In the early ’90s, as an eighth grader in summer school, Andrew “Ando” Caulfield discovered the San Francisco skate shop For The City (FTC) purely by chance.
His school was near the shop, and as a skater himself, he started hanging out there whenever he had the chance. He took on odd jobs around the shop throughout his teens, sealing his affiliation with the FTC skate community. He picked up photography, too, first shooting skaters before moving on to other projects.
Caulfield’s professional photography career has uprooted him to other cities over the years (most recently Barcelona), but to hear him tell it, nothing beats being able to come home to San Francisco. There’s something special, he says, about how deeply woven skate culture has become in Bay Area life over the last 40 years.
“It’s a pretty open and inclusive community,” he says. “Sort of like a big family, regardless of your level of skateboarding, you know, or sponsorship.”
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Now, Caulfield and the rest of FTC San Francisco are gearing up for a one-night-only show on Friday, Jan. 31, dedicated to artwork by FTC community skaters.