Locals Only: California Skateboarding 1975-1978

by Hugh Holland (Photographer), Steve Crist (Editor)

One afternoon in 1975, a young photographer named Hugh Holland drove up Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Los Angeles and encountered skateboarders carving up the drainage ditches along the side of the canyon. Immediately transfixed by their grace and athleticism, he knew he had found an amazing subject.  Although not a skateboarder himself, for the next three years Holland never tired of documenting skateboarders surfing the streets of Los Angeles, parts of the San Fernando Valley, Venice Beach, and as far away as San Francisco and Baja California, Mexico.  During the mid-1970s, Southern California was experiencing a serious drought, leaving an abundance of empty swimming pools available for trespassing skateboarders to practice their tricks. From these suburban backyard haunts to the asphalt streets that connected them, this was the place that created the legendary Dogtown and Z-Boys skateboarders. With their requisite bleached blonde hair, tanned bodies, tube socks and Vans, these young outsiders are masterfully captured against a sometimes harsh but always sunny Southern California landscape in Locals Only Locals Only features more than 120 beautiful color images plus a Q+A format interview with the artist.

Genres: Photography

84 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2010

Reviews

[Philip Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

New new coffee table book courtesy of the Streck family <3

Bigggg Dogtown vibes. Absolutely frothing to get back to SoCal. Blacks is firing?? Swell of the year?🤤

[Ogier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't a book one reads. It's to gaze upon the record of the exuberance of youth unfettered by religion or proprietary or middle class inhibitions. I felt a deep envy of these boys who lived free if anyone ever did.

[Cristhian · Rating 5 out of 5]

nunca creí poder encontrarlo.

5/5

[Cecile · Rating 5 out of 5]

The California I know, how it feels on your skin, how it still is. Some dogtown boys show up on the pages and the light is just perfect.

[Madeleine Criglow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the sunny glow of all these pictures. Makes you want to skate without shoes

[Rasmus Skovdal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool stuff. Not every picture is good, but there are very few bad ones, and occasionally you turn the page and there's something great waiting for you.

I think the quality of the book could be better, and it's shame that so many pictures are ruined by the format, as they take up both pages and end up with a crease in the middle – you know, on account of how books work . But of course, it would also be a shame if they were presented in a smaller size. In a perfect world, this book should come with a link to a digital download version of the images.

Anyway; excellent snapshot of a time and place, but I'd probably not recommend it to random people. Of course, anyone interested probably won't need a recommendation, and anyone not interested won't care regardless of Goodreads ratings.

[todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

i used my 50% off coupon from Borders to buy this. while i almost used the coupon to buy helmut newton's trade edition of sumo (the book so big it needs [and it comes with] a book stand) i bought this much thinner and less expensive book. but i was also drawn to this book because of its large dimensions. it's a large format (a bit smaller than todd hidos house book) book with photos of skaters in the 1970s. could i look at a book with 10 times the amount of photos? sure. . . but there is something nice about being able to go page by page in a short amount of time.

[Mary BookHounds · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book that truly captures that magical period that existed only in Southern California in the mid 1970's. I grew up during this time period and my brother had used my skates to make his own skateboard, so I witnessed many similar pictures growing up. This is just a classic look at what made the skateboarding culture so fabulous and now as the mother of a skateboarder, I can really appreciate it. This would make the perfect gift for that cool dad in your life.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visually, an amazing book. The photography is beautiful, and truly highlights a generation.

There is not much history of skateboarding predating the mid 1980's when it (began to) took off. This is an amazing item to have an any collection abet personal, or public.

cetra 1970's

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A "moment" in time. Young Southern California skaters in the late 70's caught in technicolor. Hugh certainly captured the culture - there is a poignancy in the expressions that is touching. A bittersweet trip down memory lane.

[Jennie]

a gorgeous time capsule of skater history. goes well with a double shot of nostalgia.

[Debbie Hoskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The photographs are excellent!!! This is the story of skateboarding in California in the mid to late 70's. My generation - so all these lovely kids are now pushy 50.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

ah, careless skate youth, before sunscreen and helmets ... hugh holland has a sublime eye and these photographs are gorgeous.