| One of the biggest crazes to ever hit children and | | | | sales figures reached the $4 million mark from 1963 to |
| teenagers of our generation has been skateboarding. | | | | 1965, which was truly a lot in those days. However, by |
| But how many of you know that it actually started as | | | | 1965, the skateboard fad was over. Sales dropped |
| early as the 1950s and its popularity coincided with the | | | | significantly and the skateboarding magazine closed |
| surfing mania in California at that time? That's true. In | | | | shop.The second generation of skateboarders made |
| those early days, skateboards were all homemade | | | | their presence felt in the early seventies. It started |
| and made of wooden planks that were attached to | | | | when Frank Nasworthy was able to invent a |
| roller-skate trucks and wheels. It wasn't even known | | | | skateboard wheel made out of polyurethane, which |
| as skateboarding yet, rather as "sidewalk surfing." It's | | | | gave skateboarders improved traction and |
| best practitioners were guys who simply imitated the | | | | performance. The new product was such a big hit that |
| styles and moves of the top surfers of the time. | | | | skateboarding became in vogue among children and |
| Some people say skateboards merely evolved from | | | | teens once again as well as many young adults. More |
| "crate scooters" which looked exactly like a | | | | companies tried to invent their own skateboarding |
| skateboard except that it had handlebars like a regular | | | | innovations, including special axles that were designed |
| scooter.When the sixties came around, skateboarding | | | | specifically for skateboarding. And as the skateboards |
| began to really take off. There were now skateboard | | | | became more maneuverable and controllable, the |
| manufacturers such as Hobie and Makaha which | | | | decks began getting wider -- as wide as 10 inches and |
| were actually top surfing manufacturers. Their early | | | | sometimes over. There was a lot of experimentation in |
| products looked much like the surfboards of the time. | | | | skateboards at the time, including the use of aluminum |
| Skateboarding became so popular that a magazine | | | | and fiberglass to replace the standard material for |
| dedicated to it was produced regularly. There was | | | | skateboards, maple plywood. Soon enough, the new |
| even an international skateboarding championship in | | | | craze was all about who could pull off the best tricks. |
| 1965 that was telecast on national television. In terms | | | | And the best was yet to come. |
| of sales, records show that Makaha's skateboard | | | | |