Natas Kaupas Documentary, On Video Winter 2003 | TransWorld SKATEboarding 

I use to write companies when I was a kid and Natas and I wrote back and forth like 3 times. So cool to see that 101 letter in the mail box. " Natas wrote me back again!"

This should be re uploaded every 5 years so the younger generations don’t forget where skating came from.

Until I just stumbled upon this video I only knew him as the guy who spun around on the hydrant. Turns out he's one of the most influential skaters of all time

0:41 the Gonz casually being the Gonz with a sweater on his head

I'm 42 y/o and feel like a kid again now!!! Thank you for this!!!

I remember Natas being able to ollie higher than I've ever seen. He was like the ollie god for me.

damn. this was some beautiful, emotional watching. Natas is the godfather of my youth growing up in 1980s UK, Streets on Fire and Ray Barbee in 'Ban This' on repeat VHS. . the mindset, the flow, the lifestyle, the look...carved in stone forever in my mind, still permeates everything I do.

Natas’s innovation within skateboarding has influenced so many skaters. Between his various creative endeavors and willingness to take risks to push the norm of the way skateboarding is viewed is unparalleled. Much appreciation for this mans talent and general demeanor. Oh and that smile...

Every street skater wanted to be like NATAS! What a great era to grow up in...

fIREHOSE - Brave Captain...such nostalgia

This man shaped everything we did at Embarco... all the EMB heads compared Big Dirt to Natas cause he had the same kinda snap to his ollies way back then. All of us trying to be Natas after that first video part. Only one kid could afford that video. That thing went through everyone's hands. The tracking was so f**ked up hahaha. And When Gonz cleared the Gonz channel...holy shit, that changed everything! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

The stoke was so real. We found Kenner Elementary School on these huge maps my buddy Davie's Mom had. I literally quit my job, grab my 4 buddies, and we headed there from Oxnard. We skated Kenner all day. Went down to Venice Beach. But, what I will never, ever forget is driving by his house later that day in 1988. Natas and three other dudes were chillin on his porch. We just yelled his name, he waved and we totally fan boied out like the kids we were. Great times!

I remember we wore out the Natas part on the Wheels Of Fire VHS

Advertisers Beware: I will not buy your product if you interrupt.

I watched streets on fire everyday when I was a kid, Natas was the king to me and friends growing up skating, he did everything BIG!

Impossible to say just how influential Natas was. You would watch his videos or stare at photosequences trying to work out wtf was going on. Then you would go skate and it was like you could see for the first time.... new terrain, new lines, new possibility. He made it seem like anything was skatable if you had the brains and the balls.

its crazy how much high-quality content was in each 411 On Video. a series so far ahead of its time.

Watched his video parts endlessly in NJ. As a result for about 4 years all I skated was Natas decks. Just recently copped 2 of the reissues to make my 44 year old ass feel like a teen again. Thank you good sir. I am also embarrassed to say I had no idea what a prolific artist he is. A true legend all around.

i met Natas last year and he opened my eyes to many things... he dislikes what skating has become and says "surfing is way better than skating"

I grew up in northeastern Ohio, in Sept 1989 I finally got my first board, after 2 years of my friends talking about natas,hawk,gonz,etc. Even with crappie technology back in the day, we still felt the skate seen even in a little no name town in Ohio. To the legend's that were. 👍✌

..i have spent so much time practising wall rides,then one day i suceeded..it was like..Fuck!god is jerkin' me!..i'm a super hero!!!....just because of you Mr NATAS....THANK YOU SO MUCH for these amazing & unforgetable moments..the best ones,so far...i'm 48 now and still watching skateboard,bmx & fmx videos everyday...better be dead than doing anything else!!

1988 sma bullet wheels gull-wing trucks,hawk claw board toxic wheels, vision street wear,best childhood memories

Damn! Just turned 44 today and saw this in my feed. As I was a knucklehead kid back in the day shredding the streets I still often look at sk8 videos on here. This video just brought back all the sk8ing memories and all the greats as well as trying the crazy shit Natas would do. Feel Invincible again....... Up untill the point we're I get on a board now try a kick flip and bust my ass. 🤣🤣 Ok not that young nut anymore.

