this just solidifies my theory that skateboarding is the best thing on this planet

Contests in those days would get you so hyped to skate, it was unreal. Everyone was passionate about skateboarding around that time.

This looked like a freakin BLAST dude. Great crowd, great riders, getting psyched on stylish simple tricks, they way skateboarding should be. Now you have to land a switch frontside big flip to blunt to 540 flip out to somewhat impress anyone and if you fail at it people will think you suck... -_-

DAMN DUDE! LITTLE JEFF WHITEHEAD IN THIS! Jeff Whitehead is the dude from Leviathan for all you Black Metal fans out there.

theres so much encouragement from the crowd haha

This got me so hyped to go shred

C-R-A-Z-Y! I was there. And went all the crap went down at the end, I got bum-rushed by a mob of people and beat to a pulp. Thank God that in the middle of all that, a Van pulled up and the door slid open. Mike Johnson yelled "Get in" and I broke from the mob and did a dive roll into the van. I think Turukey was driving and Jake and Sean were in the Van also. They got my Joe Lopes board that I ditched before getting beat up and then they drove me to SF General. Saved my fricking life!!!

We lived south of the city and would make midnight trips to the Dish on a pretty regular basis. I can remember at least 4-5 late night acid and mushroom trips there which we realized later weren't such a good idea, but at the time we'd never even been vibed there. The naivete of youth. But don't let the nostaligia fool you -- THESE are the good ol' days -- right now. Today is the day.

I stayed. I was only 15 (although I looked older) and I started playing with some local kids. We were rolling left over skate wheels at the wave and seeing how much air we could get. Nobody seemed to notice me even though I was the only non-black person still there. There was one guy who walked by and said, “you got guts!” But other than that, no one else bothered me or said anything. I didn’t have a ride and came to the contest by bus/skate, so I didn’t have a lot of choices. I just tried to seem as young as possible; maybe they thought I was friends with the local kids I was playing with, but no problems. I do remember it started with a black girl who threw a bottle, and people unfortunately reciprocated. Crazy day!

Hey Tommy and Jake- I was out there in the early 90's on a moving job. We were moving people out of the projects, so they could rehab- tear out the asbestos. Anyway, I remember we were right by the dish, in the back of the moving box truck with like our first load from the house, when a gun fight broke out. Me and the guy I was working with hit the deck while this went of for a minute or two. When it stopped and we got up, there were a number of holes through the walls of the truck- easy to see 'cause the light shone through. *I consider the Tenderloin my Major, and San Francisco my Alma Mater- def. prepared me for the rest of the world. Thanks for posting this footage. BTW- If you could dig up the very first Thrasher Video Mag, that'd be great. I called Bryce out to film a house in Navato, with the ramps inside and I know it made the final cut- but it's outta stock. Anyway, it's my 5secs of fame. My best to you guys, all you do- and the City by the Bay, *Andrew (currently in Austin (remember running into Jake at a skatepark in Prague, years ago when I lived there:))

Wow I love the energy that old school skaters emit.

miss you jake you will be remembered

When I was younger I had wanted to go to the Dish. I remember going to Skates on Haight with my parents and asking for directions to it. The people working at the shop wouldn't tell us though. They said that it was too dangerous for me to go there and wouldn't give us directions. I think it would have been a fun place to skate. Anyway, this is when skateboarding was so pure and fun. I really do miss those days.

I love this video. I love the skating, I love the crowd, I love how fun it all looked... but a lot of people are saying it's better than today's skating when there is no real way to compare it. skateboarding, like lots of other things needs to evolve and the change keeps it fresh and exciting, and I know Lots of today's parts by some of today's best can become repetitive, seeing people hit huge handrails constantly, but there could be a group of kids right now that are skating differently, and new. That keeps the change going.

damn a visionary on how old phelper is, then a clip of him 30 years before

A simpler time.. everyone so hyped and happy to be there

I’m proud to say I skated this place because I’m from frisco. We called it the duck pond. It was in Hunters point which is a very rough neighborhood housing projects in San Francisco

I see that Phelps has improved his skating in last 30 years.

Skateboarding. The way I remember it. Man it was FUN!!

So much good in this vid, why are there any thumbs down?! And are they for real making a sk8 park there? With that, the new park off duboce, balboa...and the street? SF rules for skating.

This vid hits a solid 10 on the YEEAAHHHH meter

the 80s, when you could feed your dog beer.

That dude with the red shirt had that madridboard with that massive tail

Imagine the reaction if some did 360 flip.

So much fun. Feels like Chin was there that day.

Wow the black dude with the red shirt on did a blunt to fakie. Didn't know they did that in 85.

I love everything about this. The style and the spot. Tommy G was a massive influence on me

Damn those boards look so fun to skate

The black guy with a Santa Cruz shirt on backwards and the foo with no shirt and white pants are straight shreddin

Unless you are from SF, you can't understand how crazy this spot was. While San Francisco was the Mecca of skateboarding, the 80s were kind of the bigger years of its popularity. The 90s it was a very underground thing, and it was not welcomed with open arms by the city. This was the ONLY skatepark in San Francisco for at least 20 years, probably more like 25, and this was the center of Hunter's Point- the Westpoint and Harbor Rd. section, and in the 90s and early 2000s, this was the most dangerous neighborhood I have still ever seen. The police station was in the projects but they were chased out by the residents who shot up the little station and set it on fire. The project houses looked like something out of El Salvador. You knew you were in a war zone. Mike & Greg Carrol along with their dad got chased out of there by a bunch of brothers with various weapons? And for many years the bowl was filled with broken bottles and various trash and was a no-go zone. I saw a dude get pulled out of his car and beaten to near death by a mob of at least 50 people. SF has changed a little bit. Crazy times, good memories

this shit is wayyyy more interesting than another 20 years of handrails

The guy at 4:40 ripped with mad style.

