San Francisco Flower Market
I love old, worn-down spaces — the more character, the better. I like to reimagine stories of what once was. It’s like a visual archaeological dig into the past.
That’s exactly what I felt at the San Francisco Flower Market. The market moved to Brannan Street in 1956, and aside from a few office updates in the ’70s, much of it felt frozen in time. One vendor even had a safe with his father’s imprint worn into the metal from decades of resting his boot while sitting on a stool next to it. Many of the current vendors reminisce about growing up there, helping their parents at the market, and now carrying on the family businesses themselves.
Before the market’s move — and likely demolition — my collaborator, stylist, and artist friend Yedda and I desperately wanted to document the original spaces as they were. We sought out the most curious corners of the market and set up elaborate arrangements that Yedda would install and I would photograph.
It was a kind of homage to the growers and vendors, but also an opportunity to capture a final layer before it disappeared completely.