The Rise And Fall Of CCS Magazine 

leave a like on the video if you used to get CCS in the mail 👀

I'm Steve Beck, one of the founders of CCS mentioned in this story above. Great job recalling the journey. One key player that is missing from this account who was an HUGE contributor was Mike Adamski . Adamski lead a lot of the innovation during critical growth years. Big shout out to Adamski for helping CCS achieve its zenith!

I spent countless hours in the 90’s admiring the deck graphics in these catalogs.

What a nostalgia trip this was, thinking about the time of CCS catalogs bring back so many good memories.

Started skating in the early 2000s. I still remember circling all the stuff I wanted around Christmas.

i have a ccs tattoo. i grew up in a rural town where skateboarding was on the same level as doing drugs in the eyes of the law. We didnt have skateparks or encouragement back then. CCS was a place to escape even though it was just a mail order company. It was a lifeline for so many of us. It was basically a skateshop showing up in my mailbox. I probably mowed 30 lawns to get my first skateboard. red slick powell blank 7.5" venture trucks, 53mm powell wheels. came as a complete for like $79 plus shipping. Ill never forget the day i ordered it or the day it came. this had to be 25-26 years ago. The ccs blank decks in all the solid colors were all anyone wanted to skate, people would look at all the cool boards from the other brands in ccs but then buy 2 ccs blanks for the same price.

It’s crazy to think back on the reach that CCS had. Almost every person who skated in the early 2000’s held a CCS catalog in their hands at some point. Some of us are still getting them in the mail to this day 😆

Living in rural small town in Ohio, only 7 skaters existed with me being one of them. No skateshop, only skate mags like ccs. My first board was toy machine robot 🤖, with pig wheels, speedy hardware, independent trucks and lucky bearings. And we rode the town hard and no one understood us. Boombox playing rancid and misfits wherever we went. I remember the first acquiring a copy of Welcome to Hell and watching with my parents and they were so supportive. CCS made this pivotal time in my life possible and I'm forever grateful to the mag. Loved the vid! This was almost emotional to watch and reliving a special time in my life that I barely even acknowledge or think about in this day in age but it felt so good to be reminded 🖤

I have a small collection of ccs magazines. I took them to school every single day along with a tech deck haha

I use to love getting CCS catalogs in the 90s. Order a few things and you get months of up coming catalogs. Nice to see what happened to them.

So many hours spent going through the new ccs and imagining every thing I wanted from decks to wheels to shoes and shirts but very rarely getting to order anything from it

I don't even know how I started receiving CCS but I bought my Snowboard stuff from them. I bought a Morrow board, Switch Step-in bindings, and Vans boots. My order didn't come for a couple weeks and when I called they upgraded everything for me. I ended up with a Todd Richards Pro model board and the next step up boots and bindings to "make it right". I was 15 years old and that really was nice of them and I told all my buddies to order from them.

oh man, getting one of those in the mail! coming home from school to find a new one in the mailbox and looking at all the new decks and shoes with my friends was the greatest. i started working at 13 just to support my skate habit. im guilty of missing the 90s.

You have the coolest most random channel that I ever found. Only 4 videos in but I'm hooked already, this is exactly the type of content that RU-vid needs more of.

I'm not THAT old but I'm old enough to remember my first CCS experience in 6th grade (1996). Lived in the middle of nowhere & a friend had a CCS catalog. I saw a page of Elissa Steamer with Toy Machine & it changed my life forever. We started skating & we LIVED for these catalogs for almost 10 years. Thanks for this video - brings back really fun memories.

Whoa I took a really long break from skateboarding and got back in to it a few months ago. I ordered my complete from CCS because that's what I did back in like 2001 or so. I had no idea they had cratered like this.

CCS was life bro, I loved getting their catalogs in the mail. It was the only mail I got when I was a kid and my face would light up everytime one would come in

I was a young skater in the 80s and I loved getting a CCS Catalog in the mail. Hell I’m old now and still love getting them in the mail. I wish I had some of the old ones from back in the day.

