
In 1970s Venice Beach, surfers Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk), Stacy Peralta (John Robinson), and Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch) enjoy the life of skating and surfing the pier with board designer Skip Engblom (Heath Ledger) and the other locals. One day, Skip orders polyurethane wheels for the skateboards in his shop, Zephyr Skate Shop. Teenager Sid (Michael Angarano), a friend of the boys who works in the same shop, invites Tony, Jay, Stacy and the other locals to test the new wheels. After witnessing what the boys could now do with the wheels, Skip decides to put together a skate team, the Z-Boys. The team proves to be a success; winning many contests, Stacy, Jay, and Tony gain popularity from locals across Venice.
After a time, the pier stops sporting waves for them to surf on. A stop of rain dries out the land, so no swimming pools can be filled. Using this opportunity, the Z-Boys start to ditch Skip's scheduled practices and sneak into peoples' swimming pools to skate in. After winning many major contests, Stacy, Jay, and Tony start getting noticed by major skating companies looking to take the boys from Skip. The Z-Boys become famous, appearing in various magazines. One night, Skip throws a party at his shop to celebrate the success of the team. A company owner, Topper Burks (Johnny Knoxville), enters the pa
rty and convinces Tony that Skip is holding him back, and that it's time to make him famous world wide. Tony accepts his offer and leaves the team. Jay leaves the team as well, looking to make more money so his mom could pay the rent on their apartment. Stacy is the last to leave, as he begins getting offers to skate as well as to appear in T.V. Sad and angry, Skip decides to shut down the Zephyr Skate Team.
The 3 boys become rich and famous. Their lives have changed: they are now skating for money rather than passion as they did before. They become enemies of some sort and compete against each other in various contests. Stacy appears on the original Charlie's Angels show while Tony starts creating his own commercials to manufacture his popular boards and merchandise. Against his will, Jay, to earn $10,000 for his mother, agrees to appear in a commercial sponsoring the new toy, Slink
y. Before long, things start going out of control; at a major skating championship that they all take part in, Tony gets into a fight with another skater in the middle of the stadium, and gets violently knocked out, temporarily ending his career. Jay leaves the company he had endorsed when they sacrifice quality for cheap materials. Stacy ends up winning the competition.
Back in Venice, the pier that the Z-Boys use to surf around burns down, which affects them all. Sid's long-time equilibrium problem turns out to be caused by a brain tumor, and he undergoes surgery. Though Stacy, Tony, and Jay have all gone their separate ways, they all show up a
t the same time to visit Sid. Stacy reveals that he is leaving his company to start his own. Sid's father had finally emptied their pool for them to skate in. Stacy, Tony, and Jay skate the pool and bring Sid into the fun on his wheel chair, referencing all the good times they had before they became a skate team.
Closing cards reveal that Tony Alva went on to be a very successful skater (stating that he still sneaks into backyard pools); Stacy Peralta started Powell Peralta, a modern popular skating company that included a 14-year-old Tony Hawk as part of its team; and Jay, too, achieved the only kind of success at skating and surfing he really cared about, becoming known as the 'spark that started the flame'. Sid later died of brain cancer. His father's pool was kept empty and is known as the DogBowl.
Labels: abs, body, boys, Lords Of Dogtown, movie, skater