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Classic longboard surfing at its finest filmed by Andrea Coleman.


There have always been amazingly talented women skateboarders but there’s no denying that Vans Pro and Tony Hawk protégé, Santa Monica's Lizzie Armanto, is one of the most groundbreaking ladies in skateboard history. Pouring sweat, skill, and creativity into full parts for both Thrasher Magazine and Birdhouse in 2017, she also became the first female to be featured on the cover of Transworld Skateboarding in addition to Thrasher cover honors. Armanto is also one of the leaders of a new onslaught of fierce women skaters making names for themselves in the Vans Park Series circuit.



If that’s not enough, she’s also the first female skater to successfully complete Tony Hawk’s 360 Loop, in addition to being featured as a primary character in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 video game. With over 30 awards on her mantle, along with the first-ever Gold in X-Games Womens Park competition in 2013, Lizzie’s path is paved in milestones and setting the tone for generations of women in skateboarding.

A true embodiment of Vans’ DNA, Lizzie Armanto is an icon of originality and positivity. With her down-to-earth, fashion-forward, barrier-breaking approach, it’s no wonder Lizzie has become a role model to skateboarders around the world.



Never one to remain complacent in her style both on and off the board, Lizzie’s fun approach is reflected in her latest collection with Vans, featuring the Old Skool Pro Lizzie Armanto and a signature apparel pack infused with Lizzie’s signature beating-heart graphic and positive messaging. The design takes cues from natural tones and wild terrain, according to Lizzie:



“My latest collection was inspired from a photo I took of a spring time California landscape, covered in plants and wildflowers.”

The Old Skool Pro Lizzie packs bold style and serious performance into a shoe for those who aspire to Lizzie’s arresting abilities on a skateboard. The shoe’s full-suede, antique-white upper with debossed Checkerboard combines with a translucent Sidestripe and a contrasting black rubber sole, creating a graceful aesthetic with a bit of attitude. Lizzie’s initials are debossed on the heelcup as well as printed alongside her signature beating-heart graphic on an olive-gold sockliner.

The shoe features PopCush, Vans’ brand-new, Pro-Skate-exclusive technology. A meticulously tuned foam recipe offers impact protection, superior cushioning, and better energy return for every type of skating. As the brand’s most progressive sockliner to date, PopCush is Vans’ standard best-in-class upgrade for skating longer and harder.



Original gum rubber compound offers superior grip and support, while Pro Vulc Lite construction provides ultimate boardfeel, flex, and grip. DURACAP reinforced underlays in high-wear areas add unrivaled durability and prolong the life of the shoe.



Accompanying the Lizzie’s Old Skool Pro is a line of signature apparel, including the Heart Lizzie baby tee in blue surf, legging in black, coaches jacket in antique white, backpack in antique white, sock in white, and hat in black. Lizzie’s signature beating-heart graphic can be found across the collection, from prominent placement on the baby tee to a more subtle nod on the inside front lining of the coaches jacket. A reminder to “skate with heart” is emblazoned on the legging’s interior waist band and backpack’s strap.



The Vans Old Skool Pro Lizzie Armanto Pack is now available at Vans retailers and vans.com/skate.








Athletes, coaches, and long time friends Ryan Schafer and Tully Chapman discuss a broad range of health and fitness related topics on their Bourbon And Balance Podcast

This week they interview Solo Scott from Venice Beach, California. Solo tells us his story about growing up in California, skateboarding and surfing, and eventually touring the world as a professional surfer. Listen to the podcast in the player below:






Looks like the rumors and fears of another lockdown may be true, the City OF Malibu just announced these closures:

"Due to current COVID-19 conditions, and to protect the health and safety of visitors and City staff, Malibu Bluffs Park and the Temporary Skate Park will temporarily close effective immediately."

"We hope to reopen the Skate Park as soon as possible, and apologize for the inconvenience this may cause to our local skaters."

"Due to the closure, we have suspended reservations through our online booking system, and all current reservations in the system have been canceled."


City Manager Reva Feldman told KBUU News that Sheriff's deputies have been called to Bluffs Park "multiple times every day to try and enforce the rules. Skaters are not following the limit of people allowed in the skate park (12 max) and are not leaving when asked by city staff."

"Parents are refusing to wear masks and continue to congregate."



For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE




Mike, aka German in Venice, heads up to Dogtown to check out the Friday night car meet.



According to the National Hurricane Center, Tropical Storm Cristina will become a hurricane on Friday.

Unfortunately, Cristina’s small size is the main thing preventing it from producing a swell of significance for SoCal. We should see some small waves, waist-high and below, at the south-southeast exposed spots by the end of the weekend.



Over in Atwater Village, vandals hit the Chevy Chase Skatepark over the July 4 weekend, smearing some of the ramps with black, slightly sticky substance and putting huge cracks in the lips of the skatepark.


“We are saddened about the vandalism that occurred over the Fourth of July weekend,” said Rose Watson from the Department of Recreation and Parks. “We are investigating while we assess the conditions for repair.”

Info and photos from Eastsider Reader
SurfAid has just uploaded a video from their 2018 SurfAid Cup event in Malibu. Perfect timing, due to the Coronavirus closures, we haven't had any recent events to feature.



On September 8, the SurfAid Cup Malibu 2018 saw super-fun waves roll down first point, and competitors took full advantage. Over $74,000 was raised for SurfAid's Mother and Child Health Programs, which make a huge difference to the lives of people in communities connected to us through surfing. SurfAid


More Patagonia looters have been caught. First, one of surfboard looters got arrested, now the looters that stole the safe out of the store have been arrested.

According to the press release, on July 3rd, 2020 Santa Monica Police Department Detectives from the Special Investigations Unit and officers from the Crime Impact Team served multiple search and arrests warrants at different locations in Los Angeles County related to the damage and looting of Patagonia located at 1344 4th Street on May 31st. Several suspects were able to remove a safe from the business. Detectives identified six suspects involved in the looting and theft of the safe.

Four suspects were arrested and booked for burglary, conspiracy and looting during a riot:
Ulises Alcantara JUAREZ DOB: 07-23-94 Male, Hispanic
Alfredo Fernando BELLO DOB: 06-07-96 Male, Hispanic
Yesenia Enriquez TEJADA DOB: 02-04-95 Female, Hispanic
Debbie LUJAN DOB: 10-15-96 Female, Hispanic


Evidence related to the looting, including the safe, were recovered and booked into evidence.

These arrests still do not excuse the fact that the Santa Monica Police allowed this to happen in the first place, and the fact that the Santa Monica Police Chief and several city council members blatantly lied about what happened.

For more of our coverage of the protests and looting in our beach communities, CLICK HERE