Dec 13, 2016
If you are a follower of skateboarding history, you should be familiar with the film The Search for Animal Chin. The classic video featuring the legendary Bones Brigade skateboarding team made up of Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, MIke McGill, Tommy McGill, Lance Mountain, and Tommy Guerrero, documented by Powell Peralta, turns 30 years old. It is widely considered the most successful skateboarding video of all-time.
The video includes footage of the group skating in California, Nevada, and Hawaii in search for a wise old man named Won Ton “Animal Chin.” The video is always combined with a road-trip narrative, catapulting the crew into stardom. This video can also be credited with the beginning of the most iconic skateboarder of all-time, Tony Hawk.
What came out of the video was one of the most legendary ramps of all-time, even if it was destroyed three days later. When asked about the original Animal Chin ramp, Tony Hawk went on to say “The original Chin ramp wasn’t the dream scenario. The ramp was so busy that it was kind of hard to focus on tricks. And we were expected to do our hardest stuff. So we had to figure out how to ride that vert spine – they didn’t exist beyond four feet high before then. It was up to us. No one was going to teach us how to do it. That was a bit daunting, but in that respect, I loved skating the ramp. We skated it for a total of three days and then they tore it down.”
The Search For Animal Chin was more than just a skate film, as it represented a branding and marketing breakthrough for the sport. It jump started skateboarding into the mainstream, even if the X-Games weren’t created until eight years later. As the film turns 30 years old, the Brigade got back together and recreated the ramp that they owe their careers to.
Check this video out.