The life behind Gerardo’s Building, one of Phoenix's historic Hispanic businesses

Many small free-standing homes and some tenements plus restaurants, cafés, bars, grocery stores, barber shops and all the other businesses vital to the life of a Hispanic community once existed in what we now call the Warehouse District.

Today, all that is left is Gerardo’s Building and Arvizu’s El Fresnal Grocery store which have both been incorporated into the residential complex The Battery.

Gerardo’s, built in 1928 according to the pediment on the Third Street side of the building, has an intriguing history. One puzzling aspect is the name of the building. One might conclude that the owner’s last name was Gerardo which is often the traditional naming method. But no, Gerardo was the owner’s first name. In fact, his full name was Gerardo Verdugo Walker.

Gerardo purchased the lot on the northeast corner of Third and Buchanan streets in 1925 and constructed several businesses. One was a garage on the Third Street side which he ran for a number of years and the other was the two-story brick Gerardo’s Building with the entrance door on the corner facing the intersection. Initially, Gerardo leased the building as a pool hall on the ground floor with two bars, a soda fountain and a small café.

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But sometime in 1936, Gerardo decided to close his garage and take over the ground floor operations. And thus, Sonorense Café, store and bar came into being. Sonorense means Sonoran and Gerardo was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Gerardo ran his family-friendly business into the 1960s, although the name did change over time.

According to Frank Barrios, author of "Mexicans in Phoenix," Gerardo Walker was quite the businessman. He started as a barber when he first moved to Phoenix around 1913 after marrying his wife in Nogales. Then he added billiard tables to the barber shop attracting new customers. His next venture was a garage owner before he finally established the Sonorense Café. Along with all these commercial ventures, Gerardo was buying and selling lots in various subdivisions. He was a busy man.

But there was a side of Gerardo that was rarely mentioned in the information. While the census records indicated that Gerardo’s father was born in England, he may have actually been from the Caribbean for he was of African descent. Black Mexicans have only recently been enumerated in Mexico’s census records so it has been difficult to delve deeper into that official history.

Unfortunately, this heritage caused Gerardo problems in Phoenix. So much so, that one daughter told Frank Barrios that Gerardo purchased land outside of the Phoenix city limits at the time — near 24th Avenue and Indian School Road — where he could raise his family and farm in peace. Here he would not be subjected to the discrimination he experienced in town. Despite those racial issues, Gerardo’s businesses were all successful within the Hispanic community, and the city of Phoenix Historic Preservation Landmark status protects the building. The Battery complex now gives it new life.

Donna Reiner is the co-author of three books on Phoenix history.