Rob Schwartz is the Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\CHIAT\DAY in Los Angeles He writes an “Inspiration is Everywhere” to the LA creative department every week. Sometimes, he shares them with us:

Amigos,

“Baby Paul” Cullen

This week I was inspired by two pieces of Skate culture.

First was the news of the death of “Baby Paul” Cullen, one of the world’s greatest skateboarders and beloved “mascot” of Venice Beach’s own original Zephyr team aka the Z-Boys.

The second bit of skate inspiration was an amazing piece of skateboard art featuring the incomparable, yet incongruous Miles Davis Quintet. (Yes, Jazz and Skateboards. Who’d a thunk?)

As a mediocre skateboarder who rode a Sims deck with ACS trucks and Sims Pure Juice wheels, I’ve always been inspired by the Z-Boys from Dogtown.

The original Z-Boys were a rag-tag group of skaters in the 1970’s who rose up near where the Chiat/Day building sits today. This part of Venice was not the chi-chi, sushi-slurping, yoga and mocha-latte mecca it is today. Back in the day, it was a grimy, tough part of Venice known as “Dogtown.” And guys like Nathan Pratt, Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta slapped boards on trucks and wheels and used this bit of concrete dog-patch as their very own amusement park.

In fact, this was the beginning of the Dogtown style — driving, low-slung and downright aggressive. And the Z-Boys dominated the boardwalk of Pacific Ocean Park, rumbled through the streets of West LA and defied gravity in nearly every empty swimming pool in between. (There’s a terrific documentary on the Z-Boys and the whole D-town phenomenon, directed by original Zephyr Stacy Peralta called, no surprise, “Dogtown and Z-Boys.” (If you haven’t seen it, you simply must.)

What I find so inspiring about “Baby Paul” and his older Z-brothers was their incredible impact on culture. From nothing but a few guys “sidewalk surfing,” Skateboarding is now a $4.8 billion dollar market. It boasts over 11million participants. And it has spawned the empires of Tony Hawk, Volcom, RVCA, Hurley, and Zoo York (to name but a few).

What’s more, we now have skateboard parks, skateboard stores, skateboard magazines, skateboard blogs and skateboard icons in all manner of movies, TV shows, video games and of course most recently, Tillman, the Skateboarding Dog. (Over 8 million hits and counting.)

And if pop culture isn’t enough, there’s high culture in the form of Skateboard Art. As I mentioned earlier, fine artist Ian Johnson recently created 5 exceptional decks featuring Miles Davis and his band. And there have been brilliant pieces created over the last three decades by people like Evan Hecox (founder of “Chocolate”), Johnny Mojo, and the man who started it all, Jim Phillips. (Again, these are but a few of the artists who choose skateboard decks as a canvas.)

All of which brings me back to “Baby Paul.” Sure, he died young. But the his inspiration is everywhere, and will be with us for a long, long time.

Thanks for reading.

~Rob

For more ore on “Baby Paul” http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/dtown/cullen.html

More on Miles Davis Quintet Decks via Boing Boing – http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/25/miles-davis-quintet.html

Tillman, The Skateboarding Dog – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQzUsTFqtW0

Ian Johnson stuff is here: http://www.ianmjohnson.com/

Skateboard art is here: http://www.disposablethebook.com/

See the “Dogtown and Z-Boy” trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275309/

If you have any comments or suggestions please email Rob Schwartz.