Stacy Peralta Most Liked Photos and Posts

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Stacy Peralta Instagram - I built this board at age 11 or 12, it’s composed of jig-sawed pine, trucks and wheels pried off a roller skate boot and loose ball bearings. We often rode the banked walled playgrounds of Paul Revere, Kenter and Bellagio schools and we were always alone, we never ever saw other skaters but we’d see evidence of clay wheels left behind. Alva and Adams certainly rode those schools but our paths wouldn’t cross till we were 14. This was skateboarding’s dark ages when very few if any skated and getting to those schools required a ride from parents as they were several miles away so Mar Vista Elementary became our go to spot because it was within a mile and had a great left-right banked wall combo. We were continually kicked out of MV and realized if we wanted to skate it and we did then we’d have to skate it at night. There was one winter night where my 3 friends and I set off for it. I remember the freedom of soaring down the sidewalks through the quiet neighborhoods and feeling the friction of our clay wheels battling the pavement. Clay wheels are an unforgiving medium similar to lathed rocks and if you wanted to skate and we did, then you rode wheels that were the composition of hard cement. We all dressed the same; Levi’s, Vans and button down Pendletons for warmth. This one night in particular stands out because even at the age of 12 I knew that the four of us, all riding our homemade boards might be the only kids on earth skateboarding at that very moment and when I look back today I still think we may have been the only kids on skateboards riding down a sidewalk some place on earth at that very moment in time.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - This story exceeded the number of words allowed so I tried something different, hope it’s accessible and hope you enjoy it.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - There is a character in literature and myth known as the TRICKSTER. The trickster represents disruption, mischief and paradox. He is both creator and destroyer, a divine fool who sets out to crush the status quo but his lack of reverence for the status quo makes him dangerous. I believe Craig Stecyk is skateboarding’s preeminent trickster. He came into this life armed with a photographic eye, an uncanny ability to communicate through writing and a giant chip on his shoulder. Craig grew up in Santa Monica and Venice which in the 70s was considered a dead-zone for surfing or skating talent. Craig felt otherwise and set out to prove it through his photographs, his writing and mostly through desire to instigate and stir things up. The first time I saw Craig he was sitting cross-legged on a stool behind the counter in the Zephyr shop drinking a tall can of Budweiser from a plastic straw. He already had a formidable reputation from his published writings and photos in Surfer Magazine. Rumor had it that his IQ was off the charts, that he had a photographic memory and that he was continually at odds with teachers and anyone else in authority. Supposedly he spent a great deal of time in school forced to sit in the corner with his face to the wall. When skating began to explode in 73/74, Craig was in the thick of it; hopping fences, running from cops, clicking away his camera and relishing all the problems he could foment through his writings and photos. He saw skateboarding as a rebellion led by creative disgruntled youth, as an anti-sport and as an art form that feasted on the leftovers of modern civilization. Alva, Adams, myself and all the other Z Boys are indebted to him for the incredibly brave and creative work he did on our behalf. There wouldn’t be a Dogtown if not for Craig. Craig discovered us, defined us and introduced us to ourselves. Big shout out to Craig Stecyk who is still causing problems……..Tony Friedkin photo.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - I had a lousy yet typical American high school education and to top that off the two activities I devoted my life to were surfing and skateboarding, both considered dead-end sports in the 70s, that is, if they were even considered sports. We were called bums as surfers and vandals as skaters so it’s with great surprise that today I would be called a “teacher” and to be a guest teacher at any school in this universe is something my younger self would have never believed could happen, but it did. In July of last year I was guest teacher at MEA Wisdom Baja, an American run school in Baja California just north of Cabo San Lucas. Situated on a wide open beach on the pacific side, it’s a cross between a romantic resort and a creative campus, where a small cohort of adults gather for an immersive week of reflection, reimagining and reset. Many issues are discussed and untangled, one of which is transitions. Being a skater has taught me the art of transitions; how to recognize them, how to navigate them, and how to use them to my advantage. If you can’t spot transitions you run the risk of slamming which is the dark art of face planting, so using them to your benefit can radically propel your life in the direction you’re desiring to go. As both a life-long surf bum and skate vandal, I’m very excited to be a guest teacher there again this May. Click on @meawisdom if there’s interest.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - My close friend Johnny Mac from San Francisco recently found himself sipping a latte at Dogtown Coffee, a business now residing in the former space once occupied by the Zephyr Shop. It spurred him to call and ask, “Is Dogtown a real place? And where’d the name come from?” This is what I know; From a young age Craig Stecyk was enthralled with Grafitti which was very prominent in SM, Venice and Culver City in the 70s, primarily the grafitti of the Hispanic gang culture. Each gang had its own distinct style, it’s own markings, and an exacting way in which they designed their lettering and applied that lettering with spray paint onto alley walls and old buildings. Many of these gangs gave their territories nicknames such as Frogtown, Fogtown, Ghostown etc… In ‘76 when I was having lunch with Stecyk and his girlfriend Lynn, a very talented painter, she said to me, “Craig looks at graffiti as an art form.” I nearly choked. Grafitti as art? I’d been led to believe it was paint-based litter. Craig looked at it as an artistic form of communication, kind of the way an anthropologist might look at primitive cave markings. Early on he began incorporating the west side graffiti style into his own art. He used the defunct Pacific Ocean Park Pier as his canvas and it’s where he developed his infamous pig and crossbones and rat and crossbones graffiti art. I also believe it’s where he came up with the name Dogtown. One of the very first uses of the name appears in my “Who’s Hot” article stating, Stacy Peralta is one of Dogtown’s finest. He would eventually turn the Dogtown articles into one of his most enduring art pieces. So whatever the truth is, it’s a mythology that began in the early 70s when Craig picked up his first can of spray paint and began applying it to the POP pier and then to the cinderblock walls that lined the beaches of Venice and Santa Monica’s boardwalk…..Anyone for another latte?

