Did 9/11 Change Skateboarding?

[Tear Up a Trick]

How do you think skateboarding was affected by September 11th, 2001?

Harder to carry your board on the plane?

Spots that were chill suddenly were a bust with added security?

PTSD or psychological issues?

Did anybody experience anything like this?

This makes me think of a spot we used to skate on a government property that was amazingly low drama as far as security was concerned.  That obviously changed after 9/11 and that was a bummer because it was one of the few spots you could skate on a rainy day.

RIP to those we lost that day, and sincere thoughts to those who are still hurting

https://quartersnacks.com/2021/09/in-memoriam-the-oral-history-of-the-twin-towers-in-skate-photos-part-2/

[Lord Viper Scorpion]

i'll be honest, i get a little choked up when i think about all the skateboarders that died in 911

[Loki700]

It definitely made skaters need to post a topic twice, something I never saw coming.

[TastyBurrito]

i'll be honest, i get a little choked up when i think about all the skateboarders that died in 911

Running into the rubble, using their razortail to pry wedged chunks of building off of each other with hopes of freeing those caught into the destruction.

[ok boomer]

A lot of pros have talked about board sales (and checks) changing immediately after 9/11. I've never really understood why though? Anyone have a theory or in the know?

[Lord Viper Scorpion]

amerikkka was caught completely with it's pants down and had a panic attack, basically went on lockdown and then started a war - it completely fucked the supply chain

[ChuckRamone]

It caused some dudes in the scene to get super patriotic and support shitty wars.

[ndsr]

A lot of pros have talked about board sales (and checks) changing immediately after 9/11. I've never really understood why though? Anyone have a theory or in the know?

I was a buyer for a chain of shops in the Midwest.  We actually had a decent point of sale system and I would compare sales week to week/ month to month on prior years.  We had been using the system since 98 so we had more than 3 years of records to review.  The October after 9/11 we were 50% down  in hardgood sales.  When the entire country thinks terrorists are going to attack at any minute because they were able to take out the twin towers in the United States largest city,  kickflip Timmy doesn’t get a new deck.  I saw the same shit happen to shops when I was sales rep in the 2008 financial crisis.

[DannyDee]

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A lot of pros have talked about board sales (and checks) changing immediately after 9/11. I've never really understood why though? Anyone have a theory or in the know?

[close]

I was a buyer for a chain of shops in the Midwest.  We actually had a decent point of sale system and I would compare sales week to week/ month to month on prior years.  We had been using the system since 98 so we had more than 3 years of records to review.  The October after 9/11 we were 50% down  in hardgood sales.  When the entire country thinks terrorists are going to attack at any minute because they were able to take out the twin towers in the United States largest city,  kickflip Timmy doesn’t get a new deck.  I saw the same shit happen to shops when I was sales rep in the 2008 financial crisis.

I also feel this was followed/compounded by the rise of more blanks and shop decks. But, yeah, that would explain the recession, but not really how pro board sales never really recovered. It was likely one of many factors.

[Lenny the Fatface]

I remember in some interview Todd Jordan said that his zoo ad- the nollie 180 down the stair set- was a bitch to make because New Yorkers were still paranoid and thought the heavily echoed bail sounds were explosion.

In another interview Bobby Worrest said all of DC was practically bust free on 9-11 because everyone was focused on the attacks.

[DaleSr]

It caused some dudes in the scene to get super patriotic and support shitty wars.

And somewhere our bravest little patriot Sinner shed a single tear

[Tear Up a Trick]

It definitely made skaters need to post a topic twice, something I never saw coming.

Might have been a shadow

[ndsr]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

A lot of pros have talked about board sales (and checks) changing immediately after 9/11. I've never really understood why though? Anyone have a theory or in the know?

[close]

I was a buyer for a chain of shops in the Midwest.  We actually had a decent point of sale system and I would compare sales week to week/ month to month on prior years.  We had been using the system since 98 so we had more than 3 years of records to review.  The October after 9/11 we were 50% down  in hardgood sales.  When the entire country thinks terrorists are going to attack at any minute because they were able to take out the twin towers in the United States largest city,  kickflip Timmy doesn’t get a new deck.  I saw the same shit happen to shops when I was sales rep in the 2008 financial crisis.

[close]

I also feel this was followed/compounded by the rise of more blanks and shop decks. But, yeah, that would explain the recession, but not really how pro board sales never really recovered. It was likely one of many factors.

