TIME TRAVELING

This past week an amazing exhibit opened up that I hope everyone can get to see sometime in the next five months. The California Heritiage Museum has worked with several skateboard historians to gather a plethora of boards, skates, photos & wheels together under one roof.



The museum is located just off Ocean Park in Santa Monica, California. Almost set in the heart of the original Dogtown, where skateboarding crawled out of the ocean & onto the streets. The old two story house/museum has been ronvated to help bring each visitor back in time to what many of the homes in California looked like when the area was first developing.

As you wander through the bottom floor, gazing upon roller skate relics & a new style of soap box racer you can't help but wonder how the search ever began for such items, let alone who had them?! Some of my favorites were the older photos of kids riding the old plank & box scooter racers.

Up the stairway their is two great displays of skateboards as they evolved into a trendy childs toy, taking on the shape of small surf boards. Some of my favorites were on these walls.



As the exhibit snakes around the top floor of the house, visitors see the progression of board shapes, wheel materials, and the varrying bright & evolving graphics that accompany the boards from day one. I even saw the very first board I had in 1988!!

Lastly, you come to some of the newest boards on the wall (pictured above) made by Girl Skateboards. These are a tribute to the history of our sport & an homage to the past. These boards display a history that is important for future generations of riders to understand, to help them see where their sport came from. Thank you so much to the California Heritage Museum for putting together such an amazing exhibit for the public to see.

CALIFORNIA HERITAGE MUSEUM MAP

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Vacation Time

"Summer time and the living is easy." A line sung by numerous artists all throughout the decades from jazz, to reggae, to street performers. I must say this last week of Summer has truly been living easy. I spent my first full week off work since August of last year! Six days a week for a year.......... anyways. I wanted to share a short overview of the events that took place b/c I made sure to fill each day with activities.

SUNDAY - Abbot Kinney St in Venice

My parents came out to Venice from San Diego for lunch and an afternoon visit. My Mom is staying in LA with my sister who just gave birth this past week to my new nephew Jackson Armstrong Geller. Congrats!

My Dad & I spent some time looking through records which was a good time. He bought me Cream's Goodbye album on vinyl.

MONDAY - Found a deserted skatepark in Burbank

Thanks to a tip online, TheDude and I checked out a new skatepark in Burbank, which we found to be closed with no one rolling around. Well, the fence was only 6ft high so what do you think we did? Hoped that, and rolled around. The Cops showed eventually, but posed no threat.

TUESDAY - Walt Disney Concert Hall Tour & THE FLAMING LIPS

Designed by Frank Gehry, the Disney Concert Hall is a terrific display of imagination and engineering. It is free to take a 'go at your own pace' audio tour of the whole building. This is a must do tour!

PICTURES FROM THE FLAMING LIPS CONCERT SOON!!

WEDNESDAY - More skateboarding & Friends

The Usual*

THURSDAY - Angeles Crest & Beyond

Stepping back into the past for a moment, to February 2009. My friend Carlos & I took and adventure out into the mountains via Highway Two aka Angeles' Crest, only to be met by a road block 40 miles deep amongst the trees. Flash forward to vacation 09, packed the car with more friends to shoot some black and white photogrpahs.

Ed, Collin, Carlos and I made or way over the sixty plus miles of mountains to meet the town of Wrightwood on the far side for an ice cream. There will be a post soon with a lot more details about this trip. It was primarly for photography purposes... hint hint.

FRIDAY - Six Feet Under House & The Farmers Market

At roughly an hour an episode, 12 episodes a season, and five total seasons, it would seem that I know the Fischer family pretty well. My girlfriend Georgette sure does. Well, since she was the prevailing influence in my appetite for this HBO show entitled Six Feet Under, I only found it fitting to give a little back to her. On my last day of vacation I took her on a surprise visit to the funeral home that the Fischer family lived & filmed at for the duration of the show (2000-2005). You should have seen her smile!

Then it was off to the food paradise that Los Angeles' Farmer's Market on 3rd. After making a slow lap and working to decide on a food choice, we opted, before even buying the first round, to come back later that week to try others. On a full stomach I spent the rest of my last day of vacation relaxing. Saw good friends that night with some good music.