I skated that dish on a visit to SF back in 86. I think I was 12 or 13... T-Bone was there (Tommy Guerrero's roommate). Looks like he may have broken his ankle in this video... He had a cast on his arm the day I was there...

Phelps pull up your pants. At your age, men have their pants up to their neck.

I remember cutting school in Alameda in like '84 or '85 and taking the BART to the Shifty hoping a couple buses and going to this dish and a very damp like 12' high and 16' wide on a hillside in someone's back yard. It was an epic day!!! There were so many gangsters hang in around the Dish!

Funny how stoked people got over a power slide back then lol

I started skating in 87 and this is totally what it looked like then. However I stopped for many years, wish I could say that wasn't so.

It's wild to see how much skateboarding's evolved since back then

I'm the first skater after Tommy and Jake!! I had no idea that this existed!! How cool!!

7:49 layback ollie?

Back in the days everyone's run was all about individuality, unique lines, unique tricks. I miss this.

Steve Roetter! A true Legend. This is killin, thanks for posting.

I was around back then (though not by much) and can tell you that if you could do more than roll and tic tac, that was impressive. Most of us sucked. It took forever to progress compared with today. I skated for 10 months before I learned to ollie and I was considered average (for east coast).

loved this! great feeling everybody hyped as F* skaters rippin that S*!! damn!that was the 80's man! glad they record that to pass on to future generations of skaters!

that early grab backside 360 @5:15 was sickk. this videos awesome

Not a surprise given the proximity to Hunters Point. Those projects were pretty rough in 85.

"SACTO RIPPER RICKY WINDSOR" Sick Boyz SACTO SSD IDOL to this day

Julian's style always been the sickest

The Airwalk at 11:30 was insane

Where else can I find Ricky Windsor footage? I didn't know that this existed.

imagine going back in time and doing back 3 on that

All I feel like sayin, is....YEEEEAAAAAAAAH!!!!=]

I liked Arco's and Julian's style the most. The rad slappies and street plants. pretty chill when you meet him in person 7:47 9:25

Is there footage of the fight after the contest?

9:03 fuck yes, ricky winsor on film! Definition of style.

That story was legend in my town.

i wasnt even born and these dudes were ripping!! outshredding!!!

I literally skate this park and everyone was always was saying I remember when it was a big dish and I was like huhhhh. And now I know

Super cool to see Archimedes and Winsor in their prime. Never really seen footage of either of them before. And was that Jeff Kendall at 3:43 or so?

phelper forever that layback was sick

i always wanted to see old footage of this place. i skated it a few years ago the neighborhood was still pretty sketchy

Forever old school skateboarding my life 😉🤘🛹⚡

Hunters Point was or is a mean sceane. I remember a group of locals came out of nowhere with bats and golf clubs stealing kids boards. I hid out on the roof of the bathroom and waited. Thankfully these two Samoan brothers let me in their house until my ride came back.

That was a fun day!!! I think it was the next year when the Red Devil Firework Factory blew up during the Comp and burned up Rip Off Press Comics.

Arco killed it!

that style and flow of skating is where its at.

That was pretty sick the vibe seems real chill looks like a fun time!

RIP Jake Phelps

I am 52 and skate a ditch with much younger guys. Yes, they can do ollies and kick flips to everything but it looks too conventional. In the 80s we all had unique styles and tricks.

Rip phelper

Camden was the man. Glad he won it.

So grateful board's aren't shaped that way anymore.

What happened to the winner!! Camden Scott!! This ripped!!

phelps is always killing it with the bails :)

7:52 cod zombie scream hahah

These dudes get rad as all hell. Great video.

This video shreds the gnar…

Actually it's a shame that they're getting rid of this spot. Yea I know a new park's nice and all that but look at the creativity that this place brought out in skaters. This is why a lot of skaters still prefer street to parks because of the variety of spots that exist and the styles used to skate them. 😈

100% SKATEBOARDER Jake Phelps is the original Thrasher 100% and isn't changing for anyone

Thanks for sharing this good to see some black faces in the mix as well

awesome , love seeing some of the old graffiti and style! very cool vid

how did they predict id watch this video it told me i sucked in spray paint on the bowl

Real owner, riding krkd, sweet graphic doe.

Song of the intro ?

Wow! That just made my morning, so awesome.

so much style........ So much hype........ So much awesome!

Damn! Dishes are hella fun to skate

links to more like this?

Wait...did i just see a saran wrap? Bwhahaha!

tommy skating a gonz

Skateboarding was Dam rad back then I'm glad to say I was a skateboarder back then 😎

WHOOOO YEEEAAHHHH

So much style man.

Attitude Adjustment ✌️

3:50 wait a longboarder in 1985?! WTF?!

Just think how sick varial flip would have looked back then

What a great time in skateboarding

INSANE DUDE. OLD SCHOOL LOVE THIS SHIT !

looks like a movie

I found a new video to get me hyped up to skate!