PoorHouse

The start up of PoorHouse skateboards goes back to 1988/89, and is fully credited to Bob Schmelzer. He was a professional freestyle and street skater from San Jose who officially rode for Brand X, Madrid, Vans, and Independent. One of his early claims to fame was the fact he was the skateboard stunt double for Micheal J Fox in “Back to the Future”.

Bob started, owned, and operated Circle A skateboards which was a very punk rock, against the grian company, that had very hardcore street skaters on their team like Ricky Windsor. They were all about muscle cars, leather jackets, and punk rock. Bob assembled a team that included Steve Godoi, Joe Lopes, Ricky Windsor, and freestyle/street skater Fabian Kravetez. All the designs had a creative edge to them and were considered progressive for their time.

We’re not exactly sure how Circle A ended, but after Cirlce A - Bob started PoorHouse skateboards in 1989. The philosophy behind the company was to go against the “big corporate machine” by giving skaters what they want - their way. It was one of the first skater owned independent companies. At this time he brought with him Ricky Windsor and they started the company with a limited run of decks, one for Bob and one for Ricky. Bobs deck was one of the first double kick decks to be produced on the market, which was quite innovative for the time.

Soon after their first run of decks, Bob met up with long time friend James T. LaFave, who owned and operated Galaxy skate shop in Laguna Beach California. Bob approached James and asked him to join PoorHouse as a partner. Together Bob & James devloped their first run of decks for their newly turned Pro-Rider Max Evans, dropping the Bob Schmelzer and Ricky Windsor models. Around the same time they also ran a series of sample decks for Duane Peters who they had began to procure for the pro team, unfortunately Duane never joined PoorHouse and the decks never made it past the sample phase.

Max Evans went on to great success, at which time his PoorHouse decks consistently sold out. The graphics on Max’s decks were created by artist John Lucero, who was also the owner and operator of Black Label. Shortly after blowing up on the scene Max Evans was given a chance to ride for Black Label thanks to John. At the same time, Bob Schmelzer left PoorHouse to pursue a new company called Slander, leaving James T. Lafave the sole owner/operator of PoorHouse Skateboards.

LaFave created a professional team which initially featured Dennis Finger. Dennis had rode on the amateur team for Galaxy skate shop, and was now given the chance to prove his skills at the next level. Dennis was widely known in Southern California for his his street and pool skills. He had attended military academy where he became best friends with legendary street skater Matt Hensley. After military school Hensley rode for H-Street while Finger was part of PoorHouse. This relationship led to Dennis recruiting H-Street veterans Steve Ortega, Josh Swindel, & John Scultes to the PoorHouse team.

PoorHouse quickly became known as a hardcore street skating team whose riders actively placed in numerous national competitions. PoorHouse expanded their roster to include amateurs on the team, their first amateur rider was Mike Marinaccio. Mike was widely known in Orange County as one of the best in the amateur ranks. He had a solid five year run in the amateur skatebording scene, with a heavy focus on street and vert.

PoorHouse was run out of a garage, was always owned by skaters, and stayed true to its punk roots, this made it a cool little company. For most of the 1990's PoorHouse was operated out of a garage behind a Mexican restaurant called Adolfo’s just off of PCH in Laguna Beach. Overall, the company did quite well having a close to five year run with little or no issue. During this time PoorHouse could be purchased in most skate shops around the country. Unfortunately in the mid to late 1990’s the scene began to die for various reasons, this was more a national trend than a situation specific to Southern California. Shortly there after the company started to drift away from the national scene as some of its riders moved on, and cash got tight at local skateshops around the nation.