ABOUT THE PROJECT: 'The G-Word': An Evolution of the Historic Garfield Neighborhood is Fischer's thesis project for Arizona State University's Barrett, The Honors College. The project focuses on the economic and demographic transition that the historic Garfield neighborhood, located just outside of downtown Phoenix, is experiencing. Additionally, the story dives into the history of the neighborhood, the changes it has faced in its past and the community projects and supports that exist in the neighborhood today -- all through the lens of residents of the historic neighborhood.
The project features a long-form article, a video and dozens of photos.
The project features a long-form article, a video and dozens of photos.
A View into the Historic Garfield Neighborhood
'The G-Word': An Evolution of the Historic Garfield Neighborhood
Gentrification is coming for Garfield. It has slowly swallowed the neighborhoods around it — Encanto, Roosevelt — and now has ventured into this historic neighborhood, just east of downtown Phoenix.
‘The G-Word’ means new neighbors, smatterings of upscale Airbnbs, million-dollar teardowns and trendy eateries. It also means that Garfield is shedding the reputation it had decades before: a cesspool of gang crime.
Garfield had a notorious reputation for violence, car break-ins and prostitution in the 1990s. Considered undesirable, mortgages and rent prices went for next to nothing, as the average rent was $264 a month — around 30% cheaper than the average in Phoenix at the time.
Today, the neighborhoods to the north and west of downtown — Willo, Roosevelt and Coronado — are filled with immaculately preserved historic homes and manicured grass yards.
Garfield still retains its funky charm. Purple houses sit alongside orange ones and blue ones. There are brick Victorian homes and squatty quirky bungalows. There are yards choked with weeds, cars parked on them and oftentimes surrounded by a chain link fence.
Stray cats roam sidewalks, making their homes under stoops. Stray humans still wander in the alleyways and lie behind the Watermill Express.
But as other Phoenix neighborhoods saw buildings and rents rise, this neighborhood became a trendy landing spot. And rents have climbed in Garfield. Today, rents go for around $1,490 a month in the neighborhood, 13% higher than the average in Phoenix.
As residents see the changes occurring around them, there is a sense of fear that with the evolving neighborhood, the generational families and vibrant character of the streets will diminish. And with that, what made Garfield unique will fade away.
While thankful for the cleaner, safer streets, high-class restaurants and simple pleasantries, the old guard of the neighborhood is wistful of the old days. They had the help of city, state and federal government officials at the snap of their fingers as funds and programs were splashed on the then-impoverished area.
There isn’t as much need for that anymore. And the market taking over has meant change.
Yet the Garfield neighborhood is no stranger to change. Throughout its storied history, Garfield residents have pushed through other challenging times, ranging from racist housing practices to the development of Arizona’s highway system and even an attempt to plop a football stadium next to the historic neighborhood.
‘The G-Word’ means new neighbors, smatterings of upscale Airbnbs, million-dollar teardowns and trendy eateries. It also means that Garfield is shedding the reputation it had decades before: a cesspool of gang crime.
Garfield had a notorious reputation for violence, car break-ins and prostitution in the 1990s. Considered undesirable, mortgages and rent prices went for next to nothing, as the average rent was $264 a month — around 30% cheaper than the average in Phoenix at the time.
Today, the neighborhoods to the north and west of downtown — Willo, Roosevelt and Coronado — are filled with immaculately preserved historic homes and manicured grass yards.
Garfield still retains its funky charm. Purple houses sit alongside orange ones and blue ones. There are brick Victorian homes and squatty quirky bungalows. There are yards choked with weeds, cars parked on them and oftentimes surrounded by a chain link fence.
Stray cats roam sidewalks, making their homes under stoops. Stray humans still wander in the alleyways and lie behind the Watermill Express.
But as other Phoenix neighborhoods saw buildings and rents rise, this neighborhood became a trendy landing spot. And rents have climbed in Garfield. Today, rents go for around $1,490 a month in the neighborhood, 13% higher than the average in Phoenix.
As residents see the changes occurring around them, there is a sense of fear that with the evolving neighborhood, the generational families and vibrant character of the streets will diminish. And with that, what made Garfield unique will fade away.