Stacy Peralta Instagram - Circa 1974. The first Zephyr skateboard has arrived at the shop and Skip and Jeff want it tested. We’re all told to meet at Marine Street which is every skater’s nightmare; a dreadfully steep and unforgiving hill. Everyone shows up and there’s a gang of us taking the drop and things are heating up as they always do. Tony’s on deck at the top of the hill and he knows we’re all watching. He looks at the bottom of the hill and sees a car heading up, simultaneously another car at the top of the hill is now passing Tony and beginning his descent. Tony carefully calculates the positions of both cars and then takes off. Within moments he’s drafting the downhill car in a tail-gate like position. At the midpoint mark of the hill, just as both cars are about to converge Tony makes a perilous decision and pulls into the center of the road, pitting himself between both cars - he’s now shooting the hill between both cars and has about a foot of clearance on each side, there’s zero room for error, the slightest wobble and he’s a skid mark under two tons of steel. We all watch in horror at what he’s doing because what he’s doing is mad. What’s he thinking? Is he thinking? He then shoots thru both cars and not only takes the lead on the downhill car but pulls in front of the driver and makes it comfortably to the bottom, one hand raised in victory. All of us shake our heads. Incredible! He must be insane. But if he is insane, his insanity on this day is usurped by his physical skill and balls-out confidence. Today many people refer to Tony as a legend, one of skateboarding’s best and brightest, I’m here to share with you that the legend began that day.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - You’ll find this hard to believe but at one time we thought a frontside kickturn in a pool would be impossible. We thought we’d fall backwards and land on our backs. It was in the very early days of pool riding when Bob Biniak, Jim Muir and I were skating the Keyhole in Beverly Hills. Between runs, Biniak and I were standing in the shallow end, again debating the frontside kickturn. I thought it was possible but he didn’t. So he said to me; “If you think it’s possible, then do it.” I replied with a laugh; “I can’t, but you can.” He looked at me inquisitively. “Why do you think I can?” To which I stated; “I just know you can.” (Apparently the coach and mentor I would become with the Bones Brigade began showing early). I then got out of the shallow end, walked over to the top of the deep end and encouraged Bob to do a simple frontside kickturn halfway up the wall. So he did. He did a simple kickturn right at the transition mark and made it down safely. “Okay, now go to the three quarters mark.” He dropped in and did a frontside kickturn a foot below the tile. “Okay, now hit the tiles.” I challenged. He hesitated a moment, but then dropped in, did a sweeping carve on the opposing wall for added speed, came up the main wall and pulled a perfect frontside kickturn on the tiles. This was a huge deal for us and it happened that simply. In no time we were all doing frontside kickturns and ironically Biniak would go on to develop one of the greatest frontside attacks in skateboarding history as would Tony, Jay and Jim. We pushed each other relentlessly and competed fiercely. I was the first of us to do frontside forevers. In one memorable session I did the most frontside kickturns tile to tile I’d ever done. Coming back to the shallow end, Muir looked over at me and laughed; “Dude, you’re an asshole.” And that’s how it was. It was a simple time that was alive with great possibility and potential and out of it came so much.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - …I posted the previous pictures incorrectly and wanted you all to see the complete board.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - At age 17, Golden Breed Sportswear is flying me to Australia to introduce modern skateboarding - a dream come true as I will get to surf the fabled Gold Coast! I pack two things; my Zephyr surfboard and orange Zephyr skate (pictured)…So I’m at LAX with my Mom at the Qantas counter and the ticket agent says, “No surfboards!” I’m dumbstruck! What? I plead, “But I’ve taken this to Hawaii!” In his best school principal, “No surfboards on international flights.” I step out of line, melt down and begin sobbing. “I can’t go to Australia without my surfboard! My mom, unaware of how to handle this strange mishap, stares at me, considering. She then looks at my skateboard and then my surfboard and very gently says, “which one is your future?” I look at her with tears running down my face desperately wanting to avoid the answer. Moments later I hand her my surfboard, we hug and say goodbye. “See you in 6 months”…I arrived to drizzly skies and quickly jumped into demos all over Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne and everywhere else except the Gold Coast. During my trip I’m plagued by vivid dreams of never reaching the Gold Coast, dreams so real I’d wake up not knowing where I was…After 5 months I was done. I procured a car and a surfboard and headed out. I was alone and finally on my way to the Gold Coast. At a campground on night two an intuition blew a hole thru me, “Get home now!” Intuition has always been my trusted guide as so much of my life has made no sense. The next morning I obeyed it and turned around. I arrived home just in time for the Cow Palace event in San Francisco. It was at this event where Larry Gordon saw me skate and approached me to ride for G&S. Had I not made that contest on that weekend I doubt I would’ve had the opportunity to write this post.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - Tommy G sent this image to me and as Tony Hawk suggested; “Recline and Destroy!”

