Mark Lake

 Three generations of Lake: Mark, Marlee, and Mr. Lake

Quotes

Skate Alien, Mark Lake.  This was a cover shot of Mark on Skates East magazine.  It was an over-sized color glossy mag.  The caption for this pic was asking if he was real or an alien.  Around 79 I think this was.  Very ironic that we are still asking ourselves this very question.

"Shredding harder than ever at the age of 45 Mark Lake is an inspiration to us all. I looked up to Mark when I was younger and I still do today, skating with him definitely pushed me to be a better skater. Sometimes I wonder whether he's in fact human or if he's an Alien that does not age, put here on earth for the sole purpose of skateboarding. To me he looks exactly the same today as he did over 20 years ago. Mark has always let his skating do all the talking and I respect that. It is truly an honor to know him."

Kelly Lynn

Kona 78, pic from Al Porterfield.

"A skater way ahead of his time ...RAW TALENT.. Balls out approach ..first guy I ever saw doing rail grab airs and going huge!"    Matt Kechele

Cover Shot on Skate Rider Magazine.  This was one of my all time favorite magazines ever.  Tons of Floirda coverage..then when you flipped it over the opposite side was Surf Rider magazine.  Very inventive.

Mark always has a big smile and a total commitment to radical skating.  His contribution to Florida skating has been his high energy level and his great attitude. It's great to see him back in the bowl!  Hunter Joslin

IHB, rock n roll!

"Mark Lake first rose to prominence as one of the best skaters to emerge from IHB Skatepark in Indian Harbour Beach. He and Greg Meischeid's doubles routines on the vert extention at IHB were both radical and futuristic.  Skating at IHB with other pioneers like Paul Patala and Jim McCall in innovating the development of handplants and inverts helped Lake set his course and make his own mark on skateboarding. He took the handplant into a backwards flip that quickly became known as the Lake Flip.  Several years and many ramps later, as Mark developed into one of Florida's best and most stylish vert skaters, he took his ramp building and carpentry skills into the Walker skateboard factory and shocked the world with the Nightmare deck. It was actually a well thought out design. I remember Mark's goal at the time was to make a board that would freak people out but at the same time, he made it functional to ride. He and Lonny Reiter and Mark Wilson traveled all over the place riding Nightmares, resulting in a nationwide era of bizarre deck outline shapes from nearly every company in skateboarding. The other companies got onto that track but their shapes never approached or matched the radicalness of the Nightmare. It still stands today as one of the best examples in the history of the skateboard industry of creative thought and application as regards deck outlines, and is certainly juxtaposed with the straight railed popsicle stick shapes nearly everyone uses today. Mark was always confident in both his skating and his ideas and was not afraid to confront controversy.

I'm honored that Mark Lake was a member of my skateboard team and this profile and interview along with Mark's induction into the Florida Skateboard Hall of Fame is very well deserved. Congratulations, Mark. Your skateboarding speaks for itself."

BRUCE WALKER

A good close-up of the infamous Walker Nightmare deck.

"1977 or 78, I was on a surf trip to Sebastian and Melbourne when I first saw Mark skate. The waves were almost flat so we decided to hit the IHB park having heard about it but never seen it. The vert wall was intimidating. Just trying to wheel it was scary ... when here comes this "local" flying past us at high speed; he blasts up the wall, grabs his rail and does a full flip! He lands sideways, slides it to straight and rides off down the run. I was too intimidated to talk to him...he was soo good! Someone that good has to have an attitude!  Or so I thought. "Who is that guy?" I asked... "Oh that's Mark Lake ... he rips," a local replied. Over the next few years I learned there was nothing intimidating about Mark ... except his skating!  Mark is always positive ... always up... He's competitive but also the first one to root you on weather you're in contest run or trying a new trick. My mind flashes to Solid Surf peanut pool 1980-81... countless nights... Just Mark and I exchanging runs. Not much spoken just the occasional hoot, smile, or thumbs up for a good run. Or sometimes a good tip..."you've got enough time Dan ... try to contort that Andrecht on the next run." "Damn that was cool!" thanks Mark.  Throw Pat Love and Steve Anderson into the mix, or add Alan, Kevin Peterson and Jeff Duer and the sessions would get intense. Mark would step it up that higher notch ... just SHREDDING!  But you know ... as I look at the films I've got and remember back... I swear Mark is even better NOW!!!!  His double handplants drift across coping farther. His frontside handlants are higher. His flips are tighter and he keeps his speed out of them. And I don't ever remember him being able to do those 540 slides back in the days. Mark is a total class act. Seeing him skate like this at 45 gives young 43 year old geezer wheezers like me hope!"
Thanks Mark,
Dan Murray