Natas changed my life forever.

Natas was really just ahead of his time. Street skating definitely wouldn't be as rad without him pioneering it!

I was 13 when I saw Natas ollie a trash can in 88, and realized I needed to do more... broke my arm twice, but it was fun trying to reach for more and more.

Man....when I saw the hellipop on the Fire hydrogen I freaked out. I remember us all trying to land that trick....Wall ride king. At the time we used to say Natas could Ollie higher then anyone else in the World. You are a legend.

"Wheels of Fire" (1987) was one of my very first skate videos! My "heyday" was mid/late 1980s-2000, or so.

The most legendary thing ever said,"You are the skateboard Team"

The one main guy that made me want to get my first board. This is THE man that first inspired me. Nobody else. This guy. Many came after, but this is The Dude.

I seen Natas and the Cadillac tour in Harrisonburg va and there’s a clip in this video , it was amazing watching Natas in person man he skated like a force of nature 😂 and the other guys rocked as well good time great 👍 memories God bless

The last photo of Natas sitting on his board thinking is awesome! I picture him dreaming of snapping an Ollie out of a Santa Monica cargo plane, then just spinning like an ice skater with the board until he grabs it and pulls the chute. As he skims above the ground he holds the nose and hops on the board before slapping down at a speed he can barely control. Then he looks back and smiles to see that you witnessed the whole thing. I still got my Pipeline card, too!

Thank you Natas!! Street Skating saved my life!!

Talk about a trip down memory lane. He was so ahead of his time. That was an amazing video.

Natas was COOKED in his interview parts

Vallely you’re name will carry on as well! I’m honored to have met Natas.

Nice! Got to meet Natas at a demo in Milford CT back in the late 80’s. Met Mike Vallely around the same time in Westport, CT.. Both took time to talk and just hang out. Mike gave me a poetry book he wrote called “Burn madonna burn.”

One of my favorite skate mini-documentaries of all time. "Strictly Brute."

I loved streets of fire. Especially the Natas parts. I’d love to see some of the skaters today try to pull of tricks on an old school 80s board. The boards now are so technical , but Natas was doing that stuff on a wide board with fairly big wheels and almost no curve on the nose , or even much concave to the deck itself.

This was the best time in my life,i watch Videos like public Domain and at next i goes skate whit some guys and had some scars but big Emotions.

Every single day, it was mandatory to watch this video for me before skating. The Natas section just made you wanna go fuckin' hit your local neighborhood and just push and stall curbs. So inspirational...thanks Kirk Dianda!

Watched him skate at Derby Park in Santa Cruz in the early 80's. Was by chance. Solidified my desire to continue skating till this day. Great video.

I remember seeing you skate the long beach safeway.......my jaw was left open!!! It was like I saw god .

I was 10 years old when *Wheels of Fire* came out... That was one of my first skate videos... I was around when skating went from old school decks (small nose & big, wide tail... bowed-out sides), and more vert/halfpipes, or at *least* involving quarter-pipes and launch ramps... then, gradually including more street skating, etc, to the "new school" era, where decks (somewhat inspired by the "freestyle decks" of the 80s, minus the flat edge of the nose & tail), took on the shape that is still around today, except in the very early stages of the "new school era," we all had tiny... and I mean *TINY* little wheels, (jelly rolls and jelly balls are a couple brands I remember), which made the highly technical tricks of the era a lot easier... The few major problems with such wheels were: a) They got "flat spots" REALLY quick... If any younger skaters wonder what that "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d" noise is, in early 1990s skate videos, when someone is skating on a clearly smooth surface, it's the flat spots on wheels, or 'bearing covers, as we called them, that are over a month old! b) Even *before* you got flat spots, it was tiring when skating from one skate-spot to the next, as you had to put 4× as much effort into *just skating!* Not the tricks, but just riding your board! Then, once you had flat-spots, it was tiring to just skate a few blocks... no joke! By the mid-late '90s, they got it right; the wheels were still smaller in diameter, than those of the 1980s, but not ridiculously small. I think the main thing is they got rid of *width,* rather than diameter, thus making for a lighter wheel, but without the aforementioned problems. Oh, and the style of clothing changed drastically. Lots of skaters got into tagging/graffiti art, and wearing huge baggy pants... Especially "Jnco," at least here in Chicago. I remember it was not uncommon for a 5'9" lean dude to buy jeans meant for a 6'7" man, with a 40" waist, and just cut the cuffs of the pants off, and obviously wear a good belt... That was like the "poor man's Jncos!" Looking back, the trend was pretty goofy-looking, but we thought it was cool at the time. Hahaha

