Grab the May issue of Glamour Magazine because 60's OG skater and Skateboard Hall of Fame inductee, Patti McGee,  and the girls from NY's "Skate Kitchen" skate crew are in it! Nice to see the blend of old school and new school in this article.  Mainstream magazines like Glamour are embracing women's skateboarding - so rad to see.

If you're in the Los Angeles area tonight, please join us and our special guest, pro skateboarder and X-Games athlete, Hunter Long at Book Soup on the iconic Sunset strip for an "It's Not About Pretty: A Book About Radical Skater Girls" book signing and discussion.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Book Soup is located on the world-famous Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. Book Soup was founded by Glenn Goldman and has been serving readers, writers, artists, rock 'n' rollers, and celebrities since 1975.

Thursday, April 6    7 PM - 9 PM

BOOK SOUP
8818 Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA
310- 659-3110


More info on the event HERE

Can't make it but want a book signed?  Contact the store for a pre-order and we will sign it at the event

Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word x Lifetime #Fempire Moments

When

LIFETIME TV

came to us last year and asked to do a series of

#Fempire moments

with Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word to highlight our female empowernment movement and skaters - we were beyond stoked. To see Venice Skatepark filled with only girls skating from dawn to dusk is not something you ever see - thanks to Lifetime TV this dream happened.

The first

#fempire

spot rolled out this weekend on

Lifetime TV

- maybe you caught it? If not, we have it here. This spot features Japanese ripper Sky Brown - at just 8 years old she is taking the skating world by storm and has some other big dreams as well!

Also in this spot are Hunter Long, Minna Stess, Jordyn Barratt, Quinne Daniels, Vianez Morales & Emma Houle. Such a rad day filming with these girls and the

Lifetime TV

Crew.

Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word is stoked to be part of the

#Fempire

!

Stay tuned for more episodes!

 Photos Chelsea Adams

Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word ambassador and our rad designer on the new "It's Not About Pretty" book,  Elise Crigar is the queen of blowing off steam by just grabbing her board and heading out for a skate through the streets and alleys near her home or work.

We love how 70's these shots of her feel...

That's what skateboarding is all about - skate whatever you want,  and wherever you can, every single day.

 Thrasher Magazine     Photos Michael Burnett

What's not to love? A female skater on the cover of one of the most male-dominated skate magazines around. The fact that it's pro skater Lizzie Armanto makes it even that much sweeter. She graced the cover of Transworld Magazine this past November and has parts coming out in the new Birdhouse and Thrasher videos. She's been killing it on the contest scene for years and has endorsement deals like no other female vert rider. In a nutshell - Lizzie Armanto is leading the charge for women's skateboarding.

If the cover of Lizzie, her name in bold type, doing a method on a backyard ramp was the icing on the cake, the interview inside with Lizzie is the whole cake. Ten pages of photos and interview - that's a LOT. And it's not just "fluff" Lizzie talks about everything - no holds barred - the part about someone peeing on her skateboard was a direct example of how with anyone else that might have been an overshare, with Lizzie it was shedding light on the fact that women can do some awful shit to one another when they're jealous, and it's not cool.

You need a copy of this magazine. Correct that - you need more than just one. One to read and one to preserve and a couple for your neighborhood skater girls. Give them out and inspire other girls, let them read Lizzie's story and be able to relate to what she has gone through, where she's headed and what's next.

Girls skateboarding is here to stay and it just gets better by the day.

You can find Thrasher Magazine at skate shops near you or at Barnes and Noble Bookstores - just not the Barnes and Noble in Manhattan Beach because we bought every single copy they had.  Sorry!

Check out the new Old Navy commercial featuring some rad female skaters - we spy legendary skateboarder Mimi Knoop, & also Rayssa Leal - who else do you see?

The commercial was filmed in Brazil and we love that they used girls who really skate!

 

 Location photos via Çaravan Outpost

Join us this Saturday night at Caravan Outpost in Ojai for DECKS FOR LIGHTS a fundraiser to help pay for the installation of lights at the Ojai Skatepark. There will be food trucks, Ojai Pixie Margaritas, Topa Topa Brewing Company, music, a skate movie and we will be there with the new "It's Not About Pretty" girls skateboard book doing a signing and donating 20% of the sale from each book to this awesome cause.

