VISTA — A group of city leaders and residents is partnering with members of North County’s skateboarding community on an initiative to open a top-level skateboarding museum in Vista, with a series of planned pop-up events to raise awareness and share the local cultural history of the sport.
What is now the Vista Skateboarding Society originated from an initiative within the Central Vista Business Improvement District, which focuses on supporting the city’s downtown. It has since grown to include famous figures in the skateboarding scene, such as halfpipe inventor Tom Stewart and Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee Dale Smith.
The effort also has the support of the city of Vista, House of Vista Skateshop, the Vista Skatepark Coalition, youth skate organizations Exposure Skate and LVLUP Academy, and several other groups.
CVBID Program Manager Bill Hornung said all of these partners have come together to highlight the cultural importance of skateboarding and how it has shaped Vista and North County.
The hope is to open a museum in the downtown area, although no site has been confirmed yet.
“That’s one of the things we’ve highlighted with the museum, that skateboarding has contributed so much to culture,” Hornung said. “It’s a lot about independence, and being able to find your niche and your community.”
Next week, the Vista Skateboarding Society will hold a kickoff event, ShredTalk, to introduce people to the initiative.
Taking place on April 11 from 3 to 8 p.m at the AVO Playhouse, ShredTalk will feature panels with skateboarding Hall of Famers, a screening of the 2021 documentary “Skate SD,” and a panel discussion with the film’s featured skaters, as well as a panel with local organizations supporting the future of skateboarding.
It will also feature live music, food and beverages, and entertainment.
“We’re really looking at it as a fundraiser, just to get the community involved in terms of getting the effort rolling on a skateboard museum over the long term,” Hornung said.
Starting June 21, the society will also host a pop-up museum at the Vista Civic Center, which will remain open into July. This will feature skateboarding memorabilia, including historic decks, gear, photography, and more.
Several pieces in the pop-up will be contributed by Skateboarding Hall of Famer and Vista resident Dale Smith, 74. He owns a massive collection of boards, largely from the 1960s, including homemade and folk-art boards and old stock from manufacturers of the era.
“It’ll be showing the city of Vista what could be. Give ‘em a taste,” Smith said of the pop-up event.
Skating through history
Mike Bricke, owner of House of Vista Skateshop, said Vista has a rich skateboarding history that does not get as much attention as other parts of Southern California.
A large part of the initiative is gathering stories from those who documented and lived through this history.
“A lot of people do think of Encinitas, Carlsbad, as more of the hub for skateboarding … but there is such a rich history in Vista and other areas in North County that you wouldn’t think about,” Bricke said. “That’s what I’m excited about finding out more about — the more people we talk to, the more stories that we hear, the more comes out.”
While relatively unknown at the time, Vista became home to a legendary crew of vert and street skaters in the 1980s, including Damon Way, Danny Way, Matt Hensley, John Sonner, and more.
In the late 1970s, a big skating attraction for novice and high-level skaters alike was Surf De Earth, a skatepark located off West Vista Way. It’s one of a few historic North County skateparks from that era, along with Carlsbad Skate Park (known as Sparks) and Del Mar Skateboard Ranch, that have since been lost to time.
Surf De Earth was opened in 1978 by swimming pool builder Ed Carey next door to his Capri Pools showroom. It was closed by the early 1980s and partially buried after Carey got in trouble with the city over zoning violations, but it can still be seen sticking out of the ground in some areas.
The region as a whole was experiencing several watershed moments in skateboarding history in the 1970s. The first-ever world skateboard championship was held in 1975 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, and in 1974, Black Hill in La Costa became a destination for skateboard slalom racing.
“You had the best of the best coming to race the hill,” said Smith. “There’s a lot of history of early contests, big contests, skateboard championships in San Diego.”
Smith is a major contributor to the initiative as a skateboarding historian familiar with the history of skateboarding and gear manufacturing in the region.
Following a competitive skateboarding career in San Diego in the 1970s, he founded Smith Scabs Safety Gear, creating gear like elbow and knee pads for top-level skaters. The brand operated in Vista until the 1990s.
“It’s a group effort, but it’s enjoyable to be able to be a part of telling a story, one that hasn’t been told, or told enough of,” he said.
In the area’s recent skateboarding history, skaters have been pushing for more places to practice the sport they love, particularly after Vista’s only skate park was closed for the construction of the Vista Civic Center.
Jack Flaherty, the founder of the Vista Skatepark Coalition, was instrumental in advocating for the opening of two new skate parks along South Santa Fe in 2018. Flaherty is also involved in the Vista Skateboarding Society initiative.
Since skateboarding first appeared at the 2020 Summer Games, Vista has also been the training ground for several Olympic skateboarders at its world-class training center. The facility along Vantage Court was opened as the California Training Facility and was taken over by LVLUP Academy USA in 2025.
Karin Fittante, a producer living in Vista who is also part of the initiative, said there are tons of people from all demographics getting involved in the society.
“We’ve been getting great people who are super excited to come on board. Everyone from these young, up-and-coming places for kids to these older legends,” Fittante said. “We’re hoping to make Vista become a hub for skating, just as surfboarding and the surfboard museum have become a hub in Oceanside.”
For more information, visit vistaskateboardingsociety.com.
