Jim Murphy's interview with Sid Abbruzzi first ran as "The Package" in the August 2002 issue of Juice magazine. Abbruzzi was 51.

I was born in Newport, Rhode Island, August 12th, 1951. It was the hottest day of the summer. That’s over 50 years ago. I’m adding it up for you. I’m in my sixth decade of living and my fifth decade of skateboarding and surfing.

I started skating first because we were trying to simulate what we saw in the water. It was the classic story of the kid taking apart a pair of old roller skates and putting the metal wheels on a two-by-four. That was me. Then the store boards came out in ’62. Chain stores were selling them for $9.99 for a complete. There was nothing else but a complete. Life was complete. I kept skating through high school, but surfing really started taking control of my life. I was 14 years old, I had my own board and I was going to the beach all of the time. By the time I was 16, I had a Volkswagon van full of surfboards and skateboards.

We skated wherever they were building new houses. Every time a new housing development went up, they would pave the streets first, so our skate spots were all named after housing developments. Continental Village was a series of ranch houses being built on a slight hill so it was like, "Where you guys gonna skate today?" "We’ll be at Continental Village."

Were you seeing any pools in the neighborhood?

We were too young to even know about pools. This was still during the time of clay wheels. We didn't even have urethane wheels yet. In the mid-'70s, by the time the skate industry started coming back, I was already in the business of selling.

How old were you when you first started in business?

I turned 18 in ’69, the Summer of Love, and went to New Jersey to buy surfboards because there was nothing much to buy here in Rhode Island. So we’re driving down there and all the traffic was lined up going the other way. Everybody was going to Woodstock.


To be honest with you, we were tripping on a tab of acid. I had my dad’s car and I had to pull off the road because I was laughing so hard. I had no intention of going to Woodstock. I picked up the six surfboards in New Jersey, turned around and drove my ass home. Sold the boards right away. The guy I was working with says, ‘You did a good job. Go get six more.’ So we got six more. In ’71, we opened up Water Brothers, in a little shack on the beach. That shop lasted for 20 years.

You went right into business out of high school?

I don’t think I was business-minded, but I didn’t want to do anything else but skate or surf. I figured the only way to stay in it was to sell. I guess it’s like a guy who loves weed: he might as well sell it so he gets it free. But it was small-time. No sales reps were getting up to Rhode Island. We had no magazine coverage. There was no Florida market like there is now. SURFER was the only magazine. Then skateboards really started happening in ’73. We were buying all completes. A complete out of our store sold for between $19.99 and $29.99.

Were you competing with department stores?

The department stores only had the cheapos. They weren’t really on it when the whole thing started. Once that urethane wheel came out, people were skateboarding for a living. They had the contests going. The new guys started doing all of the tricks and slides. Skateboarding went full-blown. But the chain stores were out of the loop. Those guys were still selling clay wheels, you know?

The parks started happening around ’75, when the precision wheels came out. We were the first shop to sell Road Rider 2s. We were chillin’ out at the shop, and the guys from Quality Products came in with Road Rider 2s and OJs. They said, ‘We want to give you some of these.’ He gave us Road Rider 2s with precision bearings.

Quality Products here in Cranston, Rhode Island, was the first manufacturer of the precision wheel. They had it going about four months before NHS came in. Then everything went over to NHS. Meanwhile, people down in Florida were making Stokers. But Water Brothers was one of the first two shops to have precision wheels. We'd buy them by the hundreds. If there was no surf, everybody around here went skating. On the weekend, we’d either go to Providence or Boston. We were the first guys to skate Boston City Hospital. Then we started skating pools. That’s when the scene started going. And it just keeps going. The trucks and boards get wider. Tony Alva gets in ‘People’ magazine. Things are flying.

I met him down at Cherry Hill. He had so many groupies around him. Water Brothers sold a million boards for him. Everything is great. Skateboarding is bang, bang, boom.

The Sex Pistols came to town and turned everything upside down. From that day on, the skateboarding scene became the skateboarding punk rock scene.

We started Big World in ’81. After hearing the Pistols, everyone picked up a guitar and started playing. We made little albums and tapes. It was all crazy punk shit. We never paid any attention to the long-haired hippie shit. We were always into our own hardcore metal punk. My brother Magoo was a guitar genius. We always had drums in the house, and a bass. I actually sold Water Bros for a while. I sold my shop for $1000 and bought a Marshall amp, just so I could have it in the band. I was fried.

We were a hit with all the locals. We played all original songs. We had a great show going. We played with Iggy Pop three times, and we opened up for the Tubes.


Interview with Ruth Abbruzzi, Sid's mother; also from the August 2002 issue of Juice magazine.

Sid got his first skateboard, and off he went. Next thing you know he came home and said, ‘l lost my skateboard.’ He was skating across Broadway, slipped off, and the board went right down into the sewer. His father was alive then, so he took charge. The city came out, too off the sewer lid, went down under and pulled out this dirty, dirty skateboard. It was great. I love skateboarding.

What was it like having a skate ramp in your backyard?

There could be 10 skateboarders in the yard and the grass would be over their heads, but they wouldn’t mow the lawn. Everyone brings their dogs. That’s the way it’s always been. The dogs all get along, so that makes it nice.

Didn’t they do a little partying down in the basement?

I close my eyes for those things. That’s their business.

What would you say to parents whose kids are just starting to get into skateboarding?

Encourage it 100%, because it really is wonderful. They’ve got a group together. The only thing is, if they’re out there for a while, they like food (laughs). So have some food somewhere. And they love dogs; everyone brings their dogs. It’s a great life. It really is.

Why do you think skateboarders get a bad rap?

I think maybe it bothers some people if they’re trying to get out of the way of skateboarders on the streets. That would be the only time they’d bother me. But they're very nice to me. I’ve had no problems with any of them.

Oh, you’re saying I’m beautiful? (laughs)

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