-----In the early seventies when sidewalk surfing had
pretty much petered out, but eutrothane wheels had yet
to be introduced, there was one kid who just wouldn't
give it up. He went EVERYWHERE on his skateboard! He
just never got off. His name was Ali (his real name, but
I always thought it was Ollie since I usually heard it
pronounced with the accent on the first sylable) and
he lived with his mother on the oceanfront walk next
to the Lafayette Restaurant in a storefront with lots
of greenery and potted plants in the window. ( It's
hard to realize now that in those days the great
majority of Venice commercial units were empty and
some were being used as residential. Windward Avenue
was a ghost town. Even the sidewalk cafe was an empty
hulk).I didn't know Ali (though Dennis did) but I
admired his utter devotion to what seemed at he time
to be an utterly hopeless cause,.....I didn't take
pictures then( didn't have a camera) and this one
picture here is of him as an observer at the Marina
Skatepark. He may have played a part in the re-ignited
craze, but I didn't see much of him and my speculation
is that he wanted to move on with his life, I've seen
lots of speculation as to it's origin ,but me, I've
always wondered if the trick was named after the
little guy who seemed to have a skateboard glued to
his feet