My First Published Photograph from the fall of 1976 as it Appeared in SkateBoarder magazine

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JAY ADAMS ... My 1st published photo. Taken in the fall of 1976, at the Tear Drop, a tiny pool with almost no shallow end shaped like a tear drop... Up in Brentwood, not far from Kenter Canyon School ... i was 14 years old. Used by the BIBLE the original SKATEBOARDER Magazine for a full page subscription ad. Zoom in and look at the details of what was going on back then... i was beyond stoked, even though at the same time i was bummed they didn’t use the photo in its original full color, cropped it crazy and that’s not to mention he’s not pulling this off! But it was the first time someone was coming out of the pool like that, it inspired legions! I had so many better photographs in color and B&W, WTF? The ace editor and photo editor/chief photographer Warren Bolster knew better than I at the time that the attitude and style in this image was all he needed with that little bit of never before seen air. It was a big deal. And my photo credit blew me away... so began the journey... today i put on the finishing touches to the EXTENDED NEW EDITION of “DOGTOWN - The Legend of the Z-BOYS” lots of extra pages and a little bigger in size too, redesigned cover, and a bunch of re found dug up photos from the era never seen before... official release is July 2nd but Amazon is taking pre-orders now. Even if you have the original one, this has improved so much you’re gonna want it too. And if you never got the original edition you will be loving this book. . #Skateboarding #inspiration #jayAdams #zboys #zephyr #inspiration #integrity #DogTown #OG #original #WLA #1976 #gnarly #air #archetype @jboy #goodtimes #BiMonthly

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Jan 4, 2019 at 6:12pm PST

JAY ADAMS from 1977 on my IG

JAY ADAMS 1977, doing what he did best, in West Los Angeles. Personification of RADICAL an inspiration to all skateboarders for attitude and ability on a skateboard. 4 years ago today he died. He was not perfect, he was a trouble maker in the purest sense... and he sometimes went too far, his lifes mistakes did not inspire so we don’t dwell on them. His style, his attitude, his instinct and integrity made him and help made us. Jay was a work in progress like many of us. I knew him for many years through thick and thin. My first ever published photograph was of him when he was just 15 and i was 14. The OG Z-Boy, Zephyr Team rider. He helped, inadvertently of course, make skateboarding what it is today. We honor him today for that. Jay Adams Rest In Peace. #Skateboarding #JayBoy #JayAdams #ZBoy #Zephyr #DogTown #Legend #style #aggression #ZFlex #BlueTileObsession #WLA #BackYardPool #FuckYouHero #MyRules (yes this photo is huge in the MY RULES book and was one of my favorites in Fuck You Heroes too) one of my all time favorite skateboarding style photos, old school surf style on vertical like few others.

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Aug 15, 2018 at 2:19pm PDT

Jay Adams ramp skating 1977from my IG

The Original One and Only JAY ADAMS on a somewhat primitive but well built back yard ramp circa 1977. This was just a one hit ramp, at the end of an L shaped drive way, you had maybe 60feet to push with a little down slope half way through then had to veer right hard and you had maybe 10 feet before you'd hit the ramp, it was awkward but it was rare and relatively smooth transition, the first ramp many of us had ever seen with a perfectly round cut transition in the base support structure, no one even built half pipes yet, and here's fuckin Jay Boy flying off the top! No, honestly, he's not making this, he's totally going off in more ways than one, just going for it, because that's just what he did. The ramp belonged to a friend of mine from school, Brett Adams (no relation to Jay). The ramp was up in Brentwood, just in between Paul Revere and Kenter. As you can see from this picture the ramp is actually leaning up against the roof of the house (note broomstick coping and no deck on top, oldschool kids!), a few weeks later they built its own free standing support and put the ramp at the straight end of the driveway, i made a bunch of great photos there with Alva, in particular, and several others, including one of Brett that made it into my Fuck You Too book and MY RULES the book. The frontside airs of Alva are classics, a backside tail-tap of T.A. ( @thetonyalva1957 ) made it onto the contents page in SkateBoarder Magazine. This photo appears in my co-authored (w/Stecyk) "DogTown - The Legend of The Z-Boys" still available at your local bookstore or Amazon... #jayadams #jayboy #jayboyadams #ZBOYS #Zflex #TrackerTrucks #backyardramp #1977 #DogTown #WLA #quarterpipe #inspiration #integrity #BadAss #Venice #OG #100% #100percentskateboarder #innovator #skateboarding #skating #knowYourHistory #rampskating #quarterpipe #getRadical #GNARLY #RAD #politicallyIncorrect #MyRules #surfculture #GetTheNewBook

