Skateboarding has been around longer than one might think.
Tony Hawk helped make the sport famous during the early days of the X Games in the late 1990s, but skateboards already had been around for a long time before that.
California surfers during the 1950s nailed roller skate wheels to wooden planks and began riding these homemade boards on paved surfaces to give themselves a land-bound activity to indulge in when the surf wasn’t up.
(Credit: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History website)
The sport gradually picked up momentum, and the first commercially available skateboards were produced and sold by The Roller Derby Skate Co. in La Mirada in 1959.
By the early 1960s, a variety of manufacturers were making the boards, often in the shape of miniature surfboards and not just planks of wood. With their superior design and construction, Makaha and Hobie brand boards became state of the art during this era.
As one would expect in a hotbed of surfing culture, the boards became extremely popular in the South Bay, with local newspapers taking note of the phemonenon in the early 1960s.
Emulating the well-established surfing clubs of the era, younger teens began to form informal groups devoted to skateboarding.
A pair of sixth graders at the now-closed Newton Elementary School in Torrance, Gregg Carroll and Gary Hill, liked the idea of having their own club with custom-made jackets and patches. They decided to form the Imperial Skateboard Club, the Imperials for short, and got several of their friends to join them.
Other members included Bill McKaig, Bruce McKaig, Ceilo Weislo, Gary Jennings, Mike Mel, and Rick Anderson. They specialized in performing various tricks on their boards, practicing their moves after school at nearby South High in Torrance.
They worked hard, and soon became proficient enough to consider entering in some of the earliest skateboarding events in Southern California. The first one they participated in was held at Lincoln Park in Santa Monica in the summer of 1964.
Its participants consisted mostly of older teens who were members of the Makaha and Hobie skateboarding teams. The Imperials didn’t win, but learned a lot about what it would take to become competitive in such events.
In December 1964, the first National Skateboard Championships took place at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The event was held on the indoor venue’s slick concrete floor.
The Imperials had been working on various moves and tricks at their daily practice sessions, and it served them well. Their headstands, handstands, jumps, nose riding and other fancy stunts impressed the audience and judges.
While Gregg Carroll was waiting to perform, UCLA film school graduate Noel Black approached him and told him of his plans to make a short film about skateboarding. Would the Imperials be interested in being its cast?
After further discussions, parental permissions were granted, and the project that would become “Skaterdater” was underway. (By the way, Carroll went on to win third place at the National event and fellow Imperial Mike Mel took first place.)
Filmed in fits and starts at various South Bay and Harbor Area filming locations, the 18-minute silent short film took a year to complete. It tells a simple story of teen romance – boy meets girl, boy loses girl, then wins her back – with a skateboarding backdrop.
Local filming sites include scenes at Rolling Hills Plaza in Torrance, Malaga Cove Plaza in Palos Verdes Estates, Averill Park in San Pedro, various streets in Redondo Beach and a climactic final race down a hill at the southern terminus of Cypress St. in Lomita just north of the Cypress Hill Water Tower and the Rolling Hills Country Club.
All the actors were Imperials members, with the exception of female lead Melissa Mallory, a Westwood teen who was cast in the role by director Black. Mike Mel plays the lead character.
The completed film, generally acknowledged to be the first-ever skateboarding film, tells its simple story elegantly, thanks to Black’s direction and the superb photography helmed by Black’s associate, cameraman Mike Murphy.
Hollywood music producers Mike Curb and Nick Venet produced the soundtrack, whose main theme, “Skaterdater Rock,” was performed by Davie Allan and the Arrows.
“Skaterdater” was nominated for, but did not win an Academy Award for best short film. However, it did win a prestigious Palme d’Or award for Best Short Film at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival.
It played in theaters along with screenings of “The Graduate” in England, and was shown along with the James Bond film “Thunderball” at the Rolling Hills Theatre formerly in Rolling Hills Plaza (it’s now a Bev Mo store), the shopping center where the “Skaterdater” opening scenes were filmed.
Sources:
Daily Breeze archives.
Internet Movie Database.
Los Angeles Times archives.
“‘Skaterdater’: the Story of the World’s First Skateboard movie,” Surfer Today website.
Wikipedia.
