Dear Transworld

[Tear Up a Trick]

How could we help you get all your back issues available online like Thrasher does?

I'm sure a ton of people would really appreciate it

Is it a financial thing or legal something or other?

Let us know how we can help make this happen

I for one would be grateful in general, and am particularly looking for:

1) Picture of Qulon Douglas at Bubble Banks
2) Quarter page GSD ads with the banana puncture resistant wheels and "here son, a bowl of warm water"
3) Tom Groholski pro spotlight
4) Steve Rocco pro spotlight
5) Anything Britt Parrot, especially that article about painting over graffiti at spots to save the spot
6) everything else

If anyone else has any thoughts please contribute here

If they are already archived somewhere and I missed please forgive me and point me to the light

Thanks in advance

[assvogel]

Good news is I knew I had that Tom Groholski Pro Spotlight issues... bad news is that the photo's are prob in some kids bedroom in the 80's, so I can only offer you most of the interview. It's better than nothing I guess...







I got many Transworld issues from 89 forwards, so I'll need to see if I can find any of those other things you mentioned. But Transworld (or what's left of it) should put their back issues available, there's some crucial skate history there.

[natenola forever]

Lookback Library has extra copies of almost everything and sells them, if you know the issues you need you can get them there

[ChipSuey]

Wasn't there an episode of Letters that talked about the folks who were archiving all the old TWS mags?  Wonder what happened there.

[Murge]

I miss transworld kinda. I mean I preferred thrasher at the time but would still get transworld photography was great. Videos great. And thrasher is kinda bland now with out Jake

[Tear Up a Trick]

Good news is I knew I had that Tom Groholski Pro Spotlight issues... bad news is that the photo's are prob in some kids bedroom in the 80's, so I can only offer you most of the interview. It's better than nothing I guess...







I got many Transworld issues from 89 forwards, so I'll need to see if I can find any of those other things you mentioned. But Transworld (or what's left of it) should put their back issues available, there's some crucial skate history there.

Sick brother thank you have some gnar.  Really do appreciate your efforts.

And this perfectly illustrates what I'm talking about, cuz I never would have thought about that skinny Limpie's ad in the Groholski interview but it's sick to see, and that's why if the whole TWS canon were digitized we could just flip through and enjoy.  I did that will all of Thrasher a while back and it was amazing, memories and stuff I never knew and everything.

It's actually crazy to think that a bunch of mags are digitized but not TWS

[jgonzalez]

Been wondering if any databases have skate mags archived. Like pdfs on jstor or ebsco. Seems like UCLA would be the university to launch a project like that, or some so cal college. Any colleges have archives of skate mags? Maybe even a so cal city or county library? I know thru UC libraries you can search for and request physical copies of whatever is in the entire UC system to be sent to your respective library. I imagine other library networks are like that. Alas,  would need funding or someone to take on a passion project.

[camel filters]

Reynolds kf hollywood 16 was my first magazine ever. Would be amazing to have a chance to buy that one again.

[SquintinTarantino]

Lookback Library has extra copies of almost everything and sells them, if you know the issues you need you can get them there

Kevin at Lookback Library is so rad and love that he's preserving print media! Reached out to him on a whim years ago to see if he had a copy of a Thrasher from 99 that I was in the Photografitti section. He had multiple copies available, even ones signed by Kerry Getz, who was on the cover. Ended up hanging out w/ him a few times when he'd pass through my city. He's been putting out some pretty cool vids on youtube lately too.

[jakeumms]

Is the IP still owned by whoever owns Men's Health? I would imagine that would be the biggest hurdle.

[jakeumms]

^that's skateboarder, i'm pretty sure transworld is a skeleton crew of ~10 people at this point subsiding solely on mountain dew grants so i wouldn't anticipate much on their end

if you're serious about creating an online database of old mags and you live in southern california, your best bet is taking it into your own hands - hit up kevin at lookback and ask him for access to his archives to digitize and preserve

It's both then. When my TWS sub got cancelled with the mag, I was given Men's Health as a substitute with no other option.

I also never got my last issue of TWS from my sub so I never got to read the issue. I did get 3 copies of The Berrics #1 though so it kinda worked out.

[lickcakes]

Reynolds kf hollywood 16 was my first magazine ever. Would be amazing to have a chance to buy that one again.

same here, but i gave it away because i was decluttering my life and moving away from nostalgia. sorry i couldn't hook you up with that.

[Cool Ceith]

Expand Quote

^that's skateboarder, i'm pretty sure transworld is a skeleton crew of ~10 people at this point subsiding solely on mountain dew grants so i wouldn't anticipate much on their end

if you're serious about creating an online database of old mags and you live in southern california, your best bet is taking it into your own hands - hit up kevin at lookback and ask him for access to his archives to digitize and preserve

[close]

It's both then. When my TWS sub got cancelled with the mag, I was given Men's Health as a substitute with no other option.

I also never got my last issue of TWS from my sub so I never got to read the issue. I did get 3 copies of The Berrics #1 though so it kinda worked out.

Excellent writing in that issue.

[GAY]

TWS was the glossy, shiny Yang to Thrasher’s grimy Yin and I loved it. Wish I had kept all of my issues.

[j....soy.....]

It’s owned by motor trend maybe no?

