Friday January 19th is Party Time 6-10pm!!! The search continues for skateboarding’s most elusive skater of all time. Join us Friday at the Waterfront Venice, all are welcome as we plot and plan the next steps in finding the one and only Animal Chin. We will also have an amazing silent auction and an array of raffle prizes to win thanks to Powell Peralta, Bones Brigade, Bones Wheels, Mini•Logo Skateboards, Bones Bearings, and Skate One!
Juice will be showing 1987 Powell Peralta Bones Brigade cult classic “The Search For Animal Chin”, directed by Stacy Peralta, which was one of the first skateboarding videos to have a plot, and it changed the skate world forever. It also showcases some of the first moving camera shots in a skateboarding video (Stacy Peralta came up with this concept), which is now a mainstream staple of skateboard videos.
The Bones Brigade embark on a quest to find the first skateboarder, the mythological Won Ton “Animal” Chin who had gone missing. Their journey takes them to different locations including Hawaii, California, Nevada, and Mexico where they meet friends and skate different spots along the way. It culminates in the discovery of the secret Chin Ramp, a back-to-back double half pipe featuring a spine and a tunnel. They never find the actual Animal Chin, but come to realize that in their search they discover the true meaning of their journey, the pure fun of skateboarding.
“The Search for Animal Chin” stars Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Tommy Guerrero and C. R. Stecyk III – Emerson “Won Ton Animal” Chin along with cameos by Venice skate legend, Jesse Martinez, who was just inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame.
Come celebrate the Bones Brigade with us and bring your good vibes as we gather our Skate, Music, Surf, Art and Venice Family together for a night to remember.
RSVP to juicemagazineusa@gmail.com 😎
Location: @thewaterfrontvenice at 205 Ocean Front Walk, Venice, CA 90291 from 5:30-10pm. See ya Friday!! #juicemagazine #venice
ABOUT THE BONES BRIGADE:
In 1978, a mechanical engineer who had developed new skateboard products teamed up with one of the most popular skaters of the era. George Powell and Stacy Peralta created Powell Peralta and immediately began retooling how skateboard products were made and marketed.
George, who had started developing products in his garage and kitchen oven, went on to invent innovative equipment such as double radial Bones wheels, named for their unique whiteness, and trend setting skateboard decks. Stacy recruited the skaters and handled marketing along with his longtime creative cohort Craig Stecyk III. Rejecting the expected action shot marketing, they used their young team to create esoteric images conveying the culture’s sarcasm and disenfranchised dark humor. While spitballing about his stable of skaters, Stacy commented that he never wanted to call them a “team,” a label that invited all kinds of jock baggage. Craig shrugged and simply said, “Bones Brigade.”
Powell Peralta reinterpreted a military motif, warping it with pioneering skateboard graphics more suited to biker gang tats than decks. As great a skater as Stacy was, his scouting skills surpassed any celebrated onboard skills. By 1984, Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain, Tommy Guerrero and Mike McGill compiled the most competitively dominant skateboard team in history. On top of winning large, cheap plastic trophies, Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen—two 13-year-olds initially ridiculed by their peers—created new ways to skate and pioneered modern technical skating.
Disgruntled at the way the skate mags played favorites, Stacy weaponized consumer VCRs by directing The Bones Brigade Video Show in 1983. The low-budget amateur skateboard video was the first of its kind and sold a surprising 30,000 copies (including Betamax!).
At the time, skating needed all the help it could get. The 1970s “fad” that swept the country after the invention of the urethane wheel had deflated embarrassingly by 1981. Remaining participants’ social status ranked below the chess club. Powell Peralta averaged an anemic 500 monthly board sales and Tony Hawk once received a royalty check for 85¢. To increase brand awareness and grow skateboarding, Stacy produced and created a new Bones Brigade video every year, showcasing his crew’s varied personalities and invented maneuvers. The videos routinely featured riders crawling out of sewers, skating abandoned pools and back alleys, bombing desolate hills—essentially shredded an apocalyptic world hidden to most non-skaters.
By the mid-’80s, Brigade videos were sold all over the world and a new generation of teens discovered skating, making the Brigade international stars. The dearth of skateparks forced enthusiasts to DIY it, triggering a wooden ramp revolution. Endemic brands had started their own magazines and for the first time skaters controlled every aspect of skateboarding. Powell Peralta peaked in 1987 with $27 million in annual sales while its pro team continued to dominate contests, cash $20,000 monthly royalty checks, tour the world, occasionally cause riots and star in the ambitious The Search for Animal Chin, which remains the most successful skateboard video of all time.
But the activity’s cyclical nature reaffirmed itself by the end of the decade and skateboarding descended back to the faded fad category. The industry broke apart as zeros dropped off checks and most top pros drifted away in search of second jobs. Powell Peralta dissolved over the owners’ business differences and Stacy left to pursue filmmaking in Hollywood. Almost all the core Brigade members split and started their own skateboard brands just like their mentor had in 1978. George regrouped and continued making skate products under the Powell and Bones banner.
Twenty years on, the Brigade all remain in skateboarding. Although they’ve succeeded in separate endeavors, they continue to be bonded together as veterans of a culture war. Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Lance Mountain and Steve Caballero remain skate stars while Tommy Guerrero runs a skate brand and Mike McGill owns and operates one of the most successful independent skate shops in the country. In 2001, Stacy returned to skateboarding with his award-winning documentary Dogtown and Z Boys. Stay up to date with the Bones Brigade here.
ABOUT JUICE MAGAZINE:
Juice Magazine – Since 1993, Juice Magazine has been dedicated to the core of skateboarding, surfing and punk rock with a focus on in-depth interviews by the icons of skate, surf and punk rock culture. The Juice Magazine crew includes a line-up of surf and skate legends, and the honest approach of their stories and photos make Juice Magazine more than just a magazine. Juice Magazine is committed to giving credit to the true pioneers and innovators of skateboarding, surfing and music and keeping it punk. For more information, please visit juicemagazine.com.
ABOUT THE WATERFRONT:
The Waterfront sits at the base of where the Pacific Ocean Park Pier (POP) once existed, a place of legend where a young group of surf skaters launched the Dogtown & Z-Boys aesthetic. The Waterfront features beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean, from the world-famous Venice Beach boardwalk, and offers California cuisine with carefully selected seasonal local produce and curated beverage menus. Get Waterfront reservations at https://www.thewaterfrontvenice.com
