History of Seligman Property on the Plaza and Other Downtown Locations
By
Arthur Scott
Seligman Block 1863? Palace of the Governors Photo Archive Negative 10767
The property shown above is located on the Plaza on the southeast corner of East San Francisco and Old
Santa Fe Trail (formerly Shelby) streets owned, at the time of the photograph, by the Seligman brothers;
Bernard and Sigmund. Sigmund Seligman entered into business with Charles P. Cleaver establishing the
Seligman – Cleaver firm in 1854. The firm was in the mercantile business importing good from the east over the
Santa Fe Trail and selling them in northern New Mexico Territory. Cleaver sold his partnership in 1861 to
Sigmund Seligman and his brother, Bernard. The firm then became known as Seligman Brothers.
Santa Fe Plaza. 1853? Seligman and Clever store is on the right and Exchange Hotel on left. Palace of The Governors, photo
archive, Neg. 10695
Wood Vendors & Burros San Francisco St Plaza, by Aaron B Craycroft 1910? Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Negative
011340
The photo above dated c. 1910 shows Seligman Brothers several doors down from the corner building. I have
no explanation for the location shown in this photo. As far as I can determine, the corner building remained as
property of the Seligman family during this period.
Arthur Seligman, my grandfather, was born in Santa Fe in 1871. His uncle Sigmund died of a sudden stroke at
Ft, Craig, New Mexico Territory, in 1876. Leaving his father, Bernard, as sole proprietor. Arthur was educated
in Santa Fe and attended Swathmore College in Philadelphia. He graduated at a very young age and returned to
Santa Fe to serve as Secretary-Treasure of Seligman Brothers. Arthur became president of the firm in 1903 and
served as president from then to 1926. His father, Bernard, died in 1905.
Arthur Seligman, 1920-20, photo by Aaron B. Craycroft, Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, Negative 050475
The “Seligman” block shown above, the property located at the corner of San Francisco and Burro Alley, and
six and on- half acres of undeveloped land in Santa Fe Canyon were owned by Arthur upon his death in 1932.
The property then passed to his wife, Franc E. Seligman, who later died in 1937 and under the terms of her will
the entire estate was held in trust by The First National Bank until the deaths of her son, Otis in 1943, and
daughter, Richie in 1966, at which point the trust was dissolved and proceeds evenly distributed to the two heirs
of Otis Seligman and four heirs of Richie Seligman March. The property remained undivided and managed by
the First National Bank until 1976 when one of the heirs filed a law suit to partition the property. The suit was
settled in 1977 when Patty March Persico bought the interest of all other heirs. Because of legally restricted
access, the property in Santa Fe Canyon was donated to the US Forest Service.
I have been able to determine current ownership from public records of Santa Fe County property tax
information. It seems that as time progressed, the property became the center of controversy. The following is a
timeline of the ownership and tenancy of the plaza property and Burro Alley-San Francisco Street properties:
Plaza
Corner San Francisco and Shelby (Old Santa Fe Trail)
Capital Pharmacy and either Spiegel’s or Leeds shoe store on left. Photo by John E. Stephenson, ca. 1940.
Ownership of the property, 84 and 82 East San Francisco Street, seen above as The Capital Pharmacy and, I
think, Spiegel Shoes(later to become a franchise of The Leeds Shoes) is as follows:
1854- 1861 Seligman and Cleaver
1861-1905 Seligman Brothers
1905 – 1933 Arthur Seligman
1933 – 1937 Franc E. Seligman
1937 – 1966 First National Bank Trust for heirs of Otis Seligman and Richie Seligman March
1966-1977 Heirs of the above
1977 - 1978 Patty March Perisco
1978 – 2013 San Shel, Inc (NM Corporation Division shows CJ Aschenbrener as Director and Predident)
Tenants that I have been able to determine are as follows:
1854 – 1856 Seligman and Cleaver
1856 - 1926 Seligman Brothers,
1926 – 1940 Unknown
194? -1977 Spiegel Shoes (later sold to Leeds Shoes) and Capital Pharmacy which was started by Martin
Gardesky in 1930’s
1978 - 2006 Unknown
2007 – 2009 Golden Bear Trading Company, owned by Mr Jamal Shawabkeh
2010 – 2013 Tsali Nez Gallery, Inc. and Simply Southwest, Inc. both incorporated by Mr. Ala Shawabkeh
On June 6, 2009 The New Mexican published the following article:
“Jewelry sellers accused of peddling fakes
AG investigator says shop falsely marketing pieces as handmade works by Navajo artist Begay
Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican
Posted: Sunday, August 23, 2009 - 8/20/09
Attorney General Gary King's Consumer Protection Division has signed a consent decree with downtown jewelry-shop owners with a history
of being accused of misrepresenting jewelry as handmade by American Indians.
