SKATE GEEZER: Chapter 2
As 1975 morphed into 1976, I became more obsessed with skateboarding. Unfortunately, there was no YouTube or social media to quench my desire to learn more about skateboarding.
At a certain point, I recall purchasing a book called “The Skateboarder’s Bible.” I learned about SkateBoarder Magazine in this book and knew instinctively I had to find it. This became an all-consuming mission for almost a year. I finally encountered the magazine in December of 1976. It sat perched on the magazine rack at Mac’s Milk. How the magazine made its way to my (smallish) hometown remains a mystery – but there it was!
The cover featured Jay Adams flying out of a bowl. I was transfixed and beyond excited. I bolted out of the store and pleaded with my parents for $1.25. The fact that it’s been almost 50 years since I experienced this moment is testimony to the power of SkateBoarder Magazine.
Thankfully, my parents complied, and I quickly returned to the store with my money. Moments later, I was at my house, pouring over every page. I repeated this process for hours, and the hours morphed into years.
SkateBoarder Magazine (at least for the few years of its 70s reincarnation) will always remain the bible of skateboarding for a particular generation of skaters. It is hard to explain the power of SkateBoarder Magazine to people who weren’t there. I quickly subscribed to the magazine, and waiting for the next issue would be excruciating. SkateBoarder was originally a quarterly publication. Due to increased demand, it quickly moved to bi-monthly. Then it went monthly. Ironically, this contributed to its downfall as advertisers tried to balance marketing costs with less demand of their products.
At one time, SkateBoarder was the biggest-selling magazine in 7-11 stores, and its effect on skateboarding culture still resonates today.
However, this story is not really about the history of SkateBoarder Magazine. If you want to go down that rabbit hole, have a peek at this video below:
In this chapter, I intend to explore some of my experiences with the person responsible for the relaunched version of SkateBoarder – Warren Bolster. The truth is that Warren was a very driven person. His ambition to create a perfect skateboard magazine consumed him. Warren had an addictive personality, tragically destroying both relationships at work and home.
How do I know all this? One of the first interviews I conducted for Concrete Wave Magazine featured an interview with Dave Dash, a former publisher of SkateBoarder.
There were repeated attempts to set Warren on the right path. Many in the magazine pleaded with him to seek treatment, but unfortunately, he would disagree. This is one of the most complex parts of dealing with addiction. His refusal to get sober corroded his world, and sometime in 1978, he was let go from SkateBoarder Magazine. It took four people to replace Warren.
Over the next few decades, Warren’s life was a mixture of tragedy and the occasional flash of brilliance. He kept shooting incredible surf shots but lived pretty much a hand-to-mouth existence. I know at one time, he was parking cars to earn some money.
The idea to create a book of some of Warren’s work started in 2003. I recently quit my day job to work for Concrete Wave Magazine. There is no doubt that it was Warren who inspired me to become an editor and publisher of a skateboard magazine. I based Concrete Wave on his vision of inclusion, which served me well.
It wasn’t me that came up with the idea to create a book on Warren’s work. The idea came from 70s skate legend Laura Thornhill. Laura had remained in contact with Warren through the decades. “We would talk every so often,” recalls Laura. “At one point, he reached out to me. He was so debilitated with his pain and was at a loss as to how to deal with it.”
Tragically, Warren’s only relief from the constant pain was Oxycontin. It caused him immense desperation as it was costly, and he was poverty-stricken. “I recognized that one way to help Warren financially was to create a book – and that’s when I thought about Concrete Wave Magazine doing something,” says Laura.
One of Laura’s friends was one of my key advertisers: Dan Gesmer of Seismic Skate Systems. “I originally met Laura at a flatland freestyle competition,” recalls Dan. “Bobby “Casper” Boyden produced it, and this would have been the late 90s.” Dan flew out to California from his home in Colorado to help judge the competition. Over time, Laura and Dan became friends.
Dan first mentioned he had this connection to Warren via Laura. You can’t imagine how excited I was when I heard that Warren was interested in working with Concrete Wave.
I was able to convince Kevin Harris of Ultimate Skateboard Distribution to finance the production of the book. This support was incredibly generous of Kevin. The project would never have seen the light of day with Kevin. So, in late 2003, I created a book publishing division called Concrete Wave Editions. Warren’s book was going to be the first foray outside of magazines.
When writing about skateboarding and skaters, it’s always best to be positive. But the truth is that his life fell apart after Warren departed SkateBoarder Magazine. I do not wish to take anything from his brilliant career. Sadly, numerous issues plagued him, impacting his professional life exceptionally negatively.
