Dogtown a.k.a. Santa Monica, pre-gentrified

Santa Monica was once a pretty scary place.

That's one of the lasting impressions of Dogtown and Z-Boys, the 2001 documentary Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is releasing on Blu-ray Jan. 5. It's a fascinating lesson for both the uninitiated who probably think the beachside California town has always been a haven for the well-heeled as well as for an Angeleno like myself who remembers the days when venturing south of the Pier was a really bad idea.

Dogtown, which inspired the 2005 feature film Lords of Dogtown, ostensibly is about a group of Santa Monica-and Venice-reared misfits -- film director Stacy Peralta was one of them -- who revolutionized skateboarding with an aggressive, punk-rock-type style that eventually helped begat what's now the multibillion dollar Extreme Sports industry. The Zephyr surfing and skateboarding team obviously knew they were onto something -- while the tone of the interviews can be self-congratulatory, the footage of the power and grace of future skateboarding stars like Tony Alva and cult heroes like Jay Adams is exhaustive and outstanding.

The real revelation, however, is the portrayal of Santa Monica, Venice and the surrounding areas as a pretty unforgiving place in the mid-'70s, from the hodgepodge of stores along Santa Monica's Main Street to the cracked, empty pools of Mar Vista to a winter swell-battered Pacific Ocean Park, whose rusted out rides and splintering pylons made the now-demolished pier look downright terrifying.

The film gets extra credit for a soundtrack that includes lesser known nuggets by Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Devo.

Dogtown and Z-Boys will be released along with Peralta's 2004 big-wave surfing documentary Riding Giants in Blu-ray on Jan. 5. Both Blu-ray titles will be priced at $24.95.

Posted by Danny King on November 17, 2009 | Comments (0)