Portrait: ATP Snaps
It's been 27 years since Lucy Adams and skateboarding first crossed West Sussex paths, and across those now almost three decades, Lucy has seen, done, and accomplished more than many could dream of. Furthermore, locked away safely somewhere in her Horsham base, she has the momento-filled 'special box' (though I feel it may actually be a small fleet of boxes) to prove it.
In between traveling the globe, filming a whole catalogue of video parts, racking up interviews in every magazine worth its salt, and generally being the most positive and enthusiastic representative of skateboarding you could hope to meet, Lucy has understandably squirrelled away a whole manner of unique keepsakes. For our latest round of Self Storage, it made perfect sense to ask Lucy to bring forth a handful of her most cherished skate-related possessions. Granted, the timing of us embarking upon this venture of curiosity wasn't the best - our initial conversations started the week before Lucy's second child was due - but whilst now being a twice certified rad mum, she's more than come through with some decade-spanning skate nerd gold. Have a scroll below to see exactly what curiosities Lucy has hand chosen for you...
Gallaz Bouncy Ball
Gallaz was a sister company to Globe - ‘Footwear for Females’! The skate team consisted of some heavyweights including Jaime Reyes and Vanessa Torres, and I was so keen to try and get some and represent. I used to pester Matt Pritchard ,calling him up at Double Overhead Distribution. It was based in Wales and I loved calling just to hear whoever answer say “hallooo Double Overhead” in the thickest Welsh accent. Anyway, Pritch was rad and sent me quite a few bits as soon as the brand landed in the UK. The point of sale bits were always awesome; I remember having a beach ball, an inflatable cushion, and this bouncy ball was one I kept in the ‘special box’. This must’ve been really early on as it changed from Gallas to Gallaz pretty quick. Forever stoked to have had that support, and to ride that Jaime Reyes pro shoe.
G97 Wristband
I’d started skateboarding in the summer of 1997 because I’d seen Crawley Skatepark being built from the window of the swimming pool I was a Club Swimmer at. I hadn’t done too much skating yet but I had made my dad buy me a new setup, and had an Alien Workshop T-shirt that I never took off. One night in July before training, I was at the skatepark with my dad and there were some pretty decent skaters there that clearly weren’t local. As usual, for my dad, he struck up a conversation with them… “You’re a bit handy, aren’t you?” he said to them. They explained they were in town for a big skate competition at Wembley at the weekend. Dad and I found out it was Generation 97 and managed to get two tickets for the Sunday. Off we went to London and I got to witness the best thing I think I ever saw! I only knew a few skaters from the one issue of Sidewalk I’d read prior, but now I had new faves in Chad Muska and Daewon Song. I also learned that the lads my dad was talking to at Crawley Skatepark were Ali Boulala, Alex Moul and Geoff Rowley! What a time!
John Cardiel Travelcard
11th May 2003 - the Vans ‘Pleased to Meet You’ World Tour was hitting Playstation and me and a few mates were buzzing to be at the demo. It was still kinda demo primetime and I’d managed to see a few powerful ones under the Westway in Ladbroke Grove. This was beastly - (Jim) Greco, (Dustin) Dollin, Rowley and a young but ever-so-steezy Evan Hernandez were all out in full force. We managed to get a good position up on the top nearest the tube tracks and saw the really special Cardiel frontside annihilation of the tall driveway ledge including frontside noseslide and frontside bluntslide. I remember that thing seeming shoulder height back then. Anyway, once the demo was over, we did as all skate rats would and rushed over to get stuff signed. Well, I never took much on a Playstation trip because of all the rumours about getting robbed between the station and the park, so all I had was my Travelcard! A very decent Cardiel keepsake.
DVS Huf Runners
I was always a huge Huf (Keith Hufnagel) fan because, as well as just being a powerful skateboarder that looked great doing it, I liked that his shoe was always in a runner style. I loved DVS Prophets and skated quite a few pairs, but these Huf Runners were sick. I had another colourway that was lighter and tried to keep them as chillers, but so badly had the urge to skate them. When I went to buy another pair the and the only ones left in my size were this black and purple colourway. I have a rule, ‘no black shoes’, and I don’t tend to indulge in purple much, but this one was too dope to be missed. I treasure them. RIP Huf.
VHS Tape
My bezzie Lex Kembery was always a whizz at the old tech. He was the first of us to get a decent camera and he turned his hand at both film and photography piece of piss. He was the one that bought the fair share of skate vids and then did us all a massive favour and copied them (I’m sure we all said we’d split the costs). This one I came across is an absolute belter… The old JVC 180 mins featuring RDS FSU, Osiris Subject to Change and last but deffo not least, the Andy Evans masterpiece As If! Check those time stamps for handy FFWD action.
Airblade
My old mate Pritch again to thank for this one! Me, him and Natt Davies doing the motion capture for a Hovercraft Playstation game was wild! We were in that lycra all in sub-zero temps, but if one of the little ping-pong ball thingies fell or got knocked off, everything would have to be reset. I remember we had to film the character select scenes and I had to do a hair toss and check my nails - yep, feeling good as hell! Anyways, it was a good laugh and felt like I was Elissa Steamer in the making of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater game for a couple of days - epic!
Individual Skate Store
In Y2K I convinced my dad and his business partner (they owned a Butchers shop in West Sussex!) to open a skate shop in my hometown of Horsham. Basically a dream come true, we poached Trevor Wedd from Streetalk in Redhill (nearest sort of skate shop) to come and manage the shop, and we had a great few years in the little haven on Queen Street. In the picture you can see our very own carrier bags and labels that stoked out a 16 year old skater girl with a dream of being pro. The shop was pre-decent internet, so having these little mementos provide a glance back in history, to a fond time gone by.
Pencil Case
My 1999 pencil case featuring boss manoeuvres from our hometown hero - nollie smith grind hit up by Trevor Wedd at Lloyds. And in the DC Legacy! I looked up to this guy so much and took pride in cutting that sequence out of the pages of Sidewalk to cover in sticky-back plastic over my tin pencil case. Suspected to have been shot by Horsley.
Master of Camouflage
In 2017 Stu Lovenskate broke the news he was keen to turn me pro! I was overwhelmed to be honest but once I returned to Earth from dreamland I knew straight away how I wanted the board to look. I was always a fan of white dipped boards (I used to ride a lot of Heroin ones back in the day) and wanted to mix that with the on brand camo I repped daily. Stu recommended working with James Callaghan and I was a huge fan of his work so couldn’t be happier. We conjured up a ‘Master of Camouflage’ theme and in the picture you can see James’ sketch of the owl that donned the board, the final piece in all its glory, and the ad that came out alongside the board in Grey Skate Mag. In the ad, I’m pulling the first screen on the first board. Stu took a pic of me on an analogue camera, printed it out, screened it onto a board and then took a pic of that for the ad. Dope bit of process for you there!
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