EP 148 Skating Anchorage in the ‘90s with Anthony Black and Jerry Smyth

Crude Conversations

In this one, Cody talks to Anthony Black and Jerry Smyth. They both grew up skateboarding in Anchorage in the ‘90s, before there were really any designated areas for skaters. Besides summer skateparks like the one in the outside Ben Boeke ice rink and the Girdwood skatepark, 40 miles outside of Anchorage, spots were few. So, in the summer they skated places like Abbott Loop Elementary, Hanshew Middle School and the flatbank and box set-up at their buddy Micah Hollinger’s house. In the winter, it was indoor garages, and before 9/11 Elmendorf Air Force Base had an indoor skatepark that was open to the public. And when they were feeling ambitious, they drove to Nikiski, 170 miles outside of Anchorage, to skate a couple ramps and flat-bars at Brandon Chenault’s warehouse. Jerry says it was brutal. He remembers people getting so desperate that they’d break into the University of Alaska Anchorage to skate in the winter months. It was a struggle to be a skater back then because you had to really want it. Skating was an integral part of Anthony and Jerry's lives. It’s what they spent most of their adolescent and teenage years doing and it’s where they met most of their friends — many of them they’re still friends with to this day. And to be part of that crew, you had to have thick skin — they were hard on each other, but underneath all the ruthless jokes, there was always love. If you got a nickname, however cruel, you were usually in; if you got made fun of and you could handle it, you were in. And in the middle of all this — the skating and the hating — they were getting shots for the Boarderline snow and skate videos. It was a ritual that, in the best of cases, ended with a full video part that premiered at places like the Fourth Avenue Theatre. Looking back on those videos now, Anthony says his favorite clip is probably his switch heelflip down the 10-stair at East High School and Jerry says it was the crooked grind he did down the handrail at O’Malley Elementary.