So thankful for TWS, I don't think skateboarding would be where it is with out you. Thanks for sharing all the stories.

Thank god these still are accessible. The world thanks you

natas was my first board. bullet 66 whheels. those were the good old days

Damn the memories. I wore out the Natas section on Wheels of Fire and tried to copy everything he did. Wish I had that style. We started back in the day before videos so you had to wait for Thrasher or Transworld to come in the mail to see new tricks. Remember ordering boards from SMA since we did not have a skate shop in the early 80s and it seemed like decades before UPS would deliver them. Not sure how many Natas boards I went through. Wish I still had one. My daughter goes to USC so I may have to pick up a reissue to bring with me next time I go out to visit and go skate Santa Monica.

At a demo in my hometown, circa 1988, kids chanting and yelling in unison, "OLLIE NATAS!!!". As cool as he seems, that had to bug him; you could see this exhaustion on his face. After that demo he hit a few spots and mini-ramps in my town and stayed at a friend's house. All the pros did that when they went there but Natas was the coolest.

Legend. Tales of his ollies were legendary back in the day (late 80s) in the UK.

Natas is my 2nd favorite of all time right behind Mullen!

I have almost all the on video on VHS you should put them all on youtube. Its history that all the young skater need to know and see

Love this film, I still have a Natas 101 board kicking around my house, Natas was a huge influence on UK 🇬🇧 Street skating. Bought back loads of memories.

That’s the dude right there, me ,personally I feel he should be getting as much recognition or if not more than the gonz ,but I feel he’s way more legit , Hence he’s way more underground , awesome dude, humble . No bullshit oh look at me I’m a crazy , eccentric wacky artist guy , he’s none of that . Natas than julien stranger , straight up real dudes ,

"We were trying to be smooth, like Ruff."

So sick. Mike V said it. Perfectly.

I'm just here for the fire hydrant!

Man...feels like 87 all over again...I'm an old fart now but man...when you saw Natas and Gonz skate, it was magic. The 360s and kickflips that are the norm now were JAWDROPPING back then...most of the reason I walk with a limp now was trying to get like them...up til that time the street was just what you had to deal with on the way to the ramp. Natas and Gonz made it cool to forego the ramp altogether and see what you could do in the parking lot. Straight history....respect.

Natas and the Gonz will always be who we admired as kids and as adults for being themselves.

Changed my world .....I freaking mimicked everything he did skating . He made street what it is today and honestly his style is still legit 😁

So influential. Big reason why so many kids got into real street skating. Not just a ramp skater skating the street to the next ramp, park. An actual magician on a board. The tricks, the style, the look, the name, and the iconic board graphics. He showed kids street skating was the future. He was the future. He was reason I skated from 80s all through 90s until wrecked backed finished me in 04. But thanks Natas.

