The Birth of Skateboarding: California, Late 1950s
Surfers in California started it by nailing roller-skate wheels to wooden planks to mimic the feel of riding a wave when the ocean was flat.
Roller Derby began mass-producing the boards in 1959, and Venice lifeguard Larry Stevenson founded Makaha in 1963, building the first pro-component board by hand in his Santa Monica garage.
The sport hit the mainstream in 1965. The first National Skateboarding Championships aired on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, and in May, LIFE Magazine put 19-year-old Patti McGee (printed as "Pat" on the cover) front and center. As the reigning national champion and skateboarding’s first female pro, she went on to appear on What’s My Line? and The Tonight Show.
While Makaha’s board sales alone hit $4 million between 1963 and 1965, the total industry generated an estimated $100 million in annual sales by 1965, cranking out over 50 million boards during that three-year boom. The initial craze cratered by 1966, only to be completely revived in the 1970s by the introduction of polyurethane wheels.
#CaliforniaHistory #SkateboardingOrigins #AmericanInnovation
Surfers in California started it by nailing roller-skate wheels to wooden planks to mimic the feel of riding a wave when the ocean was flat.
Roller Derby began mass-producing the boards in 1959, and Venice lifeguard Larry Stevenson founded Makaha in 1963, building the first pro-component board by hand in his Santa Monica garage.
The sport hit the mainstream in 1965. The first National Skateboarding Championships aired on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, and in May, LIFE Magazine put 19-year-old Patti McGee (printed as "Pat" on the cover) front and center. As the reigning national champion and skateboarding’s first female pro, she went on to appear on What’s My Line? and The Tonight Show.
While Makaha’s board sales alone hit $4 million between 1963 and 1965, the total industry generated an estimated $100 million in annual sales by 1965, cranking out over 50 million boards during that three-year boom. The initial craze cratered by 1966, only to be completely revived in the 1970s by the introduction of polyurethane wheels.
#CaliforniaHistory #SkateboardingOrigins #AmericanInnovation
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