Skip Engblom was one of the founders of the Zephyr Surf Shop and the original Z Boys skate team in the 1970s. Skip started SMA in 1978 in the back of his shop at the time, The Skateboard Shop of Dogtown. Because the actual Dogtown board company refused to sell him Dogtown skateboards, he decided to start his own skateboard company. Since his shop was located across from the Douglas Aircraft Plant and the fact that he always wanted to be an airline owner, he decided to call his new skateboard company Santa Monica Airlines.
Out now is an extremely limited collection of SMA t-shirts. Two designs in the line are by L.A. Native photographer Anthony Friedkin. One is of Skip himself in his surfboard shaping room, and the other one is of the infamous P.O.P. pier in Santa Monica Beach in the mid 70s. Although there’s next to nothing written about him on the internet, Friedkin’s photographs are exhibited in important museum shows and has some included in the Getty library.
The shirts are available at the Reserve Store in Los Angeles and online at BoundlessNY, along with selected accounts in Japan.
Have a look at the full Santa Monica Airlines T-Shirt Collection after the runway.
