American Origins in Baking Buns
When surfers in California and Hawaii had the idea of surfing the streets on a short board with wheels, skateboarding was born. In places like Venice Beach and Hermosa Beach California, surfers wanted to recreate the feeling of surfing the waves. In Hermosa beach, a local baker used a hickory board for baking buns. Every week as the boards became charred, the baker would throw them away and use new ones. Riding homemade boards barefoot around the streets of California, these surfers soon got noticed. When Alf Jensen fished them out of the trash to give them a new life, the first commercially made skateboard was born! Alf attached steel wheels to them and sold them at the drug store for $2.88.
As with all things American, Capitalism got involved, and when the toy industry became aware of the skateboard things really took off. The Roler Derby which was the first mass-produced skateboard allowed for easier handling and tricks and maneuvers became more fun.
So now you know where skateboards came from!
(http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/showthread.php?61809-The-Hermosa-Bun-Board-Story)
