my mom's house 1993

this is me skating a long time ago. i was youngster.
my Mom is about the coolest person you could ever meet.
when she was broke in the in the mid 80's she was over renting in S.F.
she heard about an old iron works building in west oakland that was getting divided
up and rented out cheap. she was pretty punk at the time and the idea of having a huge raw space
to work with appealed to her. 3000-5000 square feet 60ft ceilings and an industrial bathroom was it.
the catch was....WEST OAKLAND..... it's still fairly rough there but at the time it was RUFF. the neighbors
threw bottles through my mom's door the first day we went there. i was scared. but she had big dreams
and my mom is tough. her boyfriend at the time skated an was my hero and my mom skated too so one of
the first things we did was build this vert ramp. all used or stolen wood. the ramp was big and gnarly but
kind of like a car with no third gear....once you got used to it you could tear it up. we loved it. it's where i
learned it all. my mom dropped in on it and her boyfriend terrorized it and everyone that came to skate it.
it was a one of the best times of my life. we made friends with the neighbors and got a lot of love out of
"lower bottom" oakland. thats my bedroom in the background and the kitchen above it. thanks MOM.
-ogden photo-