PHOENIX — A large portion of Baseline Road in south Phoenix looks uniform, but it didn’t always look like that.
After World War II, seven Japanese-American families settled in the area, from 32nd Street to 48th Street, along Baseline Road. They began growing and selling vegetables and flowers.
In those years, the locations weren’t necessarily a first choice.
“It was very rocky. The soil had to be amended in different ways,” said Kathy Nakagawa, who owns and manages Baseline Flowers. “But it was one of the only places after WWII that, because of all the anti-Japanese sentiment, they were allowed to lease land and eventually purchase.”
Nakagawa remembers her father, Nick, running Baseline Flowers as she grew up.
“I feel like he was always working to maintain and build the business,” Nakagawa said.
The scents and colors found at the flower farms became a major tourist attraction.
“It was so busy when everything was in bloom in March there would just be cars bumper to bumper lined up along Baseline,” Nakagawa said.
Over time, the families sold the land, new developments went up and shops disappeared. Baseline Flowers is the only family shop in the area still remaining.
In the shop today is a history wall, with images and articles spanning decades. Some images contain traces of today, like the canal that runs behind the shop.
Baseline Flowers is a piece of history in plain sight, still serving the community and working hard to preserve its legacy.
“Phoenix is so quick to lose a lot of its history,” Nakagawa said. “When you drive along Baseline Road maybe slow down a bit and think about what it used to be like with the flower fields on both sides and the seven Japanese-American families that kept going after everything that happened after WWII.”
