Zephyr team

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The Zephyr Team , also known as the Z-Boys , was a group of surfers / surfers and skateboarders in the 1970s that had a major impact on the skateboarding scene. Its members came from Dogtown , a neighborhood in Santa Monica , California known for its high crime rate .

history

Emergence

In 1972 surfboard builders Jeff Ho and Skip Engblom teamed up with photographer and artist Craig Stecyk to open a surf shop in Venice with the goal of making fancy bespoke surfboards. They chose a street corner in the middle of Dogtown (intersection of Bay Street and Main Street, now Horizons West Surfboard , the shop of former Zephyr member Nathan Pratt ) and named the shop Jeff Ho and Zephyr Surf Productions . Her works were considered exclusive and described a certain outsider image that surfers had at the time. A short time later they formed the Zephyr Surf Team , which consisted of the best surfers in the area, who surfed the shabby bay of Venice Beach called Pacific Ocean Park Pier every day . The conditions at that location were life-threatening, as there were still many remains of the Pacific Ocean Park, an amusement park that had to close at the end of the 1960s and has slowly collapsed since then, all over the site. The Zephyr Team was considered a very respected association and was also known for its tough entry requirements. At this time, more and more young people came to the Zephyr Shop, who mostly spent their time there because of miserable conditions at home. A couple of those were Tony Alva , Stacy Peralta , Jay Adams , Wentzle Ruml , Peggy Oki and Shogo Kubo .

The group quickly became enthusiastic about the demonstrations by the Zephyr Surf Team and everyone wanted to become a member immediately. However, this initially required special "services" in the Pacific Ocean Park Pier, where the team surfed. In order to keep foreign surfers away from the place, an aggressive demeanor was the order of the day to be able to surf the "Cove". Skip Engblom took care of the children. In particular, the integration of a new material ( polyurethane ) into the construction of skateboard wheels inspired him to rediscover the sport of skateboarding. However, since all of them were originally surfers, they mainly tried to transfer surf styles (particularly that of the Hawaiian surfer Larry Bertleman) to the streets. Due to the great drought in California at the time, for example, they experimented with empty swimming pools as a driving surface and thus invented a trend ( halfpipe , quarterpipe ) that continues to this day in many variations.

discovery

The so-called pool riding was a discipline that was initially reserved for the Zephyr Skate Team , as nobody else knew about it. This also affected her appearance at the Bahne-Cadillac Skateboard Championships in Del Mar in 1975 . The style they presented in the freestyle discipline did not correspond to the norms common at the time and caused a stir. In addition, their appearance under the direction of Skip Engblom was more comparable to that of a street gang, so there was little sympathy from the other participants and the jurors. Nonetheless, Jay Adams took third place in the men's and Peggy Oki won the women's.

Their demonstrations influenced the scene and grew in popularity very quickly. The industry soon became aware of the Zephyr team and helped members like Tony Alva , Stacy Peralta , Wentzle Ruml and Jay Adams to great popularity and careers. Tony Alva was the most commercially successful of the group, he was the first skateboard world champion ever, founded his own skateboard company Alva Skateboards at the age of 19 and thus brought part of the growing Dogtown myth to the market. Stacy Peralta also had a great career and established himself mainly in the development sector of sports ( warptail construction), today he mainly produces skateboard films. Jim Muir founded Dogtown Skateboards , Skip Engblom Santa Monica Airlines Skateboards and both are still doing it today.

resolution

In 1976 most of the members were already under contract with other teams, so the number of joint meetings decreased rapidly. The Zephyr Shop also had to close due to financial problems. The Zephyr team's most recent meetings took place in the empty swimming pool on a Santa Monica estate . The owner's son suffered from cancer, was an avid skateboard fan and was able to persuade his father to let the team skate in the pool. At this point in time, almost all of the original team members were established skateboarders with a high profile and the joint meetings did not take place under the supervision or approval of the respective official sponsors. Only Glen Friedman and Craig Stecyk had access to the site to document the maneuvers. This pool was named Dogbowl due to the constant presence of the owner's dogs .

influence

The Z-Boys influenced the skateboard sport with their underdog - Image decisively. The former swimming pool was replaced over time with the half pipe , which today is the basis for competitions. Craig Stecyk , who later presented the image of the team in a completely new way with his pictures for various articles, thus formed the cornerstone of the skaterboarding subculture , as it still exists today in a developed form. His articles on Dogtown gave Skateboarder Magazine very high sales that, at peak times, even exceeded other successful magazines. With the help of Stacy Peralta, today's sports great Tony Hawk became known and with him Peralta filmed The Search For Animal Chin in 1987 , which is considered a cult film among skateboarders. The myth about the Z-Boys is also in their 2001 film Dogtown and Z-Boys documented and was designed by Hollywood in 2005 in the drama Lords of Dogtown filmed.

Members

media

literature
  • The Legend Of The Z-Boys , Glen E Friedman, 2003, Turnaround Verlag, ISBN 0-9641916-4-4
  • The Z-Boys And Skateboarding , Jameson Anderson, 2007, Graphic Library Verlag, ISBN 1-4296-0150-7
  • Everything about skateboarding , Holger von Krosigk, 2006, Tropen Verlag, ISBN 3-932170-93-8
Movies

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Glen E. Friedman: The Legend Of The Z-Boys , 2003, ISBN 0-9641916-4-4
  2. ↑ a b c Dogtown & Z-Boys , 2001, Sony Picture Classics
  3. ↑ a b c Steve Olson: Dogtown Chronicles , Juice Magazine, 1975-1978
  4. ^ A b c Craig Stecyk: Dogtown Articles , Skateboarder Magazine, 1976-1979, various editions
  5. ↑ Steve Cave: The True Story Of Dogtown And The Zephyr Team
  6. ↑ The Z-Boys Story ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / z-boy.com
  7. ↑ Holger von Krosigk: Alles über Skateboarding , 2006, Tropen Verlag, ISBN 3-932170-93-8
  8. ↑ Various authors: Skateboarding History
  9. ↑ Steve Cave: A Brief History Of Skateboarding