
Last summer, we wrongly attributed the “Golden Age of the T.F.” title to the period that coincided with Lurkers 2. The “Golden Age of the T.F.” came two years earlier, between the fall of 2001 (when the T.F. was born), and the summer of 2003 (when the World Industries box was there), with its absolute pinnacle being the manual pad, one-sided box, yellow rail, and black rail days. Yes, there was a time when there were FOUR obstacles at the T.F. Over the last five years, the act of returning the box to the shop a mere half-a-block away became immensely unpopular — just imagine that at the onset of the 2000s, people would lug four obstacles all the way from 13th Street to the park.
A large portion of the people you see at the T.F. in 2012 either did not skate, or did not move to New York when ABC was around (sadly, the people picking up skateboards and moving here for college now missed out on both the Autumn and ABC eras.) This video should bring you up to speed the time when Tompkins was fortified by Scott Schwartz’s excellent carpentry skills. It’s a much better representation of the era than that awful and horribly-aged Alphabet City video. With all due respect to Autumn, ABC might have been the superior governing body for Tompkins (please consult this clip for a glimpse of key moments from Autumn’s reign.) Everything is left to the history books now.
It is actually perfect that the second part is edited to Ms. Jade, as she, and other Timbaland side projects like Tweet (of “Oops Oh My” and “Call Me” fame) were massive favorites on the ABC shop speakers. Shout to NY Skateboarding for discovering this one.