Stacy Peralta Instagram - I’ve been drawing for a large part of my life, mostly abstract, black ink on white paper. A little over a year ago a close friend, Mike Shine, a very talented artist/painter, inspired me to pick up the brush and move paint on canvas, so I jumped in. I’m enjoying the process as it’s very meditative and technical. My girlfriend suggested I paint some of the historic boards from my collection and this is my first attempt. Some of these boards have been sitting in darkness in my attic for decades, some so old they’re beginning to decompose. Perhaps this is the opening run for the next stage of their lives.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - August of 76. We have just learned “one-wheelers” where three wheels have lost contact with the pool and only one remains rolling on the coping’s edge before you turn 180 and drop back down. Bob Biniak and I are in the shallow end of the Devonshire pool watching Alva hit back to back one wheelers. Tony’s riding a Logan Earth Ski, Road Riders and very loose Bennett Trucks and at one point his one wheel rolls across the coping but then rolls up and over and out onto the flat of the pool’s deck. His body is now completely hung over the deep end while his one wheel is far behind him rolling over the pool’s deck and somehow Tony manages to pull his single wheel back from that position and roll it back over the top of the coping and into the pool. What he’s pulled off is the single most insane thing Bob and I have ever witnessed in a pool. It’s so shocking that Bob looks at me with his mouth agape as if he’s seen a ghost. I will never forget his reaction nor will I ever forget what I saw Tony do. If Tony had failed to pull his wheel back in, his back truck would’ve caught and hooked on the coping and he would’ve been thrown to the bottom and broken his neck because of the forward placement and momentum of his body. He was at that moment vulnerable to pool skating’s most dangerous fall. It was a stunning thing to witness and just as soon as Bob and I recovered, Bob turned to me and said quietly, “don’t let him know you saw that otherwise we’ll never hear the end of it on the drive home.”……..photos Pat Darrin.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - One of my goals over the past two decades has been to find a way to get my skateboard collection on public display as it’s one of the rarest collections in the world - I saved all my key boards going back to age seven as well as so much other cool stuff. This past week I was approached by a gallery owner who wants to display it. He’s talking about a show sometime in the fall of this year 2024 which will feature many of my rarest boards and items and prints of my paintings etc. It’s in the initial planning stages at this point but I’ll keep those of you who are interested posted as to the time and gallery whereabouts when we get further along. Thanks to all of you for your kind and generous feedback regarding my work.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - I never had the slightest inkling I would make skate videos and then go on to make films. In 1983 I was living in Hollywood and my neighbor and friend was D.David Morin, former editor of Skateboarder Mag. He had just graduated from film school and was now a budding film maker and actor. He came to me one day and said, “My partner Dan and I think we can make a skate video featuring the Bones Brigade for 5k.” It was an offer George and I couldn’t refuse. Plans were quickly drawn up to begin shooting the Bones Brigade Video Show. But days before our first shoot, D.David auditioned for and landed an acting role in a major TV commercial making him unavailable. He told me I’d be in good hands with Dan, but Dan and I didn’t quite click. I wanted him to shoot the angles Stecyk had established with his classic DT photos but Dan saw it differently. So after day one I made the decision to take the video on myself. Being smart enough to know that I knew nothing about film making but dumb enough to do it anyway, I rented a 3/4 inch video camera and began shooting. In 8 months I’d amassed hours of footage. Then knowing even less about editing but naive enough to proceed, I rented a portable Sony editing system and parked it on my kitchen table where it remained for the next five months. I spent hours hunched over the material, logging it into notebooks and slowly piecing it together, then showing it to George and Stecyk for guidance. As it turns out, it was my deep understanding of skateboarding, the rhythm and flow of it that allowed me to overcome my lack of film making skills. Skateboarding itself guided the process and showed me how to make that first video and then the others that followed, and really all of my films. I don’t know what I have learned in life that is not the direct result of my intimate relationship with skateboarding.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - We had two great screenings of my new film; “The Yin and Yang of Gerry Lopez” the past two nights at the mighty La Paloma Theater in Encinitas Ca, these four showed up and we had a blast, it’s always hugs and laughs when we hang out together. Check Patagonia’s website for screening info on the film as we’ll be touring it soon.