There will also be 50 decks designed by artists from around the country that will be auctioned off and there will be numerous other skate & surf items to bid on!

It will be a super fun night for everyone, so we hope to see you there!

Date:  Saturday, April 1

Time:  6:00 PM

Where:    Caravan Outpost
                317 Bryant Street
                Ojai, California

Nice to open the Pro-Tec catalog and see Pro skater Lizzie Armanto and AM skater Ryann Cannon   in it. It may seem like a small thing, but its a huge step that keeps us moving closer to women and girls in skateboarding being as accepted as guys in ads and media. Plus the skating pics are rad!

Congrats Lizzie and Ryann!

Leah, Zara, Vianez, Quinne, and Kala

The GN4LW crew

Quinne

Kat, Kyra, Zara, Quinne, Leah, and Vianez

Skating makes you thirsty!

Kyra, Leah, and Zara

Vianez, Kat, Quinne

Quinne

Thank you LA24!

 Photos Ian Logan

The Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word crew had a great time taking over the streets of Los Angeles during the annual CicLAvia event this past Sunday. We were asked to be part of the LA2024 celebration and the girls wore LA24 angel tees, and four girls wore  specially made angel wings that were created in the LA24 colors. 

They skated 3.2 miles from Mar Vista to Venice Beach - straight down Venice Blvd. and had a blast! We stopped for lemonade along the way, took some pics in front of one of our fav stores Surfing Cowboys, and the girls cruised in and out of cyclists and down the middle of busy streets that cars are usually zipping down. When we got to Venice, we did a few photo ops with the LA24 social media team in front of the beautiful "Follow The Sun" mural they put up, and then the girls skated right into Venice Skatepark and started skating. A perfect way to end the session.

We'd like to thank LA24 for having us out, and a huge high five to the girls who participated yesterday.

Skaters are:  Zara Percy, Quinne Daniels, Kala Fernandez, Vianez Morales, Kyra Williams, Leah Ho, Lisa Kudra and Katheleen Folsom.

To learn more about LA24 and LA's bid for the 2024 Olympics - please visit their site HERE

 

We are super proud to say that we will be doing a book signing and talk at Hennessey & Ingalls Bookstore this Saturday (March 25) at 5 PM with special guest, pro skateboarder and X-Games medalist, Jordyn Barratt.

Hennessey & Ingalls isn't a typical bookstore, it is the largest art, architecture and design bookstore in the western United States, and probably the largest retail operation in the country dealing just with books on the visual arts. They have been around since 1963 and have recently moved into the Down Town LA Arts District where there is a thriving art community, great restaurants and more.

More on Hennessey & Ingalls:  Hennessey + Ingalls has become a landmark in the visual arts community. They are pleased to count many of the area's and the country's leading architectural firms as clients, along with museums, collectors, art galleries, students, interior designers, graphic design firms, and schools. They are the primary book supplier to three large academic art libraries in Southern California, as well as to smaller schools and corporate libraries around the country. They maintain especially strong and in-depth selections of books in art and art history, all phases of architecture, photography, interior design, graphic design, and landscaping. The broadness of the collections and the knowledge of the staff at Hennessey + Ingalls is an important reason why top art directors in film, television, and advertising shop with them.


Jordyn, Ian and I look forward to seeing you there for an amazing night and if anyone is up for dinner and drinks afterward please join us!! 


Please RSVP HERE as seating is limited and books may sell out.

More about Cindy, Ian, Jordyn and the event HERE

Nice interview with OG skater from the early 70's, Laura Thornhill Caswell, on Lenny.com today. Molly Schiot who just released her book on women's sports titled "Game Changers" conducted the interview and wrote the piece on Laura. We love that it captures Laura's free spirit and shares her stories of what it was like for her skateboarding back in the early years.

You can read the entire article HERE

Check out the new video from The Shins with Hoopla team rider Samarria Brevard and Meow team rider Savannah Headden.