Last September, the division sued Golden Bear Trading Co., a shop at 84 East San Francisco St. that went out of business in June, and its
two principals, Mohammed "Mike" Sulieman Shawabkeh and Jamal "Jack" Sulieman Shawabkeh.
They are accused of falsely claiming that jewelry in their shop was made by well-known Navajo jeweler Calvin Begay.
This was at least the third time in 13 years that the Attorney General's Office has made similar accusations against Jamal Shawabkeh and/or
other members of the Jordanian family with business interests in Gallup, Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The Shawabkehs also have been
accused of violating city regulations on going-out-of-business sales, discounts and signs.
Robert Hilgendorf, a former director of the Consumer Protection Division, represents the Shawabkehs in the most recent case as well as in at
least one of the prior ones. He said he was not prepared to talk about their background, but disputed that they were directly involved in the
past cases.
Hilgendorf said attorneys with the Consumer Protection Division, now led by Bill Keller, had falsely tried to link his clients to past violations.
"They tried to cobble together ... that there were past violations, but there really was a different corporation," Hilgendorf said. "The same
people that were involved in those consent decrees are not involved in this one. ... They claim Jamal Shawabkeh has owned this new
company, but never proved that."
The complaint lodged Sept. 2 was supplemented by documentation on two past cases against Jamal Shawabkeh and other family members.
In 1996, then-Attorney General Tom Udall entered into a consent degree with Jamal Shawabkeh — then also known as Sam Suleiman — and
Khaledal Aishawabkey, also known as Kenny Suleiman, then doing business as Gallup Indian Jewelry Discount and Zuni Indian Jewelry
Discount Outlet at 218 Old Santa Fe Trail. The address is now occupied by Gold House, another jewelry store run by other Shawabkehs.
According to the 1996 decree, the Shawabkehs violated the state Unfair Practices Act by discounting merchandise that had not been offered
at full price, having a "continuing 'going-out-of-business' sale" and advertising practices deemed "false, misleading and deceptive."
In 1999, then-Attorney General Patricia Madrid sued Jamal Shawabkeh — then spelled "Shawabkah" and doing business as Sunrise Indian
Jewelry of Gallup — over jewelry represented as handmade by American Indians. That time, state District Judge Stephen Pfeffer ordered
Shawabkeh to pay $10,000 and to cease misrepresentations.
The most recent case stems from an undercover investigation. According to an affidavit of John R. Sena, a former state police officer now
working for the Attorney General's Office, he went to the Golden Bear Trading Co. on June 12, 2008, and told the clerk he was looking for a
piece of Calvin Begay jewelry.
The clerk said he only had one piece of Begay's work — "a silver bear pendant ... with inlaid black, white and pink 'stones' (some or all of
them may have been plastic)," Sena wrote. "I asked ... if the bear pendant was Indian hand made. He said that it was a studio piece."
Sena said the clerk also directed him to the nearby Virginia Trading Post to find more of Begay's work, but that this work was labeled "Touch
of Santa Fe" and not as Begay's. Sena said he returned to the Golden Bear Trading, purchased the bear pendant for $194.29 and received a
certificate of authenticity that guaranteed the pendant was a "hand made piece" by Begay.
Sena said when he showed Begay the pendant a week later in Gallup, the artist said the work was not his, that it appeared to be cast rather
than handmade and carried a stamp on its back side that was not his, but was similar.
Begay's affidavit in the court file says he worked for several years for Touch of Santa Fe, designing and supervising the making of jewelry at
factories in Albuquerque and Gallup. "TSF continues to use my designs," he wrote, "although I have instructed the business not to use my
name stamp."
The recent complaint against the Shawabkehs also references a Sept. 26, 2007, sale to Casey Courtney of Albuquerque of a $800 necklace
attributed to Begay, and a Jan. 30, 2008, sale of three pendants attributed to Begay, all by Golden Bear Trading Co.
On July 29, the Consumer Protection Division signed a consent decree with Golden Bear Trading Co. and the Shawabkehs, who admitted no
guilt but agreed not to misrepresent jewelry and to pay restitution of $2,255 to the U.S. Department of the Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts
Board, $194.29 to the Attorney General's Office for the cost of undercover buy plus a $10,000 civil penalty to go for consumer education and
to defray costs of the litigation.
