Turning Down the Big Companies: 1977 At nineteen, Tony Alva had already done enough to skate for whichever company he wanted. Instead, in 1977, he walked away from the sport's established brands and started his own. Alva Skates became, in the words of the Los Angeles Times' 2007 profile of Alva, the vehicle that made …

"Sidewalk surfing" is the phrase that gives away the secret. Before skateboarding had a name of its own, it borrowed one — and the borrowing reveals exactly how the first generation of riders understood what they were doing. They were not playing a new sport. They were surfing on land, killing time between swells, …