Frankie calls himself a “connector.” Not the type that makes an electrical circuit work, but … sort of.
In his day job, he works at a family resource center near 24th and Alabama streets, connecting people in need with services and resources. His passion project, on the same note, is the brand SanFam, founded on his desire to build relationships with others, especially those who share the experience of growing up in San Francisco.
His own memories are vivid: Grocery shopping at local markets; playing at Dolores Park, where he would jump on the “huge boat” in the playground; and the excitement of being immersed in hip-hop music and Latinx culture.
Today, Frankie’s brand, SanFam, lives in a store called Made in the City, at 5750 Mission St., which opened two and a half years ago just a few blocks from where he grew up. Inside are four local designers, including Frankie.
The inside of the store could be any street in San Francisco. There is a graffiti-covered Muni stop with the red, wavy roof and LED screen; a power pole with shoes dangling from the wires; and a red news rack with an issue of the San Francisco Examiner, with an A1 story about lowriders.
Frankie’s rack, displaying clothes and hats with signature designs of “SanFam” or “SF” letters, stands next to other brands rooted in the city: Jackets sewn with Guatemalan fabrics, vintage 49ers sportswear in flawless condition, and T-shirts with prints warning “No, we do call it Frisco.”
Frankie created SanFam, meaning San Francisco family, on the last day of 2013, almost 10 years ago. But the root for the brand comes from Frankie’s junior year of high school.
During a summer program, Frankie recited one of his poems at a performance, the first time he shared something he created with an audience.
“To create something is fun and it’s great, but to put it out in the world, that’s a very vulnerable place to be,” he said. “For the first time, I felt a sense of my authentic self was shared with the world.”
Feeling encouraged, he started working at Artillery AG, an art studio on Mission Street, where he organized open mics for other poets, musicians and artists.
“I was feeling a sense of belonging in a creative community for the first time, and I wanted to create something as a way of gratitude and solidarity.”
So, Frankie started playing around with words close to San Francisco, and came up with SanFam, the perfect, balanced phrase, in his opinion — one that’s both recognizable and meaningful. He gave out screen-printed SanFam T-shirts at open mics to volunteers, and people started asking, “hey, how can I get one?”
Most of Frankie’s design features the letters either in an old English font, which represents the West Coast culture that he feels deeply connected to, or in a newer, cursive font that’s more “free and fluid.” The words are on hoodies, sweatshirts, bucket hats and beanies — all staples of streetwear that Frankie grew up wearing.
The brand, he said, is also an attempt at offense.
During the years after 2013, gentrification started to take shape and, as he read the news about new condos being built and old mom-and-pop stores going out of business, he felt scared.
“It feels like we’re slowly getting cleared out. We didn’t know when it was going to stop. We didn’t know what was going to happen. People are getting evicted as well. We just felt very targeted,” he said.
He started protesting for the first time with the group “Our Mission No Eviction.”
“I couldn’t help but to participate, because the roots that I’m developing are being pulled out,” he said. He marched with others to advocate for “our neighborhood, our neighbors, our small businesses,” he said. “That felt so empowering.”
If protesting is the defense, he said, creating the brand and having a space like Made in the City, is his offense, “a way to advocate and represent ourselves.”
A new design comes from that experience: A grey sweatshirt with a photograph of a rose growing out of the concrete, surrounded by a gold frame. It was inspired by one of Frankie’s favorite poems, “The Rose That Grew From Concrete” by Tupac Shakur.
The photograph was staged right outside of the McDonald’s at 24th and Mission streets, he said. The gold frame adds nostalgia to a Latina auntie’s house, filled with frames, crosses and Jesus. The old English script in the front, reading “SanFam,” is also handwritten to look like vines and leaves of a rose.
“We feel like we are the roses, because we’ve grown and been through so much. We’re resilient and we’re not going anywhere,” he said.
