Santa Cruz: A Skateboarder's Paradise

When I moved to Santa Cruz in the mid-'60s it was a skateboarder's utopia. It was a destination that any discerning skater had to make a trip to. No cops. No hassles. Just skating and rad vibes, the way it was supposed to be. Not to mention the most righteous terrain on the planet. It seemed like it would last forever, but like any society built on a single premise, Santa Cruz started to decay, and what was once a skateboarder's paradise became a filthy beach ghetto. It's still all about the skating and not much else. That's probably why the city fell apart in the first place...—Terkin Von Knobske