“Warren suffered a lot of pain,” says Dan. “He’d spent decades in the water getting hit by waves and surfers as he searched for the perfect shot.” Warren’s arthritis was very debilitating, and tragically, he couldn’t afford pain medication. “All this trauma and suffering affected his writing ability.”
Laura recalls him being suicidal during the early 2000s. His financial woes certainly added to his state of mind. Sadly, Warren struggled with depression for decades. Twenty or thirty years ago, mental illness was viewed differently than today. Unfortunately, Warren’s struggles led to some heart-breaking results.
Take, for example, the thousands of slides Warren collected over the years. I was genuinely excited by the prospect of doing a book with Warren. I had visions of publishing dozens of his world-famous photos. Several spectacular images made the cover and double-page spreads. Many skaters, including me, happily ripped these photos from the magazine and plastered them to our bedroom walls.
Tragically, by 2003, Warren had very few famous slides left. As he explained, many of his slides had gone missing or stolen. It was truly gut-wrenching to hear this, and I wondered what exactly was left.
Miraculously, Warren had managed to salvage two boxes worth of his slides. He Fed Ex’d them up to me in Toronto. When I opened the boxes, they reeked of cigarette smoke. But as I started to pour over this treasure trove of what he’d managed to keep, I began to experience the same feeling I had back in December of 1976. Only this time, I wasn’t 12 years old – I was almost 40.
There were several genuinely captivating and gorgeous photos, but there were many outtakes. At one point, Warren had used a high-speed camera to catch Ty Page and his blistering footwork. But this camera generated a vast amount of duplicates – and there were piles of many similar photos. I realized the two boxes of slides were a gold mine. I would sift through a lot to find the genuinely worthwhile nuggets.
I am pleased to say that eventually, we settled on about 175 photos – whittled down from what must have been thousands of slides. Thankfully, in most images, Warren had jotted down the skater, the place, and the date. But not every shot was labelled correctly. I was to find this out years later when a departed skater’s brother brought it to my attention during a Skateboarding Hall of Fame event. “That’s not my brother in the Bolster photo!” he yelled. I apologized profusely and tried to explain that Warren had labelled the slide, and that’s what I went within the book.
While I took the role of the publisher, Dan took on the role of editor. We both faced a large number of challenges in putting the book together. Dan recalls, “This was, by far, the most difficult editing job I have ever had to deal with.” Even at best times, Warren’s emails describing each photo were rambling. I am forever indebted to Dan for his tireless commitment to the book. I am still determining how he brought Warren’s sprawling thoughts to some cohesive structure, but he did. “Fortunately, the draft captions that Warren composed for the book had a lot of content,” explains Dan. “His writing was rich but was very disorganized.” Dan captured Warren’s voice in a truly remarkable way.
Thankfully, this remains my only major issue with the book. Well, it’s the only issue I’ve had from an editorial standpoint. Regarding the financial side of things, the legacy of this book has been decidedly in the red.
Scanning slides, designing, printing, and shipping the book was extremely expensive. The book’s list price of $39.95 is equivalent to about $60+ in today’s dollars. Ironically, many people thought the book was too expensive when it first came out. A quick search over at eBay indicates it’s for sale for double and quadruple the original price! CLICK TO BUY HERE
It was my father who was curious about the book title. I distinctly remember him asking me why I had chosen the word ‘legacy’ in the title. “Isn’t legacy something connected with someone who has died,” he inquired. I replied that Warren was a living legacy to my way of thinking. But I also knew the painful truth. His addiction and the excruciating pain that fuelled it often brought him near death.
From what I understand, Warren’s father died in the summer of 2004, and he wound up inheriting some money. I recall that he took this money and booked himself into rehab. His departure from rehab coincided with the start of the Action Sports Retailer show in San Diego. I thought the show would be a great opportunity for Warren to help launch the book. He agreed and was genuinely excited at the opportunity.
When I first met Warren face to face, it was at our hotel in San Diego. I was pleased to see that Warren had found the experience in rehab beneficial. The four days I spent with Warren during the convention remain a purely positive experience. I fondly recall a dinner that Dan, Warren and I shared. Dan remembers that Warren had great difficulty walking. When I mentioned that Warren was only 57 then, Dan seemed skeptical. The wear and tear on Warren’s body had sadly added decades to his physique.
But of all the memories of my times in San Diego, the book signing at the Video Action Sports booth remains one of the most extraordinary experiences of my time as a publisher in skateboarding.