Remember you younger generation, in the mid 90's there where no smart phones and the internet was just becoming something big (not every household had it). And it was dial-up, so super slow compared to today. Getting a CCS catalog in the mail (or a Transworld, Thrasher, Slap, Skateboarder mag) was the highlight of your day if not your week. Catalogs, magazines and vhs videos were the only way to stay in touch with skateboarding. And let me tell you, we were hungry for content. I used to flip through a new magazine just looking at the photos, then start back at the beginning and read all of the articles. You would pure over that catalog or magazine for a month until the next one arrived. Just like we used to watch the same videos over and over. You knew all the words to the songs and all the tricks in the lines. I just turned 40 and I still have boxes of old CCS catalogs and magazines in my attic.

When I was younger with low funds, I liked being able to pickup CCS decks and wheels for under the amount major brands were asking.

I still get a CCS catalog and its a treat. I do buy from them on occasion from their Amazon store front or direct from their website. Enjoyed this video.

I remember when the stencil logo came around that the vibe of CCS totally changed. It was like a free skate mag back in the day. But from 2002 onward they just weren't the same company anymore. I always suspected a buy out, but back then we were just kids that could only speculate. Without them and Active most of us had to drive pretty far to a shop.

Getting ccs magazines was one of the biggest highlights of each month as a kid for me. Me and my friends would all bring our magazines into school and show each other what we ordered or wanted. If you were the first person to get your magazine that month you were like the most popular kid in school for a few days😅. In the late 90s and early 2000s literally EVERYBODY who skated had a subscription and if you didn’t people thought you were a poser.. holy nostalgia!

Got my first real setup from CCS. Thanks Mom! Must have been ‘95. Jason Lee Stereo smoking pipe deck. Don’t remember the trucks or wheels. I was so stoked at 13 years old. CCS was all we (5 or 6 kids) had in small town northern Michigan. Good memories of getting new decks in the mail and skating mid ‘90’s as a kid. Thanks CCS. And Mom!!!

Dude....thank you for this.....I started getting and buying from CCS catalogs circa 1995, and I swear to you that to this day I can still recall the indescribable smell of the catalog itself. I can't speak on it beyond that, but every now and then my brain provides a reminder aroma and it instantly takes me back. Odd remark maybe, but it's all wrapped up in the period of being 10 years old and watching the mystical world of skating unfold in my life day by day....I can still picture the Hook-Ups shoes, Volcom and other chinos and jeans (my first pair w the Velcro stash pocket on the seam), so many long gone shoes, Duffs, Sheep, AXION...buying my first DC Clockers black w gum sole...the images of the deck graphics and dimensions and prices (29 or maybe 39.95 at that time??), The small assortment of hardware and grip etc (SHORTY'S!), my first complete I got for Christmas '95 or '96 (8.25 x 32 Toy Machine Robot graphic with Ventures and Orange Spitfire BBQs 56mm)..... I see dude commented beneath me his first deck was the same!

CCS was the goat I didn’t hear about it till the 2000s I lived in Hershey we didnt really have a skateshop. Got a hookups board Venture super light low trucks ricta wheels and shortys bearings oh and firm dohdohs. Takes me back yo

When I first got into skateboarding in the late 80's I was living in West Germany where my father was stationed for the Army. There were no skate shops where I lived so I had to use CCS, or California Cheap Skates as they were called back then. We were lucky that they shipped to APO addresses, so I when I had enough money I would always order my skate boards, clothing, etc from CCS. They were a life-saver for all the skateboarders that were living overseas. It's too bad CCS has fallen since how I last remember the company

CCS was one of the best parts of being a skateboarder, apart from the actual skating of course. My god, what a nostalgia trip.

Used to work for CCS after the Daddies Board Shop acquisition in one of the warehouses in this vid. Can confirm that skaters are the ones building the boards and filling the orders whish is nice. Still making boards for people all over the world.

