Z-Boys
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Z-Boys
The Zephyr Competition Team (or Z-Boys) were a group of American skateboarders in the mid-1970s from Santa Monica and Venice, California. Originally consisting of 12 members, the Z-boys were originally sponsored by the Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions surf and skate shop. Their innovative surfing-based style and aerial moves formed the foundations of contemporary vert and transition skateboarding. The story of the Z-Boys and the Zephyr shop have been popularized in feature films such as ''Lords of Dogtown'' and ''Dogtown and Z-Boys.'' History Initial beginnings The Z-boys began as a surf team for the Zephyr surfboard shop at Santa Monica. Jeff Ho, Skip Engblom, and Craig Stecyk opened the shop, titled Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Production Team, in 1973, and they soon begin recruiting young locals to represent them in surfing competitions. 14 year old Nathan Pratt was the first member of the team; he originally had worked in the shop as an apprentice surfboard sha ...
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Jay Adams
Jay J. Adams (February 3, 1961 – August 15, 2014) was an American skateboarder who, as a teen, was the youngest member of the Zephyr Competition Skateboarding Team (Z-Boys). His spontaneous freestyle skateboarding style, inspired by ocean surfing, helped innovate and popularize modern skateboarding. His aggressive vertical tricks make him one of skateboarding's most influential stylists. Adams died of a heart attack on August 15, 2014.Dougherty, Conor (August 17, 2014"Jay Adams, Who Revolutionized Skateboarding, Dies at 53,"''The New York Times''. Retrieved on June 3, 2016. Early life Jay Adams was born in a part of Venice, California. He was the only child of Robert Adams and Philaine Romero, and grew up with his mother and his stepfather, Kent Sherwood. He began skating and surfing at the age of four.Fitzgerald, Heidi (February 1, 2000"Jay Adams,"''Juice Magazine''. Retrieved on June 9, 2016. Sherwood worked at Dave Sweet's Surf Shop under Pacific Ocean Park, where Adams was ...
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Dogtown And Z-Boys
''Dogtown and Z-Boys'' is a 2001 documentary film produced by Agi Orsi and directed by Stacy Peralta. The documentary explores the pioneering of the Zephyr skateboard team in the 1970s (of which Peralta was a member) and the evolving sport of skateboarding. Using a mix of film of the Zephyr skateboard team (Z-Boys) shot in the 1970s by Craig Stecyk, along with contemporary interviews, the documentary tells the story of a group of teenage surfer/skateboarders and their influence on the history of skateboarding (and to a lesser extent surfing) culture. Synopsis ''Dogtown and Z-Boys'', narrated by Sean Penn, begins with the history of skateboarding in Southern California and how it had been strongly influenced by the surf culture in the surrounding areas of Santa Monica and Venice, nicknamed ''Dogtown''. Surf shop owners Jeff Ho, Skip Engblom, and Craig Stecyk established the Zephyr Skateboard Team with local teenagers from broken homes. The sport of skateboarding continued to ev ...
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Stacy Peralta
Stacy Douglas Peralta (born October 15, 1957) is an American film director and entrepreneur. He was previously a professional skateboarder and surfer with the Zephyr Competition Team, also known as the Z-Boys, from Venice, California. Early life Peralta was born in Venice, California, of Mexican and Irish descent. At age 15, he began competing with the Z-Boys, a group sponsored by the surf shop Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions along with Perry Caravello. His second sponsor was Gordon and Smith. Peralta graduated from Venice High School in 1975. Career Skateboarding Peralta circa 1976 At the age of 19, Peralta became the highest-ranked professional skateboarder. Soon after, he joined forces with manufacturer George Powell to form Powell Peralta, which would grow to be one of the most successful skateboard brands of the 1980s. With the financial backing of Powell-Peralta, Peralta formed the seminal Bones Brigade, a team composed of some of the best skaters at the ti ...
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Tony Alva
Tony Alva (born September 2, 1957) is an American skateboarder, entrepreneur, and musician. He was a pioneer of vertical skateboarding and one of the original members of the Zephyr Competition Skateboarding Team, also known as the Z-Boys. The ''Transworld Skateboarding Magazine'' ranked him eighth in its list of the "30 Most Influential skateboarders" of all time. Early life Tony Alva was born September 2, 1957, in Santa Monica, California, to Dutch and Mexican-American parents. He first began surfing and skateboarding around 1967 at the age of 10. Career Influenced by the new, aggressive surfing style happening on the Hawaiian Islands, Alva brought a radical new and powerful free form surf style to skateboarding. Alva's style was revolutionary and stood in stark contrast with the contrived traditional style of the era, which was still based around tricks formulated in the 1960s. His skill, style and charismatic nature led him to become a professionally sponsored skateboarder. ...
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Lords Of Dogtown
''Lords of Dogtown'' is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by Catherine Hardwicke and written by Stacy Peralta. The film follows a group of young skateboarders in Santa Monica, California during the 70s. This is the first (and so far only) production made by both Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $13 million at the box office. Plot Set in the Dogtown area of Santa Monica/Venice in the mid–1970s, surfers Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, and Jay Adams enjoy the life of skating and surfing the pier with board designer Skip Engblom and the other locals. One day, Skip is given polyurethane wheels for the skateboards in his shop, Zephyr Surf Shop. Teenager Sid, a friend of the boys who works in the same shop, invites Tony, Jay, Stacy, and the other locals to test the new wheels. They are all amazed as the polyurethane wheels allow the skateboards to make the same carves on flat ground as surfboards on the waves. After witnessin ...
