Old Penny Board In Man’s Storage Now Just A Relic Of Bondi's Once Powerful Cultural Capital

Old Penny Board In Man’s Storage Now Just A Relic Of Bondi's Once Powerful Cultural Capital

MONTY BENFICA | Amusements CONTACT

An old pastel penny board buried deep in a local man's storage unit is now a relic of when Bondi was the cultural capital of Australia.

The penny boards, once a symbol of late 2000s Bondi, have now been relegated to storage units around the country.

"Havaianas, skinny jeans, Empire Of The Sun, Boost Juice, Penny Boards, wow, you just had to be there," explained 44 year old Charlie Fisk.

Charlie says he found the board while looking for an old iPhone charger, immediately transporting him back to a time when Bondi was the it place of Australia.

"It was different back then," he said.

"Ksubi Jeans, Bondi Hipsters, there was really an energy in Bondi, it was an annoying energy, but it was still an energy."

The small plastic board, once seen weaving through crowds outside cafés, bottle shops and sharehouses with suspiciously high rent, now sits beside an old box of DVDs and a broken fan.

Cultural historians say the penny board marked a period when Bondi exported a very specific lifestyle to the rest of Australia, mostly through early Instagram filters, string singlets and acai bowls.

While Bondi has since suffered after somehow going from expensive to rent in to impossible to rent in, the popularity of Byron and the rise of tech bros and fitness influencers in the area, Charlie says the board remains a powerful reminder of another era.

"It belongs in a museum," he said.

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