 

What can I say about Mark Lake...Let's start with the Nightmare! Enough said. But really...

 

I remember going to the Legendary Suntree ramp for the first time and being speechless. I stood in awe as I was dwarfed by its monstrous and intimidating size. To say it was big would be an understatement. There on the top stood Mark Lake on this crazy elevated roll in thing high above the lip, like a king on his throne surveying all he commanded he was poised to roll into his kingdom . It was SICK. Mark skated like a machine, his moves were big, burly and like second nature.

Whether he knew it, Mark Lake and Lonny Reiter were the ones that truly opened my eyes to the world of vert skating. Sure I'd watched vert before but now I was able to enjoy it first hand with them. Although I was a "street skater", I tried to figure out ways to translate vert tricks to the street, ditches and mini ramps and with their coaxing spent a little time on big ramps myself. Fast plants, inverts, smith grinds etc. I thought imagine these tricks on the street. I studied Mark and his crew. These years in Melbourne Florida were informative and lead to my appreciation of all terrain. I was able to step outside one dimensional street skating and become a well rounded skater. Mark was and big part of that education. Although I was not part of the local Vert crew. Mark always had a smile and welcomed me into the fold with open arms. I was  privileged to be able watch him skate any time I wanted and I was extremely stoked to share the ramp with him recently at Alan's Olliewood jam.

Mark you are a good man.

 

Chuck Dinkins
Artist Relations Manager
House of Blues -Orlando

Late 80's tuck knee invert.

"I remember the first time we saw him; long hair and blue jeans(?!), and FAST! Mark blazed the Indian Harbor Beach park snake run at top speed while the rest of us seemed to be standing still. Many were indeed standing in amazement. The Lakes - Tim, Mike and Billy all seemed to be comfortable with the entire park, yet Mark Lake seemed to be on a different level. Years later, when I saw the other-worldly speed of Shogo Kubo as he carved and pulled laybacks which covered so much square footage, it was clear that Mark Lake had the same fearless approach to all terrain: hit it at top speed! IHB seemed to be made for Mark, and when he and his brother accented the park with the wood/fiberglass extension ramp it was clearly a new era for us - vertical skating. It seemed to parallel the number of half-pipes that popped up, including the one Mark and Mike built in their mom and dads yard, and the few empty pool sessions. At IHB Mark and Greg Mesheid had the smoothest doubles line; one would go high, while the other carved underneath, then launching within inches of each other, upside down, as they pulled simultaneous front-side rail-grab flips over the 3-4 ft. of vertical ramp, landing, then back up the opposite wall to matching bert-lip-slides heard from across the park. Two goofy-footers surfing the park with style. Mark always let you know how good your skating was...even when you thought it wasn't. It seemed like each session Mark had two or three new moves since the day before, but he's smiling and yelling at your one new move you've been trying for the past week, especially when you finally pull it off. Truly influential, Mark made you want to skate.  If there ever was such a thing as 'a natural skater, Mark is it. Most people don't know this but, (sorry Mark, I couldn't resist) he even entered the freestyle event ON FLAT GROUND at the first IHB contest! Mark's induction to the Florida Skateboard Hall of Fame last April was perfect. Congratulations again and thanks Mark for all the help, and encouragement. I know I'm not the only one who wants to be like you! A quick story of a skate session with Mark.  Once at Ken Schroder's half-pipe Mark, myself, and a few others skated for an hour or two when the session stopped. A brief-re-juvinating-herbal break and Mark and I go back to the ramp, but everyone else seems - how can I put this - a little too 'toasty' from the heat, (yea, that's it, the heat) and the pads, and helmets are off. "What are you doing?" Mark asks the squinty-eyed group. Their feeble "we're done for today" reply was not acceptable to Mark. "Come on, don't waste this perfect time to skate!" he says, and scrambles up the ramp. The ramp looks colossal to me now, like extensions were added in all directions while we were gone and I'm not too sure I want to drop in. I start thinkin' to myself "oh yea, this is the ramp McCall broke his wrist on, I better huh, wait a while." Mark drops in as if he never stopped, and he's talking while he's skating "I can't believe you pu...s won't skate now, you'd think you never saw a ramp before". I resort to shouting out requests to the lone skater named Lake: "Do the foot-plant", "Do the flip", which he does, effortlessly. "Hey Mark, try that backside-air-to-double-axle-stall",

