Kris Markovich spins a frontside half-Cab down little Carlsbad for Union Right to Skate (1992).
Few things get more heated than trick name debates. A fun night watching skate videos turns into life or death deliberation. Best friends turn to enemies. The validity of existence itself hangs in the balance if—God forbid— somebody prefers to call a nose manny a nose wheelie, or a one-foot an Ollie North.
While we should all be dead certain there is no such thing as a “frontside Indy”, there sure as f—k is something called a frontside half-Cab. Over the past few decades a large swath of freshly minted board enthusiasts have decided they like the term “fakie frontside 180”. Not really the end of the world or anything. At times, it can be a little quicker to say, “fakie flip front nose” rather than “frontside half-Cab flip noseslide”.
But it does get a little annoying when people start to argue that there was never such a thing as the frontside half-Cab at all. Some even taking it to the “frontside Indy” level—declaring that all Cabs must be backside and attempting to bolster their argument in historical scaffolding after the fact—as if the staunchest of OGs had laid this down years ago. They did not.
The Caballarial or ‘Cab’ was invented by Steve Caballero (and coined by Stacy Peralta) in 1980 and was a backside fakie ollie 360 on vert. Within months, skaters like Kevin Staab and Tony Hawk had learned the fakie ollie 180 versions on ramps and those were named half-Cabs. In ‘88 the fakie frontside 360 ollie was spun by Tony Hawk on a backyard ramp in Phoenix, AZ and that was named the frontside Cab. From the mid-80s onwards, any fakie ollie turning 360 on street or ramp was a Cab, and any fakie ollie 180 (again regardless of vert, street, FS, or BS) was called a half-Cab. Vans® obviously named Steve’s pro model shoes after both the 360 version (The Cab®) and the 180 version (The Half Cab®).
The frontside half-Cab down stairs and gaps emerged as the hot street trick right about when Kris Markovich popped one down the little Carlsbad gap circa 1992 (Union Wheels, Right to Skate). Jeremy Wray made it official when he took it over the big (more known) Carlsbad gap in his vaunted Second Hand Smoke (’94) part. If you skated in ‘92, you knew it was the trendy new move to do down gaps and you also most definitely knew it as a frontside half-Cab. It was branded that way.
In an attempt to set the record straight, or at least broker some peace between the two factions—I reached out to a cross-section of people and asked them straight up, “frontside half-Cab or fakie frontside 180?” I also asked if they stuck with FS half-Cab flip or fakie FS flip. Did they correct others when they used the ‘wrong’ name? At the end of the day you can still call it whatever makes you happy. But you should at least know the history.
Frank Hirata frontside half Cabs a set for his Pro Spotlight (June 1993) by Dave Swift. Note the caption.
Mike York:
“It’s called a frontside Half-Cab. Don’t disrespect Steve Caballero. It’s also a frontside half Cab flip. It doesn’t change if the flip is added. Why would it? No matter what you’re doing, if you’re doing that motion, it’s a frontside half-Cab. I might let kids slide sometimes, I’m not the skate police, or I’d be in jail myself. Call it what you feel is right in your heart. But educate yourself on the history if you’re new to this. I’ve been skating since the ‘80s and it has always been called a frontside half-Cab.”
Tony Hawk:
“Half cab is backside by default. So I just say half Cab or frontside half Cab. I say half Cab kickflip or half Cab heel. You only need to clarify if it’s frontside. I don’t really correct people but it depends on the severity of their gaffe. I cringe hearing “full Cab.” A Cab[allerial] is 360 by definition. I did the fs Cab on a backyard ramp in Phoenix around 1988 and called it a ‘frontside Cab’. I had done (the backside) one right when I got on Powell. That would have been in ’81. I was joking around at Marina del Rey because I was getting pretty close to them. I remember it was one of the first times that Stacy (Peralta) was really watching me when I was on the team. I remember going like, ‘Stacy watch this’. And I made one. He’s just like ‘When did you learn that!’ I was like ‘That was my first one.’”
Hawk spins a frontside half Cab across the channel in Ban This (1989 by Powell Peralta).
Rodney Mullen:
“It has always been called a frontside half-Cab. But calling them fakie front 180’s flows just as easily— hardly a conscious toggle in my opinion.”
PRod:
“For me I go with what’s easier. When it’s without a flip I go with frontside half Cab because saying fakie frontside 180 feels like it’s longer to say. When there is a flip involved I’ll say it either way. Frontside half Cab flip or fakie frontside flip. Because they take just as long to say. But ultimately I don’t mind what someone else chooses. I remember that Ragdoll (Anthony Scalemere) had a mean frontside half-Cab. And Reynolds and Kerry Getz have some of my favorite frontside half-Cab flips.”
