Did Drought Play a Role in the Golden Age of Skateboarding?

Hugh Holland’s new book, Local Only: California Skateboarding 1975-1978 unfolds like a glorious photo album of a bygone era. Kids and teens with long hair shred through concrete with summer abandon. The photographer notes that the dry conditions of the state during that time may have contributed to the subcultures rise.

According to Bored Panda, “The drought that hit California in the 1970s helped catalyze skateboard culture’s popularity. Swimming pools and drainage ditches lay empty and dry, allowing kids to carve them up with their skateboards, some of which were simply coarse wooden boards with wheels—a far cry from today’s laminated creations.”

You can preview Holland’s book here.