I agree but at the time of 9/11 we were already sourcing our own shop decks USA made and selling more than 500 per quarter before 9/11 after we were ordering every other quarter.  China wood blanks came on strong more around 03/04

[EXTRA SPICY]

Got drop this one here.

[pro club blanks]

Idk dog times were weird

Zero made that dumbass osama bin laden board, I guess having someone on a board is supposed to be disrespectful
 
Except when they put jesus on them

[Síota]

Forsure the carrying a board on changed. It was no problem before that bullshit. I've even got hassled for trucks/wheels in my carry on bag..I haven't been ever allowed a deck as a carry on since.

[Mr.Jenkins]

Only implications for me would be tighter airportsecurity.

I would never had gotten to skate in Afghanistan for sure of 9/11 ever happend though - I do wish there was something more positive that had opened that door though of course

[Mean salto]

I think Tim O'Connor said in his podcast as soon as 9/11 happened his pay dropped dramatically.

[newguy]

The photography included in this article is stunning wow. 9/11 imagery and footage is surreal, seeing something so massive drop like a house of cards, all that smoke and debris. I was barely a year old when it went down, and we only learned about it when we were like 15, so for the longest time adults would speak about this horrible tragedy and when you asked they only said « it changed everything » and « one day you’ll see about it in school ». The info in this thread really puts that « everything changed » saying in perspective now.

[ok boomer]

So on 9/11 I woke up turned my TV on and the first plane had already hit. Had the volume down so I didn't know what this was. It was on every channel so I turned it up. Then saw the 2nd plane hit within a few minutes. Shit blew my mind. My brother's stupid girlfriend was living with us at the time - I walked out and she was watching this in the living room. I was not understanding how heavy this was yet. So I started smoking bowls on my deck for the next hour. Called my dudes to see what was up, and said "let's go skate, cops won't fuck with us today!" , which in hindsight I regret a lot because I was just thinking about myself at the time (still did not realize how big this was yet, and have felt shitty about it ever since).
         2001-2003 were really shitty for me personally not that this is a good "excuse ". My girlfriend at the time was a full blown heroin addict and my dad was at peak drug addiction at the same time. I also was fucked up during this. Anyway, my girl was in a halfway house at the time, but my dad came home and watched the news for hours shaking his head. I had about 4 bowl sessions this day,  just kinda not knowing what to do or think. I recall my dad putting an American flag sticker on his truck the next day though.
          Also, within 4 months of this, my dad was dead and the girl went to prison (within 2 days of each other). I kept fucking around for a year, but then never touched hard drugs again. I quit skating for most of 2003 due to depression/ drug withdrawal I guess. Then in 2004 just woke up one day and started skating again.

[ChrisSennsGirlfriend]

I think Tim O'Connor said in his podcast as soon as 9/11 happened his pay dropped dramatically.

Probably says more about Tim O'Connor's value to a company in late 2001 than it does about the long reverberating effects of 9/11 on an industry.

[DannyDee]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

A lot of pros have talked about board sales (and checks) changing immediately after 9/11. I've never really understood why though? Anyone have a theory or in the know?

[close]

I was a buyer for a chain of shops in the Midwest.  We actually had a decent point of sale system and I would compare sales week to week/ month to month on prior years.  We had been using the system since 98 so we had more than 3 years of records to review.  The October after 9/11 we were 50% down  in hardgood sales.  When the entire country thinks terrorists are going to attack at any minute because they were able to take out the twin towers in the United States largest city,  kickflip Timmy doesn’t get a new deck.  I saw the same shit happen to shops when I was sales rep in the 2008 financial crisis.

[close]

I also feel this was followed/compounded by the rise of more blanks and shop decks. But, yeah, that would explain the recession, but not really how pro board sales never really recovered. It was likely one of many factors.

[close]

I agree but at the time of 9/11 we were already sourcing our own shop decks USA made and selling more than 500 per quarter before 9/11 after we were ordering every other quarter.  China wood blanks came on strong more around 03/04

Agreed, it's more how it never recovered when in theory it should have been a slight blip. I've heard the Alien/Habitat guys talking about how their checks never recovered and their primary income by a large margin from that point on were shoe deals (I believe Kalis and Kerry have both commented on this). Whereas pre-9/11 they were seeing huge checks.

I could be wrong, but I feel pre-2002 you could make a decent living just off board sales if you are on like Crail or Soverign sect. After that if you didn't want to live like a skatebum or live like a broke college student you needed a shoe check (or now contests or energy drinks).

