Archive of Skateboarding photographs of Tom Spratt, Southern California, 1976-8
- 358 photographs, 3-1/2 x 5 or 3-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches, most color Kodak prints, many stamped Sharpshot on verso; some in black and
- [Various places, California , 1978
[Various places, California, 1978. 358 photographs, 3-1/2 x 5 or 3-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches, most color Kodak prints, many stamped Sharpshot on verso; some in black and white. Preserved in mylar sleeve mounts in three albums. 3 vols. Three albums. Ink ownership name and address of Tom Spratt in one album. Photographs generally fine. 358 photographs, 3-1/2 x 5 or 3-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches, most color Kodak prints, many stamped Sharpshot on verso; some in black and white. Preserved in mylar sleeve mounts in three albums. 3 vols. Skateboarding grew out of American roller skating and surfing traditions but it was the introduction of the urethane wheel in 1974 that forever altered the performance of the boards. The sport flourished and local and national skateboarding events took shape. With the suburbanization of America, the built environment offered endless spaces for skateboarders; there was a brief boom in construction of dedicated skateboard parks, until liablility concerns restricted that avenue of growth.
These albums contain more than 350 well composed action photographs of a young skateboarder, Tom Spratt of Mission Viejo, California, in competitions held in parking lots with impromptu ramps, mall courtyards, darinage ponds and tunnels, or in the newly built skateboarding parks. The shots include slaloms and freestyle performances. His school portrait shows a tow-headed smiling youth (with height 4' 11" and weight 82 lbs. and other detail in ink on verso).
Tom Spratt finished second place in the Freestyle junior men’s division in the 1978 Hang Ten Skateboard Olympics held in Valencia, California. A number of photographs documnet this event.
Like cocktails, jazz, and rock ’n’ roll, skateboarding is a distinctly American contribution to popular culture, a local phenomenon that quickly spread throughout the world, influencing fashion and music and youth culture. Like jazz and rock ’n’ roll, the basic form has proved infinitely adaptable while remaining recognizably itself. The International Olympic Committee approved skateboarding in 2016 and the competition at the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020 saw medallists from Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Japan, and the United States.
Fabulous group of photographs documenting the contemporary skateboarding scene in southern California in the mid-1970s.
These albums contain more than 350 well composed action photographs of a young skateboarder, Tom Spratt of Mission Viejo, California, in competitions held in parking lots with impromptu ramps, mall courtyards, darinage ponds and tunnels, or in the newly built skateboarding parks. The shots include slaloms and freestyle performances. His school portrait shows a tow-headed smiling youth (with height 4' 11" and weight 82 lbs. and other detail in ink on verso).
Tom Spratt finished second place in the Freestyle junior men’s division in the 1978 Hang Ten Skateboard Olympics held in Valencia, California. A number of photographs documnet this event.
Like cocktails, jazz, and rock ’n’ roll, skateboarding is a distinctly American contribution to popular culture, a local phenomenon that quickly spread throughout the world, influencing fashion and music and youth culture. Like jazz and rock ’n’ roll, the basic form has proved infinitely adaptable while remaining recognizably itself. The International Olympic Committee approved skateboarding in 2016 and the competition at the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020 saw medallists from Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Japan, and the United States.
Fabulous group of photographs documenting the contemporary skateboarding scene in southern California in the mid-1970s.