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Jan 31, 2016 at 7:38pm PST

Jay Adams, Get Yours First on my Instagram

My 1st published photo. Taken in the fall of 1976. JAY ADAMS at the Tear Drop, a tiny pool with almost no shallow end shaped like a tear drop... Up in Brentwood, not far from Kenter Canyon School ... Bastardized by cropping and all the true colors taken away by the magazine folks ... reminds me a little of instagram. Look forward to seeing where this goes. #jayAdams #zboys #zephyr #inspiration #integrity #DogTown #OG #inspiration #original #WLA#1976 @jboyadams

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Dec 7, 2015 at 7:49pm PST

The Classic JAY ADAMS photograph on my Instagram

JAY ADAMS knocking the coping out of its place at a back yard barging session in West Los Angels in the spring of ‘78. Attitude, Aggression and Style exemplified in the photograph as well as the incredible color has always made this a favorite. This photo was the lone skateboarding image on the cover of FUCK YOU HEROES, it appeared in that book, and first appeared in the 1st ever SkateBoarder magazine photo annual in B&W, and more recently as huge and as beautifully presented as ever in the MY RULES book. #SkateBoarding #JayBoy #Inspiration #Radical #Gnarly #ZEPHYR #Integrity #PoolSkating #BackYardPool #Trackers #Kryptos #SearchAndDestroy #GRIND #Frontside #Style #Aggression #DogTown #ZBoys #JayAdams #fuckYouHeroes #SkateBoarder

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Jun 22, 2018 at 8:19pm PDT

Jay Adams would have been 57 today...

Jay Adams Backside Air 1979 On my Instagram

The late great JAY ADAMS at the Marina Del Rey skatepark re-creation of the DogBowl circa 1979. This is a pretty rare photo of Jay, although it was used in SkateBoarder magazine as a Black and White image in Jay’s interview and small in the book “DOGTOWN - The Legend of the Z-BOYS” a blasting Back side air for Jay’s OG Era of riding is a pretty significant difference from when they were just hitting tiles only four years earlier. He was as radical as he was progressive for the form. #JayBoy #ZBoy #Zephyr #PoolSkating #OG #DogTown #HandMadeBoard #Gyros #Tracker #Copers #aggression #Radical #Air #Innovator #Skateboarding #Inspiration #Integrity #Mistakes #NoHatersPlease #HandDrawn #DogTownSkates

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Jan 12, 2018 at 9:55pm PST

Jay Adams 1977 early back yard ramp skating on my instagram

The Original One and Only JAY ADAMS on a somewhat primitive but well built back yard ramp circa 1977. This was just a one hit ramp, at the end of an L shaped drive way, you had maybe 60feet to push with a little down slope half way through then had to veer right hard and you had maybe 10 feet before you'd hit the ramp, it was awkward but it was rare and relatively smooth transition, the first ramp many of us had ever seen with a perfectly round cut transition in the base support structure, no one even built half pipes yet, and here's fuckin Jay Boy totally going off in more ways than one, just going for it, because that's just what he did. The ramp belonged to a friend of mine from school, Brett Adams (no relation to Jay). The ramp was up in Brentwood, just in between Paul Revere and Kenter. As you can see from this picture the ramp is actually leaning up against the roof of the house (note broomstick coping and no deck on top, oldschool kids!), a few weeks later they built its own free standing support and put the ramp at the straight end of the driveway, i made a bunch of great photos there with Alva, in particular, and several others, including one of Brett that made it into my Fuck You Too book and MY RULES the book. The frontside airs of Alva are classics, a backside tail-tap of T.A. ( @thetonyalva1957 ) made it onto the contents page in SkateBoarder Magazine. This photo appears in my co-authored (w/Stecyk) "DogTown - The Legend of The Z-Boys" still available at your local bookstore or Amazon... #jayadams #jayboy #jayboyadams #ZBOYS #Zflex #TrackerTrucks #backyardramp #1977 #DogTown #WLA #quarterpipe #inspiration #integrity #BadAss #Venice #OG #100% #100percentskateboarder #innovator #skateboarding #skating #knowYourHistory #rampskating #quarterpipe #getRadical #GNARLY #RAD #politicallyIncorrect #MyRules #surfculture #GetTheNewBook

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Dec 13, 2017 at 11:37am PST

Jay Adams - The Early Years - Photos by Kent Sherwood Captions by Jay - Released Today!

