Spikes Skates, established in 1985
Fairman’s, established in 1977
A conversation with Cosmo Baker
What was the scene like in Philly before you opened Spike’s?
This was the early ’80’s, and in Philly at that time skateboarding was still an almost exotic, foreign concept. The scene was very fragmented and there wasn’t really a sense of collective identity. The exposure that we had to any sort of wider scene was though Thrasher and Transworld, and for the most part those magazines had a predominant focus on California, and the lion’s share of that was vert and pool skating. None of that really existed in Philly except for a couple halfpipes that were way out in the suburbs, and that really wasn’t pertinent to what we were starting to do in the city. I don’t even think that VHS tapes had been widely shared at that point either, so we really we’re living in our own bubble of development.
It’s always resonated with me that skating is the antithesis of organized sports–it’s really deeply rooted in individualism, the connection between you, the board, and the surrounding environment. But at the same time, skating is this very “tribal” thing too, and these small groups of individuals end up finding each other and create a greater community at places like McShred out in West Philly, the Afro Banks, The Sundial, and of course, eventually Love Park. So there was already this burgeoning scene in Philly, but it didn’t really have a central place that galvanized that community. One couldn’t even buy decks or skate paraphernalia anywhere in the city. The only “skate shops” were a small one way out in Ambler (I think) and a trophy store that sold some decks up in the far Northeast. So when Spike’s finally opened there was this immediate tidal wave of kids that flooded through the doors.
When did Spike’s open?
Spike’s opened in October of 1985 and the original location was at 13th and Walnut. That was actually the first location of Mitchell & Ness Sporting Goods, which at the time hadn’t even started to get into the throwback gear game yet. They were still a traditional sporting goods and apparel shop. Spike’s was set up on the 2nd floor mezzanine/balcony which was tiny! You had a hard time fitting 10 people up there, not to mention the small display case with trucks, wheels, bearings in it. Almost immediately Spike’s became ‘the spot’ and skaters came from all the surrounding areas downtown to Philly not even to just spend money–they came just hang out, meet other skaters, and use Spike’s as the departure spot for wherever people wanted to skate off to next. Pretty soon, maybe a year or so into it being open, the business completely outgrew the space and the decision was made to move to 615 East Passyunk Ave. off of South Street. It was at that location the scene really blossomed and became the hub for the skating community.
Why did your family think starting a skate shop was a good idea?
My mom and stepdad had a little bit of money and wanted to do something with it. So one day, they just asked my siblings and I,“We want to open a store. What kind of store should we open?” Instinctively I said,“You should open a skateboard store!” Honestly, that was me just being a kid in saying that, but it made perfect sense. The scene was already growing exponentially, and there was absolutely nowhere in the city to get skateboards. So imagine my surprise when a couple of months later my mom said to me, “Guess what? We are opening a skateboard shop.” Instantly it was the coolest thing in the world, and I became the coolest kid in school overnight (ha ha). But in retrospect I didn’t really understand at the time how this decision that my family was making would legitimately impact thousands of, if not more, people, in the creation of this legacy. And not just in the sense of what it did for the development of Philly and global skating but in the sense of the establishment of the brand. It was one of, if not the first, East Coast skate shops that really wore its gritty identity on its sleeve. I don’t think there were any other shops like it before, and it kind of created the template for what skate shops should be afterwards. But to me, it was just “going to the family shop” every day after school and on weekends.
How did your parents handle the transition to business owners?
It was an interesting transition for my mom for sure, going from being a full time mother of four kids to running a business in an area that she really didn’t know much about. My mom is a brilliant woman by nature, as well as being someone who has an innate sense of entrepreneurship. So with all that going for her she, and my pops, took to it pretty easily. My mom really leaned on the skaters, listening to what the kids wanted from the shop and allowing that to sculpt not only what it would be as a business, but as a community. She hired young skaters to work at the shop (guys who would all become the de facto team) to run the day-to-day, come up with designs for stuff and more. But most of all, because she is a mother, she kind of became “mom” to hundreds of kids, if not more. She was the “den mom” so to speak and I really believe that her energy and presence at the shop was one of the things that really made it feel like a second home to so many skaters.
Was there a Spike’s Skates team? Who was on?
