Vintage skateboarding pics - Dogtown era '70s pool skating - Skater for life

I grew up skateboarding in the late '70s, the "Dogtown era" that was brilliantly captured in the documentary "Dogtown and Z-Boys" and later, in the theatrical version "The Lords Of Dogtown".

We lived to seek out, find, drain and skate empty swimming pools, drainage ditches, banks and pipes. (It was a different time)

You could say we were kind of wild, being taught by the pied piper of aggressive skateboarding, CR Stecyck lll, who would write the original "Dogtown articles" (in Skateboarder Magazine) in such a way as to inspire revolution and radical expression.

Today, decades, later, I still skate empty pools...

Except that today, they are "permission pools" or...

...Pools that are actually made for skateboarding at local skateparks.

There is no feeling like skating an empty pool.

Sadly, most people will never experience the rush of this extraordinary expression.

They will not get to feel the quiet, but dangerous meditation that you feel when skating aggressively in something that was not made for skating.

Today I'm 54 and proud to say, I'm still skating empty pools!