While thankful for the cleaner, safer streets, high-class restaurants and simple pleasantries, the old guard of the neighborhood is wistful of the old days. They had the help of city, state and federal government officials at the snap of their fingers as funds and programs were splashed on the then-impoverished area.
There isn’t as much need for that anymore. And the market taking over has meant change.
Yet the Garfield neighborhood is no stranger to change. Throughout its storied history, Garfield residents have pushed through other challenging times, ranging from racist housing practices to the development of Arizona’s highway system and even an attempt to plop a football stadium next to the historic neighborhood.
The history of Garfield
Spanning one square mile from I-10 to Van Buren Street and 7th Street to 16th Street, Garfield was established by John T. Dennis, a pioneering settler who moved from Ohio to the Valley in 1868. It became Phoenix’s first streetcar neighborhood after the city’s power-run streetcars extended a line through the neighborhood in 1895, according to a document by the City of Phoenix’s Historical Preservation Office.
It replaced the mule-drawn streetcar that started running just eight years before.
The height of the streetcar ran into the beginning of an infamous federal housing loan process in the 1930s. Known as redlining, it was a “was a flat-out racist look at neighborhoods,” said Helana Ruter, a city of Phoenix historic preservation officer.
Loan appraisers labeled different areas of the city and gave Garfield the label of “definitely declining,” according to Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America, a project by researchers at the University of Richmond.
Majority non-white neighborhoods were given negative labels by redlining practices. The Federal Housing Authority labeled these areas as “hazardous” or “definitely declining” and refused to provide mortgage loans to those seeking them in that area.
As families were unable to get regular mortgages, they were forced to rely on exploitive-priced housing contracts to purchase a home that massively increased the cost of housing and gave them no equity until their last payment was delivered.
In connection with negative labeling through redlining, Phoenix’s downtown and the surrounding area experienced high levels of “white flight” as the majority-white residents of the area, including Garfield, left for the north and central Phoenix suburbs.
This led a small group of middle-class Mexican Americans to purchase scattered lots and homes across Garfield, according to a Hispanic Historic Property Survey by the City of Phoenix. Soon, the neighborhood would evolve into a primarily Hispanic neighborhood by the 1980s.
Around the same time, Phoenix began to construct major freeway systems, such as Papago Freeway, a section of the I-10. Due to the highway cutting through the neighborhood, approximately 106 housing units were demolished in Garfield in 1970 to make way for the freeway. An additional 250 were severed from the neighborhood, according to the City of Phoenix Planning Department’s 1992 Garfield Neighborhood Plan.
Spanning one square mile from I-10 to Van Buren Street and 7th Street to 16th Street, Garfield was established by John T. Dennis, a pioneering settler who moved from Ohio to the Valley in 1868. It became Phoenix’s first streetcar neighborhood after the city’s power-run streetcars extended a line through the neighborhood in 1895, according to a document by the City of Phoenix’s Historical Preservation Office.
It replaced the mule-drawn streetcar that started running just eight years before.
The height of the streetcar ran into the beginning of an infamous federal housing loan process in the 1930s. Known as redlining, it was a “was a flat-out racist look at neighborhoods,” said Helana Ruter, a city of Phoenix historic preservation officer.
Loan appraisers labeled different areas of the city and gave Garfield the label of “definitely declining,” according to Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America, a project by researchers at the University of Richmond.
Majority non-white neighborhoods were given negative labels by redlining practices. The Federal Housing Authority labeled these areas as “hazardous” or “definitely declining” and refused to provide mortgage loans to those seeking them in that area.
As families were unable to get regular mortgages, they were forced to rely on exploitive-priced housing contracts to purchase a home that massively increased the cost of housing and gave them no equity until their last payment was delivered.
In connection with negative labeling through redlining, Phoenix’s downtown and the surrounding area experienced high levels of “white flight” as the majority-white residents of the area, including Garfield, left for the north and central Phoenix suburbs.
This led a small group of middle-class Mexican Americans to purchase scattered lots and homes across Garfield, according to a Hispanic Historic Property Survey by the City of Phoenix. Soon, the neighborhood would evolve into a primarily Hispanic neighborhood by the 1980s.
