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Skateboarding Begins in the 50's
Skateboarding begins as a way for surfers to ride in the street. No one knows who made the first skateboards or when, but it wasn't too popular at the time -
Skateboarding Popularity Begin's to Rise
Surf companies such as Jack's and Hobies begin to make skateboards with shapes resembling small surfboards. They also begin to hold freestyle skateboarding competitions. -
Skateboarding Dies Down
Skateboarding begins to lose popularity, and companies stop making boards. Skateboarders start making their own boards -
Polyurethane Wheels are Inventeded
In 1972, Frank Nasworthy invents skateboarding wheels made of Polyeurothane. Before wheels were made of clay, which slid, caught in cracks in the street, and were very hard to control. The new wheels sparked new interest into skateboarders. -
Del Mar National Championships
In Spring of 1975, skateboarding takes a revolutionary turn. At the Del Mar Skateboarding National Championships, a team from a local surfshop in Venice Beach, called the Zephyr Skateteam, enters the competion and shows the world a different style of skateboarding, based on the surfing styles of legendary hawaiian surfers. -
First Skateparks are made
In March 1976, the first 2 skateparks are made in Port Orange, Florida and San Diego California, showing that skateboarding is becoming popular very fast. -
The "Ollie" is Invented
Alan Gelfand invtened a trick by slamming the tail of the skateboard onto the ground, and getting the board to get all 4 wheels off of the ground. This trick is called an ollie. The ollie revolutionized street skateboarding, and almost every street skateboarding trick today is based off of the ollie -
Skateboarding Falls Again
Because skateboarding was a dangerous sport, insurance rates shot up and people began to skateboard less. Also, people began to stop going to skateparks, causing them to close. Skateboarding began to take an underground and anti-establishment movement -
The Flatground Ollie is invtented
Rodney Mullen, a member of Bones Brigade, took the Ollie that Alan Gelfand had perfected in vert skating, and perfected it on flat ground. Rodney mullen also invtented tons of other tricks based on the flatground ollie, such as the kickflip and heelflip. The flatground ollie is the basis of street skateboarding today. -
Bones Brigade was formed
In 1984, legendary skateboarder Stacy Peralta, who was previously a part of the original Zephyr Skateteam, teamed up with George Powell, to form a new skateboarding team called Bones Brigade. With the invention of the VCR, and Peralta's talent for film, Bones Brigade began to release a video show, exposing the entire world to skateboarding.