[newguy]

So on 9/11 I woke up turned my TV on and the first plane had already hit. Had the volume down so I didn't know what this was. It was on every channel so I turned it up. Then saw the 2nd plane hit within a few minutes. Shit blew my mind. My brother's stupid girlfriend was living with us at the time - I walked out and she was watching this in the living room. I was not understanding how heavy this was yet. So I started smoking bowls on my deck for the next hour. Called my dudes to see what was up, and said "let's go skate, cops won't fuck with us today!" , which in hindsight I regret a lot because I was just thinking about myself at the time (still did not realize how big this was yet, and have felt shitty about it ever since).
         2001-2003 were really shitty for me personally not that this is a good "excuse ". My girlfriend at the time was a full blown heroin addict and my dad was at peak drug addiction at the same time. I also was fucked up during this. Anyway, my girl was in a halfway house at the time, but my dad came home and watched the news for hours shaking his head. I had about 4 bowl sessions this day,  just kinda not knowing what to do or think. I recall my dad putting an American flag sticker on his truck the next day though.
          Also, within 4 months of this, my dad was dead and the girl went to prison (within 2 days of each other). I kept fucking around for a year, but then never touched hard drugs again. I quit skating for most of 2003 due to depression/ drug withdrawal I guess. Then in 2004 just woke up one day and started skating again.

That was hard to read, wow. Sorry for your dad, inspiring that you kept skating after all those rough years. How’s life now?

[Miller92]

9/11 was a very strange transcendent event in the US. 

I would go as far as to say that the United States experienced a loss of innocence surrounding literally everything.  From our politics to our civil liberties, to our global engagement in world policing, to our untouchable global persona...I think the people that watched it happen on tv and who were around during that time can attest that it's almost like the US worldview is dichotomized into "pre 9/11" and "post 9/11"

The ripple effect it's had on this country will be understated for another 20 years. 

It's a strange, tragic, fascinating event.  I wish the younger generation could understand a little better the magnitude of what happened. 

[ndsr]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

A lot of pros have talked about board sales (and checks) changing immediately after 9/11. I've never really understood why though? Anyone have a theory or in the know?

[close]

I was a buyer for a chain of shops in the Midwest.  We actually had a decent point of sale system and I would compare sales week to week/ month to month on prior years.  We had been using the system since 98 so we had more than 3 years of records to review.  The October after 9/11 we were 50% down  in hardgood sales.  When the entire country thinks terrorists are going to attack at any minute because they were able to take out the twin towers in the United States largest city,  kickflip Timmy doesn’t get a new deck.  I saw the same shit happen to shops when I was sales rep in the 2008 financial crisis.

[close]

I also feel this was followed/compounded by the rise of more blanks and shop decks. But, yeah, that would explain the recession, but not really how pro board sales never really recovered. It was likely one of many factors.

[close]

I agree but at the time of 9/11 we were already sourcing our own shop decks USA made and selling more than 500 per quarter before 9/11 after we were ordering every other quarter.  China wood blanks came on strong more around 03/04

[close]

Agreed, it's more how it never recovered when in theory it should have been a slight blip. I've heard the Alien/Habitat guys talking about how their checks never recovered and their primary income by a large margin from that point on were shoe deals (I believe Kalis and Kerry have both commented on this). Whereas pre-9/11 they were seeing huge checks.

I could be wrong, but I feel pre-2002 you could make a decent living just off board sales if you are on like Crail or Soverign sect. After that if you didn't want to live like a skatebum or live like a broke college student you needed a shoe check (or now contests or energy drinks).

You sir are correct!

[newguy]

9/11 was a very strange transcendent event in the US. 

I would go as far as to say that the United States experienced a loss of innocence surrounding literally everything.  From our politics to our civil liberties, to our global engagement in world policing, to our untouchable global persona...I think the people that watched it happen on tv and who were around during that time can attest that it's almost like the US worldview is dichotomized into "pre 9/11" and "post 9/11"

The ripple effect it's had on this country will be understated for another 20 years. 

It's a strange, tragic, fascinating event.  I wish the younger generation could understand a little better the magnitude of what happened.

I was born in 2001 and an Adam Curtis documentary made in 2016 titled HyperNormalization opened my eyes on this event, and what it actually started, and it’s relation to the world we live in today. I don’t think it’s understated today though, simplified maybe but understated is exaggerated in my opinion. Or at least it feels exaggerated from the perspective of someone who grew up in Europe and Asia, we were taught that this event completely shifted the paradigm, and that documentary by Adam Curtis really put the puzzle pieces into place. Seems like people are only really starting to look at the more complex after effects of this attack now. It must have been so surreal to watch this happen live on TV. To see the wheels of time move before your eyes, so weird.

