Orange Countys Radical Culture Czars

Skate kids who are sickened by skate contests sponsored by Hilfiger—or shows about skating on Nickelodeon or surfing on the Disney Channel (anybody catch Johnny Tsunami?) have taken to staging their own underground contests in Orange County. They do it at homes, sometimes abandoned, with empty swimming pools. It's invite only. No press. No pub. No hype. Just the real people. Pure. No Nike or Hilfiger. They're having one this month somewhere, though you'll never know. Just like you didn't know about the one they had in April somewhere on the Huntington Beach-Fountain Valley border. There they were, just skaters . . . and a few merchant booths, including one from Adidas as well as a local skate shop.

Backlashes are big sellers.