Around the same time, Phoenix began to construct major freeway systems, such as Papago Freeway, a section of the I-10. Due to the highway cutting through the neighborhood, approximately 106 housing units were demolished in Garfield in 1970 to make way for the freeway. An additional 250 were severed from the neighborhood, according to the City of Phoenix Planning Department’s 1992 Garfield Neighborhood Plan.
Raleigh Domek, a realtor who moved to Garfield in the mid-1990s, called it “very dangerous” in the 1980s and '90s as the neighborhood dealt with high rates of crime.
“There was a lot of prostitution happening,” Domek said, who described the drug use and debris that was rampant in the neighborhood. “It was pretty rough. The Ninth Street gang was there … lots of gunfire.”
During this time, federal programs poured money into Garfield with the intent to build affordable housing, fill empty lots and tackle crime in the neighborhood. A neighborhood group — The Garfield Organization — was formed to disperse these funds and improve the neighborhood.
The owners of the Alwun House, an art gallery located in the heart of the neighborhood, soon joined these efforts.
“Helping the neighborhood build up and get rid of some of this crime, it only benefited us,” said Dana Johnson, a co-owner of the Alwun House and president of the Garfield Organization. “People were scared to come to this area back then … this was really a crime-ridden neighborhood.”
Kim Moody, Johnson’s partner, founded the gallery located within the 1912 burnt-orange bungalow in 1971. The couple also lives in the gallery with their Great Dane, Shiva.
The organization, alongside government officials, further funded the police force and Bush-era initiatives that “weeded out the crime and seeded it in with good programs,” Johnson said. Services also included an art-based youth group, tree-planting efforts, community policing, food boxes and massive neighborhood cleanups.
“From the ‘90s, what choice did we have but to build this place up?” Johnson said. “We had two choices, let it go downhill, tear the houses down and become apartments, or try to save something that was still here.”
“There was a lot of prostitution happening,” Domek said, who described the drug use and debris that was rampant in the neighborhood. “It was pretty rough. The Ninth Street gang was there … lots of gunfire.”
During this time, federal programs poured money into Garfield with the intent to build affordable housing, fill empty lots and tackle crime in the neighborhood. A neighborhood group — The Garfield Organization — was formed to disperse these funds and improve the neighborhood.
The owners of the Alwun House, an art gallery located in the heart of the neighborhood, soon joined these efforts.
“Helping the neighborhood build up and get rid of some of this crime, it only benefited us,” said Dana Johnson, a co-owner of the Alwun House and president of the Garfield Organization. “People were scared to come to this area back then … this was really a crime-ridden neighborhood.”
Kim Moody, Johnson’s partner, founded the gallery located within the 1912 burnt-orange bungalow in 1971. The couple also lives in the gallery with their Great Dane, Shiva.
The organization, alongside government officials, further funded the police force and Bush-era initiatives that “weeded out the crime and seeded it in with good programs,” Johnson said. Services also included an art-based youth group, tree-planting efforts, community policing, food boxes and massive neighborhood cleanups.
“From the ‘90s, what choice did we have but to build this place up?” Johnson said. “We had two choices, let it go downhill, tear the houses down and become apartments, or try to save something that was still here.”
As community organizers were cleaning up the neighborhood, they also had to stave off efforts to completely transform the neighborhood from its historic roots. In 2002, there was an effort to bring the Arizona Cardinals football stadium to a 42-acre area around Garfield’s Fillmore and 7th Street.
If the plan went through, dozens of homes would be bulldozed, leading to the displacement of around 180 Garfield residents — which had residents “heavily … opposing that,” Johnson said, including himself.
While the neighborhood received lots of engagement with the city in the 1990s and early 2000s, that engagement has lowered in recent years, which has left some residents frustrated due to delayed and unfinished projects.
“I’d say things and snap, things would happen. It isn’t that way anymore,” Johnson said. “We were spoiled.”
Residents have had to fight to ensure plans are finished today. To get 13th Street outfitted with sidewalks and plumbing due to concerns surrounding constant flooding and dust bowls, residents attended every Phoenix City Council budget meeting — a total of 19 — across the city to demand the project be resumed, Johnson said.
“All the city staff got to be like, ‘Oh, it’s them again,’” Johnson said. “We’re really proud of that.”