Erik Ellington:
“I’ve always said half-Cab and frontside half-Cab. I don’t correct people if they say it another way.”
Alex Olson:
“It’s a frontside half-Cab flip. I love how motherfuckers try to change the dictionary. What is it in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater? That’s probably what named it for all these kids. You can call it whatever you want at the end of the day. But I mean come on. Sit down. There’s a shoe named after it. It’s like Metric vs. Imperial. Half-Cab is the more formal one. Fakie frontside 180… it doesn’t even roll off your tongue. If you speak proper skateboard, you don’t say fakie front 180. You say frontside half-Cab. It’s British English vs. American English. Speak the King’s English and say frontside half-Cab. Also, as the kids say, give the man his flowers. Give Cab his credit.
Steve Caballero:
(From full interview below) ME: For the record. A Cab or Caballerial is a fakie 360 Ollie on vert or street and can be frontside or backside correct?
Steve Caballero: Correct.
ME: A half-Cab is any fakie 180 Ollie on street or vert and can be frontside or backside, correct?
Steve Caballero: Correct.
ME: And a half Cab flip is any fakie ollie 180 flip on street or vert and can be frontside or backside correct?
Steve Caballero: Correct.
ME: Any nollie trick can never be a Cab correct?
Steve Caballero: Correct. It has to be fakie. I'm not sure if the fs half Cab happened first on vert or on street. I just know that when street skating was coming around and people were doing half Cabs on street, it was obvious to go the other way (frontside). And that was named the frontside half-Cab. (continued below)
Steve Cab pops his own frontside half-Cab flip in a line in Scenic Drive (Powell Peralta’95)
Kris Markovich:
“So it’s always been a frontside Half Cab. Yeah technically it’s a fakie frontside 180 but it’s a frontside half Cab! By calling it a fakie frontside 180 you might as well go ahead and mall grab your board. It’s a frontside half Cab.Of course Cabs can be both ways frontside and backside. Anyone saying it’s only backside probably thinks a frontside Indy is a real thing.”
PJ Ladd:
“I call it a fakie (frontside) 180. I’m bad with trick names though. Sometimes I call backside, frontside (laughs). The other way (backside) obviously and I always call it half Cab and full Cab. A kid said ‘fakie 360’ once and I corrected him by saying ‘full Cab’. I’m probably getting it all wrong. Trick names after skaters are the best thing though.”
Elissa Steamer:
“Frontside half Cab for sure.”
Tyshawn Jones
“It’s a half-Cab. That’s the name of it. That’s how I grew up hearing it. I’m not gonna switch it. I’ve always heard it as half-Cab flip. Not fakie 180 flip. I mean it’s the same thing. I just say half Cab flip because everybody knows what that is. People calling half-Cabs fakie 180s are just making things difficult. If it’s frontside I call it a fakie frontside flip though.”
Jeremy Wray:
“For me they have always been frontside half Cabs. I'm not a fan of the fakie 180. I've even heard frontside half Cab flips called fakie frontside flips. It's just the way it is. No use trying to fight it now. I could also do without nollie Cabs too while we are at it. If it's any kind of Cab trick that means you are riding fakie. Period. This is just our era's frontside Indy. The battle rages on.”
JWray FS half-Cabs the bigger Carlsbad gap in Second Hand Smoke (Plan B 1994).
Pontus Alv:
“I call them fakie frontside Ollies and fakie frontside flips but say half Cab flip for the backside ones. I don’t care too much what people call tricks if it looks rad, that’s good enough for me. Carl Shipman was the style king of fakie frontside flips. I could never do them. Only on banks I had them. I was also a half Cab flip guy. Sami Harithi has a really good frontside half Cab Ollie."
Every Teen, 20 or 30 something-year-old at Stoner Plaza:
Every one of my peers I asked at Stoner was honest and told me they never called it a frontside half Cab. Nearly 100% call them fakie frontside 180s and fakie frontside flips. None of them were doing so maliciously. They genuinely had never heard it was called a frontside half Cab. I share this only to convey that this article isn’t meant to shame anyone or be a bunch of old men yelling at kids. Actually never mind, that’s exactly what this article is.
Andrew Allen:
“I think I use both names to be honest. But I probably use ‘frontside half Cab more’.” I don’t know on the fakie frontside flip vs. frontside half Cab flip. I can’t do that trick (laughs). But one sick one that comes to mind is the opening line in Van Wastell’s Krooked part at the Mission 3-up-3 down.
