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Samuel Nahmias, right, and daughter Margie (late 1930s).
Samuel Nahmias, right, and daughter Margie (late 1930s).
Samuel Nahmias came to the U.S. from Turkey, able to read, write and speak only in Ladino. In the 1920s, he sold brightly colored waxed flowers near a downtown Seattle theatre. In the mid-1930s, he opened a fresh flower shop inside a downtown market and turned it into a thriving business: Queen City Market Florist. When it wasn’t raining, Sam would sit under the lamppost in front of the market calling out, “Gardenias: 25 cents!” or “Daffodils: 10 cents a dozen!” After working 16 hours on Saturdays, he put the money he earned in a corsage box and hopped a streetcar back home around midnight.