Revitalization efforts by community leaders and government officials have succeeded in improving the neighborhood as Garfield has seen lower rates of crime, increased safety and cleaner streets. Even something as simple as dog walking has flourished in the neighborhood, which would have been unheard of in the ‘90s-era Garfield.
Yet, Dombek called these improvements “a double-edged sword.”
A neighborhood in transition
As Garfield’s reputation has improved with its cleaner and safer streets, housing and rent prices have skyrocketed. New development has come in and longtime residents have been pushed out.
“A lot of my favorite neighbors have left because they can’t afford rent,” said Gabriella Saavedra, a resident who lives in the Garfield neighborhood with her husband, Andrew Raub. Raub has lived in the neighborhood for over a decade.
Since moving to Garfield from his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Raub has seen a lot of change. Following a lay-off and already having a friend in the area, “I literally showed up with my car and $200,” Raub said.
Raub and that friend split the rent for a historic 1920s bungalow-style home in the district, which was $800 a month for the entire house in 2010. The couple later bought the home. Raub and Saavedra own and live in it today.
“When I moved here, it was really cheap to live,” Raub said. “This used to be the affordable place to live … a lot of poor people lived here.”
According to city documents, in 1980, almost 30% of residents lived below the poverty line. And in 1990, rent was around 30% cheaper in the neighborhood than the city-wide average.
Yet, in recent years, housing prices have skyrocketed, making Raub’s rent of $800 in the early 2010s for an entire home impossible to find in the neighborhood today.
The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment alone is $1,490 per month in the historic district, according to Apartments.com in March 2024, which is around 13% higher than the average cost of Phoenix housing. House flipping by outside investors and Airbnbs have also popped up throughout the neighborhood, leading to additional property increases in the neighborhood.
There are currently around 130 Airbnbs available in Garfield, according to the company’s website.
Some Garfield residents see a reason for the quick rise in the mid-2000s: Arizona State University’s downtown Phoenix campus.
After ASU’s campus came to downtown Phoenix in 2006, university-related staff, professors and students moved into Garfield in search of cheaper housing and walkability to campus.
ASU Sandra Day O’Connor Law School Dean Stacy Leeds bought a 1930s historic bungalow-style home in the neighborhood in 2021. She purchased the home after searching for a property that was walkable from ASU’s downtown campus.
“Had ASU’s downtown campus not been where it is and now evolved the way that it has, I probably wouldn’t have looked at the neighborhood,” Leeds said. “There are several law or graduate students who live in the neighborhood. You run into a lot of ASU people here.”
Leeds’ home was an Airbnb before she purchased it, which made the multi-generational family that lives in the homes around her “happy that it wasn’t going to be a revolving door anymore.”
Alongside ASU’s increasing presence in the neighborhood, trendy and upscale restaurants and shops have popped up.
In 2017, Phoenix Chef Doug Robson brought Gallo Blanco to the neighborhood. The Mexican restaurant is outfitted with sleek decor, whimsical artwork, a charming patio and a menu featuring $14 margaritas, $18 enchiladas and a $40 steak served with tortillas.
“Our goal was not to gentrify, but to complement,” Robson said.
Robson said he had not faced community concerns, instead, he’s been embraced. When he moved Gallo Blanco into the former American Way Market, Robson made an effort to preserve the building’s integrity during construction. He has tried to blend into Garfield, he said, not change its character.
“To me, every neighborhood should have a neighborhood restaurant,” Robson said.
Across the street from Gallo Blanco are Buena Vida Bodega and Welcome Diner. The bodega does not feature self-serve soft drinks from a cooler or salty snacks and junk food. Rather the shop contains artisanal goods, including swanky wine and beer options, trendy snacks, chic tchotchkes and various crystals.
Welcome Diner serves southern-style diner food with a colorful and stylish interior and several pricy cocktails. The diner has been a staple of Garfield since 2004 and originally inhabited a trailer before moving to a larger establishment.
Raub said many of these businesses are unaffordable to longtime Garfield residents and has seen the financial impact ASU has had on the neighborhood.
Raub himself is affiliated with ASU’s downtown campus. He started working for the university shortly after he moved to the neighborhood and now works as a computer programmer for the College of Health Solutions. Yet, he’s “not afraid to be candid about” his thoughts on the university.
