There's this new bowl in town. Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you've skated it once or twice. Maybe you've been skating it everyday for the past year. Perhaps this was the beginning of the end for the 50-50.com, but there is a definite correlation between the last day we updated our website and the first day we started helping construct the bowl. The site's never been the same since.

In commemoration of the one and a half year anniversary (??) of the bowl construction and all the blood, sweat, tears, and semen (??) that went into building it, we offer you this special treat.

Over a year ago, we interviewed the men who made it all happen down at the Hickam Hangar: Mr. Hickam himself, Mike Kays [pictured top] and his bald accomplice, Eric Davis [below]. What follows is everything you may or may not want to know about the eigth wonder of the world, the Hickam Bowl.

[November 8, 1999: 1 am]
Interview by Robodong and Island Mike

IM: Mr. Kays, so how did this whole bowl idea come about?

MK: It's so far long ago. There were some unused military funds, or rather the funds weren't being used properly.

IM: How much was that? What was the original budget for the bowl?

MK: $8,000 was the original budget (laughs). Actually the original budget was $6,000 and then they brought it up to $8,000.

ED: What was the original design?

MK: It was going to be a mini-bowl. 7 1/2 foot deep, 4 1/2 foot shallow.

ED: 90 degree hips was the original design?

MK: Well keyhole was in there, elbow shapes, and also an egg-shape type of thing.

IM: Was it going to always have a deep and a shallow end?

MK: Yeah, it was always going to be two level.

IM: How long ago was this phase of design?

MK: About a year and a half was the planning phase. About September 1998, the funds were allocated.

IM: Did you start building it right away?

MK: Started on the street course first. Then began work on the bowl.

R: When did you get the assistance of old baldy here?

ED: October 1998. I was there from the get-go. We chalk-lined the ground for the deep-end directly under the light. And made lines for every 15 degrees. Then ripped about 35 templates and stacked them around and stood them up. That was the beginning of the end.

IM: Then you boxed it up. How long did it take you to do that?

ED: It was going to be completed by the end of the year.

MK: But December quickly went by.

ED: I would say we were here 6 six days a week on average.

MK: I do remember like cruising down for a 7 am pick-up, going to Eggs n' Things for breakfast.

R: Tell us about some of the things you had to sacrifice in life.

ED: I sacrificed my billiards, so to speak. I only got to play about half as much as normal. It was tough.

IM: Any fun experiences you guys had while building the bowl?

ED: Ripping all the ribs for the deep end was fun. You could do about a loop or loop and a half a day, and that would be all day from 7am-midnight. It would take 3 to 4 hours a loop.

IM: Tell us about the story where Mike almost lost his eye for the bowl. Wasn't there an accident?

MK: Rat-boy got me, the rollerblader.

ED: And he's the leader of the crew, that's what I want to stress.

MK: We were putting up the 4 x 4 supports for the decks. One of those famous, "Hold this and don't let go" things.

ED: Ratboy forgot what he was doing.

MK: He was looking at you layering the shallow end. Maybe he was 'LOOKING at you'.

ED: I wouldn't doubt it, you don't know with these rollerbladers. Anyways, I'm layering, and I see the damn 4 x 4 go, and I'm waiting for the thud, but I don't hear it. I didn't here anything, and then I thought, whoah that went right for Kays. I look over the edge and he's like (puts his hand over his eye). Missed his eyeball by how much?

MK: Hit me right on the cheekbone. I had a permanent dent there for a while.

IM: So what did you do? Did you go to the hospital?

MK: Yeah, I went to the hospital the next day. They thought it was fractured, but it wasn't. A lot of swelling, big old black eye, a lot of blood in the eye.

ED: I don't think I ever got injured. Just about hit every damn finger on my hand with the hammer though.

IM: When did you actually start layering the bowl?

MK: Beginning of the year (1999).

ED: We were still ribbing though. The hips took a whole month each to rib didn't they?

MK: There were some delays in there.

ED: Figuring out how to do those hips out of nowhere, that was weird.

IM: When did you guys figure out that you couldn't do it all alone?

ED: After I asked G-Money to help me out for like 6 months. Went to Kapahulu every weekend, 'Hey, G-Money, you think you could help me out?' 'Well, ahhhh, geee...." I think it took the whole shape of it to stoke people in on it.

IM: How many layers is the bowl?

MK: 4 layers including the masonite.

ED: 5 on the hips.

IM: How many screws are there in the ramp?

MK: "At least a hundred". Famous quote.

ED: We used boxes of nails. 10 boxes? We had like 4 to start.

MK: It's about 500 lbs of nails and how many boxes of screws? They're 25 lbs a piece. I'd say about 20 (boxes).

IM: What was the grand budget?

MK: I'd say everything was just a smidge over $20,000. And it's not quite complete. Still could use another staircase. But, that's street course and bowl. At least $15,000 just for the bowl.

IM: How was layering the deep end? That obviously was easy work.

R: It was a race. The deep end vs. the hips. Who could finish the hips or the deep first. We had a Scottish defector working on the hips too.

ED: It was like laying a blade of grass on a football field.

R: What about the custom cuts?

ED: Oh the custom cuts.

IM: Just about every piece in the deep end layer had to be custom cut to fit into place.

ED: How many 4 x 8 sheets were need per layer?

MK: I think about 65.

ED: Every 4 x 8 sheet was cut into 3 pieces, then custom cut into place. There were a couple techinques used. The magic curve, and the overlap techniques. And they worked. You could get a whole row of them going at once.

