Shogo Kubo, part of the legendary Venice-Santa Monica skateboarding team immortalized in the Stacy Peralta documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, died in Hawaii yesterday, authorities told L.A. Weekly.

The 54-year-old's cause of death was still under investigation, a Honolulu Medical Examiner's official said.

A man of that age was “surfing” at a beach in East Oahu when someone reported that he was having trouble in the water about 8:30 a.m. yesterday, Honolulu police told us:
]
“There was an incident of an unattended death out on East Oahu involving someone in the water,” a police spokeswoman said. “Responding EMS treated him at scene but he was later pronounced dead.”

Other reports stated that Kubo had been paddleboarding.

The Medical Examiner's official said he was a resident of Honolulu.

According to this bio, Kubo was born in Kushikino-City, Japan and came to West Los Angeles in 1971, just in time for the new street skating revolution represented by the Z-Boys of the Zephr surf shop team:

He was motivated to skate and surf at the age of 12 by Jay Adams, who use to skate in the parking lot outside the judo class they shared. After leaving the Zephyr team, he skated for the Z-Flex skateboards and earned his own skateboard model, the “Z-Woody”. 

He also apparently had a model for Jim Muir's Dogtown Skateboards, images of which can be found online.

Dogtown's website today had this message:

R.I.P. My friend. Master of the lay back, style for miles, father, legend. The worldwide skate community has lost an original. You will be missed. Never forget.

Send feedback and tips to the author. Follow Dennis Romero on Twitter at @dennisjromero. Follow LA Weekly News on Twitter at @laweeklynews.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.