"ASU… increases the value of everything around here,” Raub said. “That increases tax and suddenly people can't afford their property taxes anymore.”
“Our goal was not to gentrify, but to complement,” Robson said.
Robson said he had not faced community concerns, instead, he’s been embraced. When he moved Gallo Blanco into the former American Way Market, Robson made an effort to preserve the building’s integrity during construction. He has tried to blend into Garfield, he said, not change its character.
“To me, every neighborhood should have a neighborhood restaurant,” Robson said.
Across the street from Gallo Blanco are Buena Vida Bodega and Welcome Diner. The bodega does not feature self-serve soft drinks from a cooler or salty snacks and junk food. Rather the shop contains artisanal goods, including swanky wine and beer options, trendy snacks, chic tchotchkes and various crystals.
Welcome Diner serves southern-style diner food with a colorful and stylish interior and several pricy cocktails. The diner has been a staple of Garfield since 2004 and originally inhabited a trailer before moving to a larger establishment.
Raub said many of these businesses are unaffordable to longtime Garfield residents and has seen the financial impact ASU has had on the neighborhood.
Raub himself is affiliated with ASU’s downtown campus. He started working for the university shortly after he moved to the neighborhood and now works as a computer programmer for the College of Health Solutions. Yet, he’s “not afraid to be candid about” his thoughts on the university.
"ASU… increases the value of everything around here,” Raub said. “That increases tax and suddenly people can't afford their property taxes anymore.”
Raub’s home saw around a 15% increase in property taxes between 2015 and 2022, however, other homes in the neighborhood, including that of Leeds, saw increases of 449% between those years.
Public tax data from the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office of 100 randomly selected homes in the Garfield Neighborhood showed that the average home had an over 92% increase from 2015 to 2022 in property taxes. The homes that experienced the highest increases between those years saw an average of 210%.
With rising costs pushing lower-income residents out and new, wealthier residents moving in, an economic chasm in the community has formed.
While some residents are purchasing renovated homes nearing half a million dollars in the neighborhood, others are lining up at 6 a.m. to get food from Garfield’s monthly food bank in Aim Right Ministries’ parking lot, Saavedra said.
“It's more and more people every month,” she said.
To support their beloved neighborhood — and with history once again repeating itself — residents have taken matters into their own hands to support those in need.
Supporting their community
Aim Right Ministries, located across Roosevelt Street from Garfield Elementary School, is one of the largest pillars of community support. The religious organization hosts food drives, provides after-school programming and works with the elementary school, all under the lead of Jeff Chupp, Aim Right’s executive director.
“All the kids that we work with are coming from low-income homes … they don't have the support infrastructure that maybe other folks would have," said Chupp, who has around 100 kids from Garfield coming to the organization each week. "Sometimes they just need a little bit of help getting in the right direction.”
Aim Right’s work inside Garfield Elementary School is extensive. Through their relationship with Garfield’s Principal Jonathan Avilez, the organization operates a food pantry inside the school to distribute food to students and families, established a guitar club and help out with daily activities, such as recess and lunch.
Public tax data from the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office of 100 randomly selected homes in the Garfield Neighborhood showed that the average home had an over 92% increase from 2015 to 2022 in property taxes. The homes that experienced the highest increases between those years saw an average of 210%.
With rising costs pushing lower-income residents out and new, wealthier residents moving in, an economic chasm in the community has formed.
While some residents are purchasing renovated homes nearing half a million dollars in the neighborhood, others are lining up at 6 a.m. to get food from Garfield’s monthly food bank in Aim Right Ministries’ parking lot, Saavedra said.
“It's more and more people every month,” she said.
To support their beloved neighborhood — and with history once again repeating itself — residents have taken matters into their own hands to support those in need.
Supporting their community
Aim Right Ministries, located across Roosevelt Street from Garfield Elementary School, is one of the largest pillars of community support. The religious organization hosts food drives, provides after-school programming and works with the elementary school, all under the lead of Jeff Chupp, Aim Right’s executive director.
“All the kids that we work with are coming from low-income homes … they don't have the support infrastructure that maybe other folks would have," said Chupp, who has around 100 kids from Garfield coming to the organization each week. "Sometimes they just need a little bit of help getting in the right direction.”
