In this feature, Club Founder and Training Officer John Hawkins introduces you to people you see every day, but you might not know who they are. The Club reminds you that we all have names and our stories to tell.
Meet
Sean Caffey and Heidi
By John Hawkins
Club Founder and Club Education and Training Officer
March 21, 2024
Sean Caffey and Heidi
Born: Huntsville Texas on February 12, 1978
Meet Sean Caffey and Heidi who I met just outside of the car he lives in parked at a curb on Ceasar Chavez Blvd. Sean told me that he has been living out of this car for about a year now.
Sean moved to LA when he was 5 years old, growing up in San Gabriel and graduated from John A. Rowland High School, whose notable alumni include Aja Naomi King, the star of the TV show How to Get Away With Murder. After High School he went to Cal Poly Pomona where he studied horticulture science. “I didn’t quite finish college, which I regret, I was just 30 units out but stopped because I went on tour doing stand up comedy…that didn’t pan out and I ended up doing a bunch of different jobs including jobs in the entertainment business. I had my own business down on the Westside; I am an artist, metal sculptor mainly; I’ve blown glass at one point; I also work with plastics and wood…
I paint, oil and acrylics, been to Burning Man ten times. I have a permanent installation at Holy Cow in San Francisco…which is a bunch of metal roses over the DJ booth; and it pulses to music.”
“I had cancer 8 years ago, so I sold my business because I was sure I was going to die. But then I beat it, but my life fell apart after that…and that’s why I am here. Before I had cancer I only smoked weed, but after my cancer scare that’s when I started doing hard drugs; heroin, meth, speed, cocaine. I went to rehab at one point but wasn’t able to kick everything.”
Advice for a 16 year old kid: “Go to college and finish, do what you love and do it every day. Stay away from drugs, people think marijuana is not a gateway drug but I think it is. And alcohol is just as bad. But more people on the street are on meth than anything else. Its super cheap and easy to get. People are on it because they want to stay up and not be victimized…but, people need sleep. And meth messes with your head, most people get crazy…but there is no alternative that can give you the high that meth can. Fentanyl on the other hand is the new heroin…and here’s the thing, fentanyl you don’t have to inject it, which actually may have saved lives because they are not getting the diseases associated with injecting…but, people are dying because they are overdosing because its really strong.”
Favorite movie: DC Movies
Favorite book: “In Dubious Battle, by John Steinbeck, it’s a really good book”
Favorite TV show: “The Simpsons.”
If you could give your parents a message what would it be? “That I love them and don’t worry about me”
If you had a studio, what would be the first piece that you would create? “Probably metal flowers, like the piece I did for the Holy Cow.”
Favorite candy: “Watermelon sour candies. But it’s hard to eat candy as I got jumped in Hollywood two years ago and lost most of my teeth. They stole all my tools and art things…I was going to get back into it but they stole everything…
I thought they were going to kill me.”
Have you ever been married? “No”
Where do you go to the bathroom? “I use the Starbucks or Burger King when I need to use the bathroom and sometimes a friend lets me shower at their place; and laundry.”
Do you have any brothers or sisters? “Yes, an older sister; she has 3 children”
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? “Hopefully not here. Hopefully I’ll have a business, with employees and a wife.”
If you had 3 wishes, what would they be? “A place to make art, a studio, with a welder, the other wish would be to have a car that works, and third, an apartment. I mean I could make money if I had a welder. I had a welder but somebody stole it.”
In this feature, Club Founder and Training Officer John Hawkins introduces you to people you see every day, but you might not know who they are. The Club reminds you that we all have names and our stories to tell.