John Cardiel:
A Cab’s a Cab and a half Cab’s a half Cab. Always has been just like an Ollie is an Ollie. That is our foundation and that’s what sets us apart! Sterilizing it removes our culture.
Lance Mountain:
“I call it a frontside half Cab. You can call it whatever you want. That’s fine too. For myself, any fakie 360 ollie on vert would be a Cabalerial, whether frontside or backside. And any fakie 180 ollie, again, either frontside or backside—would be a half Cab. But regardless of what I think, when that trick got hot on the streets, after my time, in the early ‘90s it was called a frontside half Cab. So if you want to call it what the guys who invented or popularized the trick called it, like Kris Markovich or Jeremy Wray—call it a frontside half Cab. That’s what it has always been called. Or don’t. It’s up to you.”
Andrew Reynolds took the frontside half Cab flip down Carlsbad for Stay Gold (’10). Upon posting the Baker ad on my @deadhippie feed – an ad that is even captioned “f/s half-Cab flip” I faced a barrage of comments arguing that there is no such thing as a FS half Cab flip and some even arguing that Cab himself said Cabs can’t be frontside (this is untrue). I decided to write this article based on those comments.
Check out a video compilation of all the frontside half Cab variations talked about in this article below:
Note: I am leaving these conversations with Steve Cab and Tony Hawk here as a reference for future trick name nerds.
Full INTV: Steve Caballero on the Frontside Half Cab, Cab and more
ME: OK, for the record. A Cab or Caballerial is a fakie 360 Ollie on vert or street and it can be frontside or backside correct?
Steve Caballero: Correct.
ME: A half Cab is any fakie 180 Ollie on street or vert and can be frontside or backside, correct?
Steve Caballero: Correct.
ME: And a half Cab flip is any fakie ollie 180 flip on street or vert and can be frontside or backside correct?
Steve Caballero: Correct.
ME: Any nollie trick can never be a Cab correct?
Steve Caballero: Correct. It has to be fakie.
ME: If somebody calls a frontside half Cab a fakie frontside 180 does it bother you? Do you try to correct them? I guess what's your policy on it?
Cab unveils the Caballerial. Action Now Feb. 1981. Vol. 7, No.7. Photos: Glen Friedman
Steve Caballero: The only thing that bugs me is when other sports try to call things in their sport half Cabs or Cabs. It is specific to skateboarding because it has to include an Ollie. Otherwise, sometimes people call a Cab a “Full Cab” which isn’t really correct but I understand why and it doesn’t bug me. When it was invented on vert, the Cab was already a 360. On street though when you usually learn a half-Cab first and then you want to take it one step further you do a “full” Cab. That’s why on street they ended up renaming it.
ME: That makes sense.
Steve Caballero: In reality though the trick was invented on vert and the so-called “full” Cab was invented before the half Cab so there was no “full Cab”. A “full” Cab is just a Cab.
ME: Yeah, I dug into that and saw that Kevin Staab and Tony Hawk had done the half-Cab on vert after you did the Cab and they gave it the name half Cab in your honor. so that's the official name. Do you remember who did the frontside Cab first on vert?
Steve Caballero: That I don't know (Ed note: it was Tony Hawk in ’88).
ME: I asked Rodney and he said he had always called them half Cabs both ways on flatground. He had done the Hellihop (nollie 360) pretty early on so he probably did it fakie like right after without even naming it or anything but a switch Hellihop would be a frontside Cab on flat.
Steve Caballero: Yeah.
ME: But they were definitely called frontside Cabs, right like that was never in doubt?
Steve Caballero: Yes, but I'm not sure if the fs half Cab happened first on vert or on street. I just know that when street skating was coming around and people were doing half Cabs on street, it was just obvious to go the other way too (frontside). And that was named the frontside half-Cab.
ME: I talked to Lance and he said ask Jeremy Wray and Kris Markovich because the frontside half-Cab was like a real hot trick down gaps in like 1992 and those two guys along with Frank Hirata and a few others really popularized it. I asked both of them and they're like it's the frontside half Cab. Don't ever say fakie front 180. If a kid came up and said fakie frontside 180 would you correct them?
Steve Caballero: I don't know, I don’t think I would go as far as correcting somebody. I might say like, “Hey try that frontside half Cab again or sick frontside half Cab”. Maybe something like that.
ME: I guess my takeaway on the whole thing is like it's OK to call it whatever you want to some degree but the history should be locked in. You know as long as people know there is such a thing as a frontside half Cab. AO said it's almost like you using the Kings English when you say half-Cab—like the highest form of skateboarding speech, in a formal setting it should always be a half-Cab.
Steve Caballero: Yeah.
ME: I decided to write this article after I posted a Baker ad of Andrew Reynolds doing a frontside half-Cab flip down the Carlsbad gap and the ad is even captioned as a “frontside half-Cab flip”. But kids in the comments were going crazy saying there is no such thing as a frontside half-Cab. They were saying that if it’s frontside it’s called a “fakie front 180”. I saw a few people like Neil Mims try and tell them it was called a FS half Cab and they ganged up on Neil, basically calling him a kook. Some people were arguing that Cabs and half-Cabs can’t ever be frontside.
Steve Caballero: Under whose law?
ME: I don’t know. But that seemed like they're trying to rewrite history at that point. You know they were saying like, “Steve Cab even said a Cab can't be frontside” and I was like no he didn’t.
Steve Caballero: I have never ever once said that.
ME: Yeah, thank you that was the only real piece I thought it would be good to just debunk and lock down like, “here's the record”.
Steve Caballero: You can kind of see how people got there. If people ask me like “What’s a Caballerial” and I say it’s a fakie backside 360 ollie. They might think like, “Oh, so by you saying that, there’s no such thing as a frontside one right?” No. The first one was backside but that doesn’t mean it can’t be frontside too. But they might make that assumption. Which is fine too. It's OK for them to think differently and then try to argue with you because that’s pretty much what every generation does to their elders.
ME: Yeah, and skateboarding has always been about rebellion too. I mean we're told like break the rules and stuff so it's always a little bit of you sticking it to the older generation to a degree. Breaking their rules to make it yours.
Steve Caballero: Yeah, sometimes I think when people are trying to get in an argument with you, it’s best to just let them own their own argument. Just agree to disagree. That's fine. The truth is the truth.
ME: Yeah, I think Lance’s answer was really good like that. He's like, “You can call whatever you want, but just know that it was called the front side half Cab when it was popularized on the streets.”
Steve Caballero: Right. Kids are gonna do whatever they wanna do. It doesn't matter what you think or how old you are. I had full on arguments with BMXers. Just trying to tell me I didn't know what I was talking about.
ME: Right, because it’s not actually an Ollie on BMX but a bunny hop so technically not a Cab.
Steve Caballero: Yeah, and they're like dude you don't know what you're talking about. You’re an old washed up skater so this is the new thing and you know just go with it, bro (laughs).
ME: I think there are probably bigger fish to fry in the world right now. Bigger problems going on than the misnamed trick arguments, but it's fun to nerd out on.
Steve Caballero: Yeah, definitely.
ME: All right, well thank you for your time. I know you've talked about this a lot so thanks for going back through it. I appreciate it.
Steve Caballero: You know what I should do is I should actually try to film one and caption it frontside half Cab kickflip and just watch the arguments come.
ME: That’s a hard trick. You think you could still do one? Did you do them back in the day?
Steve Caballero: I did a long time ago. I actually I did it in a line in Powell’s Scenic Drive (1995).
ME: Oh wow. I have to track that down.
Steve Caballero: Yeah, I think I do back 180 over a bench and then I do a front side half Cab kick flip.
ME: If you did the trick too that really cements it. I'm gonna find that clip now. That might be the best image for this article too. Some era-accurate screen grabs (laughs).
Steve Caballero: Exactly, I think it was like ’95.
ME: Yeah OK, yeah that makes sense. I don't think I've ever done one of those. I gotta try now. Well thank you for getting back and wishing you all the best.
Steve Caballero: All right, thanks bro appreciate it.
ME: Take care, bye Steve.
Tony Hawk spins a frontside Cab in Propaganda (1990 by Powell Peralta)
Full INTV: Tony Hawk on The Cab, Half Cab and the Frontside Cab
ME: When was the first frontside Cab and was it named that?
Tony Hawk: I did it (the 1st frontside Cab on vert) on a backyard ramp in Phoenix around 1988 and called it a frontside Cab.
ME: Okay, that helps fit all of this together. When was the first half Cab?
Tony Hawk: I know Kevin (Staab) was doing that trick (half Cab) when he was little. Like half way up the wall at Del Mar.
ME: Frontside or backside?
Tony Hawk: Well, let’s just say half Cab for now. He didn’t have a name for it. Probably called it a fakie Ollie 180 for all I know. It wasn’t really seen as significant because he wasn’t at coping height so nobody really paid attention to things like that. Then Cab did the Caballerial in 1980 and that became the gold standard. Kevin by then figured out how to half Cab above the coping so by default, after the Cab, that became the “half Cab.”
ME: Cab is going fakie to backside 360 Ollie, and Kevin is going fakie to backside 180 ollie?
Tony Hawk: Right. Half of what Cab had done originally. Then fast forward and I did it the other way (frontside). Maybe a year before doing a frontside Cab I did a backside half Cab on vert. Where I got confused was that Kevin and I were calling that a frontside half Cab.
ME: The backside version?
Tony Hawk: Yeah, that’s what he says. I’m just going to have to go with what he says because I’m so confused at this point. To us it became a conundrum because we were saying frontside half Cab but your body is facing backside. The origins of frontside and backside were based off which way your body is facing the wall.
ME: Would it be viable for this article to just reset it from Cab’s fakie Ollie backside 360? That sets the standard. Then Kevin and yourself or even just Kevin locks the legit half version of that down. We can call that the half Cab and that’s backside too. You guys called it frontside by mistake for a short time but that’s kind of less important than the broader picture.
Tony Hawk: I’m sure it occurred to us too when I did the frontside Cab that that was actually the frontside version.
ME: Just zooming out to your answers, half Cab by default would be backside correct?
Tony Hawk: Yes.
ME: On street when people say half Cab kickflip that is definitely by default the backside one.
Tony Hawk: Yeah. It’s the same on vert. It would be default backside unless you clarified it as frontside. I don’t really correct people but it depends on the severity of their gaffe. For instance: I cringe hearing “full cab.” A Cab[allerial] is 360 by definition.
ME: The reason I wanted to write this article was because kids don’t say frontside half Cab. All my friends, the younger guys I skate with at Stoner, they all say fakie fs 180 or fakie fs 180 flip.
Tony Hawk: Yeah, that’s weird.
ME: When I was a kid…
Tony Hawk: That was a frontside half Cab.
ME: Yeah. Markovich did it down the little Carlsbad gap and it was the hot trick. It was called the frontside half Cab so that was burned into my brain.
Tony Hawk: I would go on record as saying you are correct.
ME: I had posted a Baker ad of Reynolds doing a frontside half Cab flip over the bigger Carlsbad gap and the kids were going off in the comments. Saying there is no such thing as a frontside half Cab. It’s a fakie frontside 180 flip, and even Steve Cab has said so (he has not). Basically saying there is no frontside Cab or half Cab.
Tony Hawk: Steve is sort of the wrench in a lot of that.
ME: I think I got it all straightened out though. Even Rodney told me that when he did them on flatground they were half Cabs both ways. Then the fact that you did the frontside Cab in ’88 and named it frontside Cab just locks it all together. It should stand. Kids can call the tricks whatever they want but the history is locked down.
Tony Hawk: Those same kids will say “full” Cab which doesn’t exist either.
ME: (Laughs) I got a lot of different answers back for this. It’s incredible how many interpretations there are.
Tony Hawk: The bummer from my perspective is that Steve won’t allow any grabs (laughs). Like a Cab Stalefish—I think that’s one of the coolest tricks but Steve’s like, “That’s not a Cab. It has to be an Ollie. No grabs.” I’m just like “Why wouldn’t you want your name attached to it though.”
ME: That’s funny. I was hunting for a clip of you doing a frontside Cab and I’d find one but then it would be a grab and it wouldn’t count. I found two in Propaganda but I think you might tailgrab the second one.
Tony Hawk: It’s like his pride is self-destructive. You could have your name attached to dozens of other tricks.
ME: It is kind of cool that he keeps it pure like that though. I can only imagine how big a deal the Ollie part was in 1980.
Tony Hawk: Oh for sure. I think I did one (a Caballerial) right when I got on Powell. That would have been in ’81. I was joking around at Marina del Rey because I was getting pretty close to them. I remember it was one of the first times that Stacy (Peralta) was really watching me when I was on the team. I remember going like, “Stacy watch this.” And I made one. He’s just like “When did you learn that!” I was like “That was my first one.”
ME: That’s sick. Okay, thanks for going through this. People get passionate about this stuff.
Tony Hawk: (Laughs) A lot of passion for sure. I’m just going by my experiences and memory of it.
More TWS Origins:
TWS Origins of the Switch 360 Flip with Rodney Mullen, Guy, and Henry Sanchez
TWS Origins of the Stalefish with Tony Hawk and Gonz
TWS Origins of the Frontside Pop Shove with Steve Rocco and Alan Gelfand
TWS Origins of the Backside Noseblunt Slide with Matt Hensley
TWS Origins of the Nollie Flip with Ali Mills and Rodney Mullen
TWS Origins of the Noseslide with Guy and Gonz
TWS Origins of the Japan Air with Tony Hawk
TWS Origins of the Noseblunt with Gonz, Guy, and Julien Stranger
TWS Origins: The Photo That Named the Sadplant
