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Skateboarding Welcomes Back Dogtown Lord

Original Z-Boy is out of jail and looking to keep his life on track

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 30, 2008 6:47 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Legendary skateboarder Jay Adams is slowly getting the wheels back on his life, the New York Times reports. Adams, whose '70s skateboarding career was immortalized in the movie Lords of Dogtown, is in a California halfway house for the final months of a 4-year sentence for his part in a drug ring. He hopes to attend tomorrow's X Games in Los Angeles.

Adams and his Z-Boys team rose from a gritty part of LA known as Dogtown to revolutionize skateboarding. He later drifted into decades of crime and drug addiction but cleaned up, married, and had a child before being sent to prison. Today, he works as facilities manager in a skate park and is aiming for a bright future with his family—and helping young people not repeat his mistakes.

Original Z-Boys skater Jay Adams, right, and guest arrive at the premiere of 'Lords Of Dogtown' at the Mann's Chinese Theater on May 24, 2005, in Hollywood, California.
Original Z-Boys skater Jay Adams, right, and guest arrive at the premiere of 'Lords Of Dogtown' at the Mann's Chinese Theater on May 24, 2005, in Hollywood, California.
Jay Adams and the other Z-Boys skateboarders came from a seedy part of Venice Beach and Santa Monica nicknamed 'Dogtown.'
Jay Adams and the other Z-Boys skateboarders came from a seedy part of Venice Beach and Santa Monica nicknamed 'Dogtown.'   ((c) anarchosyn)
Original Z-Boys pro-skaters Jay Adams, left, and Tony Alva arrive at the premiere of 'Lords Of Dogtown' in Hollywood in 2005.
Original Z-Boys pro-skaters Jay Adams, left, and Tony Alva arrive at the premiere of 'Lords Of Dogtown' in Hollywood in 2005.   (Getty Images)
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Jay Adams gets out of jail
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Los Angeles • probation • X Games • skateboarding • Lords of Dogtown

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