The View from the Street - James Guida

Tommy Guerrero at San Pasqual High School banks, Escondido, California, late 1980s.
"It’s hard to think of a sport, if it’s a sport, less given to being judged and competitively framed than skateboarding. Skating is, among other things, a marriage of chaos and discernment. Tricks—whether a Slappy, No Comply, or Caballerial, a backside Smith grind, switch Tre flip, Madonna, Indy Nosebone, or McTwist—are exactly defined, and there’s a shared world of aesthetics, but tastes vary widely, and it’s understood that the most interesting skaters will always find ways to undo expectations. Among branches of skating, 'street' is particularly open-ended, when not outright illegal, for its use of business premises and public street furniture: ramps, curbs, stairs, benches, walls, gaps, handrails, manholes, fire hydrants, trash cans, empty fountains, bicycle stands, picnic tables, cellar doors, parking barriers, lingering roadside construction material—it’s a never-ending quest to see what’s fun and possible on the surfaces of urban life. How to grade an activity that seems born not to be contained? ..."
The New York Review of Books
New Yorker: Thirty Years of Skating
By James Guida
Skateboarding Behinde the Scenes By James Guida
The Tao of Skateboarding (Video)
30th anniversary interviews (Video)
Urban Skateboarding: A Working Bibliography [Updated]
W - Skateboarding