Directed by Jon Sortland
Animations by Dillon Moore
Created by Jon Sortland and James Spencer

Kala Fernandez

 Photos Ian Logan

When we received a call from The Beach Reporter to see if some skater girls would like to skate the new Manhattan Beach Skatepark, we were all for it. We rounded up a small group of girls and headed over to skate the new park in private before it became open to the public this past Saturday. A private all girls session before a park opens is a rarity. We'd like to thank The Beach Reporter and the City of Manhattan Beach for making this happen.

Skaters are;  Kala Fernandez,  Stella Reynolds, Vianez Morales, Quinne Daniels, Kyra Williams, Leah Ho, and Minna Stess.

Hop over HERE to read the article and see the video by Daniella Segura from The Beach Reporter and see more photos from the day.

Looks like Samarria Brevard and Savannah Headdon are on a roll, Urban Outfitters, a spot for Etnies women's skate shoe collection and next up, a music video. Way to go!

photo via @thrashermag on instagram

Lizzie Armanto is on FIRE!  It was announced minutes ago that Lizzie has become PRO for Birdhouse (they are releasing her own PRO model board - see photo above) and she scored this month's cover of Thrasher Magazine. Pretty epic day and a huge plus for women's skateboarding. 

We love all that Lizzie does to help elevate girls skateboarding - this type of news and accomplishment opens the door for so many more female skaters!

Congrats Lizzie!!

 

Ellen Degeneres invites surfer/skateboarder Sabre Norris back to Hollywood again, this time to interview celebrities on the red carpet prior to the Kids Choice Awards. It's pretty hysterical!

She's an awesome young surfer, skateboarder and now TV personality - Go Sabre!

We are stoked to see 11-year-old skateboarder and Salt Rags team rider (how cool is her board?!) Vianez Morales in this new "This is Your World" campaign for Justice!

Congrats Vianez!!

The girls are ready to start signing books!

Heidi Lemmon getting books signed by Minna Stess, Stella Reynolds and Kala Fernandez

Legendary downhill ripper Amanda "Panda" Caloia

Minna Stess, Leah Ho and Stella Reynolds

Stella Reynolds, Quinne Daniels, Leah Ho & Minna Stess

Leah Ho and Minna Stess

Stella and Leah

Kimi and Cindy

Amanda, Briel, Stella, Leah, Quinne, and Minna

Briel, Stella, Leah, Quinne, Kala and Hannah

Minna adding the new It's Not About Pretty sticker to her board

Vianez and Amanda

Briel, Stella and Quinne - making art!

Yummy desserts by Flower Child for our launch party!

 Photos by Ian Logan

Saturday was the official book launch and party for the new

"It's Not About Pretty"

book hosted by our awesome partner

Flower Child Restaurant

in Santa Monica.  Skater girls turned up to celebrate and sign books for people, we had awesome desserts from Flower Child for our guests and it was a blast!

We'd like to thank everyone who came and purchased books, the skaters and their parents for bringing them, and of course

Flower Child

for hosting this awesome launch party!

Please check out

Flower Child's website

for the location near you  - their food is organic, yummy and they are huge supporters of girls skateboarding - pro skater Jordyn Barratt is their Del Mar store ambassador and Amanda Caloia is the Santa Monica store ambassador. We think that is pretty rad!

If you missed out on coming to the party, you can pick up a book via

Amazon.com

It's that time of year again and Skateboarding Hall of Fame announced the 2017 inductees in a new and innovative way this past Monday -  by using Facebook LIVE  they were able to share with the world this year's inductees in real time. We were in D.C. and were able to watch & hear the news live on our FB cell phone app - it was pretty cool to say the least.

The two female inductees for 2017 are Kim Cespedes and Vicki Vickers. Congrats girls!

 Here is a complete list of male and female 2017 inductees (photo via SHOF)

The 8th Annual Skateboarding Hall of Fame and Icon Awards Ceremony presented by House of Vans will be held at the City National Grove of Anaheim, California on May 12, 2017.

You can get your tickets HERE

In case you missed the instagram announcement on Skateistan's page - the newest Citizen of Skateistan is 8-year-old skateboarder Sky Brown. Sky will be traveling to Skateistan's locations to help and encourage girls to skate. 

If you are not familiar with Skateistan, please check out their website to learn how they help children in South Africa, Afghanistan and Cambodia to receive an education and learn to skate in a safe environment.

Congrats to Sky for being an important part of the Skateistan mission.