You may have noticed that there's some construction activity going on in the yard behind FTC. We're here to tell you all about it.

What started going up a week and a half ago soon became something readily identifiable as a skate park. The entire back courtyard of the building housing For the City skate shop is now, in fact, a nearly completed skater's extravaganza. What is it, you ask? The skate park in the back yard is a temporary (yes, temporary) installation being built to host FTC's own pro skate competition, For The Cash. First prize is $10,000. The competition is being held from noon to 5 on Monday, October 21st, and by the end of the week the structure will be out of the yard and on its way. The contest is a private event, said owner Kent Uyehara, and the store will be closed for business. The inside of the shop, as well as the back patio next door at Sparrow, will be turned into viewers' lounges. The event will allow people to line up outside and pass through security in numbers the space can accommodate: Uyehara said he expected over 300 people to filter in during the course of the event, which is sponsored by Levi's. The set is being built by a local professional skate park builder, and the lumber from the project, once disassembled, will be donated to nonprofits running after school programs for SFUSD middle schools, and for Town Park, an Oakland skate park in Defemery Park, West Oakland. Uyehara said that though the store has hosted the competition before, this is the first time they've had the capacity to hold it outdoors. He said the store's neighbors and landlord have been very understanding about the project, for which he expresses his thanks.