DVD Review: Dogtown and Z-boys

Before Tony Hawk, before half-pipes, before skating swimming pools, skateboarding was considered a fad not unlike the yo-yo or hula-hoops. That all changed in the early seventies when a group of misfit kids from the wrong side of LA got together and started skateboarding after their daily surfing sessions.
Until then skateboarding was performed completely upright and was a display of balance and gymnastics. The Dogtown kids saw it as a way to surf when the tide was out, so they were emulating their favorite surfers getting low on a board and cutting across the waves. Instead of skating on flat streets the kids would find empty swimming pools, unused because of the severe drought happening at the time.
This documentary, done by Stacy Peralta, one of the original Z-Boys documents the life the kids lived, how they invented this new form of skating and how some of them eventually became millionaires for it. There are a ton of amazing photos and live action footage taken during the time and the editing, soundtrack (70's glam, Led Zep, Hendrix) and narration (by Sean Penn) is amazing.
Even if you have no interest in skateboarding, you will find yourself fascinated by the passion expressed by these guys about this time in their life. While it is about skateboarding, it really uses skateboarding to focus on the exuberant DIY/ Punk spirit that inspires so many of us.

Rating: Worth owning.