A project two years in the making has brought the spirit of skateboarding’s origins back to the sport’s birthplace.
On June 30, the California Heritage Museum launched its exhibit "Dogtown and the Legendary Z-Boys," paying homage to the Westside’s founding fathers of modern skateboarding. Running through October 27, what museum Executive Director Tobi Smith called a "long summer" show, the exhibit came about via a partnership with original Z-Boy Nathan Pratt.
Pratt, a guest curator on the project, was able to conjure up buried treasures in the form of boards, photography and art from a host of collectors and skateboarding pioneers. The Skateboarding Hall of Fame was also a "major lender" of boards and memorabilia for the exhibit, one Smith calls a "100% Santa Monica" endeavor.
"It’s been really fun, it’s a show that is appealing to women and men, it’s appealing to any generation … this is a Santa Monica show, we are Dogtown, you’re standing in Dogtown … and this show is for them," Smith said.
The Z-Boys, otherwise known as the Zephyr Competition Team, was a skateboarding collective that birthed literal tricks of the trade in Santa Monica and Venice. The surfing-based style of skating birthed from the beachside became the foundation for modern skaters, eventually leading to skateboarding on global television this summer via the Olympic Games.
Smith remarked that while the sport now has its rightful place in the Olympic pantheon, it didn’t just happen that way overnight, as Z-Boys featured in the exhibition such as Tony Alva and Jay Adams were the first to attempt real maneuvers with the boards. She noted that the youth of the Westside were able to use empty pools to practice, due to pools being shut down in times of drought, highlighting their ingenuity in times of squalor.
"These kids couldn’t afford to play golf, these kids couldn’t afford to play tennis, those were sports that cost money," Smith said. "But a skateboard, that’s so accessible. Any age, any sex, any financial environment [can learn] how to skateboard."
A wide range of artifacts, such as skateboards, surfboards, t-shirts and more, has captivated younger audiences as well as those who lived Dogtown, a testament to the generation-spanning excitement of the sport.
"It’s like painting," Smith said of the artifacts. "Everything builds on history, when you see the paintings of today, you can’t look at them and just say that popped in that artist’s mind … it is all built on the history of the past."
The museum hosted several of the original Z-Boys during its opening ceremony, and Smith plans on holding more events in the future, such as a day spotlighting lowrider culture. During Saturday’s Summer Soulstice festival on Main Street, the museum will have a 2-for-1 deal on tickets to see the exhibit. For more details, visit californiaheritagemuseum.org