Back in the late 70s, Venice Beach was the place to show off your skateboard. There wasn’t much in the way of skateboards back in those days so kids were improvising and making their own. I used to see boards made out of every imaginable material… fiberglass, wood, Plexiglas, aluminum. Some boards were decorated but most of them were just functional. I also had my own board that I made in woodshop class. I was into the downhill aspect of the sport at the time so I needed a board that would handle like one with flex, but actually was more stable with a lower center of gravity. It was made of maple, using a four-layer lamination technique. It was longer than the other boards, but longboard surfing and skateboarding hadn't taken off yet.

I moved to Hawaii, started surfing, and forgot about skateboarding for awhile. Then I noticed that surfboards were getting longer, and I remembered my old skateboard that had been lost for a long time. I saw that someone was making longer, but rather unimaginative skateboards, and thought “those would look cool if they looked like custom surfboards” and the idea was born! So, in the late 80s after returning to California, I started making my first boards, patterning them after the graphic designs on custom surfboards.

Why “lowphat”?
I was out with a friend one day riding my boards trying to come up with a name for my fledgling business. I had writer’s block, thinking “this ride is low and wide....low and wide...low and....” and then my friend said, “man, this ride is phat”. And it just clicked.