There was never “officially” a team. There was a collective core of skaters that repped Spike’s, and that was made up of the kids who worked at the shop: Tony Vogdes, Lance Portnoff, Dennis Askins, Ari Forman and Roger Brown. Roger was really important because he was the greatest skater in everyone’s orbit. The stuff he was doing back then was light years beyond what anyone else was even thinking about and he was doing it all. Incorporating freestyle stuff into street skating, just crazy innovative. But there were so many Spike’s “riders” or adjacent dudes, Adam Wallacavage, Adam Hawley, the twins
Brad and Neil just to name a few. It’s over 30 years ago so my memory may be a little hazy and I’m sure I’ve forgotten many members of the team. I was definitely NOT on the team (ha ha).
Philly Freeze contests are still talked about. How did these come together?
If I recall correctly, the very first Philly Freeze wasn’t actually a contest–it was a skate demo with Steve Olson and the Skull Skates team. I don’t think anyone had ever seen the type of swagger like Steve had at that time. My folks and him got along really well, and the event was a success so they decided
to keep on rocking with it. They started to hold the Philly Freeze contests that were held in the winter and then during the summer they called it Philly Fry. They always held them at the spot Tun Tavern that was just off the Delaware River waterfront. It was massive flat space where they would bring out all the pre-built ramps and obstacles, and there were these high planters that acted as ledges–it was a little bit like pre-Love Park but not as good and with bricks so nowhere near as smooth. But the contests themselves became a pretty big thing and skaters from all over world would travel for them and some skaters who competed ended up going pro and did pretty well with their careers.
Aside from the contests, I think the skate demos were actually much cooler. To have guys who were super huge pros come to Philly with their team and just skate with the locals and bond with them–it was an incredible experience. My folks would organize the whole thing and you’d get a chance to meet and hang and skate with legends. I remember bonding with Rodney Mullen over our mutual love for Run-DMC’s “Raising Hell.” Steve Rocco taught me how to do a kick flip. Skaters like Mike McGill, Jesse Martinez (he did a wall ride and it was the first time any of us Philly skaters had ever seen anything like it), Mike Vallely, John Lucero, so many dudes came though Philly, and it was just such a cool experience to get to meet these people. Then at night my folks would go hang with them and take them bar hopping–it was the 80s so you know things were kinda loose (haha).
Spike’s was a huge influence for so many. Can you put your finger on why?
Well it was definitely first. The first real shop in Philly, one of the first shops of its kind in the country, so there is that. But honestly, I think it’s way bigger than that. I think about the “butterfly effect” where a small decision changes things in a major way down the line. When my mom opened up the shop it became way more than just this destination for skaters to come and buy their gear. Spike’s was 100% lifestyle. Kids came from all surrounding areas and all walks of life. Skateboarding wasn’t even really seen as something “cool” either so a lot of us skaters had this view of ourselves as being sort of misfits, but when we were all there it was our community. A tremendous amount of camaraderie and fellowship came from just being in that environment, from hanging out all day watching skate videos, or from skating the launch ramps and pipes that my folks built and would drag out into the middle of Passyunk Ave. on the weekends. This was who we were and what we did and that bled into all sorts of other things: our tastes in music, art, fashion and design, our aesthetics and collective identity.
But, and I am gonna go real big here (haha), I honestly think that at the very least what the existence of Spike’s did was contribute to what would eventually become modern skateboarding and how we know it today. When skaters first got a glimpse of the New York scene in ‘Future Primitive’, everyone was like oh hey that’s already how everyone skates here in Philly already! It was all about riding the streets. Sure you had skaters that wanted to skate ramps and catch air, and you had skaters that would be more focused on freestyle skating, but at the end of the day it was about the terrain. Everyone would meet at Spike’s and skate there for hours on end, and as the day went on everyone would end up just mobbing through the streets of Philadelphia on their way to what would be our main destination, Love Park. Then we would skate Love for hours and hours into the night. Love was our spot that we outright claimed for sure. Obviously years later guys like Ricky Oyola, Fred Gall, Serge, Stevie Wiliams, Matt Reason, so many others I’m not mentioning… The whole
Sub Zero crew and then Nocturnal–they put Love forever on the global map. And of course, it’s really safe to say that what all those pioneers were doing at Love influenced skating in a massive way… but you know, what would skating be like if my mom never decided to open up her shop back in 1985? That little butterfly that flapped its wings…
Any other moments that you remember that give a picture of this time?
The whole thing was just such an experience. The latest skate videos playing on the TV, my mom behind the counter holding court, Big Audio Dynamite playing real loud on the stereo, my pops in the backyard smoking a joint with Stacey Peralta, kids of all ages and ethnicities just smashing down the avenue all day long, summer days that would never end, as the sun grew long in the sky everyone would mount up on their boards and start to mob through the streets heading west, a massive congregation of skaters just weaving through the streets, on our way to Love, and further, just going and going forever… I’m so grateful that is where I came from, that it’s where so much of me was formed. And although I ever went much further with my skateboarding, it’s something that’s indelible and sticks within you forever I truly believe. Talk about formative years and all, some of my most formative of them were there on Passyunk Ave. I’m grateful, and although history may have forgotten so much, I know a few people still know about where so much of this started at–with my family’s skate shop, Spike’s.