Stacy Peralta Instagram - A few followers recently reacted to a line in one of my posts regarding Jay, Tony and I “building our careers.” It wasn’t necessarily building as it was finding the sweet spot and staying there. Before the Zephyr skate team existed we were members of the Zephyr surf team, competing in local surf contests as the junior members and operating under the influence of the elder members; Ronnie Jay, Bill Urbany, Wayne Saunders, Wayne Inouye and others. They were our role models as were the great Hawaiian and Australian surfers; BK, Bertleman, Lopez, Reno, Terry Fitz, etc. At that time the holy grail that all surfers were chasing was how to earn a living surfing so that we could surf all day and avoid conventional jobs. Jay and Tony spent quality time on the North Shore trying to make that happen. But when the urethane wheel appeared and skateboarding blew up, the opportunities that came to us through skating dwarfed what surfing offered, so we came to it with the same desire to make our living riding skateboards all day and night and not have to “work.” Alva didn’t win the world championships and start Alva Skates while sitting peacefully in the Lotus position, he made these things happen with intention so he could support his love of skating and surfing. Same with me, it was a dream come true to be paid to ride my skateboard because it allowed me to skate all day, every day. Jay himself told me he wanted to be involved with a skate company and have his own team. It was the dream we were all after. Who wants to work when you can skate or surf all day? So if you can find a way to get paid to do what you love doing, then you’ve found the holy grail, at least the holy grail we were all searching for….as for Tony and I, we’re still living that dream that began when we were both 16.

Stacy Peralta - 28.6K Likes - Jay Adams revisited…Jay was a supremely gifted athlete, highly creative, wildly spontaneous and a joy to watch because you never knew what was coming…He was that rare kid bestowed with a gift as bright as the sun and I believe Jay may have been aware of his gift but he lacked the skill set required to focus it. He was completely deficient in that department. Gifts come with enormous power and enormous responsibility and that power is dangerous because it can turn against you if you’re not prepared for it. It takes years to recognize a gift, to become familiar with it, to develop it and then to learn to live with it peacefully - and gifts don’t come with mentors or manuals, they come with force. Jay’s gift was dropped on him like an anvil at age 12, how does a kid that age know anything about anything? He had no idea how to turn his gift into a functional and sustainable career. For a current example look no further than basketball star Ja Morant for someone who’s struggling to come to terms with his enormous gift. It ain’t easy. And remember we were the first pro skaters in the world, we had no role models, we had to figure this out on our own while it was all unfolding…Alva ran at a similar voltage to Jay and initially created some big problems; he was temporarily banned from Skateboarder Mag and then got close to losing an eye in a fight, but ultimately Tony figured out how to channel his enormous gift with its massive payload into a remarkable career. For me, I didn’t want to burn so bright, too dangerous, I wanted to burn long…None of this excuses Jay for the act that got him thrown in the pen but it does provide some context to the chaos, because Jay did light up the hearts of skaters across the planet with the power and brightness of his gift, but the very power and brightness of that gift cost Jay his own career and the quality of his own life.

