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CCS 4X4 Contest
April 04, 2025 - #CCS4x4 Contest Land four tricks in a line and post your clip to Instagram with the hashtag #CCS4x4 to enter to...
CCS TURNS 40!
Community Delivered
Written by Mark Whiteley
Much has been said about the role of the skate shop in forming young skateboarders' understanding of culture and community as they exist at a given moment in time. As a teacher. As a hub for a scene. And while this is clear at a local level, what hasn't been acknowledged as widely is how those pillars of skateboarding become built at large scale, and often in places where skaters may not have access to the brick and mortar experience. What CCS has provided, from humble beginnings as a landline phone line in San Luis Obispo to the global online destination it is today, is key to that understanding. It evolved into a great equalizer and knowledge disseminator for skateboarders the world over. It is the idea of the skate shop at the largest scale, and it has delivered — literally and figuratively — for so many skaters over so many decades. Much of that role it has played was initially built during a time before the internet, before the invention of the mall shop, and on the back of the humble mail catalog.
The arrival of the catalog at your home was the equivalent of Willy Wonka's candy shop setting up at your doorstep. And while what initially grabbed most of our attention with skateboarding was seeing somebody flying down the street, bouncing and hopping in some dance made of mysterious steps we had never seen before, or flying, spinning, and flipping through the air on TV, the impact and importance of the appearance of their boards and kit cannot be overstated. What we ride, what we wear, and all the minutiae of those options — over time they become part of who we are. And as you discover those things exist in a nearly endless and always evolving arrangement of inspiration — the colors, the art, the shapes, the styles, these symbols of individuality — the world cracks open even further. The catalog arrived as a library of the unknown. Pages of information, pages of details for you to absorb and digest, each item a story that could be part of your own. This is the hook, this place where art, design, fashion, and function intersect and become a way for you to self-identify and self-express. You get to build your own uniform. You have access to these things that help you feel how you want to feel, and tell the world around you something about who you are. As young skaters, this is a huge part of our identities. And somehow all of that exists in one place, right at your fingertips, right to your door. Anywhere your door might be.
But perhaps of greater significance is what the experience brings to more than just you on an individual level; it is what it brings to so many people on a grand and humbling scale. For untold multitudes of skaters, it is a true lifeline. It brings a connection to people far and wide, many of whom are looking for one and may not even know it. This catalog, this collection, in the hands of so many people at the same time in so many different places, all brought together through it, again and again. It is a teacher, it is a hub, helping share the nuances of what skateboarding is and can be in a far-reaching way. Through it, you become part of a scene, you become part of this world, no matter where you're from or what you may or may not have available to you there. You have this, and you are now connected. Connected to a source of the thing we are all chasing, and connected to people who are also chasing it. To bring a sense of belonging to so many is one of the greatest gifts imaginable, and is the lasting impact CCS has delivered for so long.