Jesse Martinez vividly remembers the first time he saw a jump ramp. “[It] was somewhere around ’82 or ’83. I went out to my grandma’s house out in Simi Valley to visit her. I just skated around town and I came across these guys skating a ramp. I said ‘Whoa! These guys are jumping off a ramp over there.” Turns out one of the skaters’ fathers had built it for him. Martinez spent the day trying it out, then returned two days later and offered to buy the ramp. The owner refused. So: “I wasn’t the straightest person back then, so I went back to the dude’s house later that night, and there it was on the side of the house. I flipped it over, put it on my skateboard, and rolled it back to my grandma’s pad.”
Luckily for all concerned, Martinez brought it back the very next day.
At the time, skateboarding was considered a dying art; the boarders were just emulating their surfin’ compadres. But Martinez kept at it, practicing both ramps jumps and wall kickturns. One day, he had his eureka moment: “Why don’t I put this ramp against the wall and try it?” He tried it, did it, and liked it. Pretty soon, his SMA partner Natas Kaupas and an assortment of Dogtowners were rehearsing their wall moves.
The next step was to unveil their new trick in public. Martinez, Kaupas, and the Dogtowners hit up an Arizona skateboarding contest, shortly after jump ramps had been added to the competition. Martinez recalls what happened when he grabbed a ramp and slid it up against a wall: “[All] these local guys were like ‘Hey, what are you doing!?’ I told them, ‘Wait a minute…watch.’ I went and I hit it, bam! When I turned to look back, all 30 of them were just standing there in amazement…wondering ‘What the hell did this guy just do?’ It was a barrage of guys crashing into the wall for the rest of the day.”
That original ramp would serve Martinez well one last time, in 1985, when he was photographed using it for a wall kickturn. The picture would wind up in a Powell ad that appeared in TWS magazine in ‘86. Unfortunately, Martinez left the ramp there to go on a six-month tour, and when he got back, someone else had taken it – ironically enough. “It was a sad day, but it served its purpose. After the photos, it was labeled as one of the first actual jump ramps that started everything off there…Whoever stole it, bring it back – I’m still here at the beach.”
I remember seeing this in Transworld Skateboarding magazine in 1986 or so in Melbourne, Australia. We made jump ramps out of anything we could find from then on including supermarket crates. those were the days. vive Natas Kaupus…
Bullshit, ramps simply evolved. This asshat didn’t really invent anything, as he attempts to hint. I was on a skateboard in the early 70′s being pulled by my cousin on a bike with a rope, (like a water-skier, which I was.) in LA, he’d BOTH go over a crude ramp made from a board and couple of bricks we found.
back in the day
Love it. Skate history 101.
G
I had one of these ramps built in 1978, much higher with a perfect transition to vert. I can send you a photo, if you like.
Chris Thatcher: Sure man. Send this pic to all of the internets. Surely this will validate your meaningless life and make you feel important. No one fucking cares.
Ramps have gotten a hell of alot better over the years, but yea I get your point. Skateboarding would have given way years ago if the wall wasn’t incorporated into the list of things to thrash
The next logical step (incorporating the Y axis to its fullest extent) in the evolution of skateboarding.
great story! goes to show that skateboarding is all about passion and creativity. and now I feel the urge to skate…
Fuck yeah, Jesse is the man. Great article.
“I’m no pro, I just skate, don’t know how I get the money, it’s a miracle.”
wow..thts intense. i skate all the time and im 14. but ive tryed a wallride once or twice. you are a genius for inventing what you id. you helped the evolution of ske=ateboarding. good job. i was the kid in ccs magazine doing a tre flip double flip down a 12 set. i landed it. my greatest accomplishment. i beat ryan sheckler in a game of skate at the fantasy factory too. im pretty good. weell thanks anyways.
I REMEMBER YOI JEREMYFROPITTSBURGH!!! I WAS THERE WHEN YOU BEAT RYAN. i was with the photographer when you landed the tre flip too. your a hero man. a fucking hero. you should go pro.