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28.6K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Caption : Jay Adams revisited…Jay was a supremely gifted athlete, highly creative, wildly spontaneous and a joy to watch because you never knew what was coming…He was that rare kid bestowed with a gift as bright as the sun and I believe Jay may have been aware of his gift but he lacked the skill set required to focus it. He was completely deficient in that department. Gifts come with enormous power and enormous responsibility and that power is dangerous because it can turn against you if you’re not prepared for it. It takes years to recognize a gift, to become familiar with it, to develop it and then to learn to live with it peacefully – and gifts don’t come with mentors or manuals, they come with force. Jay’s gift was dropped on him like an anvil at age 12, how does a kid that age know anything about anything? He had no idea how to turn his gift into a functional and sustainable career. For a current example look no further than basketball star Ja Morant for someone who’s struggling to come to terms with his enormous gift. It ain’t easy. And remember we were the first pro skaters in the world, we had no role models, we had to figure this out on our own while it was all unfolding…Alva ran at a similar voltage to Jay and initially created some big problems; he was temporarily banned from Skateboarder Mag and then got close to losing an eye in a fight, but ultimately Tony figured out how to channel his enormous gift with its massive payload into a remarkable career. For me, I didn’t want to burn so bright, too dangerous, I wanted to burn long…None of this excuses Jay for the act that got him thrown in the pen but it does provide some context to the chaos, because Jay did light up the hearts of skaters across the planet with the power and brightness of his gift, but the very power and brightness of that gift cost Jay his own career and the quality of his own life.
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Stacy Peralta - 25.2K Likes - This skateboard is my most precious possession. Why? Because it’s the board I transitioned from clay to this rumored new wheel made of a space-age material called Urethane. They said urethane wheels could handle hard turns, run over pebbles and cracks and ride smoothly over rough pavement. The promise sounded impossible and on top of that they were going to sell for the preposterous price of $2.00 a set! That’s 50 cents a wheel. Why would I pay 50 cents for one wheel when I could buy 16 clays for 50 cents at the bargain bin of a thrift store? What a scam. One of my skate buddies was Kevin Farlee, who aside from having the messiest bedroom I’d ever seen, Kevin was writing computer programs in high school and so he was far smarter than me. He showed up at my house one day with a set of urethane wheels mounted on his homemade board. This was my first sight of them. He said they were called Cadillac Wheels; they were translucent, soft to the touch and so unlike anything I’d ever seen. He said they rode beautifully but I was skeptical so he handed me his board and said: “see for yourself.” I dropped his board on my driveway, took two fast pushes and turned hard onto the sidewalk expecting the wheels to slide out. They didn’t. I then did a number of rapid fire pumping turns up the sidewalk and then ripped a Bertleman turn on the corner and the wheels held. Okay, how about this…I purposely ran over some vengeful cracks, cracks I religiously avoided on clay and I breezed over them. WOW! How was this possible? For years I’d been riding wheels that were the equivalent to what the ancient Romans used on their chariots and now I’m riding wheels with the smoothness of rubber. It was revolutionary! Kevin was not only a good friend but a gentle person and a generous one too. Everyday for the next three weeks he came to my house, sat on my lawn and let me rip around on his board. Urethane wheels were everything they promised and they were about to unlock everything we could ever dream of including the flight paths of our lives because my life’s journey began the day Kevin brought those wheels to my house. Thanks Kev, I still owe you…DM me to catch up!

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25.2K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Caption : This skateboard is my most precious possession. Why? Because it’s the board I transitioned from clay to this rumored new wheel made of a space-age material called Urethane. They said urethane wheels could handle hard turns, run over pebbles and cracks and ride smoothly over rough pavement. The promise sounded impossible and on top of that they were going to sell for the preposterous price of $2.00 a set! That’s 50 cents a wheel. Why would I pay 50 cents for one wheel when I could buy 16 clays for 50 cents at the bargain bin of a thrift store? What a scam. One of my skate buddies was Kevin Farlee, who aside from having the messiest bedroom I’d ever seen, Kevin was writing computer programs in high school and so he was far smarter than me. He showed up at my house one day with a set of urethane wheels mounted on his homemade board. This was my first sight of them. He said they were called Cadillac Wheels; they were translucent, soft to the touch and so unlike anything I’d ever seen. He said they rode beautifully but I was skeptical so he handed me his board and said: “see for yourself.” I dropped his board on my driveway, took two fast pushes and turned hard onto the sidewalk expecting the wheels to slide out. They didn’t. I then did a number of rapid fire pumping turns up the sidewalk and then ripped a Bertleman turn on the corner and the wheels held. Okay, how about this…I purposely ran over some vengeful cracks, cracks I religiously avoided on clay and I breezed over them. WOW! How was this possible? For years I’d been riding wheels that were the equivalent to what the ancient Romans used on their chariots and now I’m riding wheels with the smoothness of rubber. It was revolutionary! Kevin was not only a good friend but a gentle person and a generous one too. Everyday for the next three weeks he came to my house, sat on my lawn and let me rip around on his board. Urethane wheels were everything they promised and they were about to unlock everything we could ever dream of including the flight paths of our lives because my life’s journey began the day Kevin brought those wheels to my house. Thanks Kev, I still owe you…DM me to catch up!
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20.1K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Caption : I built this board at age 11 or 12, it’s composed of jig-sawed pine, trucks and wheels pried off a roller skate boot and loose ball bearings. We often rode the banked walled playgrounds of Paul Revere, Kenter and Bellagio schools and we were always alone, we never ever saw other skaters but we’d see evidence of clay wheels left behind. Alva and Adams certainly rode those schools but our paths wouldn’t cross till we were 14. This was skateboarding’s dark ages when very few if any skated and getting to those schools required a ride from parents as they were several miles away so Mar Vista Elementary became our go to spot because it was within a mile and had a great left-right banked wall combo. We were continually kicked out of MV and realized if we wanted to skate it and we did then we’d have to skate it at night. There was one winter night where my 3 friends and I set off for it. I remember the freedom of soaring down the sidewalks through the quiet neighborhoods and feeling the friction of our clay wheels battling the pavement. Clay wheels are an unforgiving medium similar to lathed rocks and if you wanted to skate and we did, then you rode wheels that were the composition of hard cement. We all dressed the same; Levi’s, Vans and button down Pendletons for warmth. This one night in particular stands out because even at the age of 12 I knew that the four of us, all riding our homemade boards might be the only kids on earth skateboarding at that very moment and when I look back today I still think we may have been the only kids on skateboards riding down a sidewalk some place on earth at that very moment in time.
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20.1K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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20.1K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Stacy Peralta - 18.4K Likes - Shortly after Jay Adams passed away a ceremonial paddle-out was held in his honor at Venice Beach. Hundreds gathered on a beautiful Saturday. I arrived heavy hearted with my surfboard and wetsuit, as did many others. The ceremony began and various eulogies were given, all heavily weighted with biblical references, some were beautiful and I know Jay found respite in his new found faith, but missing from the tributes were the great tales that represented the magic of Jay Adams. Jay was the manifestation of mischief, a 100 watt person with 10,000 watts coursing through him and yet little of his brilliance was being articulated. The speeches were then followed by a paddle-out. We grabbed our boards and paddled out to the end of the Venice Pier where we formed a circle. Just as all of us we’re about to grab hands, a loud voice shouted out from the top of the pier, “HEY!!” No one turned so the shout came louder, “HEY!!!!” Again no one turned. Then finally the loudest, “HEEEYYY!!!!” We all turned to see OG Venice skater Tim Jackson standing atop the pier. Tim looked down on all of us and at the top of his lungs shouted, “You’re all a bunch of fags!!” He then laughed his ass off as did the group. It was inappropriate, unexpected and so out of the blue and yet this is what Jay would’ve done, he would’ve thrown a mirth bomb into his own memorial service just to stir things up and make everyone laugh, it’s what he always did. That was the magic of Jay. I am certain to this day that Jay Adams came thru Tim Jackson at that very moment to assure us that his restless spirit was with us that day just as it always will be.

