Jeff Roenning on one of his Epic Ramps NJ late 80′s
Jeff Roenning has built more personal backyard ramps than anyone I can think of. They were always taller, wider and longer then anyone’s around as well. I cant tell you how often the alliteration Roenning’s Ramp has been used. Prior to attending the Watchung Hills Regional High School Skate Academy (where we all came together) I was dragged to church on Sundays by my Mother and one day en route I spied one of Jeff Roenning’s Mega Ramps. At the time I was riding Lackland’s – an 8 foot wide ramp along with Rocky Vertone and some other friends. It was in the woods near to my house (only a 45 minute skate) and I had not met Jeff yet because we attended different Junior High schools.
One Saturday I took the two hour skate journey to Jeff’s – I walked into his backyard unannounced with a friend and just started skating (didnt even ring the bell) that is how it worked back then. Jeff came out and started ripping…my friend and I had not conquered dropping in yet so we did not talk much that afternoon with Jeff on the platform and me starting from the flat but I do recall him asking me “Have you been to the Barn?…
Rocky Vertone, Jason Oliva, Jeff Roenning (Deer in the Headlights) watching Christian Hosoi skating
After that day I went on to ride Roenning’s Ramps (starting with number five) and we have been friends ever since. When I showed up in High School a year or two later I was introduced to Tag, Corn, Weep, The Kanes, The Padulos, The McDowalls, The Pruskowski’s, Taylor, Tom, Murph, Bernie,Darren,Jay Henry, John Ballon, Papo, Jaime,Jeremy, Irene (the NYC crew) and then a further cast of out of State characters(PA,MD,VA,TX,CA,MA,CT,DC..etc etc) plus all those younger then us(and this list continues to grow). Jeff is currently building ramp number eight, a mini ramp in his backyard built completely with wood salvaged from the Santa Cruz dump…you can’t shake that [En-Jay] DIY spirit it seems. Jeff also has a killer website about skateparks in CA Mostly Roundwall so check it out.
I have attached some photo’s of Jeff’s ramps I will try to add all 7.
PS
Alot of people rode Jeff’s ramps back in the day Hosoi, Miller, Roskopp, Groholski to name a few:
Christian Hosoi Jeff Roenning’s Hill Crest Ramp (Circa 1986)
Chris Miller on Roenning’s Ramp- Jeff on Deck circa mid 80′s
King George – The First
Valley View – The Second
Number three!
Need a pic of Number four
Dan Tag hard at work on Number 5 (The first one that had some modern thought to it)
Number 5 underway
Glorious number Five
Mountain Ave ramp – Loads of vert and number 6
The Epic Hill Crest – Winter, Lucky Number Seven
The Epic Hill Crest – Spring
Santa Cruz 2010……Number 8!
589:[THOS CONTEST] winner is…..Brian Zigelheafer Pictured at the Hell Ramp with Bucky looking on
May 26, 2010
…..And the winner is! Brian Zigelheafer.
Brian Zigelheafer lein to tail Hell Ramp Maryland
The winner of [THOS] Faction contest is Brian ‘Zig Boy’ Zigelheafer and as if you did not know the answers were Cokes, Whales and Destroy.
After a major hard drive clean up (thanks to all your help with my growing DropBox) I realised I had a cool picture of Brian at the Hell Ramp…and low and behold off in the distance whilst our hero is lein to tailing is a young Bucky Lasek sorting out his pads. I guess it would not be a Hell Ramp Picture without Bucky looking on, and on, guess all that time he put in is why he is at the top.
As for Brian other then being a [THOS Newsletter] recipient and Faction Anthology Cd owner he also owns the killer ZigBoy Skate Shop in Spartanburgh South Carolina and does a lot to sponsor the keeeeds.
zig-boy-Clay-Kreiner
This chap is already hucking McTwists.
If you would like to hear about future [THOS] contests then join our ever growing email Newsletter list: http://bit.ly/THOSNewsSignup
Cheers
588: Mondays with Mike Episode Number 6- Best ever?
May 24, 2010
OK……..
Mike V, Larry R and Mike C have knocked the cover off the ball with this episode….If you have not been tuning into Monday’s with Mike (The title kinda says it all) then you are missing out. Mike V, Kristian Svitak and Ben Raybourn are my 2010 Bones Brigade. Not to mention Larry and Mike C are the new Stacey and Stecyk.
In this episode…Lucy V intro’s..Mike V kills it…Kristian does one crazy trick and Ben Raybourn pulls a Steve Steadham to fakie with no pads…somehow BR not making the cut is way better then seeing him win with a Helmet and glasses on.
Oh Yeah and 3:50! Maaaaaaaaan!
Great Stuff…
Jason
587: S-Double Shawn Stussy, Stetsasonic, Jason Oliva and Weep at Irving plaza – circa I cant recall.
May 23, 2010
Back in the 80′s it seemed like Weep(Chris Blank) knew everyone in NYC, mostly via his Tower Records cronies. So when Weep was asked to skate on stage at Irving Plaza during one of the Mars rap concert nights for Stussy he said, Sure! except Weep was hobbling around on a cane at the time…so he brought me in as his stunt double.
On opposite sides of the stage two quarter pipes were set up. Myself and one other guy skated across the stage all night like it was a mini ramp while Shawn had surf movies playing on a drop down screen with the PA playing all the rap of the day. We paused only when the DJ table for the rap sets were pulled out. A couple groups played, 2-3 songs each which was standard practice for rappers of the day. I remember seeing Ice-T in DC and he only rapped three songs and the crowd had a “I paid for that?” look on their collective faces- I think one of the groups this night was Stetsasonic:
We were paid the princely sum of : all the water we can drink, getting to stoke the crowd and meeting DMC and Jam Master Jay. I look back now and think we were over paid.
Weep took some pics as well and even Shawn slightly recalls it all:
right on jason…
maybe i have a slight recollection of that?…
anyways, thanks for checking in…
big shout…
shawn
Checkout all the new S-Double gear…I would wear the lot.
[All Photos by Chris Weep Blank]
Circa pre 1987 I think? If you know let me know.
Jason Oliva – showing off the homemade ‘Steam’ shirt with the Jay Henry drawn Tommy G shorts.
Looks like 86-87 to me?
I ran out and bought that same Public Enemy T-shirt…still have it.
They pulled the DJ table out between the ramps and we sat on stage and watched the show
Sweeper Yo!
SHUT tag on the ramp…anyone recognise the other skater?
He ripped…..
The dialog in this is as crazy as the skating.
Bonus AndyCam Wrist
AndyCam Board…this one is pretty crazy
585: MOVIES!!!! Bloodshed & Flying Sutra for Beginners excerpts in MD May 26th with live music from George Draguns
May 23, 2010
Get your Steam-On, May 26th in Baltimore with Rick, Geoff and George.
Here are some more dates that maybe near you:
584: DropBox Rules!
May 22, 2010
DropBox Rules! it is a free 2 GB online back up which allows File Sync,File Sharing,Online Backup,Web Access,Security and Privacy, and Mobile Device Access. It has really helped organise things for me and taken away my anxieties about losing important images and documents, especially while on the move with a laptop. I can now work from anywhere on any computer or mobile device. All of [THOS] pics and videos backed up including the entire archive. It is much easier to transfer large video files for [THOS.TV] and in addition you can also put a html file into your dropbox and make a public link to it…Free website!
Here is a referral link to try out DropBox, the cool thing is you get an extra 250 mb with the link and if you try it you can pass on your own download referral and receive additional free space (up to 8 gb)
Thanks to everyone who has tried it out. The extra space I have received has made running [THOS] so much easier.
Thanks you for your support,
Jason
