How Tony Hawk’s First 900 Led To History At Hubba Hideout

In "How The Most Famous Skateboarding Trick Ever Done Led To History At Hubba Hideout" we sit down with Legendary Skate Photographer, Dave Swift to hear even MORE skateboarding greatness that went down on June 27th, 1999. As many know, Tony Hawk did the first ever 900 at the X Games Vert Skateboarding Best Trick contest in San Francisco (this would be the most famous skateboarding trick that we mentioned in the title). It was broadcast live on ESPN, in front of millions of fans, bringing skateboarding to thousands of new homes. But what many skaters don't know, is at the exact same time, history was being made at the iconic Hubba Hideout ledge (also featured in Tony Hawk Pro Skater "THPS") by Pro Skaters Brad Staba and Brian Anderson. After skating the street contest, Brad and Brian left to go skate the legendary ledge. Almost simultaneously, Grant Brittain and Dave were kicked out of the Vert contest for shooting photos.

Dave, who was a Transworld Skateboarding photographer at the time, was no stranger to Hubba, having shot photos there before with skateboarding greats Eric Koston, Rob Dyrdek and Marc Johnson. As fate would have it, they crossed paths and headed to Hubba together, shooting a few moves that would go down in the history books. And yes, this means Dave of course missed the first 900. Soon after he left, skaters Bob Burnquist, Colin McKay and Andy Macdonald willed Tony to push himself to pull the first ever 900.

Dave has no regrets though, he shot the second 900...or was it the third? In a wild blast from the past, Dave sifts through an old magazine to find the sequence of the second 900, the magazine has Geoff Rowley on the cover, featuring "up-and-coming" skaters such as Andrew Reynolds, Chad Fernandez and Jerry Hsu. Tony states that after his first 900 at X Games, he knew Grant, Dave or Atiba Jefferson would be reaching out soon to shoot another!

The 900 has gone on to become the most famous skateboarding trick ever done. Rodney Mullen believes it opened the doors in unmeasurable ways; as we have now seen Tom Schaar do a 1080, the first female 900 by Arisa Trew and just recently THREE consecutive 900s by Ema Kawakami at Tony Hawk's Vert Alert in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Be sure to check out X Games Ventura 2024 this weekend in Ventura, Ca!

#skateboarding #tonyhawk #xgames

Photos by: Dave Swift

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