I had a few skateboards as a kid, but my main fav one was a Santa Cruz one that was purple and had melting clocks chasing a guy on the bottom of the board. The board, some set of pro wheels and trucks ran about $700 or so back in 1988 or so when my sister got it and gave it to me. I road the hell out of the thing, probably until the wood started to grind down too much around early 1995. I had no grip tape, side rails or nose guard on the thing, just straight wood.
I'd either ride wearing combat boots or Converse All Stars high tops. Even without grip tape I was able to stay on the board fine, even in rainy type weather. Damn I miss that board. It looked pretty damn cool. I got out of skateboarding in early 96. It was fun when I was younger, but its not something I care to do anymore.