Blue collar and industrial-type businesses line much of Hatcher Road, Sunnyslope's main drag — there’s a grittiness here.
But in recent years, local business owners have joined forces to create the HUB. The Hatcher Urban Businesses alliance aims to revitalize the Hatcher corridor between 19th Avenue and Cave Creek Road in Phoenix.
“You know, Sunnyslope has always been an old, strong community,” Jimmy Alauria is the owner of 3A Automotive. “And it's had its trials and tribulations.”
His father bought this shop in 1989 — though 3A has been around for 50 years. Jimmy and his wife, Nadine, purchased the family business in 2016.
“And we started looking around going, ‘If we're going to have something here, we really need to get involved in the community,’” he said.
Since then, Nadine has been on the front lines, connecting dots and making noise. Her husband even calls her the “Mayor of Sunnyslope.”
“And so we started reaching out to the schools, and we heard about the business alliance and started going to those meetings: The HUB, Hatcher Urban Businesses,” said Nadien. “And I'm naturally, just from what I grew up in, somebody who makes phone calls."
Besides serving as the vice president of the HUB, she helps run the west Sunnyslope neighborhood block watch
The Alauris are one of several business owners who are encouraging people to invest in and visit Sunnyslope, “and show that we're a strong community that we support each other. We try and support the businesses around here,” said Jimmy.
Like the Slippery Slope Emporium, an antique and vintage shop, which opened last month across the street from Jimmy and Nadine.
The Hatcher Road vision
Samantha Dezonia is the manager of Wilderness Tactical Products next door. Her mother owns this building.
“We want to be part of the vision of Hatcher Road and we have all the space. So let's open it up. Let's make it fun,” said Dezonia. “Let's make it a place people want to come.”
And they are.
Michelle Montag is the Emporium’s manager.
“For the most part, we've always been an online auction house. You'd come here locally and pick up in person. But we started opening our doors and doing big sales and the community just loved it," said Montag.
It’s easy to see why this place is already a destination for some in the community. The entire place is brimming with treasures — some worth a few thousand dollars, others a few bucks.
There are also plans to open a coffee and tea bar at some point.
This part of Hatcher, close to 15th Avenue, is more industrial, so it’s something of a restaurant desert. It was zoned to be that way, west of Seventh Avenue. There are more retail spaces east of Seventh Avenue.
Krista Roy is a neighborhood specialist with the city of Phoenix.
“So people can say that that makes it challenging because that opens it up to different uses, but I think that's an opportunity,” said Roy. “That's an opportunity where you can have some creative uses within a stretch of street.”
Roy’s job is to connect business owners and neighborhood groups with city resources like grant opportunities, which she says they take advantage of — big time.
“They do not shy away from any of those things,” she says. “And every single business alliance, the community, the village alliance and all of the neighborhood groups go after funding so that they can achieve their goals.”
While still preserving the area’s rich history. And that’s where Julia Taggart, the president of Sunnyslope’s Historical Society, comes in.
Taggart has obtained historic designation for two buildings, including Hansen’s Mortuary on Seventh Street.
And later this month, the building formerly known as Pedro’s Mexican Restaurant could be added to the city’s historic registry. Built in 1960, it’s one of Sunnyslope's earliest commercial spaces.
Taggart says Pedro’s has worn a few different hats over the decades.
“Then Joe McCallum bought it with his brother and they turned it into a mid-modern century curated vintage store,” said Taggart.
Now Joe is making it Rise Over Run, which will be a tap room with local Arizona beers and wines.
Creating community
McCallum grew up in Moon Valley — just on the other side of the mountains. He now lives here.
“There’s no room here for chain stores or big boxes,” he said. “Just through a combination of things in history, it got developed in a way that makes it really buildable and in a walkable, human scale way.”
Besides Pedro’s, McCallum also owns the building across the street, now home to Beal Beans Roasting Company, which opened in July.
“Something that we're seeing with the coffee shop, is that they serve people who are in this neighborhood and [who] really want something that they can just walk to. They don't have to go to some other neighborhood," said McCallum.
And that right there is the end goal.
But just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come.
According to Krista Roy with the city, the secret sauce here is the way these businesses and neighborhoods work hand in hand to support one another — even when they don’t always agree.
“And that has been a huge difference in shining the light on that community,” she says.
Which is also home to generations of families. Back at 3A, Nadine talks about a recent neighborhood cleanup. Turns out she’s not just keeping up this community for today. She’s planting seeds by encouraging Slope’s youngest residents to be good neighbors and hopefully continue the work being done now.