This is a book of photographs of the legend as a boy, taken by his stepfather Kent Sherwood. Kent was my first and only hourly wage employer when I worked at the Z-Flex shack in Venice one summer as a teenager. These images are some rare, early moments of Jay, his friends, family, and his lifestyle, most taken before anyone like Craig Stecyk or myself made pictures of him.



Jay was the personification of all the DogTown stories that Stecyk wrote, and all the DogTown photos that I took: all we were trying to do was capture Jay Adams’ essence. He was the life- long wild child, and he was incredibly great at the same time. Kent’s pictures of Jay are an advance peek, the test pressing— or the “demo” version—of the man Jay would become.


Kent Sherwood at his beach rental

Jay was a living legend . . . and a crazy friend . . . and now that he’s gone, we only have the memories. And for you all who didn’t know him personally I am happy that we have the photographs to share. I suspect his legend will live on gloriously.



Get The Book on crazy sale at Amazon Now. (click here)

Jay Adams would have been 56 years old today

Here's a photo of Jay from the Cherry Hill skatepark, never seen before... circa 1978

Jay Adams and Jimmy Plumer on the Instagram

JIMMY PLUMER edging at Oxnard's "Endless Wave" skatepark with JAY ADAMS pointing out Jimmy's edge status to Jim Muir (just cropped out by the scan but sitting right in front of Jimmy on the coping) and me. Plumer was a bad ass skater, Florida transplant, 2nd Generation Z-Boy. He tore shit up, aggressive as fuck on the coping, i believe he did a lot of stuntman work in Hollywood back then too. This photograph has never been published before, but if i ever get to do a DogTown book update, it'll be in there. #skateboarding #DogTown #ZFlex #poolskating #BadAss #Gator #oxnard #kryptos #JayAdams #Radical #JimmyPlumer #inspiration

A photo posted by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Dec 7, 2016 at 1:19pm PST

Jay Adams breaking boundaries 1977 from my Instagram

The Original One and Only JAY ADAMS on a somewhat primitive but well built back yard ramp circa 1977. This was just a one hit ramp, at the end of an L shaped drive way, you had maybe 60feet to push with a little down slope half way through then had to veer right hard and you had maybe 10 feet before you'd hit the ramp, it was awkward but it was rare and relatively smooth transition, the first ramp many of us had ever seen with a perfectly round cut transition in the base support structure, no one even built half pipes yet, and here's fuckin Jay Boy flying off the top! No, honestly, he's not making this, he's totally going off in more ways than one, just going for it, because that's just what he did. The ramp belonged to a friend of mine from school, Brett Adams (no relation to Jay). The ramp was up in Brentwood, just in between Paul Revere and Kenter. As you can see from this picture the ramp is actually leaning up against the roof of the house (note broomstick coping and no deck on top, oldschool kids!), a few weeks later they built its own free standing support and put the ramp at the straight end of the driveway, i made a bunch of great photos there with Alva, in particular, and several others, including one of Brett that made it into my Fuck You Too book and MY RULES the book. The frontside airs of Alva are classics, a backside tail-tap of T.A. ( @thetonyalva1957 ) made it onto the contents page in SkateBoarder Magazine. This photo appears in my co-authored (w/Stecyk) "DogTown - The Legend of The Z-Boys" still available at your local bookstore or Amazon... #jayadams #jayboy #jayboyadams #ZBOYS #Zflex #TrackerTrucks #backyardramp #1977 #DogTown #WLA #quarterpipe #inspiration #integrity #BadAss #Venice #OG #100% #100percentskateboarder #innovator #skateboarding #skating #knowYourHistory #rampskating #quarterpipe #getRadical #GNARLY #RAD #politicallyIncorrect #MyRules #surfculture #GetTheNewBook www.BurningFlags.com

A photo posted by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Oct 22, 2016 at 2:00pm PDT

