Skateboarding

The beachfront city of Malibu voted Monday to outlaw a form of youthful daredevilry known as speedboarding -- an extreme hobby that has grown increasingly popular here. Speedboarders don protective helmets, knee and elbow pads, and sometimes even sleek bodysuits before hopping onto long skateboards and rocketing down steep public streets and canyon roads at speeds greater than 40 mph. Enthusiasts swear by speedboarding's addictive adrenaline rush.

After three consecutive days featuring bluebird skies and balmy temperatures, rain descended on the Lake Tahoe area, making a mess of the marquee event in the Winter Dew Tour. The U-shaped superpipe, gleaming but dry and immaculate a night earlier for the ski superpipe final, was pelted by rain and sleet throughout Sunday afternoon's snowboard superpipe contest at Northstar-at-Tahoe resort.

Millionaires Shaun White and Ryan Sheckler are among dozens of skateboarders who'll roll into the Orange County Fairgrounds this evening, seeking to enhance fortunes and fame during a weekend-long competition. But the real star of this show, by far the wealthiest, and without doubt the worst skateboarder, will remain behind the scenes. That's Joe Maloof, of the Maloof brothers. Joe and Gavin are president and vice chairman of Maloof Companies, a billion-dollar family enterprise.

A year ago, skateboarder Jake Brown proved from which height a man must plummet, onto an unforgiving wooden platform, to have both shoes fly from his feet on impact. Answer: 46 feet. Or about 4 1/2 stories. That's the vertical drop the skateboarder endured during his fifth and final run of the big-air competition on the mega-ramp at the 2007 X Games.

At 40, professional skateboarder Tony Hawk is still living the adolescent dream -- pulling tricks on his board and making video games. Hawk is working on his 10th game, Adrenaline, due out next fall from Activision. The Tony Hawk video game series is one of the most popular franchises in the industry, having sold several million copies and generated more than $1 billion in sales since the line was introduced in 1999.

AS a skinny teenager growing up in Missouri and Nebraska, Steve Berra was pummeled by bullies and ridiculed for ditching organized sports in favor of skateboarding. With a shaved head, baggy clothes and few friends, Berra slept through most classes and had a 1.2 high school grade-point average. "What I was," Berra says, "was the kid who everybody assumed was a complete lost cause."

Skateboard icon Tony Hawk has signed an exclusive deal with Kohl's Corp. to sell footwear under his brand through the mid-level retailer. Hawk will begin selling his shoes at Kohl's 800-some stores and its website this month, the company was set to announce today. The fashion and skate shoes will be targeted to young men and boys. Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based Kohl's plans to price the Hawk line at about $40 a pair.

The daunting handrail at Belmont High School near downtown Los Angeles draws skateboarders from such places as Hollywood, Manhattan Beach and Marina del Rey. And Sacramento. Texas. Even New York. But Germany? "We're not even sure if those guys spoke English," recalled Mike Parker, a Belmont counselor.

Vietnam and Watergate were the big stories of the day when a gaggle of latchkey kids in south Santa Monica -- including future legends Jay Adams, Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta -- reinterpreted vertical surfing moves for dry land and radically redefined skateboarding. Now the building that housed the 1970s-era surf and skate shop where the renegade teens bonded to become the Zephyr, or Z-boys, skateboarding team is in danger of being developed out of existence.

If Eunjoo Kim squints hard through her office window toward the distant chain-link fence surrounding the etnies Skatepark of Lake Forest, in Orange County, she sees boys buzzing over concrete bowls, boys ollieing across her radar--and only a few girls. The imbalance annoys the heck out of her. "Everyone knows girls are the best, the smartest, the strongest at everything," the 28-year-old designer says with conviction. And she's determined to create clothes that reflect their gumption.