A conversation with Dave Fairman
What was the scene like before you opened Fairman’s?
I was part of the “smash your little sister’s clamp-on roller skates with the steel wheels and fasten them to any piece of wood” thing in the early 1970’s. Then, just try not to die while bombing the neighborhood hill. Without the internet or social media, we were learning and progressing on-the-fly without much outside influence. Every once in a while we would scrounge up a year-old, dog-eared copy of Skateboarder magazine to give us inspiration.
What year did you start Fairman’s?
Around 1975. I was fortunate to have access to a table saw and other tools in my father’s garage so I was carving out boards for friends from the beginning. Shortly after that, I was taking orders from kids at school and started to make a few dollars doing it. It didn’t take long before I had to apply for a tax license so I could bring in trucks, wheels and bearings to sell with the boards. That was 1977, so I guess that’s the official “business start-up date.” I was 15.
Why did you think starting a skate shop was a good idea?
I was gaining a reputation for the decks I was building and there wasn’t really any place to buy gear unless you could convince your parents to drive to a surf shop on the Jersey shore. I was operating out of the garage for a number of years until I pulled together all of my savings and opened the first “real” Fairman’s storefront in Prospect Park in 1986. People thought I was crazy, but fortunately, skaters from all over the area found the shop and I was able to make a living by pouring every dollar that came in, back into the business.
How did you navigate the transition from skateboarder to business person?
Haha! I think I simply wanted to have a career doing something I loved, and the relatively successful roll-of-the-dice of opening the first store, encouraged me to keep growing the “business.” I have to mention that we always maintained a crew of authentic skaters on our staff who served as great ambassadors for Fairman’s, and I know our customers appreciated that.
Fairman’s was a huge influence for so many. Why do you think that is?
You’re very kind to say so and I’m humbled to think that the shop had a positive impact on anyone. I think it was just my commitment to contribute to and build the skate scene in the region. Hosting events, skate jams, contests and welcoming skaters to the shop all day, every day–giving them a cool place to hang out and be around other skaters. That continued when we open the store in West Chester.
Fairman’s has produced some legendary pros like Bam, Mike Maldonado and Kerry Getz. At the same time some really creative people have connected to the shop: Adam Wallacavage, Jim Houser, Dan Wolfe and there are probably more. Was there some formula for how you attracted these talents?
Nearly as soon as I began building boards I always supported local skaters. I wanted them to ride my decks, with my logo on them, so that was important from the start. At first it was just my brother and close friends who were “sponsored” haha, but that process continued as the business and brand grew, and I’m proud that the shop continues to support the area’s skaters today.
In the early days especially, Fairman’s quicky became a community hub for skaters, artists and musicians. We really enjoyed producing and promoting events that combined skating, art shows, and punk music. So the creativity was always a component of the brand’s identity. I feel fortunate that the shop may have played a small part of the success for so many artists like Adam Wallacavage, Jim Houser, Andrew Jeffery Wright, you, Adam Crawford, Dan Wolfe, Joe Hiddleson, and most recently Henry Jones. I’m sure I’ve forgotten many others. I’m truly sorry if you’re one of them reading this, hit me up for a beer, haha!
As for the pro skaters, we sort of captured lightning-in-a-bottle. Good timing combined with a little luck, I guess. It was a unique, seminal time in the skate world, and we were working really hard to get our team riders noticed. I had been in the game so long that west coast manufacturers knew the shop, so they would actually agree to view the sponsor-me tapes that I sent them. That’s how we helped put Mike, Bam and Kerry on the pro path along with Jimmy Chung, Pete Eldridge, and Andrew Cannon. Some strong amateurs also got noticed like Mike Manidis, Mark DelNegro, Chris Mathis, and Scotty McDade just to name a few. Proud of all of those guys. Again, beers on me if I forgot you…
Fairman’s is still going, under the new ownership. How does it feel to see it continue and thrive?
In 2014, after 37 great years, Tish and I decided that it was time for a new crew to shepherd the Fairman’s Skate Shop name and brand into the next generation. We’re stoked that one of our longtime team riders and his family have taken the helm and continue to grow and support the scene today. I want to sincerely thank all the generations of our staff, team, and customers for their loyal support through the years.