Venice Skateboard

This page is intended to be an introduction to a selection of original black and white photo

galleries which exist on another site: http://www.pbase.com/venicepix . These pictures chronical a group of young people in Venice , California between 1977 and 1987... To go directly to the index page of that site click the WAVE below

If you have arrived here via a search engine looking for skateboard pix you might want to go directly to one of the skate galleries by clicking on any image below...(you can always go to the pbase/venicepix index by clicking the words "all galleries" that appear at the top of each pbase page)

The death of Dennis Agnew, nicknamed Polar Bear, in 2005 prompted me to dig into my old prints and negatives and create "venicepix". This is a memorial gallery for Dennis, though shots of him also appear in several of the other galleries. Its address is: http://www.pbase.com/venicepix/polar_bear

The memorial also contains a sub-gallery which contains pictures taken by others, including some more recent photos. Its address is: http://www.pbase.com/venicepix/pb_bulldog_tribute

This sub-gallery is an archive of a thread that existed on a bulletin board over at Bulldog Skates:

http://www.bulldogskates.com

A gallery of ramp pictures from Venice California in May of 1987 featuring Christian Hosoi, Aaron Murray, Scott Oster, Jesse Martinez, George Wilson and others..>from the days before the Venice Pavilion was beamed into outer space by marauding aliens.... It's address is: http://www.pbase.com/venicepix/pavilion_skaters_1987

Three Skateparks from the Seventies

I've scanned a lot of negatives for these galleries and displayed most of them without editing them down very much. Although well known skaters are featured in some , so are unknowns and beginners. I've also resisted the urge to crop out the bystanders or just views of the parks themselves. In other words, if you were at one of these parks you might just find a picture of yourself. (One of the reasons for the page you are now viewing is that Homestead enables me to offer keywords and text to the search engines, while pbase does not)

This is all I've got from Skatercross, but there are more negatives to scan from Marina (including a few of Jay), and Oxnard....plus stuff to come from Skateboard World and Skatopia

Skatercross in Reseda California, photographs from several dates in the Summer of 1977.

Featuring Venice skaters including Eric "Froggy" Andersen and Dennis "Polar Bear" Agnew plus several unknown skaters from back in the day. If you recognize any, feel free to identify them by adding a "comment" at the bottom of the page. The address is:

http://www.pbase.com/venicepix/skatercross

The Endless Wave Skatepark in Oxnard California

Photographs dated June 29, 1978

Featuring Polar Bear, Frog, George Wilson and some unknowns. The address is:

http://www.pbase.com/venicepix/Oxnard_101

(more to come)

Marina Del Rey Skatepark in Los Angeles

Christmas Eve 1978

Featuring Dennis Agnew, Jimmy Plummer, Tony Alva, Duane Peters and many skaters I don't recognize. The address is:

http://www.pbase.com/venicepix/marina_park_129130

(more to come)