[Mean salto]

Expand Quote

Reynolds kf hollywood 16 was my first magazine ever. Would be amazing to have a chance to buy that one again.

[close]

same here, but i gave it away because i was decluttering my life and moving away from nostalgia. sorry i couldn't hook you up with that.

Same too. It was basically my coffee table book for years but got to the point where it was completely falling apart, had pages torn out, had a million drinks spilled on it etc. That and the 2006 skateboarder with burnquist doing the corkscrew loop gap thing are two I have to get again.

[fernando the skater]

Steve Rooco interview Feb 88.

[fernando the skater]

[fernando the skater]

Don't have a scanner. Sorry.

[Cool Ceith]

When I read this Rocco interview as a kid, the "Gonz / not The Gonz" quote (and the half-Cab powerslide) were etched on my impressionable brain. I couldn't wait to correct people on proper "Gonz" usage.

[Trilogy]

That would be really cool, I was a big Transworld collector in the 90's but I lost all my magazines some years ago, so it would be a nice ride in through the memory lane.

[Wienerboy]

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It’s owned by motor trend maybe no?

[close]

It's now owned by some company that owns a bunch of other titles including Sports Illustrated. Kevin from Lookback would be the go-to guy, I heard he might have gotten some of the physical mags out of the office when the title was sold. They cleared everything out of that building I believe

I used to work at the company that bought Transworld, it's called American Media Incorporated (AMI).  I worked there from 2015 - 2016.  During my time there I learned that AMI is owned by a guy named David Pecker (not a joke) and that Pecker is friends with Trump, and thus wanted Trump to win the election. A guy that worked there also told me that no one really knows how Pecker funds this media agency that is obviously outdated and still uses print magazines. They have a lot of magazines in their repertoire, from fitness to sports to fashion to a lot of celebrity gossip, and of course, - get this - the National Enquirers, National Examiner, Globe, that type of bullshit.

Do you know who reads that type of stuff? Old people and dumb people, sorry to say. How do I know that? I read some of the mail coming into that place from readers. Seriously, a ton of it was batshit crazy. I also set up a google sheet with reader voicemail transcriptions and many of them were also fucked.

Anyways, this is all to say that AMI used their umbrella of influence (under the guise of a bunch of different magazines) to shill Trump to their readership before the 2016 election. I worked there while they were doing it and I was fired before it happened. The Associated Press reached out to me to talk about how AMI was "buying" stories about Trump and then intentionally killing them off. This is also true about Harvey Weinstein and AMI as well. If you do some digging you can see that they have been in legal trouble in the last few years.

I have a lot of stories from that place but all I can say is if a soulless corporation like AMI bought Transworld, then I'd be shocked if it was still around at all in 3 years.

Also I have all the issues from like '06 - '12 or something. I kept em preserved for years until Spring of this year, when I let my highschool art students loose on em for a collage project. It actually ended up being hilarious, seeing all this old skate shit in kids collages. Marc Johnson drinking beer in an ad, etc.

[jakeumms]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

It’s owned by motor trend maybe no?

[close]

It's now owned by some company that owns a bunch of other titles including Sports Illustrated. Kevin from Lookback would be the go-to guy, I heard he might have gotten some of the physical mags out of the office when the title was sold. They cleared everything out of that building I believe

[close]

I used to work at the company that bought Transworld, it's called American Media Incorporated (AMI).  I worked there from 2015 - 2016.  During my time there I learned that AMI is owned by a guy named David Pecker (not a joke) and that Pecker is friends with Trump, and thus wanted Trump to win the election. A guy that worked there also told me that no one really knows how Pecker funds this media agency that is obviously outdated and still uses print magazines. They have a lot of magazines in their repertoire, from fitness to sports to fashion to a lot of celebrity gossip, and of course, - get this - the National Enquirers, National Examiner, Globe, that type of bullshit.

Do you know who reads that type of stuff? Old people and dumb people, sorry to say. How do I know that? I read some of the mail coming into that place from readers. Seriously, a ton of it was batshit crazy. I also set up a google sheet with reader voicemail transcriptions and many of them were also fucked.

Anyways, this is all to say that AMI used their umbrella of influence (under the guise of a bunch of different magazines) to shill Trump to their readership before the 2016 election. I worked there while they were doing it and I was fired before it happened. The Associated Press reached out to me to talk about how AMI was "buying" stories about Trump and then intentionally killing them off. This is also true about Harvey Weinstein and AMI as well. If you do some digging you can see that they have been in legal trouble in the last few years.

I have a lot of stories from that place but all I can say is if a soulless corporation like AMI bought Transworld, then I'd be shocked if it was still around at all in 3 years.

Also I have all the issues from like '06 - '12 or something. I kept em preserved for years until Spring of this year, when I let my highschool art students loose on em for a collage project. It actually ended up being hilarious, seeing all this old skate shit in kids collages. Marc Johnson drinking beer in an ad, etc.

Yeah catch and kill was a big story. I have a screenwriter bud who worked there after that story broke and I absolutely gave him shit for taking the job. He did have a mortgage to pay though

[Tear Up a Trick]

Steve Rooco interview Feb 88.

Really appreciate the effort my friend, thanks so much.

The fact that these pages are the only place this interview is available (?) online in 2023 is reprehensible.  Men's Health should be ashamed of themselves.  If they have an office in midtown I would like to organize a protest.