Damn, I had no idea how big CCS was. Getting this catalogue as a kid was awesome.

I still browse their website from time to time and bought a few pairs of shoes over the last few years, however that feeling of getting the catalog in the mail as a young rural based skater back in the late 90s-early 00s was everything. I even bought my very first complete from the ccs catalog, a Black Label board, Indy trucks, and spitfire wheels...I was on top of the world haha

I still have my entire ccs collection. It’s a great memory lane stroll

FINALLY a video with scenes of a skateboard shop and skateboarding interspersed with corporate scenes from major films ! Dude, make more of these !

When I got that catalog In my early teens, I would carefully cut out the pictures of the decks I wanted and turn them into stickers with packaging tape. Plastering them everywhere like a 13 year old Thrasher in middle America suburbia should. CCS was there when we needed them. Respect.

Dude I still order from ccs every now and then. I even showed my kids it and they pick out their decks from there too.

I'm 40 now and I used to LOVE getting CCS. Man were those great times to look back on!

I remember I always wanted to grab clothes from here but never had the money. The jeans with the flannel print when you cuffed them was the one thing I always wanted as a kid lol

Hope you remember us when you get huge, Great video!!!

i remember getting ccs in the early 2000s , one of the best rare feelings was coming home from school to the box that had the skateboard you got to oder right at your doorstep, during the late 2000s it turned into getting the shop deck from your local shop cause it was the almost as cheap as a blank LOL

i loved CCS. growing up in small town Iowa, we used them so much!

Man.. seeing that CCS catalog in the mail box was a feeling most won’t understand. What a great time in my life!

Not every skateshop gets a park built in their town and not every skateshop owner is ethical and honest. Our local guy opens all the packaging and sells the free stickers the stuff comes from the factory with separately for $1. to $3. each and he charges you for grip tape AND installation, even if your deck comes with free grip tape from the factory. A real peach, our guy is. I laugh at him every time I order something from Amazon, guilt free. 😆

Seeing that a lot of skateboarding companies have select countries. that they will only ship to internationally on their websites. CCS is a lifesaver for me living here in the Philippines.

Such a good feeling as a teenager flipping thru these. I ordered a ton of stuff from ccs.

I used to love getting the catalog in the mail (especially around Christmas time)! Also, shout out to all the research you did and editing for this video. This was super in-depth and well-laid out! Good job!

Being from Canada my family used to do annual trips to Florida. It was like Xmas getting my CCS package at the house. I can’t tell you how excited I was to get the gear. It was my bday, xmas gifts all in one. This was in mid to late 90’s. Very fond memories of obsessing over the catalog.

Grew up in SLO and bought grip tape and wax from Central Coast Surfboards. Around 97-98 they gave me a catalog at the shop. I moved to the Bay Area a little after that and my friends up there obsessed over the catalog from CCS. The didn’t believe me that it was from the same shop I used to go to in SLO. Thank you for this video. It’s nice to have closure on this after 22 years

ppl in the comments are right yo. cant believe this only has 900 views. keep em coming Big Mike. SKATEorDIE

Awesome video. I used to love getting CCS catalogs when I was a kid. I still use the website. Not often but I cannot believe they’re still around.

Has someone who's been skating for 25 years I still appreciate CCS catalogs providing me the ability to get forwards when I was young and didn't know where to look. Come to think of it I bought a pair of trucks from a Foot Locker Phantom trucks I did didn't know Foot Locker owned CCS at the time

You should really keep pushing out content. Your numbers are crazy and content is great

I ordered them a complete the first summer of Covid because I was bored and everything was closed. I'm 40 and stopped skating in my early 20's... I would've bought my board from a local boardshop but I wanted to have an Ishod twin tail. Can be hard to find a specific board.

Man your videos take me back! Keep it up bro.

As a SLO local, this was an awesome watch..

