[The House of Steam]

Mid 80′ Blue N Black Air Jordans

Foot Armor -Jason Oliva

Photo by -Jason Oliva

So I thought I would start a new category in the Archive called Weapons of Choice, a place to document all the armor and tools of the trade. SO send me some pics!

Back in the day you didnt have to be Sherlock Holmes to tell who skated vert. One glance at the feet and the jig was up, no need to even confess. Vert shoes would cause murder mystery wonderment amongst  the uninitiated, racking their brains for the answer as to  how  you wear out the tops of your sneakers even to the point your big toes were visible!(some Chuck taylor wearers even had big toe holes in all their socks as well, too funny)

During the 80′s there was a shoe shop in South Plainfield , NJ that we would hit up while en route to the Salvation Army looking for clothes. The shoe shop  was great, they had one shrink wrap shoe on the wall and they brought out the other one if you wanted to buy them, and that was that. No selection of sizes at all. I cleaned em out of over sized Air Jordans for a couple years. Red Black n  Blue(x2), Black n white (wore those only one time to the prom) , metallic blue and white, then one day I scored a pair of Red n Black and Blue n Black (both a perfect fit) I think they cost $18 as well. I wore the blue n blacks skating for over 20 years (the last time was 06-07 at the Battery Park skate park) My blue n black and Red n blacks look like they have been blasted by a shot gun under the duct tape…I even took a 12 inch splinter (which I kept forever in my skate-bag) through the top between my big and second toes through my sock and out the sole-lucky that time.Unfortunately over time the foam in the ankles would rot, but they still look good. I always kept em in my bag too and would wear my Puma cats (another life altering score from the shop, for you FaceBook Users you can see em here: http://tinyurl.com/opkxux) for walking and street skating. It was often a bit of muddy/snowy mess out to the Barn.  Most NJ/PA ramps required a traipse through the woods or snow and I think that alone started the habit of having two pairs of sneakers, it was never the hi performance issue that shoes seem to garnish these days. You just needed to keep your  ”Wednesday  best” sneakers outta the muck.

Ok send some gear pics, boards, sneakers etc whatever is lying about. I know I have a pair of unused Texas Pads up in the attic…Are they still around?

Jason Oliva (Ben Cornish looking on) 1987 NJ McDowells ramp.

Sporting said ‘Air Jordans’….and some Jay Henry drawn/Tom Groholski skate shorts!