1960s Skateboarding in NYC
Note: BANGSTYLE would like to sincerely apologize to Bill Eppridge for providing misleading facts. Eppridge did not hand out skateboards. He is a photojournalist and none of this was staged.
Skateboarding has always been associated with west coast surfing culture. The ease and warmth of California welcomes leisurely commutes. But in Manhattan in the 1960s, one man photographed people skateboarding through the Big Apple.
A “Mad Men” look-a-like has good form down a winding road in Central Park; children risk being run-over to play skate the streets. Park visitors are laughing in the background at what must have been a strange spectacle. Even today, it would be bizarre to see a man in a skinny suit carving through Central Park in the dead of winter.
This retrospective, originally printed in LIFE magazine, is an enjoyable look at the lives of the people who called NYC home in the 1960s. If you are wondering where hipsters get their fashion inspiration, look no further that these images (in particular, the man wearing a sweater who struggles to balance on his board).
These images make me want to leave L.A. behind and cruise over to the east coast. View the full catalog of images below.
