Timeless Style with Richard Van Der Wyk

The '70s were a pretty rad era for a lot things: mad style, good feels, and timeless vibes. So much that the era inspired the core of our brand (to say the least). Well, one sport that grew from just a few local "kids" to a public phenomenon was skateboarding. Especially in California. Hell, especially in Southern California. And there were a handful of pioneers at the time that made this happen. You know, those absolute natural talents that were pressing the limits on radical slalom runs, getting vertical in empty backyard pools, and freestyling with bare feet in the flats. Stuff that not many were doing at the time. It was a time when hitting the coping was unheard of; so keep that in mind.

If you haven't heard of Richard Van Der Wyk then you're in for a sweet ride right now. In short, he's one of skateboarding's absolute legends -- a pioneer in skating backyard pools -- and one of the few guys in the '70s that made the sport of skateboarding what it is today. We're talking about radical speed turns up at the Santa Barbara Tea Gardens, hitting the coping on vertical backyard pools when it wasn't even heard of at the time, and bombing down Palm Street in VTA going 50mph+. The kind of shit that isn't appreciated as much as it should be. And hell yes, we love all of it.