California Cheap Skates. I remember getting my first catalog back in 1991 and "Double Kick" boards where becoming a thing. I think "Double Vision" from VSW was the first board I remember seeing where the nose and the tail where identical that was in that magazine.

Thanks for the video man, great work. I never had a subscription but I remember other kids bringing them to school, and pouring over the magazine with my friends during class time

I used to collect the catalogs back in the early 90s. I wish I still had that stack. I had about 6 to 8 years worth. Would've been cool as a reference as to what was selling from decks to shirts and trends.

There was nothing like getting that new catalogue and glancing through the massive amounts inventory they carried, glad I was part of this era of skateboarding

i live in santa maria i would drive up to slo to get gear. then ASP popped up in sm then turned into one way. but ccs was such a vibe. the bench made out of half decks was so nostalgic.

I like this little channel you have

I use to get the ccs catalogs and would look at every page picking one item per page for a “wishlist” lol I never got them it was just something to keep me busy. But I did build a few setups over the years out of them and get some shoes. Miss those old days getting them in the mail

Skipping school with your buddies just to get home and get your ccs package! What a fun time to be alive.

I remember in my younger years when I would skate with friends around my hometown and would skate at random spots, one of the spots this lady lived across the street and would see us skate and she had worked at a warehouse where ccs had shipped in town and she asked if we knew of ccs and would get us stuff with discounts, just a random thought thinking about ccs .good times

Dam memory unlocked!!! I remember waiting for this magazine to arrive in the mail, couldn’t buy anything at the time but just to look threw it and see all the colors and things they had was awesome. Good times!!

I remember getting those catalogs, literally my only source of weird colored skinny jeans, it felt like Christmas morning every time. Great video!

I remember ordering COD (cash on delivery) from CCS and my mom letting me stay home from school with the money waiting on the delivery guy. Late 90s early 00s.

I remember the old ccs magazines that were as important as skate magazines were back then, the covers were always amazing and you’d spend hours just looking at products with your friends dreaming about getting the next cool skate shoe or board.. 🔥🔥

I still have my old CCS mags, it’s fun to look at $65 SB Dunks from back then and how much they are now.

I used to cut out the pictures and add grip tape to the back of them to use them like tech decks

When I was in school, elementary/middle/high, probably like 95-02, those little CCS mags were the coolest things in school. I still attribute seeing the Hook-Ups decks to my lifelong love for big anime titties 😂 I still remember the geisha, the nurse, and Alice in Wonderland decks.

I clicked on this because I thought they were talking about Counter Strike: Source. However, I'm not disappointed. Love skateboarding. This was a well made video. You've earned my sub!

I remember wanting the osiris G bag so bad the backpack with a stereo in it! I miss those days watching round 2 and talking about the next skate spot we're gonna check. those were the days 👌🤝

looked forward to it every month. it was sick! loved picking out all the stuff i wanted, saving up for what i could get.

This is where I got my first complete from. I got it for my birthday. It was the Mystery Voodoo deck series, Adrien Lopezs model with Thunder trucks and lucky bearings. Now that I think back to it im even more thankful, that was a lot of money for my parents to cough up at the time and my parents didnt have much at the time but they seen how much I loved skateboarding, plus I was begging them for $25 for my birthday so I could buy my friends old board. They seen how much I loved skating, hooked me up and even let me pick everything out.

Need to check to see if i still have any of their catalogs

Grew up getting CCS mags in the mail, but always bought local. It was still exciting to see all the new board releases side by side in the mag. Made me excitied when I would see the fall collection for Zero and I would patiently wait for my local shop to stock them.

next 411 history... great vid....smooth as hell .....rad beacuse some new kids don t have a clue about how hard it was to even watch, buy or practice skateboarding..............continue... ur killin it !

bro how do you only have 1.5k subs - subbed

Man I got these every gotdanm month! I actually clicked on this cause it brings back memories! It was back in my skater days and everything! I lived in (Fulton Kentucky). No skate shops what so ever. Just ordering them was exciting! They were free! I was still in school too. So me and my buds were always looking and trading, and like (oh when did that one come in, ect....)