[ndsr]

So on 9/11 I woke up turned my TV on and the first plane had already hit. Had the volume down so I didn't know what this was. It was on every channel so I turned it up. Then saw the 2nd plane hit within a few minutes. Shit blew my mind. My brother's stupid girlfriend was living with us at the time - I walked out and she was watching this in the living room. I was not understanding how heavy this was yet. So I started smoking bowls on my deck for the next hour. Called my dudes to see what was up, and said "let's go skate, cops won't fuck with us today!" , which in hindsight I regret a lot because I was just thinking about myself at the time (still did not realize how big this was yet, and have felt shitty about it ever since).
         2001-2003 were really shitty for me personally not that this is a good "excuse ". My girlfriend at the time was a full blown heroin addict and my dad was at peak drug addiction at the same time. I also was fucked up during this. Anyway, my girl was in a halfway house at the time, but my dad came home and watched the news for hours shaking his head. I had about 4 bowl sessions this day,  just kinda not knowing what to do or think. I recall my dad putting an American flag sticker on his truck the next day though.
          Also, within 4 months of this, my dad was dead and the girl went to prison (within 2 days of each other). I kept fucking around for a year, but then never touched hard drugs again. I quit skating for most of 2003 due to depression/ drug withdrawal I guess. Then in 2004 just woke up one day and started skating again.

I’m glad you were able to let skating help you. Respect

[Pappy Jones]

9/11 was a very strange transcendent event in the US. 

I would go as far as to say that the United States experienced a loss of innocence surrounding literally everything.  From our politics to our civil liberties, to our global engagement in world policing, to our untouchable global persona...I think the people that watched it happen on tv and who were around during that time can attest that it's almost like the US worldview is dichotomized into "pre 9/11" and "post 9/11"

The ripple effect it's had on this country will be understated for another 20 years. 

It's a strange, tragic, fascinating event.  I wish the younger generation could understand a little better the magnitude of what happened.

Agreed with all of this. Based on your username I’m assuming you were born in ‘92. I was too. Pre and post 9/11 is most definitely a common concept and lens people look through.

For most Americans, life leading up to the end of the century was generally pretty care free. It was a time of boredom and economic stability. In film, the year 1999 is even referred to as the year of the “cubicle movie”. Tons of movies came out that year depicting bored office workers who were suddenly introduced into entirely new worlds. The Matrix, Fight Club, Being John Malcovich, American Beauty, and even Office Space. All 1999. Life was “easy” and people craved an escape.

Now compare that to the post 9/11 world. And everything else that has followed whether related or not. Including the steep rise in the effects of climate change. The younger kids don’t really understand. But the same could be said of other major events. Imagine living through WWII, especially in Europe. Or more importantly, the effects 9/11 had on Tim O’ Connor’s paychecks.

[DannyDee]

9/11 was a very strange transcendent event in the US. 

I would go as far as to say that the United States experienced a loss of innocence surrounding literally everything.  From our politics to our civil liberties, to our global engagement in world policing, to our untouchable global persona...I think the people that watched it happen on tv and who were around during that time can attest that it's almost like the US worldview is dichotomized into "pre 9/11" and "post 9/11"

The ripple effect it's had on this country will be understated for another 20 years. 

It's a strange, tragic, fascinating event.  I wish the younger generation could understand a little better the magnitude of what happened.

I feel it was felt pretty universally (especially among NATO allies and the Middle East). As one of the United States closest allies we ended up in Afghanistan with you due to NATO agreements (we would have anyway), Canadian media is probably more influenced by American news media than any other country in the world (probably the largest country to share a border with a country which speaks the same language outside of Quebec). People in Toronto were absolutely freaked out about a plane potentially hitting the CN Tower or First Canadian Place or a subway bomb, and I know it led to knew policies within the big banking buildings. It also led to it being much harder to easily cross the border since we incorrectly got blamed by some for the terrorists coming through Canada like the attempted Millenium Bomber.

I remember watching the towers fall on TV and the smoking pentagon in middle school at like 13. Over the previous years, I'd seen both in person (just the outside), since most easy interesting city trips from Toronto are in the States.

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

2007-8 financial crisis i think impacted skating more....