Jack Smith was a VP at Video Action Sports and graciously allowed us to host the book signing. I recall the lineup to meet with Warren was astonishing. It was a Who’s Who of surf and skate legends lined up patiently to pay their respects to Warren. Many hugs were given, and a lot of tears were shed. It was a truly cathartic experience for everyone. Warren dutifully signed dozens of books. There was both a heaviness and joy in the air. Warren’s presence at the booth stirred up so many memories. I just stood back in awe.
After the ASR show, things started to stall. While the book met with great approval at the trade show, it gained little traction. Warren and I slowly drifted apart from the fall of 2004 to 2006. He was disappointed in the book sales. He felt it would sell a million copies. He was disappointed with the photos in the book. But as I previously mentioned, most of his famous shots were lost or stolen.
I occasionally got an email from Warren stating how angry he was with the situation. He didn’t understand why the book wasn’t selling. I could sense his frustration. We tried to publicize the book, but nothing resonated. Over time, I moved on to other books and focused on being a magazine publisher. Warren moved to Hawaii from California.
Exactly two years after he’d caused a sensation at ASR, Warren decided to exit this world. I distinctly remember coming off the plane from Toronto and being picked up at San Diego Airport by Gravity’s Michael Bream. It was Michael who told me the news. Tragically, Warren had found himself involved in a severe car accident, and the pain was excruciating. “When I got the news about Warren, I was devastated,” says Laura. “He had threatened to take his life for years, and to find out that he had actually done it made me wish I had done more to help,” Laura tells me that she beat herself up pretty badly over Warren’s suicide. I reminded her that 20 years ago, society had a different view of addiction. We had yet to fully understand the real problems caused by painkillers like Oxycontin.
The ASR in September of 2006 was a harrowing experience. It was an emotional time, and I walked the trade show with a sense of “what if?” I look back on this time and recognize that Warren needed more than 30 days in rehab. He needed to change his life drastically and remove himself from any temptation. Warren needed 24 hours a day supervision to get better. You can blame the system or Warren or whatever you want. The fact is that after years of suicidal thoughts, Warren finally took his own life.
About seven years after Warren’s suicide, I was in Long Beach at the Agenda Trade Show. ASR had imploded, and in its place, a new show had taken over. I always found these shows exhausting, and on a Sunday night, I sat in a restaurant relaxing with two friends from Toronto. Rob Sydia and Smooth Chicken ran a shop called Longboard Haven. It was their first trade show, and they were having the time of their life.
From the corner of my eye, I could see an older gentleman with a stack of skateboards near a pool table. He also had wheels and a whole bunch of skate swag. I was tired, but there was something about this guy that got me intrigued. I casually went up to him and explained who I was. We started talking, and he told me his name was Comanche (or something like that). He knew a lot of folks from the Dogtown era. Usually, at the end of tradeshows, I am drained, and it is infrequent for me to approach someone like this and start talking. Yet here I was, making plans.
I explained that my friends had enjoyed the show, but they needed to get a sense of the real California. So Comanche offered to take us on a tour the following day. Rob and Chicken agreed this would be a great idea and told Comanche we’d pick him up around 10 AM from his hotel.
Where would things wind up that particular day? I just went with my gut. We were sitting at a red light when the subject of Warren Bolster came up. Comanche said that he knew Warren and that he’d stayed with him in Hawaii. I explained how I published the book and how sad I was that he’d killed himself.
At this point, Comanche told me that Warren had found his gun while staying with him in Hawaii. I was dumbfounded. I had to repeat it: “Warren stayed with you? In Hawaii? And he found your gun?” Comanche confirmed it all. Rob and Chicken were speechless, just like me.
People often say that sometimes your past comes back to haunt you. When I reflect on the journey Warren Bolster and I took, I realize that sometimes, you come back to haunt your past. When I turned 59 (in 2023), I recognized that this was the same age that Warren left our world. I have so much more to see and do in my life.
After publishing skateboard magazines for close to 20 years, I wound up selling my business and working at funeral home for five years. I wrote about some of my experiences in both the skate industry and life as a funeral director’s assistant. The book is called “The Endless Wave” and was co-written with Australian skater Nathan Ho.
Warren was born in 1947, making him part of the first cohort of the Baby Boom generation. His effects on Gen X cannot be understated. When I reflect on the legacy of Warren, I realize that in those 59 years, he accomplished a tremendous amount. His vision has stayed with skateboarding for almost five decades. It will be there for many centuries to come. But just as important is the tremendous impact that his work had on my life. I did my best to pay homage to his vision of variety within skateboarding. I will always be grateful to Warren Bolster for sharing his vision with the world and with me.
It was so nice to see that Warren got inducted to the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2013.