In some ways the origins of OLLIEWOOD goes back to 1978, when Alan “Ollie” Gelfand and two of his closest friends, Kevin Peterson and Jeff Duerr, constructed a ramp west of Hollywood, Florida in a vacant lot. The ramp, built from construction-grade plywood and 2 x 4’s, would become known as the “Hollywood Ramp.” It was revolutionary to skateboarding because it was the first ramp to use flat bottom in its design. But it wouldn't be until years later, in the early 1980s, when flat-bottom ramps would come of age throughout the rest of the world. Flat-bottom is what gave ramp skating a real future. It is now the universal standard in half-pipe construction whether for skateboarding, BMX, inline skating or even snowboarding.

By 1979 the Hollywood Ramp graced the cover as well as the inside pages of Skateboarder, the premier skate magazine of the day. Visiting pro skaters from the West Coast made the Hollywood Ramp one of the mandatory stops when they were in South Florida. It became the scene, social and otherwise, with the sessions that went down there becoming the subject of choice for noteworthy skate photographers.

Dan Murray, Mike McGill, Ray Diez, Steve Anderson, George McClellan, and Mark Lake are some of the more prominent Floridians who skated the ramp. Murray, who invented a trick called the Disaster in 1978 at a South Florida skate park, was seen doing this signature move on the coping-free lips of the ramp, sometimes tearing off chunks of plywood and in the process getting everyone mad at him for doing so. Mike McGill, who became creator of the 540 McTwist in 1984, was almost a regular there even though he lived 4 hours away in New Port Richey, near Tampa. After McGill followed Alan onto the Powell-Peralta team (which later became famously known as the Bones Brigade), the two spent a lot of time skating together and the Hollywood Ramp became one of their regular training grounds. Visiting skaters from the West Coast included Shogo Kubo and Brad Bowman.

Photographers who were there to record some of this famous history included myself as well as west coast lensmen such as and Glen E. Friedman, Jim Goodrich and Craig Fineman.

During the eighties flat-bottom ramps were sometimes referred to as “Hollywood-style” ramps by the magazines and skaters, a direct tribute no doubt to Alan “Ollie” Gelfand and his Hollywood Ramp. Every skate ramp today is more or less a direct descendant of the Hollywood Ramp, whether it’s a ramp at the X-Games or some anonymous backyard ramp in Ohio, Germany or Venezuela. Alan’s bowl at OLLIEWOOD is certainly the brother of the Hollywood Ramp—although born some 24 years later!

In 2001, when Alan decided to create another locale for his friends centered on their love for skateboarding, he chose to call that place OLLIEWOOD. It was a no-brainer. There has always been a play on words between Alan’s hometown name, his nickname, and of course his trick. What better name for Ollie's place than that?

OLLIEWOOD was custom built from the ground up inside an old Hollywood warehouse. It is comprised of 2 floors and contains a 48 foot long bowl, a video lounge, storage lockers, vending machines and a bowl-side lounge. It also contains a vintage game arcade where you can play 70s pinball or early 80s video favorites like Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pacman and Donkey Kong. Most important, OLLIEWOOD is air conditioned and equipped with a powerful sound system for some ambience. 

The OLLIEWOOD bowl is a capsule-style wood bowl and features a spilt level rollout deck with a channel in the middle of one of the 48-foot east side. The taller north side of the bowl is 10.5 feet in height, and the lower south side is 8 feet in height. The bowl was orginally a half-pipe ramp, modeled after the original Hollywood Ramp. Later, Alan reconstructed it, closing off the ends to make it into the present capsule shape. Other additions include a mini-ramp on the roll-out area of the lower deck and a mini-quarter pipe ramp that connects to the concrete wall of the building, allowing for some crazy wall rides and original re-entries.

Rather than doing the construction himself, Alan hired out this time, assembling a crew of some of the best ramp builders in the world. This was the group of individuals who worked for Tim Payne and his world-renowned skate park construction company called Team Pain. Payne’s most notable work was the Animal Chin ramp for Powell-Peralta, the vert ramps for ESPN’s Gravity Games (a.k.a. X-Games), and the wooden loop for Tony Hawk.

Alan has hosted several contests and events at OLLIEWOOD that attracted participants from all around the United States. Visitors to OLLIEWOOD have included pros and celebrities such as Andy Mac, Steve Caballero, Mike Rogers (Grind for Life), Chris Baucom, Paul Schmitt (Create-A-Skate), Mike Folmer, Mike McGill, Jason Ellis, Benji Galloway, Kelly Lynn, John Comer and Barry Zaritsky. Whenever Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom Huck Jam or the Vans Warped Tour are passing through town, its pro skaters have been known to spend their down time up on the deck of the OLLIEWOOD bowl.

When OLLIEWOOD first opened in 2002, it was open to the public, but only on certain days of the week. At present OLLIEWOOD is being operated as a private facility, by invitation only.

OLLIEWOOD’s fame and notoriety is overshadowed by those familiar with South Florida skate history. The Hollywood Ramp, Alan Gelfand and the Ollie are all part of that. In 2007, the Ollie will celebrate its 30th anniversary. In 2008 both the Hollywood Ramp (R.I.P.) and flat-bottom design will have their 30th birthdays. OLLIEWOOD may not be as earthy a locale as the empty lot in Pembroke Pines where the Hollywood Ramp once historically sat, but in Florida, air conditioning and shelter from the the hot sun during the summer is most definitely a good thing.