DogTown: The Legend of the Z-Boys
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Book Reviews of DogTown: The Legend of the Z-Boys
Book Review: DOG DAYS
Summary: 5 Stars
NICE LITTLE BOOK WITH LOTS OF PICS OF THE DOGTOWN DAYS.MOST ARE OF JAY OR TONY.ALSO MOST ARE FROM OLD SKATEBOARDER MAGS.A SOLID PIECE OF WORK.THIS WILL BE A COLLECTORS ITEM.GET IT.Book Review: great book great memories
Summary: 5 Stars
this book is a unique account of the amazing skateboarding history. Many pictures that you will not find anywhere else.Book Review: Almost as good as having my old Skateboarders...
Summary: 4 Stars
Finally, collected in one hardback book are all of the "Dogtown" articles from the mid 70's Skateboarder magazine. What a treat!In their original incarnation, these articles (especially the single page "Who's Hot!")festooned the walls of my bedroom. Even if the originals hadn't disappeared over the years, most probably never survived the pillaging of their contents; thus, a hardback reprint is a treasure! But the real surprise is how well these articles were written.
Your average 13 year old skate nut is hardly a literary critic. So, I didn't really expect the articles themselves to still hold up nearly 30 years down the road. SURPRISE! They are extremely well-written, in a very adult voice. I'm amazed so many of us read these as young teens, they are really quite sophisticated. Whether Stecyk is writing as "John Smythe" or himself, his voice is intelligent and never descends to the "whoa, dude rad!" depths unless quoting a specific skater. The skaters themselves sound quite self-aware, and each has a distinctive attitude that comes thru, even in the first articles. Stacy Peralta is the proto-typical laid back SoCal surfer guy, into peace & inner-growth. Tony Alva is always & forever the rock star, fully into the babes & bling bling being thrown his way, but never losing sight of skating. Jay Adams is the unpredictable, mischievious imp, while Bob Biniack is thuggish & Wentzle Ruml is devil-may-care & funny.
Friedman's photos are awesome of course, & the color seperations & printing quality lavished on these photos is really impressive. This could have easily been a throw-away done for nostalgia or to cash in on the resurgence of "old school" skating, but instead someone took the time to do it right. The cover alone is a masterpiece of photo-reproduction. "The Legend of the Z-Boys" is a major bargain at this price.
Book Review: ********
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this book a couple of months ago and I constantly find myself going back to look at it. The pictures keep me in awe and the articles are fascinating. The one thing I don't like about the book is that although they acknowledge Peggy Oki's part in the Z-Boys Revolution they have almost no photographs of her. She was female skateboarding at that time. Other than that the book is fantastic and fascinating a great coffee table book but also a great read.Book Review: Not what I expected
Summary: 3 Stars
When I bought this book I expected a biography-type book, like the story of the Z-Boys. That's not really what this is. It's just a collection of articles written about skateboarding during their time. It also has some interviews with Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, and Jay, but the book is mostly about skateboarding during this time, not really about the Z-boys.
It does have a really good amount of photos of them though. So, if you are a skateboarder, this would be a good book, but for a fan of the Z-Boys, this might just be a disapointment.