Powell Peralta Paraphernalia

Clockwise from top left: Powell Peralta ad; decks on the wall (like art!) in Slam City Skates, late 80s; two of my now pretty ratty T-shirts; Bones sticker; The Search for Animal Chin teaser ad

What I liked almost as much as the editorial of Transworld Skateboarding magazine was the adverts: Vision Street Wear, Stussy, Jimmy Z, Gotcha, Santa Cruz, Venture – and, perhaps best of all, Powell Peralta.

I loved their graphics (skulls, snakes); T-shirts, decks, even their videos – a friend and I used to watch The Search for Animal Chin (the skateboard equivalent of a porno film – poor acting, dialogue and plot, and all we really wanted to see was the skateboarding footage) over and over, in hysterics. It was so rad. We worshipped The Bones Brigade, made up of skaters including Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero and Mike McGill.

Powell Peralta are currently revisiting their 80s glory days by re-issuing some of their classic boards of the era.