|
I
started skating “The Hill” around 79 but really
got into it my graduating year, 1980. I would load up the
car with the crew, or whoever wanted to help pay for gas.
I was totally broke back then and only worked one day a
week. I really liked taking this one guy Steve with us because
we used to walk into the rest areas off the Turnpike and
he used to toss out Cheeseburgers to us without paying.
It worked all the time, and again we were broke and we looked
at it as a Charity thing for us Rad Skaters.
I
learned a lot of the basics at Fyber Ryder in Bricktown
watching Jeff Jones, Lance Tompkins and other Locals at
the time. When I first looked at the Egg Bowl I thought
“No way I could even grind this thing” after
some runs it was amazingly easy to grind. We immediately
started getting Frontside airs on the right side (where
you dropped in). Later on, right before closing, I had Rock
n Rolls, Handplants and started getting Fakie Ollie’s
also. 
The
Right Kidney, ½-3/4 Pipe and Egg Bowl were my favorites.
I entered 2 contests, can’t really remember which
one it was, but my first one I choked and got 4th. My second
one was the Egg and Right Kidney which I got 2nd of course,
being beaten by Victor Perez. I was stoked for 2nd because
I knew I was not going to beat Vic. Also I was stoked because
Stacy was one of the judges. It was a 2 day contest where
all the other categories received trophies but our group
(18 and older) got nothing. I was really PISSED. That was
the hardest I ever skated and I never really pursued contests
after that!
It
was cool going every weekend and seeing the hot talent.
Jamie was most likely, the smoothest Skater I had ever seen.
He went Big backside and you could not even hear his board
either come out or re-enter the
pool. Vic was just plain Rad and Mike Jeez had the absolute
longest Board slides I have ever seen. I could not believe
even back then what guys were doing.it was Really cool stuff!
Of course I saw TA, Shogo, Brad B. and many other Cali boyz
rip it up. Shogo really impressed me with smooth Laybacks,
awesome grinds and great Rock n Rolls. Man,, I’m glad
to have been apart of that all. For anyone that was there,
hopefully, this will bring back great memories. For those
who never skated it, I could talk all I wanted about CHSP
but unfortunately you’ll never know!
All the guys I skated with back then got married
had kids and stopped skating. I lost touch with them years
ago, except for my friend Bob who owns http://www.proskateboardshop.com/
. We both started skating around 1975 and both of us are
still at it. I heard that Victor Perez is back and might
Skate Owls Head. That would be really cool. I skated there
last year and that pool was really good.
.........................
.........................
.........................
but it’s still not CHSP.
Skate on
Eric Thorson
|