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18.4K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Caption : Shortly after Jay Adams passed away a ceremonial paddle-out was held in his honor at Venice Beach. Hundreds gathered on a beautiful Saturday. I arrived heavy hearted with my surfboard and wetsuit, as did many others. The ceremony began and various eulogies were given, all heavily weighted with biblical references, some were beautiful and I know Jay found respite in his new found faith, but missing from the tributes were the great tales that represented the magic of Jay Adams. Jay was the manifestation of mischief, a 100 watt person with 10,000 watts coursing through him and yet little of his brilliance was being articulated. The speeches were then followed by a paddle-out. We grabbed our boards and paddled out to the end of the Venice Pier where we formed a circle. Just as all of us we’re about to grab hands, a loud voice shouted out from the top of the pier, “HEY!!” No one turned so the shout came louder, “HEY!!!!” Again no one turned. Then finally the loudest, “HEEEYYY!!!!” We all turned to see OG Venice skater Tim Jackson standing atop the pier. Tim looked down on all of us and at the top of his lungs shouted, “You’re all a bunch of fags!!” He then laughed his ass off as did the group. It was inappropriate, unexpected and so out of the blue and yet this is what Jay would’ve done, he would’ve thrown a mirth bomb into his own memorial service just to stir things up and make everyone laugh, it’s what he always did. That was the magic of Jay. I am certain to this day that Jay Adams came thru Tim Jackson at that very moment to assure us that his restless spirit was with us that day just as it always will be.
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18.4K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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18.4K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Stacy Peralta - 14.2K Likes - I was 7 or 8 when this skateboard was handed down to me from an older kid on the block, it’s my first board and this is how I got hooked; down the street from the home I grew up in was a busy shopping center, Steve’s Rexhall Drug store was the corner of it which was on Venice and Centinela, it’s entire perimeter surrounded by beautifully groomed pavement with lots of foot traffic. I was skating there one busy Saturday: kids were darting around on bicycles, pedestrians and others pushing shopping carts and strollers. I remember weaving and dodging through all of them, the kids and parents, the shoppers clenching their shopping bags all the while avoiding them and highly aware that if I hit the most minute crack in the pavement or the tiniest pebble that my clay wheels will lock up and catapult me into concrete. Here I am a young kid standing on this new invention called a skateboard, a little platform of wood and four rock hard wheels, it has no handlebars to hold onto or seat to sit on or pedals to rest my feet on, unlike a bike it’s a very insecure device and far more dangerous and far more tricky to figure out, and as I whiz through all of the people I can feel the hard rumble of the clay wheels vibrating up through my feet and legs, I’m at this little board’s mercy and yet amidst all of this chaos and frenzy coming at me I suddenly feel this incredible sense of stillness. Stillness? I’m weaving through waves of people and things, hundreds of sensations are hitting me including the fear of falling and yet I feel completely still inside. It made no sense to me yet the feeling was intoxicating and it was something I’d never felt before that moment. How is it possible that I could feel such stillness when at that very moment I might face-plant into a metal shopping cart or get bounced off pavement. It is that sublime experience of feeling still while moving rapidly on my board that hooked me to skateboarding, that feeling of profound stillness coming from within while at the same time everything outside of me is chaos and craziness.