(I had just seen a sequence in Skateboarder Magazine of David Andrecht doing this cool move) Mark does it on his first try. "Try that pogo-rock-n-roll" he does it, first try. This is still the same FIRST drop-in since our aromatic refreshment, he's already skated for a full five minutes continuous, "Mark, do that layback-air" he did everything, and he's laughing, not missing or wavering from his line. You get to know others' routine and you know when they have new stuff - Mark did all this on his first try! Impressive? Yes, I don't think I'll ever forget that afternoon at Schroder's ramp with the highly influential MARK LAKE."

Paul Patala

Hip Hop

"Mark Lake was and still is one of the premier rippers on the Right coast.

Some of the insane shit Mark pulled off back in the day was incredible, never intimidated by any terrain or any other skater. Full on "balls-to-the-wall" skater, a lip blasting insaniac whose radical, high-speed style commanded attention wherever he skated! Mr. Lake was (is) also a great guy and always took the time to teach you a trick or just talk about skating. Whether on his backyard ramp, in a pool, or at a park, Mark was always top-dog in our area.

Layback Air, Casey's ramp.

Here is some classic Mark Lake:

I think it was back in 1978. I had just arrived at Casey's halfpipe in Melbourne and climbed the ladder up the back of the ramp. I see Mark elevating in from the other side and right about when I was eye-level with the coping Mark blasts an invert sending a healthy chunk of coping flying into the air, stalls straight-armed and fully extended for about three seconds, looks at me upside-down, says "Ebaugh's here" and rolls back in!!"

Tim Ebaugh

Lean Air.

Mark Lake is a very powerful and rad vert skater from the 70's, 80's and is still blazing today!!! Skateboarders from around the world recognize him as one of the elite talented skaters to come out of the state of Florida. The trademark "Mark Lake Flip" was always a huge crowd-pleaser. I first met Mark at IHB in the mid-seventies. He came to my house around that time frame and skated the vert ramp in my backyard. I think I remember him saying that it was the first vertical ramp he had ever skated! After that, Mark went to work building  vert ramps of his own as well as the big extension ramp at IHB which would become the main platform and showcase for his aerial assault and launch him into skateboard stardom! After that Mark just exploded and has never looked back since.  

Jim McCall

Method Air.

Alabama.  Look at this crazy add-on vert wall!  

A bunch of us once drove to the Gadsden Alabama skatepark for a contest.  Mark was one of those guys I had seen skate and I really looked up to him and admired his style on and off the skateboard.  I had never talked to him though.  He turned out to be a judge in the amateur division and I skated pretty well except for I fell.  I would have had a good shot at 1st.  After the contest he told me I was shredding and too bad I fell.  I ...  was ... shredding?  That was something he did.  Made me feel like a million bucks!