This brought back some nostalgia that I couldn't believe. When I saw that clip of the demo in NY I said to myself, damn that looks familiar. Then they showed it again and I realized I was there. From the spot they were filming from I was behind a fence with like 4 new wave girls and I didn't know where any of my friends were. I think it was $20 and it was crowded and we were kids. It was in Nassau County. I did not remember that Gino was there so that part was crazy. I'm pretty sure that I was the first person to film Gino. We went out to his house, we were all about 16, me, Pete Deller, a bunch of the fella's. My parents had a VCR camera and I brought it and I had 2 VCR's and figured out how to edit, but couldn't get my own audio. Gino's friend was the first one in a magazine though; I think his name was Eric. Then I heard that Gino went out to California and the rest is history. By that time I was testing the boundaries of life & death...I don't know why. I should be dead, but some how I overcame the B.S. I met some young guys in the city down by Chinatown and asked them where a skate shop was. I asked them if they ever heard of Gino and they told me he was a legend ! I asked them about Harold Hunter because I had met him too way after I had stopped skating. It was right up stairs and I didn't know. My gf had found a complete board in a fountain and it was in good condition and she gave it to me. I got some new screws and learned real fast that skating is not like riding a bike. I just wanted to see if I could use it for short transportation, but I had a difficult time. I was too old for this b.s. and I would come back to my apt. f#%ed up and my girl would patch me up. I refused to accept that I could not ride this thing. I eventually got the hang of it, but I definitely hurt my knee on a hill in the city by bailing. I'm really happy for Gino's success, he was a really cool kid and funny as hell back then.

I had the Natas ‘Mini’ deck back in the 80’s. The only thing rumored about him then was he was the highest Ollier in the world. NOW I finally get to appreciate what he’s actually done for skateboarding. Natas is TRULY a legend in boarding.

I had an early SMA Natas. I wish I had bought 2 of every board I had to collect one and ride one. Thousands of dollars...….Oh yeah that Natas deck ollied awesome of course! I rocked freestyle wheels back in the day which helped.

My favorite skater growing up thank you for the upload, wallrides are still the best looking trick

a really beautiful documentary on a beautiful skater, as a kid I watched that streets of fire clip on VHS over and over and over

Natas and Mark have got to be 2 of the most influential skaters ever

When I first saw that ad of NATAS riding the wall and then the next of him ollying from truck bed to truck bed I switched from my Jeff Kendall to riding a NATAS Kaupas SMA black panther 2nd gen. The tail was not as extreme as the Kendall and it helped my skating tremendously and my Ollie skills. I rode those till the switch to the skinny two sided models started. Then I surfed.

i started skateboarding after getting this at a vans store when i was in 5th grade, thank you gonz & natas

GOAT. Need this on DVD.

I had a Natas board back in the day. Mike Vallely also. When I saw the first Natas video , it floored me , never had I ever seen anybody that could ollie that high ,and ride street like that.

One of my Favorite Skaters from way back when...

“We were trying to be smooth like ruff” what a great quote from gonz.

Skated with natas and julien in 92. That’s what keeps me going to this day

Never heard of him until just now!!! It was always Mullen, Hawk, Song, Way and many others that held the spotlight. Glad to see this pop up on my feed!!!!

I remember when Wheels of Fire came out; I knew it was the future instantly. Vert was dead after that whether it knew it or not. I could see these guys doing stuff on streets just like the ones outside my house. I didn't know anyone with a vert ramp, or even where to find one. Natas was way ahead of his time.

Love this! As a kid growing up skating in the mid 80s, Natas was my favorite from that first pic. I rode all his boards, from the first SMA to the Santa Cruz ones (that panther motif).... And what a weird board shape/style. Big, wide, pointy... like a surfboard. He's a legend. The highest ollies, the wall rides, rails... and that fucking hydrant spin. We lost our shit when we first saw it (the tracking is so messed up on my VHS tape from rewinding it!). His style, his art, his skating, hair, hell even his voice in the videos! He just seemed like the coolest, laid back dude. AND the music. He more or less boosted the band fIREHOSE into an "official" skate rock band... Pretty cool for a quirky band like them. Videos always played similar hardcore music for all the parts. Natas introducing fIREHOSE in his parts was another first. Now skaters use all kinds of music for their parts. Thanks for the good times, Natas, and being an absolute pioneer.

