VISTA — If the history of skateboarding was a tapestry, many of its threads would run back to Vista, where a new exhibit at the Vista Civic Center is honoring the city’s rich contributions to skateboarding culture and the people who helped to put it on the map.
The Skate Vista exhibit, which is up through July 30, features photos, skate decks, memorabilia, and videos contributed by local photographers, skaters, and skateboarding companies based in Vista and the larger North County area.
The free exhibit is the latest pop-up event organized by the Vista Skateboarding Society, made up of leaders of the Central Vista Business Improvement District, as well as famous skateboarding figures such as Tom Stewart, the inventor of the half-pipe, and Dale Smith, a Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee.
Many of the people who contributed to the exhibit and are featured in it attended a reception on July 10. CVBID Program Manager Bill Hornung, one of the leaders of the Vista Skateboarding Society, thanked the many hands that were involved and said they hope to continue showcasing this history in an eventual skateboarding museum.
“What you’re seeing here is just the surface of what Vista contributed to the skate world,” Hornung said. “We want to continue this on in a more permanent fashion.”
The exhibit featured a who’s-who of skateboarding icons from different eras, including the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and the early aughts through today. Upon entering, attendees are greeted by the young faces of the Vista Skate Locals, a ragtag group of young men who began skating in Vista in the early 1980s and would go on to achieve massive fame.
Among them are pro skaters Damon Way, founder of DC Shoes, along with Danny Way, Matt Hensley, Mario Rubalcaba, Steve Ortega, and Brennand Schoeffel. Several of them met back at Lincoln Middle School, when it was located at what is now Vista Magnet Middle School. 
The squad became known for skate nights on Wednesdays at Calvary Chapel along East Vista Way. Damon Way recalled how Calvary was one of the first local institutions to embrace local skateboarders, although he suspected the motive was to eventually convert the skaters to Christianity.
Way said it’s great to see the city recognize the importance of local skateboarding and looks forward to seeing this history explored in more depth.
“I really love that Vista is representing skating as part of its history,” Damon Way said. “For so many years when we were younger, we operated more like outlaws or misfits. We were in constant tension with the authority here.”
Prior to Calvary Chapel, the members of Vista Skate Locals could be found skating at other beloved sites — “Twin Banks,” a drainage ditch along East Vista Way; “Mini Del Mar,” an alley near Belching Beaver in downtown Vista; and around the AVO Theater.
The crew could also be found grinding the red curbs at the old City Hall, which they would then grease with surf wax.
“You had to hit it and quit it,” said Matt Hensley, recalling how they would be quickly chased away from the City Hall site.
Also featured in the exhibit is Tom Stewart, who invented the half pipe, and H-Street Skateboards founder and professional skateboarder Tony Magnusson. 
Stewart got the idea for the half pipe in the mid-1970s, after going out with other skaters into the Arizona desert to skate in massive concrete pipes that were later buried underground as part of the Central Arizona water pipeline project.
To recreate the experience back home, Stewart built a similar wooden ramp that would become the first half pipe. He began selling blueprints for the ramp under the Rampage brand, delivering them worldwide.
Copies of these blueprints are also displayed at the exhibit.
“From the evolution of the half pipe, you can see where skateboarding is at today,” said Stewart, who nowadays can be seen drumming in his popular blues group, Backwater Blues Band.
Magnusson founded H-Street in 1986 and recalled how the brand started out sponsoring many of the Vista Skate Locals who could go on to become “superstars.”
“In the 80s when we first started our brand, we sponsored so many of the local Vista crew,” Magnusson said. “Vista has an enormous contribution to skateboarding.”
Now, the brand continues to sponsor young talent, including some who come to Vista to train at the LVLUP Academy USA training center on Vantage Way. One of H-Street’s main talents is 15-year-old Japanese skater X Games medalist Mizuho Hasegawa, whose board design is featured in the exhibit.
Along with Hasegawa, other young skateboarding talents are featured in the exhibit, including 16-year-old Tommy Calvert of Vista and two-time Olympian Bryce Wettstein of Encinitas.
The exhibit also features some of the earlier models of kneepads, elbow pads, and gloves from Smith Scabs Safety Gear, which was founded in Vista by Skateboarding Hall of Famer Dale Smith.
Josh Veteto, who printed the images for the exhibit through his business Pacific Sun Printing, also spent his younger years skating at Calvary Chapel in Vista. He said many of the photos in the show encapsulate moments that have so many stories attached to them.
“It’s almost vignettes of eras,” Veteto said.
The exhibit is open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on alternating Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It is located on the second floor of the Civic Center outside of the City Council chambers, at 200 Civic Center Drive.
