The 90s | Quartersnacks

Skate NYC (1986-1990) Mini-Documentary

Time Capsule May 5th, 2011 · 1:50 pm · 1

There isn’t exactly an abundance of video coverage for New York in the late-eighties and early-nineties. There’s obviously Vallely’s Rubbish Heap part, and Matt Hensley in Full Power Trip (and I guess the NYC section in Future Primitive, but 1985 isn’t the late-eighties…feel free to include links to anything that may have been missed in the comments), but none of those guys are actually from New York. Even the Deathbowl documentary glossed over this period, only tackling it from the “history of Shut” angle.

Well, God bless all the neglected storage spaces throughout New York. NY Skateboarding posted Apple Juice, a mini-documentary by Skate NYC, a skate shop that was in operation from 1986 to 1990 on Avenue A and 9th, which happened to be stored away in some dusty box for years. It’s not exactly a full-fledged skate video, but a previously unseen look, at least from a cultural standpoint, at what skateboarding in downtown New York looked like at the onset of the nineties. Features Harold Hunter, Jon Carter, and others, with a variety of locations no longer with us, including the World Trade Center, The Brooklyn Banks, and the original three-stair ledge version of the Fuji Building on 52nd Street and Park.

“All these kids, they have such fear about getting older, and they’re so happy being fourteen or fifteen. Boy, that is such a distinction from when I was a kid. All we wanted to do is get older, we couldn’t do anything out our age. These guys have a whole world that is defined on every level by what they do, and the only fear of getting older is that you’re going to lose what you have now.”

Check out the feature on NY Skateboarding for more images and history on Skate NYC.

Left the 7D at home, took the VHS camera out

Daily News March 28th, 2011 · 4:43 pm · 32

The best web clip in who knows how long. While “summer in New York” clips typically embody a play-by-play ending off at the Courthouse Drop, the creative team over at Palace Skateboards aspired for something significantly different. The clip falls in line with the VHS nostalgia seen in projects like Gnar Gnar and Caviar, but blends it with token nuances like non-annoying instrumentals, Waka Flocka, Bun B vocal cut-ins, and other things more synonymous with the modern era. The skating is all sick, including many instances portraying the difficult pursuit of doing meandering street lines that don’t seem forced, or like, “weird, bro.”

While some asshole is probably on the internet screaming blasphemy at the re-usage of Jeff Pang’s Mixtape song, we’re supporting it wholeheartedly. Especially in light of the fact that that red bench ollie (at the spot that isn’t actually *the* Red Benches, but on the northern side of the building) is the sort of thing that would have been in a nineties skate video. On an anecdotal note, that particular song features Matthew Mooney’s favorite rap line of all time from none other than Keith Nut. Ask him what it is sometime, it’ll be a good conversation icebreaker.

(The real question is: Does Palace receive endorsement checks from Long Island University? And if so, how does it tie into the company?)

Palace also put together a Lucien Clarke compilation, featuring some of his This Time Tomorrow footage, and set to another nineties classic. Who would have thought that a British company would have cornered the more nostalgically inclined side of the skateboard media world and not come off as contrived.

Quim Cardona: NY Revisited & re-edited

Video & Remixes March 8th, 2011 · 11:14 am · 5

Falling into the same “sitting around on a Final Cut timeline from the dead of winter” category that last month’s most most fashionable clip ever was a part of, this is another reworking of old footage. In this case, it’s really old footage, originating from R.B. Umali’s NY Revisited compilation that was released around 2004-2005, spanning two DVD volumes (which were in somewhat of a limited run) and about three years (1995-1997.) The winter may have provided the time to sit there and throw this on a timeline, but the inspiration came from the Chrome Ball Incident’s interview with Quim, and the realization that despite his clear allegiance to camo pants, Quim never really had a full-on New York skate part in the nineties. A lot of this footage wasn’t exactly “unreleased” prior to when Revisited came out, but was still reserved for more montage-oritented outings. While this is sure as hell no Non-Fiction, it is somewhat of an attempt at getting on that Manolo archival program (Although nobody can really compete with what that dude does…) and filling the void in a coherent way. Plus, this guy’s highly unorthodox approach to just about everything — from doing two frontside 5050s on ledges in the same line, to using garbage bags as makeshift skate obstacles, to doing nollies onto ledges for no reason whatsoever — should be an inspiration to everyone that enjoys riding a skateboard.

And while typical protocol around here is editing things to Travis Porter, Young Jeezy, and all else intended for gentlemen’s cabarets situated below the Mason-Dixon line, we went the more tasteful route of channeling things actually released at a time and in a region synonymous with when the footage was filmed. So, our apologies go to our “core” fanbase. Even further apologies to purists who know that if this was actually released in 1997, it would be edited to some wild Jamaican conga drum voodoo music most commonly listened to by experimental yoga groups.

The real question is: What’s going on with Revisited Volume 3?

YouTube link here.

Related: Here’s another Revisited edit someone put together in 2009 after dropping out of Cooley High.