Nailed alot of my 1sts on a natas board

47 now and me and my mates used to hire "streets on fire" out from local skate shop all the time. Mainly to watch Natas then try and copy him. Great great days 👌 Thank you Natas 👏👏👏🔥

such an inspirational story! Thank you TWSkateboarding

love the soundtrack for this doc

45 security guards ticked the thumbs down.

Natas all time favorite... legend, master of disaster. We need a major Natas interview on the Nine Club....yewww🤟🏻

Great to see this HQ rerip online. Hopefully this will help start a trend of getting better versions of classics online. A million thanks!!

Got back into skateboarding in 1984 as a college student needing a quick way to get around UCLA. And immediately got hooked on Thrasher and the Bones Brigade videos at Rip City in Santa Monica. Eventually found the Venice High School banks and had the mind blowing pleasure of watching Natas ollie over the tops of huge trashcans when everyone else I knew could only clear them on their sides. He was always destroying the curb at the top of the banks or doing something creative/crazy with the LAUSD benches they’d drag up onto the banks. Still remember learning how to wallride on the low cafeteria wall just across from the banks. I wish I could say it was Natas who taught me, but I’m pretty sure it was just some skate rat who taught me the trick of boosting wall time by grabbing and pushing off the top of the wall. So great to see Paul Revere Jr. High, Kenter Canyon Elementary, the Federal Building in Westwood, and all of the other classic Westside (L.A.) skate spots. After they bolted curbs to the bottom of Venice High banks, I never saw Natas again until this video came out. Great to see he made it and didn’t get caught up in the whole trap of young fame.

One of the best documentaries I ever seen! Everything about Natas is inspiring!

Wow, pure talent in all forms

yeah, on video was sick! nice to see it in good quality!

I must have watched Wheels of Fire and Streets of Fire a thousand times, every day after school, Saturday mornings...I don't think there was ever a time when my knees and elbows weren't skinned to the bone. Natas was the man. I had the board, my best bud had his Gonzales and we dreamed skateboarding for years. Damn, great times!

This guy and many others were a reason as a young black kid from waaaaay down in the projects of So. Georgia got into skateboarding. Powell Peralta, Vans, Vision St.Wear, Santa Cruz, World Industries, TWS and Skateboard magazine were all apart of my youth. Skating kept me out of trouble except when we got kicked out of a place lol! Natas Kaupas and Matt Hensley, Jeff Kendall, Mike Vallely and of course Ron Allen just to name a few. All the videos all the posters and all the fun. How old school am I.......google Savanah Slamma! Skate contest!

I hope people watching this video (not skaters) can appreciate not only the beauty but just how physically and mentally challenging it is to do a 50/50 rail slide ☺☺☺ The courage it takes to even decide that you are going to push yourself in order to fit a rail slide into your skating "bag of tricks".. is mind blowing 🤕🤕🤕😭😭😭 😚😚😚

I’m so proud of Natas! Just knowing that he is fully Lithuanian by blood make me even prouder! (I’m Lithuanian)

Such a trip seeing these video parts that inspired me and everyone I used to skate with (back in the 80's+90's). It kind of annoys me that skaters these days seem to think everything street skating was invented by Mullen (I aint hating, the dudes a genuine legend) but Natas, Gonz & Vallely pushed street skating to a whole different level back when there were only 5 or 6 (decent) board companies. Long live expressive skating, where, who or however it's done.

amazing docu always loved natas such a cool spirited carefree dude with a great mind heart and soul a true pioneer of street skating, he will be forever remembered

What an excellent biography and summary of Natas mindset, skill set, and contributions to skateboarding, art, and their associated cultures. Natas personifies what skateboard culture was and should be, skating and creating for the love.

8:55 "this is me going down the street...oh, dirt.." sweet jaysus I wasn't ready for that memory. F**king brilliant.

Natas introduced me to Public Enemy back then .... he just didn’t know it

My first skateboard/Deck was a Natas Kaupas.

Awesome documentary❤❤❤👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻Amazing man and story.😎👍🏻Happy to watch this.

3rd time watching this. I'm an 80's kid /skater. Good watch