First 540 ever filmed? | Del Mar Skateboard Ranch (Part 1/2) | 1984

This is raw skateboarding footage from the Summer of 1984 at the Del Mar Skate Ranch in San Diego, California. It was filmed within just a couple nights prior to the annual major NSA contest they held at the park every summer. Having just returned from a tour in Sweden, where he adapted the trick, herein are McGill's first 540 attempts stateside. Surely it was pretty hard to translate such a gnarly trick from a perfect wooden ramp to an imperfect concrete bowl; jet lag aside.


Mike does land a four-down 540 #mctwist sliding out at the bottom somewhere in this footy; but I do wanna give Mr. Lester Kasai his due because he was actually the first person to consistently land a 540 at Del Mar and ride out his run (unfortunately not in this vid). All such observations are according to my brother and I, but we were just Resevoir-Rats that got dropped off at 'open' and picked-up at 'close' almost every day ... so what do we know?! : P

The #540 McTwist was absolutely mind-bending at the time and pretty much single-handedly pushed skateboarding into the future. Stacy Perelta surely gets coach-creds too!

** Also in this video: Christian Hosoi, Lester Kasai, Kevin Staab, Steve Steadham, Neil Blender, Dan Wilkes, John Gibson (just hanging out w/ Christian), Chris Miller, Ken Loose Nut Park, Eric Grisham, Joe Johnson, Luis Espinoza, Bill Danforth, Jeff Grosso (RIP), Chris Black, Eric Juden, Cory Federman(?), Pinky, and many more (w/ YOUR help). Please leave a hello or any heads-up in the comments. **


Rest in peace dad.
GOD BLESS!!!