We were just a couple of snowboarders who wanted to ride the hills of Tahoe in the summer.
It was spring of 1997. The snow is melting in the mountain is closed early and we just wanted to keep carving.
we had all these big empty roads around Lake Tahoe it was paradise. it was our space something we created there were no rules no boundaries. The summers in Tahoe became a different place I was with wanted to do let’s go longboarding. The first summer of 1997 was the best summer of my life riding these big pieces of wood that we made that we designed.
The first boards we cut out or big like Snowboards we wanted something that felt like snowboarding. At first we did not have a name for the boards we were just so into writing them. Waking up every morning and smoking weed and bombing hills . It was the best feeling in the world. The smell of the pine trees the cool sierra breeze in your face . We would sit around and cupboards out all day trying different shapes and thicknesses of wood looking for the perfect flex in the perfect feeling.
I remember I was a security guard for a condominium complex in Tahoe city and I was writing all kinds of names down on a notepad. I remember taking a big bonehead and being really stoned and it hit me. let’s call them Tahoe Longboards . We started engraving emblems of Lake Tahoe on the tops of the boards with a Dremel tool. And then we engraved the words Tahoe longboards down the center of the fourth through the lake. And we would have our friends come over and we feed them beer and get them stoned to help us paint the engraved Lakes blue.
To be continued 🤘🏼
TLB Chuck
