back in THE DAY Great white skull

WARM-UP SPOT

powered by a punk diy ethos and pathological gear tinkering,skull skates is still charging after 30 years

photos: BOB KRONBAUER“I love where skating is atright now. People are riding
surf style, technical, burlyvert sh-t—it’s everything.”

set the stark standard with Skull.
During the 80s,
when the industry A longtime punker, he employed
thrived on its own juice the photocopied fanzine look while
designing graphics.
while ignored by the mainstream, aThat fanzine feel also saturatesskate shop personified the state ofP.D.’s Hot Shop. The oldest skate
skateboarding. Most were labors oflove run by freaks whose obsession shop in Canada and Skull have been
filled those stores like broken bottles intertwined since birth and areunder the total control of P.D. Youof cheap perfume. The attitude,
It’s that love of skating andunrefined look, and often raw counter can buy Skull in select shops aroundcreativity that has kept P.D. in forservice offered a rite of passage for the world, but any fan knows its
power generates from a small shop the long haul. “I love where skatinga kid entering the skate world.
in Vancouver.
is at right now. People are riding
That ceremony is unfortunately
For a short time, P.D. relocatedsurf style, technical, burly vert
a thing of the past with mostto L.A. while unleashing thesh-t—it’s everything. We try to keepskate outlets today. Almost, but
Hammerhead to the world whenin mind that it’s a really diverse
not completely. P.D.’s Hot Shop inChristian Hosoi blasted on Skull for deal. If somebody is stoked on
Vancouver (with branches in Japan
almost two years during the mid 80s. skateboarding, then we don’t careand Switzerland) and Skull Skates
Popular? Distributors ordered 5,000 what style of skateboarding they’re
have maintained that threshold ofstoked on.”passionate initiation for three decades. decks at a time. Today, there are no
more 5,000-deck orders, but that’s“Hot Shop” is an apt name
Fifteen-year-old P.D. started
how P.D. wants it. After a few years, because you can be custom fit for
selling skateboards out of his
he moved back to Vancouver to refine a board, from the rise of the rails
house in 1978 before starting GNC
down to the rebound in wheels.
Skates with his older brother Rick. his companies. “Now our average
Hands down, Skull offers the mostMarketed with a generic ying-yang run size for a model is between 30
varied selection of shapes out oflogo, it rippled few waters until P.D. and 50 pieces,” he says. But thatany skateboard company. Want a
cut a skull image out of his griptape. low number is misleading because
it ignores P.D.’s pathological habit of responsive deck that’s perfect for
Rick immediately recognized its
tinkering with skateboards. Looking tailblocks in a pool? P.D. will pullboldness, and the image wasback at his shop’s wall of decks, hedown a few depending on your size
screened atop their boards.
says, “We have over 70 Skull models and preference. Longboard withKids wrote in for stickers,
out right now.” (That’s different
medium flex? A wide ride with aaddressing mail to “Skull Skates,”
touch of tech? P.D. has been known
unofficially renaming the company. graphics and shapes.) Digestingthat staggering number, he pauses.
to spend over an hour, talking andDecades before companies
figuring out customers’ needs
marketed black/white graphics, P.D. “That’s just ridiculous.”skateboarding.com

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before constructing a complete forthat person’s skating.
“I’m talking to people in thestore who are the end users of
the product,” he says. “There’s
something about that directconnection that obviously feels good
but also enhances the quality ofthe design. I know what I like, but
skating is a very individual trip, notjust the practice but the preferenceof the equipment.”
And even if you can’t wander
into P.D.’s Hot Shop in Vancouver
and catch P.D. with his constant
black T-shirt and cropped hair,
you can receive the same service.
He’ll spend just as long finding a
setup that’s a perfect fit throughskullskates.com. You even get aflicker of that vintage rite of passage
with the Web site’s black-and-whitezine look that showcases P.D.’s raw
love of skating.—Sean Mortimer