Anthony Frank Hawk, nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, an entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. Hawk completed the first documented "900" skateboarding trick, licensed a video game series published by Activision, and is a pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding. In 2014, Hawk was named one of the most influential skateboarders of all time by FoxWeekly.
Steve Caballero is an American professional skateboarder. Caballero is known for the difficult tricks and air variations he invented for vertical skating and for setting the long-standing record for the highest air achieved on a halfpipe. In 1999, Thrasher Magazine named Caballero the "Skater of the Century".
John Rodney Mullen is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, inventor, and public speaker who practices freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. He is widely considered the most influential street skater in the history of the sport, being credited for inventing numerous tricks, including the flatground ollie, kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360-flip. As a result, he has been called the "Godfather of Street Skateboarding."
Mike Vallely, also known as Mike V, is an American professional skateboarder and singer. Since November 2013, Vallely has been the lead vocalist of hardcore punk band Black Flag.
Powell Peralta is an American skateboard company founded by George Powell and Stacy Peralta in 1978. The company rose to prominence in the 1980s as skateboarding began maturing as a sport. The company featured the Bones Brigade, a team featuring the era's top competitors. Peralta left the company in 1991 and Powell continued to produce skateboard equipment as Powell, Bones Bearings and RollerBones. The two company founders reunited to produce the company's now classic inventory under the name Powell Classic.
Alan "Ollie" Gelfand is the inventor of the ollie, a skateboarding trick.
Natas Kaupas is an American professional skateboarder. He grew up in South Santa Monica, California in the area known as Dogtown and is of Lithuanian descent. He attended Santa Monica High School. He is often referred to as one of the first true professional street skateboarders.
Stacy Douglas Peralta 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.
Tommy Guerrero is an American professional skateboarder, company owner and musician.
Tony Alva 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.
Gleaming the Cube is a 1989 American film directed by Graeme Clifford and starring Christian Slater as Brian Kelly, a 16-year-old skateboarder investigating the death of his adopted Vietnamese brother.
Freestyle skateboarding is one of the oldest styles of skateboarding and was intermittently popular from the 1960s until the early 1990s, when the final large-scale professional freestyle skateboarding competition was held.
Charles Michael "Bucky" Lasek is a professional skateboarder and rallycross driver.
The Bones Brigade Video Show is a 1984 skateboarding video, produced by Stacy Peralta and Craig Stecyk.
Robert Lance Mountain is a professional skateboarder and artist who was one of the prominent skateboarders throughout the 1980s, primarily due to his involvement with the Bones Brigade. As of August 2017, Mountain continues to skate professionally and his sponsors include Flip, Nike SB, Independent Trucks, Spitfire Wheels, and Bones Bearings.
Mike McGill is an American skateboarder who is best known for inventing the trick entitled the "McTwist", an inverted 540 degree mute grab aerial.
The Search for Animal Chin is a 1987 skateboarding film featuring the Bones Brigade. It is one of the first skateboarding films to have a plot, rather than simply a collection of skateboarding stunts and music videos.
Birdhouse Skateboards is a skateboard company formed by ex-Powell Peralta professional skateboarders Tony Hawk and Per Welinder in 1992.
Dwindle Distribution, based in El Segundo, California, is an American skateboard distributor. It is a component of Transom Capital Group Limited. The company was founded by Steve Rocco and Rodney Mullen. Its formation is recognized as a key event in the creation of a skateboard company owned by people actively involved in the skateboarding lifestyle.
Ban This is a 1989 skateboarding documentary film featuring the Bones Brigade. It presents a commentary on how many people view skateboarders as delinquents or lawbreakers. The video starts with a scientist posing a question to the viewer, what is skateboarding? Then it cuts to a montage of the skaters in the video. As the video progresses it intercuts skits with the solo video parts of the skaters. These skits are meant to show how ludicrous people's reactions are to skateboarders in an area ridden with robbery, drugs, and prostitution. In one, a cop arrests a kid for skateboarding on the sidewalk. The skits also present the skaters in a "classy" scenario: Four skaters are in a parking lot dressed as golfers. They have caddies and golf bags with skateboards in them. The video is presented as a broadcast of a golf tournament with the quiet commentator marveling at the skill of the players. There are also interjections of a panel of people who oppose everything in the video. For example, they say, "That's not art," following a scene in which the skaters paint on a ramp. The video ends with a downhill scooter race. The skaters in the video battle with each other on their way to the finish. Lance Mountain is victorious and gets the prize and the girl. The video is known for the slow-motion sequences of Tony Hawk demonstrating some of the most difficult tricks and maneuvers of the time.