 

Funny how easy it is to make someone feel good,  but some of us go out of our way to put people down.  Not Mark.  Great guy.  And he still rips!  It's like time has no effect on him.  He was killing it at Kona.

Ed Womble

Cherry Hill, magazine pic.

Mark is an awesome guy to road trip with!

One of my all-time favorites was a trip to Cherry Hill Skatepark in New Jersey, around '79? Mark was there with Casey C (and Caseys Mom) and we shredded for a week in that indoor nirvana. I was staying with one of the park owners and he booted me out so he could get freaky with his new girlfriend and Mark took pity on me and let me couch surf at his hotel. Clyde, Kelly, Scroggs and Daly were along on that trip. Jamie Godfrey and Mike Jesilowski were on board as well, (and Victor "fakie-360-layback" Lopez). As you may have guessed Mark didn't spend much time in the kidney pools or the half/three-quarter pipe but he absolutely crushed the 13 foot deep egg-bowl. Big airs and carves on those flat, 10" wide tanks we were all riding, (with Gullwing trucks). I'm pretty sure he was still riding for Flite. The weather sucked while we were there so all we did was skate (and mack heavily on Patrice)! Bear was shooting the whole time, but I never saw a photo hit the mag. (well maybe they hit Skates East)

Cherry Hill, Flite "Airborne" deck, Gullwings. Photo from Skates East by Bear.

Mark is a great guy. I've never seen him bummed on a skateboard, if he's out there he's stoked. Solid and stylish, he stays true to his strengths. He's got a pretty cool bag of tricks too. He's an inspiration to young and old. East Coast skating has benefited from his leadership and input and just plain stoke for over 25 years. I was blown out to see him at Kona and Olliewood this year.

Later,

GBMII

Sensation Basin

Invert at the Basin.  Pics from Al Porterfield.

Sometime in around 1983, I saw my first Walker demo. I knew who Mark was by reputation of course (and I went to school with his sister Kim) but I had never seen him skate. The demo was at 5th ave. in Indianlantic Beach on a nice 16' wide vert ramp, set up in the parking lot at the boardwalk. I'll never forget the rush of actually seeing someone, in real life, blasting airs and stacking inverts wall to wall. Not to mention the first "Lake Flip", holy shit, I was so blown away. I started going to all of thier demos, becoming one of the ubiquitous "demo groms". Two or three years later, Mark and Lonnie (Rieter) moved in on my street! Talk about one stoked f**cking kid! Now, I could make a nusiance of myself on a daily basis, not just at the demos. (hehehe) By the time the Rockledge Ramp was built, I had gotten to know Mark and Lonnie, as well as Steve Gump, so when the request for help came, I was all over it. (nailing simple things together, where I could do no harm) Even better, once the ramp was done, I regularly got rides to Rockledge with Mark and Lonnie. Skating with those guys is a time I still consider to be one of the most enjoyable in my life. Just some kid, getting to skate with a Florida legend and his friends, unbelievable. More importantly in some respects, helping with that ramp sparked my interest in not just building cul-de-sac 1/4 pipes, but carpentry as a whole. Now, 20 years later, I have been a carpenter for almost 15 years and I work building skateparks to boot.

To say that Mark Lake, and the friends of his that over the years became friends of mine as well, was an influence on my skating and by extension, my life, would be an understatement. I would like to extend my thanks to Mark and the entire community of skaters in Florida that have added so much to something that already means so much to me, skateboarding.

Brad Baxter

Pics from Brad Baxter; Rockledge Ramp.  Mark lay back air.

Same ramp, tuck knee invert.

             My first skateboard was a flat deck with clay wheels. I don’t remember the brand but we use to wet down the sidewalks so we could slide around corners. I was probably 11 years old and in 6^th grade.

      I was born in Saratoga Springs New York and then moved to South            Florida when I was one year old.

    It was at Indian Harbor Beach Skate Park in Brevard County, Fla. This is where I began to Skating serious.

