2023-06-14 12:30:23
One day in the summer of 1966, at the height of the counterculture, Hugh Holland gets behind the wheel of his old red Chevrolet Bel Air and heads for Los Angeles. On route 66, while the radio plays “California dream”, here he is on his way to a new life.
Youth culture was then in full revival in California, this ” land of gays and weirdos “, as a friend said so well when returning to Oklahoma. In 1974, a group of surfers from Dogtown — an area that includes the beaches of Santa Monica, Ocean Park, and Venice — began skateboarding through the streets. Total freedom.
Riding concrete waves, the Zephyr Surf Team (aka the Z-Boys) invents a whole new sport. With the advent of urethane wheels, an aluminum frame and a fiberglass deck, you can skate on any surface. In no time, the Z-Boys are turning drain ditches into ramps, and improvising tracks in backyard pools. The drought of 1976 only contributed to the success of the project, attracting skaters from the city and neighboring suburbs.
The Wild Boys
During the summer of 1975, while crossing Laurel Canyon, Hugh Holland spots something flying in the sky. He’s a skater jumping out of a ramp-turned disposal ditch known as the Mini Bowl. Intrigued, Holland pulls over and introduces himself. We welcome him with open arms, understanding the interest of this comrade equipped with a camera and a car.
The timing is perfect. Holland, who has just started photography, is looking for a subject. He just found it. Over the next three years, Holland would chronicle a group of skaters he nicknamed The Wild Boysand will document, as it emerges, the urban skate scene, in swimming pools, in the middle of the streets and on the beaches.
In a cinematic style, Holland captures the images of skaters practicing, with a certain grace, this concrete freestyle. These images are a whirlwind of sun-kissed skin, bleached dreadlocks, bathing suits or Vans jeans and sneakers. Under the California sun, casual skater glamor is pure pleasure. They are there for the love of the sport, and nothing else.
« Locals Only »
In three years, Hugh Holland captured thousands of photographs of the burgeoning skate scene in Southern California, a scene that spawned a multi-billion dollar sport practiced internationally today. Holland’s archives exemplify a community where pure love, devotion and creativity reign. They are thus a valuable testimony to this culture in its own right.
« The skaters I first met were teenagers having a good time, trying to figure out all the moves they might pull off or invent. It was a pleasure to document their world writes Holland in the just-published book, Locals Only: 30 Posters: California Skateboarding 1975-1978.
« One of them, Kent Senatore, told me 45 years later: “The image of me on a skateboard is one of the best images of all time. I love her because she talks regarding innocence. From a time when there were no pretenses – a time when there was only the freedom of action and the joy of discovery.“ »
It’s a whole era Locals Only revisit. Like the shag carpets and the woodwork, Holland’s posters might fit into a typical 1970s decoration. The book captures the atmosphere of love that reigned at the time. The book gives a new generation of viewers the opportunity to interact with the spirit of Holland’s photographs: they illustrate intimate moments of joy, closeness, admiration and mutual respect.
Locals Only: 30 Posters: California Skateboarding 1975–1978 is published by Chronicle, $29.95.
1686751449
#Surfing #Concrete #Wave #Blind #Magazine