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14.2K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Caption : I was 7 or 8 when this skateboard was handed down to me from an older kid on the block, it’s my first board and this is how I got hooked; down the street from the home I grew up in was a busy shopping center, Steve’s Rexhall Drug store was the corner of it which was on Venice and Centinela, it’s entire perimeter surrounded by beautifully groomed pavement with lots of foot traffic. I was skating there one busy Saturday: kids were darting around on bicycles, pedestrians and others pushing shopping carts and strollers. I remember weaving and dodging through all of them, the kids and parents, the shoppers clenching their shopping bags all the while avoiding them and highly aware that if I hit the most minute crack in the pavement or the tiniest pebble that my clay wheels will lock up and catapult me into concrete. Here I am a young kid standing on this new invention called a skateboard, a little platform of wood and four rock hard wheels, it has no handlebars to hold onto or seat to sit on or pedals to rest my feet on, unlike a bike it’s a very insecure device and far more dangerous and far more tricky to figure out, and as I whiz through all of the people I can feel the hard rumble of the clay wheels vibrating up through my feet and legs, I’m at this little board’s mercy and yet amidst all of this chaos and frenzy coming at me I suddenly feel this incredible sense of stillness. Stillness? I’m weaving through waves of people and things, hundreds of sensations are hitting me including the fear of falling and yet I feel completely still inside. It made no sense to me yet the feeling was intoxicating and it was something I’d never felt before that moment. How is it possible that I could feel such stillness when at that very moment I might face-plant into a metal shopping cart or get bounced off pavement. It is that sublime experience of feeling still while moving rapidly on my board that hooked me to skateboarding, that feeling of profound stillness coming from within while at the same time everything outside of me is chaos and craziness.
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14.2K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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14.2K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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14.2K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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14.2K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Stacy Peralta - 13K Likes - My VW Squareback story many of you asked for; at age 14 I gave up my paper route for a food prep job at Archie’s Sandwich Shop in Culver City. The owner Reggie said; “It’s 3 hours a day, 5 days a week after school. If you get the job done in 1 hour I’ll still pay you for 3.” What a great first boss! I earned $23.00 a week; I banked $20.00 and spent $3.00. At age 16 I had $800.00 and coincidentally my aunt Pattie was selling her beige Squareback, the exact car I wanted, so I cut her a check and she handed me the keys. Little did that car know it’s life was about to begin. My mom sewed up paisley curtains and my friend Kevin Farlee helped me install a stereo, an 8 track player and Aloha surf racks. That car not only became my faithful companion but a companion to so many other surfers and skaters like Jay, Tony, Biniak, Muir, Constantineau, Hoffman and Stecyk. It transported us to the pools spread all over LA, to the banked playgrounds and even the Del Mar Contest. My VW ran like a strong pack of horses owned by a bunch of outlaws. It outflanked cops, security guards and angry pool owners. It jammed down narrow alleys and over rough terrain and even survived Jay Adams hanging out the window cursing and insulting everyone within range. My car became as important as our boards because without it there would’ve been no transportation to these amazing places. I eventually sold it to Kevin’s girlfriend who drove it for many more years until she sold it. Where is it today? I don’t know but I sometimes wonder if it misses its great outlaw days.

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13K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Caption : My VW Squareback story many of you asked for; at age 14 I gave up my paper route for a food prep job at Archie’s Sandwich Shop in Culver City. The owner Reggie said; “It’s 3 hours a day, 5 days a week after school. If you get the job done in 1 hour I’ll still pay you for 3.” What a great first boss! I earned $23.00 a week; I banked $20.00 and spent $3.00. At age 16 I had $800.00 and coincidentally my aunt Pattie was selling her beige Squareback, the exact car I wanted, so I cut her a check and she handed me the keys. Little did that car know it’s life was about to begin. My mom sewed up paisley curtains and my friend Kevin Farlee helped me install a stereo, an 8 track player and Aloha surf racks. That car not only became my faithful companion but a companion to so many other surfers and skaters like Jay, Tony, Biniak, Muir, Constantineau, Hoffman and Stecyk. It transported us to the pools spread all over LA, to the banked playgrounds and even the Del Mar Contest. My VW ran like a strong pack of horses owned by a bunch of outlaws. It outflanked cops, security guards and angry pool owners. It jammed down narrow alleys and over rough terrain and even survived Jay Adams hanging out the window cursing and insulting everyone within range. My car became as important as our boards because without it there would’ve been no transportation to these amazing places. I eventually sold it to Kevin’s girlfriend who drove it for many more years until she sold it. Where is it today? I don’t know but I sometimes wonder if it misses its great outlaw days.
Likes : 13002