When I was 7 years old I remember picking up the phone and calling to get a catalog mailed out. Christmas was the time when my parents would open up and buy a few things. I can still smell the catalog today. 34 now.

This place was the start of a bunch of local skate shops closing down. They were right before shopping for everything online was normal. I still remember getting these though!

As a skater in the early 2000s ers, I spent many, many, MANY hours flipping through that catalog monthly. Admiring the new shoes that would come out. Man I miss those days!

really rad content you're making dude. keep it up

yooooo I used to look at the catalogues all day in high school in the late 90's. Love this.

I was never a skater, far from it lol, but a got a CCS mag every month back in the late 90s so I totally understand what you're talking about. I loved the build your own CCS brand board in the back of the mag plus putting a little check next to all the other stuff I wanted. The CCS mag still crosses my mind from time to time. Glad I came across this video. Thanks.

Im 36 now and i still have a few of my ccs mags from junior high, miss those days!

I was literally thinking about these guys the other day wondering what ever happened to you them. You tube came in clutch today !

When I was a kid ccs hooked up my local shop and by time I was 12 I was skating for ccs and the local shop it was awesome I had a tragic skate accident causing me to have to step back for a few years and sadly lost my connections... absolutely amazing to see this brought back some old memories

Ccs was amazing. Thats where we got everything until the local shop opened. The only way to get real skate stuff where i lived in the 90s was ccs or begging parents for a ride an hour away and hoping the shop had something cool. Ccs was like a dream in the preinternet skate days

Wait I totally forgot about ordering these. I used to use some pages as posters too back in the day. Good times! Never will forget when I bought a blind backpack from there in 6th grade. 2003 circa

Growing up in SoCal, we never had a need for CCS. But it was always cool to get their mag in the mail and check out all the new gear.

Man what a blast from the past. I completely forgot about CCS. I used to love receiving their catalogs and drooling over gear.

Nice to see Jerry Hsu footage again! Hé was one of my favorites back than!

Being from a small town in Utah without a slate shop, CCS was awesome. So fun to look through. Bought boards, clothes and the old 411 skate videos

I effing LOVED getting my CCS mag in the mail. LOVED IT. Nail on the head man.

I wish I still had all of my ccs magazines 😭

I was in 5th grade when I started getting CCS in the mail. I remember drooling over that catalog every month.

I spent my childhood dreaming about buying anything out of a CCS book. Never got the chance as a kid, but I would spend hours circling the perfect items for my perfect deck. When I was 19 (2006) I had the opportunity to work at the CCS call center in Ohio for a few years, and it was one of the best environments I've ever worked in, to this day. I've always said their training was top notch, and incredibly hands on. Ive remained in call centers to this day, and have kept with me things that I learned from CCS. Opportunities I had while there actually lead to the career I now have. Its not skate related, but I was first introduced to this department within a call center whole at CCS. I still never skated back then. I got pregnant at 19, so I never bothered to buy a skateboard. Cut to a few years ago, me now 33 years old and with a 13 yr old daughter, I FINALLY got my first deck and learned how to skate. Now my whole family skates, and its been so cool seeing my lifelong dream come true in so many ways. There have been a lot of factors along my skate journey, but CCS definitely had a HUGE impact on me during multiple parts of my life. Glad to see this video, and will always remember the role of CCS in the skate/extreme sports industry.

Random fact: CheapSkates here in Memphis is STILL going. Legendary Memphis Sk8 shop, and they’re right in the heart of the hood too.. unbothered, and nobody fcks with them; nicest ppl ever, and very welcoming too. If you ever visit, please ask about the signatures around the door, that history lesson will blow your mind- plus, the signatures you’ll see. Man.. really a moment.

This is Awesome. I was just telling my sons about these magazines. I loved getting mine. I lived in Northern Idaho and isn’t have a lot of skate shops