FTC Celebrates 25 Years

1966 San Francisco was a trippy time and place. Flower children were protesting the war in Vietnam, hippies were dropping acid in Golden Gate Park and a Japanese businessman named Lloyd Uyehara had just opened a high-end ski and tennis distribution business called Free Trade Center or FTC at the corner of Bush and Franklin in the Van Ness Avenue corridor downtown. This unlikely set of circumstances laid the groundwork for what would become, more than half a century later, one of the most influential skateboard retail brands of all time.

Understood today as For The City, FTC is now owned and operated by Lloyd’s son Kent Uyehara. In the 25 years since he put the first board up in the back of his dad’s shop, Kent has seen it all. He’s pioneered countless brands, moved tens of thousands of skateboards and sneakers, ridden the wave of styles and trends, nurtured the careers of hundreds of skateboarders and bore witness to some of the most pivotal moments in skateboarding history. We sat down with Kent on a typical soggy San Francisco morning to get his thoughts and reflections on his quarter century ride.

Photos: The Hydrilla