Guy Lochhead, 05/10/10
Pioneering skateboard company founded by Venice Beach lifeguard Larry Stevenson in 1963. He hand-made Makaha skateboards in his garage in Santa Monica that soon became popular with big-time local surfers, which led to him assembling the first pro “exhibition team” and making the first pro deck ever – the 1963 Makaha Phil Edwards. In the late-’60s, Stevenson lead the way in producing single- and double-kicktail boards that completely changed the way skateboarding developed. According to the Makaha website, he was awarded the patent for kicktailed boards in 1971. He’s still active in the company, which continues to make those old-style “SURF SKATE”s. The development of this company seems to come a lot from profiteering – patenting single- and double-kicktail boards can hardly be seen as beneficial to a fair growth of skateboard manufacturing. I don’t feel good about this, so I won’t include it. Skateboarding existed before Makaha, exists during it, and will after it too.