ca. He was found guilty-obviously- and awaits his day with a well-deserved fucking needle! Scumbags! Regardless…here is a pool pal ‘booyah’, to the skateboard collector. This is a great big ‘Fuck off’ to the sex offenders and just a bit of advice to them….in the interest of self-preservation; stay out of our neighborhoods!  Skate – Ozzie

Thanks to Marlon Whitfield for being ‘The Collector’ (skateboards) and for the photographs.

Toby the ninja

the 'village idiot' using sign language.

Salba- side stairs grind

Adam 12- destroying. (coming into the shallow end!!)

Michael Serna Jr. FS grind- side stairs

Our Sundays have become a ritual in San Bernardino. I get up, stretch, make coffee & breakfast, then wash out and CLR the ‘Ridiculous’ pool in the yard. CLR is Calcium, Lime & Rust remover. Its a bionic version of ‘Lime Away’…and it’s rad. After washing the pool & allowing it to dry, I apply the CLR and mop it on from the tiles down to the drain. It makes it grip like crazy once dried but not enough to tear your pads off if you knee slide. It works rather well. Try it in your slippery pool. You can buy it in any grocery store or Kmart.

Salba & the crew show up here at ‘Ridiculous’ around 10 or 11am. Everyone stretches, and some get their heads screwed on straight, as we contemplate what to ride that particular day. This Sunday, Salba decided it would be ‘Bent Square Sunday’. The cast of characters was as follows. Salba, Billy, Michael Serna, Toby, Adam 12 and myself. We would ride a few bent square pools, then end the session here at ‘Ridiculous’.

We headed over to a seldom -ridden bent square & looked it over. It was lost amid a tangle of overgrown shrubs & red-flowered bogenvilla. There was a huge white mansion up above, perched on the hillside and the pool had dried muck and sun-bleached animal bones scattered about the drain. As we hacked our way into the pool, I peered up at the sky. It was like a blue porcelain bowl…magnificent. We cleaned the pool in short order and everyone began to search out their lines.

Michael Serna quickly lit the fucking fuse with a FS 5-0 on the side wall that left us mumbling….sick! This pool was tight & tiny…no joke. Salba caught a rock-n-roll on the shallow side cup wall that was absurd. Billy tore the face wall & Adam 12 was his usual destructive self. Toby flowed through the pool like the ninja he is and we left after an hour feeling the backyard stoke! If you’ve done it…you know what I’m speaking of! We hit another bent square and once again, everyone tore it up. The photographs were all taken by me with an Olympus point & shoot. We had fun. I hope everyone rode today. It was an epic Sunday session with a wrecking crew of pool pals. I am proud to be a skateboarder. Its the best thing ever! Skate-Ozzie

Ozzie- Indy

Steve Badillo- rope/hip FS air transfer.

Yeah, I know, I know. Blue Tile Obsession is all about the ‘backyard’ pools. I never meant to cover ‘made-for-skating’ pools. However, since it is MY blog & Lance is rad…we are going to visit his place regardless. I tried to get out to Lances pool a few times. Salba would phone me and say he was going over if I wanted to ride. I always had something pressing & couldn’t go that particular day.

I recently saw Lance at the ‘Skateboarding Hall of Fame’ induction. I grabbed his number & hooked up a session. Lance is a busy guy. When I showed up to his house, he was walking around the street -out front- in shorts & socks; a cell phone glued to his ear. Author & Skatelab ripper, Steve Badillo was sitting in the driveway as well. I knew Steve from the ‘Dogtown/Zboys’ documentary shooting with TA & Stacey back in 99-2000, so it was great to see him again! We caught up on old times and then did a bit of minor leaf-removal to get the pool readied.

Lances pool is super sick! Its a peanut-shaped pool with great coping & pink tiles. He has removable obstacles to place in the pool which increase the difficulties as the session develops. The deathbox is even covered over with tiles which Lance removes for added grinding fun. He has a deep end, side ladder which you will see in the photographs. It is really difficult to get over as its a mind screw…playing with your head. I coasted about 30 BS airs over the damn thing  & cleared it a few times but couldn’t make myself ‘man up’ and put it down. Oh well, next time. Lance has NO problem with his pool. Lance served up big FS airs, Judo airs, Egg plants and every obstacle was conquered double-quick.

The pool is fast, fast, fast! The shallow-to-deep ratio is super perfect. When you carve the shallow & pump the waterfall, you hit the facewall going Mach 5! Lance, Steve & I rode for a few hours. I had such a blast. Lance told us that he had the pool built for his last video part. He said that he worked on 540s for something like a month….trying to put one down in the pool.  He said that MRZ would show up & photograph his attempts daily, asking him, “Lance, why do you do this to yourself?!”. Lance just shrugged and answered, “Because I have to.”

Steve cruised out after a few hours as he had a publishing deadline to meet. Steve Badillo has published some great skating books. ‘Skateboarder’s Start Up’ and others. Check them out. Lance and I spoke about skateboarding history & the early contests from 79, 80, and 81. He told me of a session at his pool with Grosso, Duane, Brad Bowman, Chris Strople and Darrel Miller. All these legends were there together. Pool pals; down for life! That must have been something to witness- I am sure! It was interesting to look through his scrapbook & photo albums with him. His pool is rad & I had a stellar time skating and hanging with such an influential skateboarding pioneer. By the way- I posted a photograph of Lance in a “real” backyard pool for all you hardcore pool pals. I think we are safe now! Skate-Ozzie

Thanks to Lance Mountain & Steve Badillo for the photographs.

http://lancemountain.com

info@stevebadillo.net