MK: Each layer had it's own method actually. First layer was an orange peel pattern.

IM: Is there any special type of masonite that was used?

MK: Dark masonite.

ED: There's a special masonite that those in the know start using. I think it's smoother than cement.

IM: How many tools were sacrificed in building the bowl?

MK: A few drills were killed.

ED: Two Hammers and two saws built the whole frame.

R: How many feet around is the coping?

MK: Like 180 feet or so. Deep end is almost 72 feet, something crazy.

ED: Universal bent it. BBC (Big Bad Chad) welded it.

MK: We tweaked it.

R: That actually went up in one day or two days.

MK: Yeah what we thought would probably be the hardest things turned out to be one of the easiest. It was done in under 3 days.

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ED: Tabs and screws baby. One continuous dong. Black coping, no galvanized Sally pipe. (Sally pipe is) like a bar of wax after a while, can't even hear it.

R: Tell us about Masami (owner of Lazy Bonez Skate Shop) and his gloves.

ED: Yeah, Masami helped with the first layer, and gloves were key.

MK: We abused his drill.

ED: His drill took a beating. Which reminds me, I got to get it back to him. Basically, we owe Masami a drill. We'll get you a drill Masami. Sorry. I'll never forget the day Skillet came out to help. Oh yes he was eager.

MK: What about the big guy that came out to help? We still got his knife.

ED: Noah! Notorious Noa.

IM: What about Parker? What happened to Parker while you were building.

ED: Oh, he came down with a couple of drinks for us, while we were still ribbing the hip section. There was still one hole left between the shallow and the deep that wasn't ribbed. Kind of lost his footing, and fell right into the whole under the shallow end. Straight down, probably a good 3 1/2-4 foot drop. Disappeared under the shallow end. I couldn't stop laughing, tears were coming down my face.

MK: I could see his face. He had this cartoon like expression on his face. He landed like sitting down. And remember? He got in his car with his pads still on and drove away. That was the last day he helped.

IM: Wasn't there ever a period of disillusionment, you know, where nobody wanted to work anymore?

ED: It would periodically reach burnout.

MK: July 4th, that month. That was pretty much a burnout.

IM: Doing the same stuff over again.

ED: Well you figure, you work your normal job, and then you come to work on the bowl. It was kaos.

MK: It was definitely worth it.

R: Who was the first person banned from the bowl?

MK: Kale got banned on Halloween (at the Halloween Bowl Bash Contest 1999).

IM: Why's that?

MK: He was setting the mood. (laughs)

R: Yeah you saw him with his mask and everything. Well, I guess he took a nice slam and one of his scabs ripped off and he started smearing blood warpaint marks on his mask, and some of the parents there were a little bothered by it.

MK: Well actually I think it tore halfway off and he tore the rest of it off and flicked it on the deck. Then, he started to bleed and etched his name in blood up on the deck, right as you come up the stairs.

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ED: That's a hard earned etch.

IM: Nothing wrong with that.

MK: Well, I guess the parents freaked out a little.

IM: How do people get on base if they want to skate the bowl?

MK: It's still a constant problem. It seems it gets worse and then better and then back to worse. It goes through cycles. You can only get on through a military sponsor.

IM: Is there still a plan where people can get on base if they buy a membership to the skatepark?

MK: We tried it. It got shot down. It got shot down last year and then apparently they changed base commanders and this guy's a little bit more difficult, I'll put it that way.

IM: Hickam is a membership park now, what are the rates?

MK: You have to pay $20 for a year, and then it's $3 per day to skate. Or, for non-members it's $5 all day.

R: What are the hours now?

MK: Wednesday 3-8pm, Thursday 3-8pm, Friday 3-10pm, Saturday 2-10pm, Sunday 12-5pm.

IM: How do you feel about you and your daughter's name being trashed in the Forums? Do you want to send any messages, like how you're going to beat their ass or something?

MK: Oh, I just thought I'd lay a guilt trip when I wrote in. I know who it was, I know how people carry on. Like I said before, if anybody is going to write anything about my own family it's going to be me or my son (laughs).

IM: What are some of the future plans for the Hickam Skatepark?

MK: Future plans are to finish the steps and decks on the bowl. We're going to redesign the street course and rebuild the vert ramp.

IM: What's your actual job here at the skatepark?

MK: Well, I'm, in the army, so.

IM: What's your job title, like ramp specialist?

MK: You mean here for the Youth Program? I'm a Recreation Assistant.

IM: What's your job duty?

MK: Technically, they can make me do anything. But mainly, build stuff, design stuff, help coordinate with other military bases to help them build stuff. Send them plans and consult with them on the design of military skateparks. Sometimes I get to travel to those places and talk to them.

IM: Where are some of these places?

MK: Another one was built in Alaska at one of the military bases out there. And one in Okinawa at the Air Force Base out there.

...
... (tape runs out)

Basically the rest of the interview goes on after the tape ran out. Kays talks about the Schofield Bowl, which he designed and built in the early 90s, and what he learned about designing bowls from that project. It has since been dismantled. We talked about the Kaneohe MCBH cement park, but he didn't have any input on that project. We also talked about some future secret plans for designs at Hickam. You'll have to stay tuned. Kayes would also like to send his thanks to the many volunteers, who helped out on the project: Eric, Robby, Mike, Jeff, Ali & Daryl the Scotsmen, Brian, Chad, Alf, Masami, Parker, Ratboy & Skillet (??), and anyone else we forgot who helped make the bowl a reality.

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