The Bicycle That Sat in the Background of Every Beach Photo Look at almost any photograph of a Southern California beach town between the late 1970s and the late 1980s and a particular bicycle keeps turning up at the edge of the frame: wide tires, a heavy curved frame, fenders, no gears worth mentioning, usually …

In 1991, Mark Gonzales walked away from Vision Skateboards — the company that had given him one of the most influential pro models of the decade — and put his name on a deck stamped with a brand whose title was a pointed insult to his former sponsor. Blind Skateboards, launched under Steve Rocco's World Industries …