“Epoch Bits” is Havoc TV’s bygone surf, skate, and music column. Every Wednesday, we dive deep into the depths of these radical subcultures that forged the way for those of us raised on a surf and/or skateboard.
December 1982 - A Thrasher article titled, "Skate and Destroy" written by C. R. Stecyk, III under the pen name "Lowboy" was released.
According to some, C. R. Stecyk III's article spurred Larry Balma and Peggy Cozens - the minds behind Tracker Trucks - to start TransWorld Skateboarding magazine, as a response to the abrasive "Skate and Destroy " creedo that ran through Thrasher magazine. They published TransWorld Skateboard magazine espousing a kinder, gentler "Skate and Create philosophy.
December 1980 - John Lennon is shot a killed by crazed fan.
This week 35 years ago, the world lost an icon when John Lennon was shot outside his New York home by Mark David Chapman. He was 40 years old.
December 1942 - Carlos Dogny founds Club Waikiki in Lima, Peru
Often referred to as the father of Peruvian surfing, Carlos Dogny helped reintroduce surfing to the Peruvian masses. Dogny was an aristocrat type that grew up in France with his wealthy parents. In 1938, the 29-year-old Dogny traveled with a French polo team to Honolulu, where he learned to surf at Waikiki. Hawaiian legend Duke Kahanamoku gave Dogny a board to take back to Peru; on the beach at Miraflores, on the outskirts of Lima, Dogny passed the board around to a group of similarly wealthy friends. He later founded Club Waikiki in 1942, the surf world's first aristocrat organization, and the long time hub of Peruvian surfing, with Dogny serving as club president; the joining fee in the mid-'60s was $25,000. Dumb rich people.
December 1987 -Gordon & Smith were running this ad with Danny Webster.
https://youtu.be/2ztzQiN51aM
December 1980 - Germs Frontman Darby Crash dies of an intentional overdose.
Casey Cola and Darby Crash had a suicide pact, and on the evening of December 7, 1980, they decided that the time was right to make it happen. Darby took the money from a reunion show the band played just four nights earlier and went out to buy enough heroin to do the job. As lead singer of the Germs, Darby Crash presided over the birth of the L.A. punk scene in 1977 and signalled its demise with his suicide three years later. The Germs’ legend looms large over the punk landscape.