The "Big Ramp," Davis, California circa 1988
Lately I've been digging through my family's old video footage from the late '80s and early '90s. Some of my favorite stuff was taken at the various skateboard ramps my friends and I built from the ground-up in Davis, California. Seriously, these things were heavy-duty undertakings. Looking back, I'm shocked that they got built and were as good as they were (the "Big Ramp" at least). Sure we had help and encouragement, particularly from the coolest English teacher in the world, Steve Bryant, but we were committed young guns.
I remember working on that ramp all day and night during one summer. It was such a massive feeling of accomplishment. The thing worked! And not only did it work, it drew some of the best skaters from that era to our weird little out of the way 'burg! In the end, that ramp helped me become a better skateboarder but more than anything it helped me believe that maybe, just maybe, I could do anything. And if I couldn't actually do everything I dreamed of, at the very least, I wasn't ever scared to try.
We took the skills we acquired building "The Big Ramp" and built smaller, somewhat more complex versions in other parts of town. These ramps became focal points of the thriving Northern California skate scene. Needless to say, watching these videos still sparks a bit of pride and I'm truly honored to have been able to spend so much productive time with so many talented people at such a young age.
"The Search for Animal Chin"-inspired mini spine ramp, Davis, California circa 1988
Enough with the sentimentality, take a look at the ragged edits I recently put together. Despite their amateurish qualities, I really love them. A lot!