Subculture and innovation are never convenient for the masses. If you had walked through San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza in the ’90s, the rhythmic thumps, clangs, and skids of skateboards against concrete would’ve cut through your thoughts, pulling your attention to the scene unfolding nearby—skaters trying, falling, failing, and trying again, relentless in their drive to revolutionize.

Jacob Rosenberg did just that. Between 1990 and 1993, Rosenberg cut class to make his way from Palo Alto to San Francisco, immersing himself in the energy of the EMB and the skateboarders pushing the boundaries of what was possible on the board. With just a video and a still camera, he injected himself into the skateboarding culture of San Francisco during one of its most exciting moments. His second self-published monograph documenting his expedition, EPICENTER, is available for pre-order now.

‍EPICENTER is a two-book set featuring photos, video stills, essays, and interviews with the city’s most iconic figures in skateboarding. Many of the photographs, all drum-scanned, are previously unseen, capturing a side of cultural history few get to experience. Interviews with pros Mike Carroll, James Kelch, Rick Ibaseta, and more, alongside essays from Ted Barrow, Ph.D., Anthony Pappalardo, and Kevin Wilkins, offer firsthand accounts and rich analysis of what it was like to be there and present on the scene of one of the city’s most invigorating subcultural moments. EPICENTER’s release is limited to 1000 copies, available for purchase here. ​The release will coincide with a gallery of the same name at GCS Agency in San Francisco, presented by ADIDAS, opening November 21, 2025. 

​Today, EPICENTER arrives with some bittersweet timing. Yesterday, Vaillancourt Fountain, the brutalist center of EMB, which once served as a glowing beacon, guiding the city’s skaters to the center of community, innovation, and grit displayed at the city’s electric skateboarding helm, was slated for removal. EPICENTER serves as a time capsule, preserving the landmark of this electrifying subculture in a tangible form, frozen in memory for future generations to build on. If anything, EPICENTER’s message is a hopeful one: that by being in the right place, at the right time, you might just witness something magical. “When your world feels empty, skateboarding offers an opportunity to make you feel whole. It did for me,” Rosenberg says.