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Craig Stecyk
Craig R. Stecyk III (born 1950) is an American artist, writer, photojournalist, and filmmaker who has documented and influenced the surf, skate, and snowboarding cultures. Biography A Southern California native, Stecyk is known for his photographs of the 1970s and '80s, and for documenting surfing and skateboarding culture, including articles for ''Skateboarder Magazine'' in the mid-1970s describing the innovative developments of the Z-Boys skateboarding team. In 1972, Jeff Ho, Skip Engblom, and Stecyk opened a surf shop called Jeff Ho and Zephyr Surfboard Productions in Santa Monica, California. Stecyk co-wrote the 2001 award-winning documentary ''Dogtown and Z-Boys'' with Stacy Peralta. Pablo Schreiber plays Stecyk in the 2005 film ''Lords of Dogtown''. He co-wrote the book ''Dogtown and Z-Boys'' with Glen E. Friedman, published in 2019. Publications * ''Dogtown – The Legend of the Z-Boys'', C.R. Stecyk III & Glen E. Friedman Glen Ellis Friedman (born March 3, 1962 ...
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Allen Sarlo
Allen Sarlo (born January 9, 1958) is an American surfer, most prominently known as one of the original members of the Z-Boys surf and skateboarding team.INTERVIEW: Allen Sarlo – The Z-Boys Strongman
''Surfer Magazine.'' Retrieved September 16, 2015.
'''' recognized him as the first to "kill" a wave. The aggressive and slashing style of surfing he pioneered during the 1970's earned him the nickname "Wave Killer". He is considered by many as "The King of Malibu".


Early life

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Skateboarding
Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market is worth an estimated $4.8 billion in annual revenue, with 11.08 million active skateboarders in the world. In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding would be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for both male and female teams. Since the 1970s, skateparks have been constructed specifically for use by skateboarders, freestyle BMXers, aggressive inline skating, aggressive skaters, and more recently, Freestyle scootering, scooters. However, skateboarding has become controversial in areas in which the activity, although illegal, has damaged curbs, stoneworks, steps, ...
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Peggy Oki
Peggy E. Oki (born April 10, 1956) is an American skateboarder, surfer, artist, and environmental activist. She was an original member of the Z-Boys and competed with the Zephyr Competition Team in the 1970s. She was the only female member of the Z-Boys. Early life and education Oki was born in Los Angeles, California, to Ben Oki and Sadako Oki. Her father was a Sacramento-born Nisei. Her family is originally from Hiroshima, Japan. Oki grew up in West Los Angeles, in an area later called Dogtown. Her father bought Oki (and her brother) her first skateboard when she was 10 years old from the Fedco department store. She said it was a Black Knight skateboard with "Fred Flintstone (stone-age) rock wheels". In 1973, Oki graduated from Venice High School. She has an AA in biology from Santa Monica City College, and an AA in fine and studio arts (with Honors) from Santa Barbara City College. Oki received a BFA in painting from the College of Creative Studies at UCSB with an emphasi ...
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Skip Engblom
Skip Engblom (born January 4, 1948) is an American entrepreneur and one of the co-founders of the Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions Surf Shop in Santa Monica, California. He also helped to create the Zephyr Surf Team and the Zephyr Competition Team, a.k.a. Z-Boys. Engblom was never a remarkable skateboarder himself but was a big influence to the Zephyr team. Engblom sponsored the Z-Boys including Jay Adams, Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta. Engblom and the Z-Boys frequented a locals only surf spot named "The Cove", which was located at Pacific Ocean Park, in Santa Monica, California, which later burned to the ground. Engblom also played a cameo part in 2005's ''Lords of Dogtown'' as a race starter. In the same film, character Skip Engblom was played by Heath Ledger Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor and music video director. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, Ledger mo ...
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Juice (skateboarding Magazine)
''Juice'' Magazine, founded in 1993 in Wilmington, North Carolina, is a skateboarding, surfing and music publication, edited, owned and published by Terri Craft. It includes interviews by skate editor, Jim Murphy, and features editors: Steve Olson, Jay Adams, Dave Duncan, Christian Hosoi, Jim O'Mahoney, and surf editors Jeff Ho, Herbie Fletcher and Dibi Fletcher. The staff includes Terri Craft, editor and Dan Levy, assistant editor. Other interviewers include Jason Jessee, Jeff Ament, Chuck Dukowski, Bill Danforth and Chris Mearkle. There are currently 76 issues of the magazine. ''Juice Magazine'' headquarters is located in the birthplace of modern-day skateboarding, Venice, California. Interviews The magazine interviews skateboarders, surfers, and musicians. Some of the interviewees include: Skateboarders: * Andy Kessler "I don’t know of anywhere else in the world that has the same surroundings and energy as New York City. Sometimes ripping through the streets is the best ...
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Shogo Kubo
Shogo Kubo (September 19, 1959 – June 24, 2014) was a Japanese American skateboarding pioneer and one of the original members of the Z-Boys that formed in Venice, California in 1975.Colin BaneZ-Boys skateboarder Shogo Kubo dies ESPN.com, June 25, 2014, accessed January 28, 2017. Born in Kagoshima city, Japan, Kubo first tried skateboarding when he was six years old on a very rudimentary toy skateboard, and after falling he did not try it again until seeing someone skateboarding outside his judo class when he was 12.Jay AdamsDogtown Chronicles: Shogo Kubo ''Juice'', August 1, 2002, accessed January 28, 2017. Kubo moved to the United States at a relatively young age without any knowledge of the English language. For his inability to speak English, he was teased and thought of as "slow". When he moved to the United States, he took an interest in surfing. He became friends with Jay Adams after responding to a newspaper ad about a surfboard Adams was selling. Kubo used Adams's skate ...
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