Jason Traeger

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Anyone who knows me knows I've never been one to revel in the past. I'm the last one to cast a misty-eyed glance back at the "good old days". In my experience the people who take this angle are usually the ones who weren't there. Whatever mistakes, false starts and missed opportunities I've had the pleasure of having, I was wherever I was for better or worse.

This blog is not meant to romanticize any choices I made or any particular era. It's simply a place where I share stories and take stock of where I've been as a way to figure out where I might want to go next. I'll celebrate some people along the way, some of them you'll know or know of, others will be new to you. I'm glad to have known every one of them.

The posts are in no thematic or chronological order. The date at the end of the post's title refers to how the content of the post relates to me personally. I make no claim about the accuracy of my recollections I only promise that I'll be as honest and accurate as I can be. If you were there and you remember things differently than I do, or you find evidence that contradicts my memory (I wouldn't be surprised or upset) feel free to let me know.

Rather than editing the posts for historical accuracy, I'll put ( * ) next to any parts that have been challenged or updated for that reason.

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July 3, 2012

BILLY RUFF AT DEL MAR SKATE RANCH SAN DIEGO 1984

I skated a little but wasn’t anything close to good. When I lived in SD we’d go to the Del Mar Skate Ranch to hang out. I was as into playing pinball or Centipede in the arcade as I was into skating because like I said I wasn’t any good. When I wasn’t tossing my quarters down the tube I’d just as soon watch as skate, after all when the other dudes skating were guys like Billy Ruff, Steve Steadham and a lanky kid named Tony Hawk it was as enjoyable to watch them tear it up as it was to do anything else.

Being that I’d just moved down to SD from Seattle/Tacoma, those sunny days and especially the warm nights under the bright flourescent lights at Del Mar were some of my most quintessential early SoCal experiences. Skating was very much an underground thing in the Northwest back in this era but in the Southland it was an entrenched part of the youth culture. I didn’t know it at the time of course but the guys I was watching shred at Del Mar were the ones who were about to take skating to the masses.

Rad.

(Photo of Billy Ruff at Del Mar Skate Ranch taken by me from my personal archives)

11:32pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Zl8DhvOgE1oV

(Notes: 14)