More D.I.Y. from Birmingham.... This was a zine that we made back in 1998. SteelCity zine was a skate zine that came from the minds of myself, Tom Bagby (skate history guru), and Niles Armstrong (the artsy skate guy). I guess I was keyed into the skate stuff and taking a ton of photos of the local skateboarders, while Tom brought the wisdom and knowledge to the table, and Niles brought out the creativity.
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| Cover by Tom Bagby |
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To make a unique zine that people would actually keep, we decided to make 72 different covers for the issue. Each zine was hand numbered and uniquely made by many local skaters here in Birmingham.
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| The editors of Steel City Zine (Tom Bagby, Peter Karvonen, and Niles Armstrong) |
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| DJ Morgan crooked grinds while Ben Gilley spins a frontside 360 over the pyramid hip. |
The Ghetto Banks were the hot spot back in 1998. The projects were all closed down for renovation so we of course decided to build a DIY slab spot. The area had a pyramid w/ box (pictured above), wedge ramps to rails, a large bank ramp, and several quarterpipes.
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| Paco boardsliding a bike rack we stole from a school in Homewood |
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Like with any skate scene, there are several factors that can ruin it or keep it alive. This was a write up by Niles Armstrong on what he saw and felt about Birmingham's decaying skate scene.
Now for the end of this History lesson... there is a test! Tom Bagby of legendary skate wisdom had this quiz in Steel City... If anybody out there can answer all questions correctly even now in 2013... I will give them a free skateboard deck from Faith Skate Supply.