Jay Adams - 1977 from my Instagram

The Original One and Only JAY ADAMS on a somewhat primitive but well built back yard ramp circa 1977. This was just a one hit ramp, at the end of an L shaped drive way, you had maybe 60feet to push with a little down slope half way through then had to veer right hard and you had maybe 10 feet before you'd hit the ramp, it was awkward but it was rare and relatively smooth transition, the first ramp many of us had ever seen with a perfectly round cut transition in the base support structure, no one even built half pipes yet, and here's fuckin Jay Boy flying off the top! No, honestly, he's not making this, he's totally going off in more ways than one, just going for it, because that's just what he did. The ramp belonged to a friend of mine from school, Brett Adams (no relation to Jay). The ramp was up in Brentwood, just in between Paul Revere and Kenter. As you can see from this picture the ramp is actually leaning up against the roof of the house (note broomstick coping and no deck on top, oldschool kids!), a few weeks later they built its own free standing support and put the ramp at the straight end of the driveway, i made a bunch of great photos there with Alva, in particular, and several others, including one of Brett that made it into my Fuck You Too book and MY RULES the book. The frontside airs of Alva are classics, a backside tail-tap of T.A. ( @thetonyalva1957 ) made it onto the contents page in SkateBoarder Magazine. This photo appears in my co-authored (w/Stecyk) "DogTown - The Legend of The Z-Boys" still available at your local bookstore or Amazon... #jayadams #jayboy #jayboyadams #ZBOYS #Zflex #TrackerTrucks #backyardramp #1977 #DogTown #WLA #quarterpipe #inspiration #integrity #BadAss #Venice #OG #100% #100percentskateboarder #innovator #skateboarding #skating #knowYourHistory #rampskating #quarterpipe #getRadical #GNARLY #RAD #politicallyIncorrect #MyRules #surfculture #GetTheNewBook www.BurningFlags.com

A photo posted by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Oct 22, 2016 at 2:00pm PDT

my weekend on instagram

This past weekend i got a little hectic and jiggy with the instagram - i wonder how many people looked at all the images on the profile to see them like this? Only this clean and lined up every three posts! Better hit your likes on all three frames. #instagram #MYRULES #publicEnemy #minorThreat #jayAdams #skateboarding #punkrock #hipHop #inspiration #integrity #creativity #composition #triplets

A photo posted by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Aug 15, 2016 at 1:26pm PDT

MY RULES book enters it's THIRD printing and JAY-BOY book is being re-issued next year!

Today i was up at the Rizzoli books International offices to see how the re-issue of the JAY-BOY / Kent Sherwood book was coming along (out next spring) and it's looking good! This is more than a reprint of the super rare incredible book of photos taken by Jay's Stepfather Kent, of Jay, before most anyone else had photographed him. Great book I designed and help get published back almost 10 years ago. It's got a complete overhaul and few new photos too.

I also spent some time in the conference room comparing the third printing (just released last month) to the first two printings ... All look great but inevitably the latest always seems to get a little better - unfortunately I found a few more typos too, been there all along... If you find any lemme know for the next printing update... Yeah, that's my phone.

here's some photos of the three printings being compared to each other on friday . . .


See the photographs as they are meant to be seen! This book is huge, 324 pages, 13wide x 11.5tall, weighs in at almost 8lbs. The best of my books FUCK YOU HEROES and FUCK YOU TOO + about 30% more you've never seen, all bigger and better than ever!

Jay Adams 1977 at the DogBowl on my Instagram

Jay Adams on a sunny possibly early afternoon like today, in the late summer or early california fall in 1977 at the Original Dog Bowl in Santa Monica, on San Vicente somewhere in the mid teens... Good times! My photo of @jboyadams in the book DogTown-The Legend of the Z-Boys ... #DogTown #classic #backyardpools #bluetileobsession #zboys #JayAdamsRIP #ZEPHYR #Zflex #styleiseverything #oneWheeler #sunnydays #santaannawinds #DogBowl

A photo posted by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on May 9, 2016 at 4:08pm PDT

Jay Adams would have been 55 Today

Today would have been Jay's 55th birthday.

He was the Original, there is no other like him and there never will be.

Jay Adams was radical, he was an inspiration to many and that is why we celebrate him.

Although he was not perfect by any means, i personally feel its a disservice to all to dwell on the negative, because that did not inspire anyone. We want to remember the best that this man or boy was. in hopes to inspire the best in ourselves. It's happy birthday Jay, not unhappy birthday.

Lotsa love to brother Jay Boy and his memory.

Celebrate Friday the 13th w/ the fake DogTown flick"The Lords of DogTown"

It kinda sucks, but there's some good moments, the kid who plays Jay (Emile Hirsch) did a great job. For someone so close to it, it's hard to watch, but if you never have, and are at all interested, you kinda have to... see what hollywood can do.

Nice Tribute painting to Jay Adams based on one of my photographs

This wall is behind the old original Zephyr shop in Santa Monica ...



February 3rd was the day Jay would have been 54 years old

MY RULES EXHIBITION LONDONYou've got one week left to get the fuck over there...