Aim Right’s work inside Garfield Elementary School is extensive. Through their relationship with Garfield’s Principal Jonathan Avilez, the organization operates a food pantry inside the school to distribute food to students and families, established a guitar club and help out with daily activities, such as recess and lunch.
The elementary school itself also supports its surrounding community by opening a farm stand once a month, where members of the community can purchase inexpensive produce. Due to the school’s extensive gardening project, it has a half-acre garden, a full kitchen and even several chickens.
“Families can come in to purchase cucumbers, cilantro (and) cauliflower for a cheaper price,” Avilez said. “It’s all organically grown here.”
Robson, of Gallo Blanco, has participated in volunteer work surrounding the school’s kitchen. He helped to rebuild it and often cooks with students.
“I’ve kind of been adopted by them as the neighborhood chef for the school,” Robson said. “It’s nice to interact with the kids from the neighborhood.”
Events like these and other community organizing efforts have been a staple of the Garfield neighborhood for years. Today, programming such as organizing free swap markets, combating the feral cat population, installing murals and artwork in alleyways and sharing food in community pantries and fridges, dominate the neighborhood’s community-run projects.
A quarterly free swap market dubbed the Garfield Really Really Free Market, is organized by Saavedra at Aim Right. Residents bring unneeded items and services to exchange with others — all for free.
"People love it, they always tell me how much they love it," Saavedra said of the Really Really Free Market. "It brings people together and gets people to meet each other."
Saavedra, with the help of husband Raub, also organizes the monthly Garfield Litter Lifters. On every second Saturday of the month, the group meets in the morning to walk throughout the neighborhood and collect trash.
“Families can come in to purchase cucumbers, cilantro (and) cauliflower for a cheaper price,” Avilez said. “It’s all organically grown here.”
Robson, of Gallo Blanco, has participated in volunteer work surrounding the school’s kitchen. He helped to rebuild it and often cooks with students.
“I’ve kind of been adopted by them as the neighborhood chef for the school,” Robson said. “It’s nice to interact with the kids from the neighborhood.”
Events like these and other community organizing efforts have been a staple of the Garfield neighborhood for years. Today, programming such as organizing free swap markets, combating the feral cat population, installing murals and artwork in alleyways and sharing food in community pantries and fridges, dominate the neighborhood’s community-run projects.
A quarterly free swap market dubbed the Garfield Really Really Free Market, is organized by Saavedra at Aim Right. Residents bring unneeded items and services to exchange with others — all for free.
"People love it, they always tell me how much they love it," Saavedra said of the Really Really Free Market. "It brings people together and gets people to meet each other."
Saavedra, with the help of husband Raub, also organizes the monthly Garfield Litter Lifters. On every second Saturday of the month, the group meets in the morning to walk throughout the neighborhood and collect trash.
In February 2024, a record 29 neighbors showed up on a rainy Saturday morning to pick up trash. Afterward, neighbors gathered to connect in Dombeck’s prairie-style historical home. Inviting well-known neighbors, first-time Litter Lifters and everyone in between, Dombeck hosted a lavish buffet-style breakfast, complete with mimosas, potatoes, sausage, bacon and more.
Dombek’s home is dubbed the Pieri-Elliott House, or “The Old Manse,” and was built in 1922. His home, which he has lived in for 27 years, is on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior — which is one of only a few in the historic Garfield district.
Two community fridges and pantries can also be found throughout the neighborhood. Residents use the fridges to share extra food, water bottles and other items for anyone to enjoy.
“I don’t see the same type of community involvement of helping your fellow neighbor ... in other neighborhoods,” Saavedra said. “It’s something that I think is really embraced here.”
Dombek’s home is dubbed the Pieri-Elliott House, or “The Old Manse,” and was built in 1922. His home, which he has lived in for 27 years, is on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior — which is one of only a few in the historic Garfield district.
Two community fridges and pantries can also be found throughout the neighborhood. Residents use the fridges to share extra food, water bottles and other items for anyone to enjoy.
“I don’t see the same type of community involvement of helping your fellow neighbor ... in other neighborhoods,” Saavedra said. “It’s something that I think is really embraced here.”