In a separate action last September, the Consumer Protection Division also sued Yousef Nassar, doing business as Santa Fe Indian Jewelry
at 125 E. Water St., and Quadry Al Masri, doing business as USA Indian Jewelry in Gallup. They are accused of manufacturing and selling four
pieces of jewelry that were falsely represented as having been made by Begay and giving illegal discounts. The complaint is accompanied by
an affidavit of Kathleen Butterfield, an employee of the Consumer Protection Division, who said she photographed a sign in the window of the
shop advertising discounts of 50 percent to 70 percent.
No resolution has been reached in that case. Nassar declined comment, referring a reporter to his lawyer, Ahmed Assad of Albuquerque, who
did not respond to a telephone message.
Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or [email protected].
“
Current (2007) view of 84 East San Francisco Street, 2013 Google Earth.
Seligman Property at corner of West San Francisco and Burro Alley
203– 207 (corner Burro Alley to Original Curio Store on right) West San Francisco Street. Photo was taken in 1959.
Photographer and source are unknown.
1917, Photo by Theodor J. Asplund, 203-207 shown on left with upper facade. Palace of the Governors Archive. Negative 155307
Property ownership:
1933 Arthur Seligman
1937 Franc E. Seligman
1966 First National Bank Trust for heirs of Otis Seligman and Richie Seligman March
1977 Heirs of the above
1977 Patty March Perisco
2008 Dickie Montoya Family Trust
At some point the property was subdivided and sold to two individual owners, as follows:
2013 (205 -207 W San Francisco) Burro Alley LLC, sole officer listed by NM Public Regulation Commission
is Majed Handouni
2013 (203W San Francisco) Arrington-Smith 203 W. San Francisco GP, LLC, Listed by NMPRC as a
corporation in Delaware doing business in New Mexico as named above. Corporate manager is David
Arrington.
Tenants as far as I can determine are:
207 W. San Francisco
1944 City Cash Market
1957 El Refresco Cafeteria
1972 Raul’s Cafe
1977 Raul’s Cafe
2010 Casa Blanca Cafe
2013 Burro Alley Cafe
205 W. San Francisco
1915 B W Schneider (Type of business is unknown.)
1944 Tom’s Music Store
1957 Mitchell’s Army Store
1972 Blazer Financial
2007 Moxie
2013 Moxie
203 W. San Francisco
1944 Santa Fe Creamery #2
1957 Leroy’s Jewelers
1960 Art’s Drug Store
1972 The Prospector Shop
2007 Andrew Smith Gallery
2013 Santa Fe Reflections
2013 Heavenly Boutique
The following article concerning this property was published in the Albuquerque Journal on February 24, 2013:
“A family feud plays out in SF
By Bill Rodgers / Journal Staff Writer on Sun, Feb 24, 2013
A Santa Fe police officer participates in a search Thursday at the home Ashraf Nassar at 121 Duran St., where
marijuana and guns were seized. (Eddie Moore/Journal)
SANTA FE – The burgeoning story of a feud among downtown merchants in Santa Fe involves guns being fired
near the Plaza, restraining orders, alleged retaliation between factions and now a land dispute in Palestine and
large amounts of marijuana.
A hearing on a restraining order that is part of the dispute had to be put on hold Thursday as the Santa Fe
police confiscated bulk packages of marijuana from the home of one of the men involved.
The marijuana – 32 pounds of it – was sealed in bags typically used to preserve food.
Santa Fe police Capt. Aric Wheeler stands near a lot of marijuana confiscated from the home of one of the
parties in a downtown dispute. (Eddie Moore/Journal)
Santa Fe Police Capt. Aric Wheeler said the pot was taken from a large gun safe in the Duran Street home of
Ashraf Nassar, 29, who runs the Heavenly Boutique store on West San Francisco downtown.
Along with the marijuana, police confiscated a handgun, a shotgun and a handgun magazine loaded with soft
armor-piercing rounds.
The raid pre-empted a restraining order hearing in which Ashraf Nassar was defending himself against his
cousin Musa Nassar and several other plaintiffs, many of whom are relatives or business partners.
During the hearing before District Court Judge Frank Mathew, Ashraf Nassar’s wife handed Ashraf’s attorney
Tom Clark a note saying police were serving a search warrant on their home.
Clark wondered aloud in court whether the raid could be retaliation for a tense cross-examination he
conducted of Detective Charles Lujan about a missing wallet Lujan allegedly took from Ashraf Nassar last
month, when the feud boiled over into gunshots downtown.
But Wheeler said police had been working the drug case for about two months. Wheeler said the police will
seek a warrant for Ashraf’s arrest on drug distribution charges.
Ashraf Nassar’s Heavenly Boutique at 203 W. San Francisco sits across the street from the Santa Fe West
Gallery, which is owned by his apparent rival, Musa Nassar.