Stacy Peralta - 11.3K Likes - Another very rare board from my collection and the story behind it: Right after the collapse of the Zephyr team and months before getting sponsored by Gordon&Smith I was sponsor-less, as were many Z Boys at that time. Bob Biniak had just hooked up with Sims and said to me one day; “You need to get off your Zephyr board, you need a board with a kick-tail for the pools we’re riding. He then handed me a flat wooden Sims board and said; “Go home to your kitchen, boil a pot of water like you’re gonna make spaghetti, drop the tail in the pot and boil it over night. In the morning take the board into your garage, clamp it from the middle into a vice, tie a piece of rope around the tail, pull the rope as hard as you can until the tail bends and then tie the rope to a hook in the wall. Let it sit for a week. After that you’ll have a board with a kick-tail. I did exactly as Bob said; I dropped the board into a pot and boiled it overnight. Next I clamped it into a vice, pulled back the tail and tied it to a wall. A week later, I untied it, opened the vice and there it was, a board with, if not an actual angled kick-tail, a tail with a really strong and effective warp. I mounted it with Bennett Trucks and Sims Pure Juice Wheels. Later that day we got word of a new pool way out at the far end of the San Fernando Valley in an area of old farm houses and orange groves. We were told a 90 year old woman lived on the property but she was hard of hearing so sneaking in wasn’t a problem. Biniak, Alva and I drove out in my VW Squareback, found the place, hopped the fence and encountered what I still consider today to be the best backyard pool I’ve ever ridden. We called it the Devonshire Pool because it was the Devonshire exit off the 405 freeway. That Sims board rode incredibly well and was a huge step up from my Zephyr and the tail worked just as Biniak had said. Shortly thereafter Gordon&Smith came to me with a great offer. At my contract signing Larry Gordon asked me what I’d like to call my new skateboard model, to which I replied; “Why don’t we call it the Warptail?”

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11.3K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Caption : Another very rare board from my collection and the story behind it: Right after the collapse of the Zephyr team and months before getting sponsored by Gordon&Smith I was sponsor-less, as were many Z Boys at that time. Bob Biniak had just hooked up with Sims and said to me one day; “You need to get off your Zephyr board, you need a board with a kick-tail for the pools we’re riding. He then handed me a flat wooden Sims board and said; “Go home to your kitchen, boil a pot of water like you’re gonna make spaghetti, drop the tail in the pot and boil it over night. In the morning take the board into your garage, clamp it from the middle into a vice, tie a piece of rope around the tail, pull the rope as hard as you can until the tail bends and then tie the rope to a hook in the wall. Let it sit for a week. After that you’ll have a board with a kick-tail. I did exactly as Bob said; I dropped the board into a pot and boiled it overnight. Next I clamped it into a vice, pulled back the tail and tied it to a wall. A week later, I untied it, opened the vice and there it was, a board with, if not an actual angled kick-tail, a tail with a really strong and effective warp. I mounted it with Bennett Trucks and Sims Pure Juice Wheels. Later that day we got word of a new pool way out at the far end of the San Fernando Valley in an area of old farm houses and orange groves. We were told a 90 year old woman lived on the property but she was hard of hearing so sneaking in wasn’t a problem. Biniak, Alva and I drove out in my VW Squareback, found the place, hopped the fence and encountered what I still consider today to be the best backyard pool I’ve ever ridden. We called it the Devonshire Pool because it was the Devonshire exit off the 405 freeway. That Sims board rode incredibly well and was a huge step up from my Zephyr and the tail worked just as Biniak had said. Shortly thereafter Gordon&Smith came to me with a great offer. At my contract signing Larry Gordon asked me what I’d like to call my new skateboard model, to which I replied; “Why don’t we call it the Warptail?”
Likes : 11319

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11.3K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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11.3K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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11.3K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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11.3K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Stacy Peralta - 10.6K Likes - Life long skater, skate adventurer, skate museum founder and friend Jack Smith suggested I post this story which I wrote a few years back. It’s much longer than normal and a test on my part to see if it works. Hope you all enjoy it and thanks for all the feedback! More stories are on the way…

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10.6K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

Caption : Life long skater, skate adventurer, skate museum founder and friend Jack Smith suggested I post this story which I wrote a few years back. It’s much longer than normal and a test on my part to see if it works. Hope you all enjoy it and thanks for all the feedback! More stories are on the way…
Likes : 10582

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10.6K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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10.6K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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10.6K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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10.6K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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10.6K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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10.6K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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10.6K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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10.6K Likes – Stacy Peralta Instagram

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