this is where i grew up and this is aroud the time i was graduating high school and scooting off to college not far away. in this era, there were plenty of backyard ramps in the burbs and villages of the valley. then there was the hardcore shows in allentown, bethlehem, catty and more. the sickest bands were coming through and their way to and from philly and new york. unfortunately that brought alot of nazi schism and started to fade the amazing music scene. but the backyards ramps, as epic as the bands coming through, slowly died also. it was a hard generation of skatebaorders to follow with names such as jay and ken sigafoos, rick and glenn charnoski and rob mertz- east coast building and vert legends. take dan pensyl for example, grew up in catty right after this and moved to nyc to be a street pro. the valley, like a vert ramp, had its time and place, and i was honored to be a part of the DIY scene before that phrase existed.

video of jerry's vert ramp in 1987 an almost steel vert ramp in catty?

jerry's mini mid 1989
metal to wood surface transformation with jerry, ed hartmen, mark eckert and jean paul salina

video of jerry's mini in 1989 we converted into mini rampers

jerry's skate picnic 8 '89
not a skate party, or a jam, but a skate picnic at my parents house with gary musler, jp, jerry, ed, mark, john smith, chip kastelnik and arey

video of jeff's version 1 a simple backyard mini

jeff's first ramp 5 '90
testing the tightness with jeff kindt, jerry, ed and prason oswald

video of jeff's version 2 an experimental backyard mini

jeff's second ramp 1 '91
black and whites of a mini with a parking block channel with jay sigafoos, jp, jerry, jeff, prason and gary

masko's vert ramp 1 '90
only vert ramp in the area at the time was a perfect 80's ramp. fresh layer for ed, jp and i

masko's vert ramp 3 '90
you bet we went back with jay pilarski

gary's mini 3 '90
pberg always had a new mini ramp going. here's a few with mark and ed in the middle of winter

slug three 7 '89
ramp owner's jay pilarski and dave owen had some incredible style and great tricks

eraser ramp contest 1986
footage from dave owen's backyard jam with no prizes cuz garret stole them

life's a beach demo 8 23 89
holly shit! jeff phillips, troy chason, bryan pennington, bill danforth and john gibson came to the mall and brought a ramp

the trench 3 '90
catty posse goes down the ditch off 378. a staple for the valley for forever. pumping angles with ed, prason, andrew brubaker and jeff

greasy dicks 10 7 '89
the biggest mini of the time with ed and mark

jehovah mini 3 2 '90
so many ramps in the woods of pa. ed and jerry hit this one off the back roads

jerry's moved 3 '90
after i went to college, my ramp got moved about 15 miles. i went back with ed and mark a bit

omar's mini 10 '90
best mini in the valley for a while. perfect trannies, nice and wide, always accessable, it was a go with gary, jp and jay sigafoos

catty 1990
jeff, jerry and jay always found something to grind in this little town where no one cared

whitehall 6 90
next town over was full of malls and docks and curbs and benches. matt learch, jaime getz and jay sig did not have to search long

3rd st 3 90
staple spot in catty with lots of options and activities. locals andrew, jeff, ed and prason

pittsburgh 1998
a shot of joe derobio RIP

the lehigh valley
we were the luckiest fuckers on earth

the area
and so close to philly and new york

young punk band from catasauqua area in the late '80's
this is a song and then some from a gig at john sands house
Larry dieter on vocals, bob fegly on bass, I believe tracy on guitar, and roy mayorga on drums
wish I had more, figured I'd get it up here while I could transfer from vhs



the pork dukes had a habbit of playing in catty on thanksgiving.
here's some of a show from the jednota club 11.02