The rivalry is complex, involving several different members of the Nassar family and their business
associations. Police have been tight-lipped about the details, sharing little, even after Musa Nassar on Jan. 7
fired several shots at a car on West San Francisco – in the heart of Santa Fe’s Plaza-area tourist district –
claiming someone inside the car pointed a gun at him.
Ashraf Nassar was detained for a time in his store by Lujan immediately following the shooting, but he wasn’t
arrested.
Restraining order hearings
More details about the rivalry are coming to the surface in hearings over a restraining order requested by
Musa Nassar and others against Ashraf Nassar. They accuse Ashraf of harassing, making death threats to, and
sending people to harass, the opposing members of his family and their business partners.
During the second hearing in the case Thursday, the first person to take the stand was Faten Nassar, Musa’s
wife and Ashraf’s sister. She said that Ashraf’s side of the family was angry with her because of a dispute over
land her husband has in Palestine. Faten Nassar indicated she feels caught in the middle between her
immediate family and her husband. She said her brother accused her of “selling her family cheap.”
Faten Nassar testified that, on Oct. 3, she received several angry phone calls from her brother Ashraf, who was
upset that Adel Nassar, their sibling, was “hit” in an attack at the Santa Fe Smoke Works at 1209 Cerrillos
Road.
She said Ashraf demanded to know where her husband Musa was. Ashraf later went on to tell her he knew
where she lived, where her children went to school and what time she leaves her home.
She testified that she was afraid of Ashraf. Near the end of her testimony, she spoke emotionally about a
shooting that peppered her and Musa Nassar’s home with bullets on Feb. 10. “They shot at my home,” Faten
Nassar said, nearly crying. “My son was sleeping on the couch. Sir, when I take out my trash at home, I’m
scared.”
Wheeler said police are investigating whether that shooting had any connection to the family feud.
Smoke shop incidents
Thursday’s hearing wasn’t the first time the Nassar family tried resolving their differences with a restraining
order.
Musa and Faten Nassar and four other plaintiffs sought an order against Adel Nassar and other members of
Faten Nassar’s family in April 2012. The plaintiffs alleged that Adel Nassar, Faten and Ashraf’s brother hit
Musa Nassar over the head with a bottle and that the other Nassars were threatening and attempting to file
false police reports about the plaintiffs.
In October 2012, Adel Nassar filed a motion in that case that sheds more light on the “hit” Faten Nassar talked
about on the witness stand. Adel Nassar alleged that, on Oct. 3, Musa Nassar and Musa’s brother-in-law Adli
Safi attacked him at Santa Fe Smoke Works.
Clark questioned Safi about the alleged encounter during testimony Thursday. Safi admitted going to the smoke
shop with Musa Nassar to ask about a phone call, but he said he didn’t attack Adel.
Later in October, another man, the 22-year-old owner of the store, was stabbed after being approached by two
men in the parking lot. Wheeler said on Thursday that police have not been able to make a connection between
the stabbing and the other incidents.
January shootings
The violence involving the Nassar family spilled over into Santa Fe’s tourism center on Jan. 7, when Musa
Nassar fired at the car on W. San Francisco.
Before the shots were fired, police were stationed in plain clothes at and near different businesses Musa Nassar
owns in town, Detective Lujan testified on Thursday. The stakeouts were apparently part of the police
investigation of the feud.
Lujan said before the gunfire he overheard Ashraf Nassar comment that Musa Nassar would soon be “on the
ground.” Lujan said he made a note of the comment and hid himself inside Musa’s Santa Fe West Gallery
across the street from Ashraf’s Heavenly Boutique.
Lujan said he heard a loud bang outside, which he said he didn’t identify as a gunshot, but which someone
could mistake for gunfire.
Musa Nassar told police the night of the shooting he saw a car outside with someone pointing a gun at him.
Police did not charge Musa Nassar for firing at the car – which sped away from the scene – because, Wheeler
has said, Musa felt his life was in danger.
Lujan went into Ashraf Nassar’s store following the shooting, detained him and confiscated a cellphone. Ashraf
Nassar said he was inside eating when the shooting took place.
Musa Nassar also fired a gun out of a window of his Sunset Ridge home later that same night. Nassar told
police that motion-sensitive lights at his home came on and he saw men with rifles on the street outside. He
insisted that he was in danger at that point also, but he was cited with negligent use of a deadly weapon. The
restraining order hearing continues Wednesday.”
Current (2013) views of old Seligman property
203 – 205 West San Francisco St. Burro Alley Cafe and Moxie
205 – 207 West San Francisco St. Moxie and Heavenly Boutique
A special thank you to Mike Lord for current photos and library research, to Jim Baca for City Directory
research, and to Fred Apodaca for courthouse-records research.