Okay, that’s a little on the generous side. Peralta said in Dogtown And Z-Boys that they would skate any dry pool. Due to the drought many people emptied their pools but still lived in their houses. There’s footage of them rolling down alley slowly in a van, lying on the roof so they can see over the fences at who has a pool and might be on vacation. Sometimes they got chased out when said homeowner turned out to just be out at work and came home. That said, still a mostly harmless activity as antisocial behavior goes. Some of the homeowners were cool about it it and brought them lemonade.
Also- “abandoned” houses? Someone still owns them, even if it’s a bank. You won’t see me shedding any tears over the bank having to pay for replacement electrical cover plates before they can resell the house, but let’s be honest that this is vandalism and theft. There wasn’t some huge swath of “abandoned” houses across LA that happened to have pools.
I do love the whole story of the birth of modern skateboarding though. I love that it was basically born from a drought and boredom because the surf was down. The creativity required to stay entertained in the absence of the internet is something I miss in many ways.
