Dave Hackett - Guest Post

“I think this photo was taken in late 1976, or early 1977. Obviously it’s at one of the hottest skateparks of the time- Reseda Skatercross. Back in those days, getting a skatepark built in a city was a big deal and the money for the land, park construction and the insurance were all big hurdles for the developer/owner of the park. The parks– back then– were usually designed by some “suit” or a cement contractor who has never skateboarded before….The concept behind Skatercross was that it was a snakerun that was really like a “Track” with a beginning, a middle and an end. You would essentially end up right back at the start…not a bad concept really, and pretty fun for back then. The problem was, you had to push into the first bowl and it was hard to get any speed to carry you through the rest of the course. They finally had to build a huge 16 foot take off or drop in ramp made of wood that would really hurl you into the first bowl and then with the speed attained coming out of the first bowl you could really blast or try some killer move on the second bowl wall. That is precisely what my brother Paul and I were doing here- double tail taps/wheelers. I guess if you want to get technically proper, I’m doing a “tail tap” (A rare and forgotten move hardly ever seen now) and he’s doing a backside “wheeler”. This shot was taken way after opening day where we and the skateboard media saw some of the first airs ever done.  Yup, I’m talking about Tom “Wally” Inouye’s backside nose-grab airs before ANYONE. I also saw JayBoy throw some crazy air attempts like the one in the Z-Flex Ad- “ALWAYS RADICAL”. No doubt, Reseda played a huge part in our collective history as skateboarders and I will always have great memories of what went down there and who we sessioned with. To think this photo was taken almost 35 years ago blows my mind…”

“Hell, I did a tail tap like that last week at JO’s Malibu Pool, and for those of us who are 100% SKATEBOARDERS FOR LIFE, we’ll be doing this in another 35 Years! (Ok, maybe 25….) Thanks to Jim Goodrich for the photo at Reseda and The Legendary Bill Sharp for the Malibu Pool Shot. Thanks to Ozzie for the opportunity to do this “Guest Post” - Now Go do a Tail Tap in a Pool!”  - David Hackett.