             I have three brothers, Mike, Bill, and Tim who all skate and surf. My oldest brother Mike is the one who got us all started, and we just followed in each other’s footsteps.

      My father was a builder and always in the construction industry. And being a close family my brothers and I followed in his footsteps. I actually started building Ramps back in 1976 or 1977. I remember my first ramp in my parent’s back yard. The ramp was 10 foot transitions with 1 foot of vert no flat bottom. I guess this is why I like big Ramps. After Skating vert for so long it was hard for me to skate little ramps or street. Being 10 feet in the air or higher was a feeling I couldn’t get anywhere else in skating. As for building a lot of ramps, not really. Mostly my own or with the locals I skated with we also built our own local ramps. Currently I own Unlimited Woodworks Inc. a custom cabinet shop with my brother Tim in Deerfield Beach, Fl. We build commercial and residential cabinets. Cabinets for hospitals, banks, and other businesses. We also build high-end Custom Homes kitchens, bathroom vanities, wall units, bars, basically anything made from wood. 

      I never really skated in a lot of contest especially amateur. I think my first contest was after I turned pro with Flite skateboard in 1977 or 1978. I skated in the Kona Pro, the first East Coast verses west coast contest. I believe I placed 4^th or 5^th.  I skated against Tony Alva, Jay Adams, Dave Hackett, Shawn Peddie.  The contest was held on the Tomb Stone.

My first Pro Sponsor was Flite Skateboards. Steve and David Dura they were from Rhode Island. They were awesome all the skaters I met were great guys. They were so into the skate scene. Especially “Sick Sid” who owned Waterbrother’s Surf Shop in New Port Beach. He always showed us a great time. Other sponsors were Billabong clothes, Lazer Trucks, Santa Cruz Speed wheels, and Gullwing Trucks. Gullwing trucks sponsored me in the early 80’s and I still ride their trucks today, Pro III Magneseums. They are still Awesome today! I also rode for Walker Skateboards for a while.

Lazer Trucks, I remember getting my first pair they were lighter than any truck I had ridden before. They used me in 1 magazine ad in Skateboarder and then they disappeared. I don’t know if they went out of business or what. I really don’t remember the type of king pin they had.

I really don’t know however my best guess would be between 10 and 12 decks.

The Nightmare board came about when I was skating for Walker. He was having his boards made in California at the time. At the time airs and slides were tricks everybody was doing when I designed the Nightmare deck. I tried to incorporate cuts in the board that your hands could lock into when doing airs and your feet could lock into for slides. The board was designed for function not just to be different or shock people!

Bruce Walker sent the template to California but they refused to make. I believe because they could not make the tight cuts with the CNC machines. When Bruce told me they couldn’t or wouldn’t make the board, I told him I could!! This is how I began manufacturing Boards for Walker and also making the Nightmare Model. People either loved it or hated it. In the end it was a real popular deck and also worked good for Slides and Airs. Also what helped the deck to sell was the graphics, which Bruce’s brother drew. I still feel today it was the most unique board ever put out. Bruce should get credit for not being afraid to market it.

I started Lake Skates when I left the Walker Skate Team. Which was in 1987. I still manufactured Walker decks also and a few other company’s. I had the company for three years. Lake Skates was one of the most respected teams on the East Coast. We had all the real true hardcore skaters on our team. We may have not won a lot of contest but wherever we showed up you were guaranteed a hardcore skate sessions. We all just wanted to skate!

We had skaters all over the United States, but most were from Fla.! The original riders were Lonny Reiter and Mark Wilson. We skated together everyday for at least 15 years. We were inseparable. These two guys influenced and pushed my skating to a level I never thought I would skate at! We always had each other’s back! Best Friends!

Then there was Mark Buncy, Mike Kentner, Mike Cruz, Tommy Legget, D.R.Bono, Kurt Bodenshatz. I could go on and on, all these guys were and still are the grass roots of East Coast Skaters!  P.S.  Thanks to all those skaters not mentioned!!

Right Now I’d like to but the time required to do this I just don’t have. I don’t have a lot of time between my daughter and my business. What time I do have I’d rather spend it skating! Some day I just don’t know when!

  I learned how to do the Lake Flip trick in my parent’s backyard. I learned the Lake Flip on a 10’ transition with no flat bottom Vert Ramp. I was skating by myself and was doing a version of this trick by Flipping over and landing into a slide coming out backwards! I had been doing this for a while. I believe it was in 1976 or early 1977. I was skating for a while and did a couple of the flips where I was sliding out and I just had a thought why not pull more Straight back and land riding out instead of sliding out. It took about ten tries and I landed one. What’s awesome is 26 years later I can still do it as good as ever.

Yes, the other trick would be the invert hip-hop over a channel! I learned this trick in the early 80’s on the Rockledge Ramp! I was doing a normal Invert Channel plant when I decided to Plant my hand on the side of the channel closest to me and fall across the channel to the other side! What happened was as I was going over the channel I grabbed onto the other side and fell in!

I thought if I had enough speed I could grab the closest side and Hop across the other side. It took about three tries and I made it.

What’s really awesome is I skated with all the Pro’s 1^st generation to now! From Tony Alva, Jay Adams, Shogo Kubo, Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Dave Duncan, Steve and Mickey Alba, Monty Nolder and recently with Mike Frazer at Van’s.

If I had to write about my all my experiences over the years it would be a pretty large book. I have skated though out the entire evolution of skating and don’t plan on quitting anytime soon! The early parks like Indian Harbor Beach was my favorite-banked concrete park, and my favorite pool park would be Cherry Hill, and Kona’s Vert Ramp even though I’ve only skated it once.

A few. I broke my left ankle in 1984 on Paul Schmitt’s Ramp in St Pete Fla. I broke the entire ball joint off and it broke into two pieces. It was pinned back together. I did this while doing a back flip. My second major injury was a torn right rotator cuff in 1998. This was the most painful thing I have ever been through. This injury put me out of skating for a year. The first day back skating after my rotator cuff injury I tore my left rotator cuff, same month one year later. At this time I thought I was done skating. My daughter Marlee wanted me to quit. She even hid my skateboard. She seen the pain I went through and didn’t want her Dad to hurt himself again. Another year went by and I drove by Piccollo Park and saw the vert ramp. It was big and looked perfect. I could not resist. I started skating again. I know now I have a lot of Skating to still do and won’t be quitting anytime soon!!

Yes, I did. That was so long ago I don’t really remember too much other than I skated a lot of good Parks.

I skate mostly at Piccollo’s Park and Alan Gelfand's Ollie Wood. Both places are awesome!! When you skated lot of the old original ramps and parks you tend to appreciate the new stuff, there so perfect the transactions, the speed and smoothness! It’s hard to complain.

I skate the Alva Tri Tail with deep concave 8 ¾ x 32 ½. I also ride gull wing 9” Pro 3 magnesium trucks. I found them at www.oldschoolskates.com Twenty years later they still rip. Wheels, I ride a few different types. I have a couple of boards setup with different hardness wheel depending on where I skate. I have to mention my Pads, 187’s they are definitely the best Pads I ever owned and will prolong my skating for years to come!!

I have never rode any other trucks that I liked more and they have always worked for me, so why change now. I also do like the concave in the center for locking onto the coping.

For sure, the most important thing is when you're older its not so much the bones you worry about but your muscles, it is a lot easier to tear them. Make sure you get into shape and do a lot of stretching before you skate. And slowly work into the bigger tricks!

Yes I really was because there are so m any good skaters on the East Coast that never transplanted to the west coast. So they never got recognized. It was awesome especially skating and hanging out with so many grass root skaters!

If I have it my way, for sure!!!

 Steve- Thanks to you Thanks to floridaskater.com and also Kona for one of the best skate sessions ever!!

 Skate Hard! Skate Fast! Skate Forever!

 Signing Out!

Dr Rad, Nightmare

Mark Lake