Santa Monica Triple Set- ABD List

Hello ladies and gentlemen.

Did you know that Ryan Gallant did a kickflip backside noseblunt down the clipper ledge? Because I didn't until quite recently, and when I came across it, I stumbled onto the ABDarchives page for the famous clipper ledge.

Before I continue, just reflect on how awesome Ryan Gallant is, both for doing that trick and every other trick he's ever blessed our eyeballs with. Are we done reflecting? Good.

Anyway, I began to wonder what other famous spots had such pages, only to realize that very few seem to exist. Of course, a couple of famous spots are pretty well cataloged in other ways, so the most famous spot I could think of next was the Santa Monica triple set. When I began, I really didn't realize how much stuff had gone down at Santa Monica, but the spot always interested me. It's very distinct in videos, as it sits right on the beach and has a long history of crazy tricks going down there. It's a gap that is big enough that nobody really steps to it unless they're serious, but yet it's still manageable enough to be open to all kinds of possibilities- as we will see.

What I have here is (I think) a good start of a list of all the notable tricks that have happened at the Santa Monica triple set. I do acknowledge, however, that I almost certainly missed a few and for that reason, I'm asking for your help! If you know of another trick that has gone down at the set, let me know in the comments. I'll be updating the list as I discover new tricks.


NOTE: I apologize for the speed of the GIF's being kind of messed up. I couldn't find a better way to make them that didn't speed up the clip by almost double, so I tried to use slow motion video clips where possible so that they wouldn't quite have that weird hummingbird effect. Since this page is kind of heavy, the speed might also change depending on your internet connection, but I tried to be good about saying where each clip comes from so you could go see it for yourself if you choose.

For now, let's dive deep into skateboarding history and really appreciate some of the incredible feats that have gone down at this historic skate spot.

It was way back in 1993 that New World Order came out and Kareem Campbell opened up his part with an ollie down the triple set. Kareem's style is still great to watch today.

From the Borders

I know that a lot of people have seen this, because it was posted on Thrasher, but however many people see it there isn't enough. This video seems to be a brothers project, starring Steve and Dave Mull, and being filmed and edited by Tom Mull. Both parts are among the most enjoyable that I have seen in a very long time. Laced with creativity, powered by fast skating, and bolted together with a healthy dose of gnarliness, there's very little to not like about this video. It sounds kind of fruity, but this video is beautiful. The nature shots, the skating, the melodic music that goes perfectly with the footage. It's proof that skateboarding can be an art, and that's awesome.

Skate Jams Vol. 2

Once again, I've stumbled upon some music that I suspect that a lot of other skaters besides myself might like to skate to. The group is called RDGLDGRN, and before you hurt yourself trying to pronounce it, it's just "Red Gold Green" without any vowels or spaces, so I assume you pronounce it like you would pronounce the colors. They're coming up from the DC area, and I don't think I'm out of line by saying that they could very well have a hit song by the time their next album drops.  If I were to describe them, I would say that they fall pretty comfortably in the 'indie rock' category, but that's mostly because pretty much all up-tempo music that includes electric guitars and drums can fit comfortably into that category, due in no small part to bands and labels realizing that they could sell more albums that way.

But I digress. Wikipedia says they fall in the "Indie Go-Go" genre, so let's go with that (Did I just make a pun by accident? Dangit.)

I like these guys because they do a good job of giving each song it's own unique flavor. A lot of bands are able to do pretty much only one thing well- or at least, only one thing at a time well. I have no problem with that, but it makes it that much more refreshing when they have some songs that are pretty hip-hoppish:




And others that are more rock-driven with just the slightest hint of ska-like instrumentation:

Weekly "Why Haven't I Seen This?" - 22

With the plethora of skate footage that's out there, it can be easy to overlook things. And yet, so often we stumble upon a video that we've never heard of and find ourselves asking why we hadn't seen it before. Each week, I plan to post another lesser-known video that deserves more recognition, for your viewing pleasure.

Do you like fast, powerful, creative skating? Then you'll like this video. Black and white videos? Then you'll LOVE this video. Do you like giant, paper mache arms? Then you'll care for this video like it's your firstborn, because all those elements are there. Our friend Phil Zwijsen from Belgium delivers a web part that I didn't want to end. Check it out!

Weekly "Why Haven't I Seen This?"-21

With the plethora of skate footage that's out there, it can be easy to overlook things. And yet, so often we stumble upon a video that we've never heard of and find ourselves asking why we hadn't seen it before. Each week, I plan to post another lesser-known video that deserves more recognition, for your viewing pleasure.

This one's a true gem. I was looking to feature Kyle Frederick this week, because although he has a super sick style, he kind of fell off the map once Chris Cole's clothing project, Omit Apparel, went under. In trying to find a good video to post, I came across this part from Focus Magazine's "Rise and Shine" video from 2007. So much of this video strikes me as weirdly prophetic. The video shares a title Nyjah Huston's famous part that came out in 2011. Kyle Frederick is seen doing a nollie late flip looong before they were cool (I know he's far from the first, but apart from him and Dave Bachinsky, I can't think of anyone else who was doing nollie late flips over things before P-Rod kicked off the trend that we're seeing now). We also get to see a baby version of Tom Asta, doing mostly the same tricks, but on smaller obstacles, which is still fun to watch in my eyes. We also get the obligatory appearance from Ian Berry that we get in any part that comes out of Philadelphia. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this gem as much as I did and take notice of how great of a skater Kyle Frederick is. If you haven't seen Tom Asta's latest part, go watch that now.

Weekly "Why Haven't I Seen This?" -20

With the plethora of skate footage that's out there, it can be easy to overlook things. And yet, so often we stumble upon a video that we've never heard of and find ourselves asking why we hadn't seen it before. Each week, I plan to post another lesser-known video that deserves more recognition, for your viewing pleasure.

This week, we've got Liam McCabe's part in Continuum. This 2013 video seems to feature Liam skating Powell boards, which indicates that he either is flow for Powell or was flow or am for Powell back before they cut most of their team, because he doesn't appear on the team page. For those of you who would like to propose that maybe he's just skating Powell boards and was never  sponsored by them, I would first like to refer you to how great this video part is and propose to you that he's too good to not be sponsored by somebody. If that doesn't convince you, then I would like to remind you that pretty much nobody besides the Powell team has skated their boards in years, so it's pretty unlikely. Anyway, I hope you like bigspin variations as much as I do, because Liam's got all of them wired. Hope you like it:

Skate Team Classifieds- Part 1

To put it simply, I think oversimplification is probably the easiest way to change the
way you think about something. Physicists use this tactic of simplification in virtually everything they do to make calculations more feasible, which is why many of you may have been wondering why your teacher in high school physics was always talking about spherical objects moving in a vacuum, strings always being thin with no mass, all surfaces being smooth (unless you talking about friction specifically) and bars always being perfectly rigid.

So lately, I've been applying this to other things that are hard to understand. Brand images, for example, are often nebulous and difficult to exactly describe. I mean, how do you describe Real's image?

 Minimalist, I guess? What about Plan B?

... Minimalist, I guess?

The point is, it's hard to pinpoint all of the distinctions that make a skateboarding brand special. Somehow, though, there usually seems to be a very set idea about what skaters fit well on what teams, despite the overall complexity involved in trying to explain what a brand is all about. Therefore, in the spirit of simplification, I decided that it would be both fun and beneficial to play out the following scenario:

If every professional and amateur skateboarder suddenly went on strike, and newspapers were still a thing, what would each company post as a classified ad in order to recruit skaters?

These are my best efforts. Feel free to add your own in the comments: