This page uses content from the Craig Stecyk biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
C.R. Stecyk III (born in the early 1950s) is a Southern California native and one of its most ardent pop culture historians.
Craig (also known as John Smythe or Carlos Izan) started to gain notoriety for his artwork on surfboards in the early 1970s, particularly when he became involved with the founding of the infamous Jeff Ho/Zephyr surf shop in Santa Monica, California. He also created the infamous "Vato Rat" graffiti that, along with the Dogtown cross, beame an icon of skateboarding attitude.
In the 1970s, Stecyk was also a contributing photographer and writer for Surfer magazine. As surfing gave birth to skateboarding, Stecyk became one of its earliest practitioners and proponents. When Surfer magazine re-launched Skateboarder magazine (they had published four issues in the mid-'60s), Stecyk became one its most important photojournalists. The stories he wrote about the notorious Z-Boys from DogTown were, for the most part, his creation. His stories inspired an entire generation, and he is often credited as the Godfather of the sport/art of skateboarding as it is known today.
Stecyk is also internationally known as a respected and collected fine artist working in sculpture, painting, surfboards and hot-rod cars. He is one of the founders of Juxtapoz art magazine, and has written for many different books. His life was portrayed in the 2001 award-winning documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, as well as the Hollywood-style feature film Lords of Dogtown in 2005.
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