Jay Adams Biography

Fast Facts

• Began skateboarding with the Z-Boys, formerly known as the Zephyr Competition Team, in the late 1970s in Dogtown, an area of Santa Monica and Venice
• Was introduced to skateboarding by surfers who visited Dave Sweet's Surf Shop, where he worked as a teenager
• Quote: "You didn't quit skateboarding because you got old, you got old because you quit skateboarding․"
• After battling drug addiction for much of his life, he finally became sober in 2014, just months before his death
• Best known as one of the most influential skateboarders in history who was one of the original members of the Z-Boys team
• He and the other Z-Boys were the first to ever skateboard in empty swimming pools
• Was portrayed by Emile Hirsch in the dramatized film about the Z-Boys "Lords of Dogtown․"