History

Grandfather Gomes' devotion to plants began in the 1930s at San Simeon, CA, where William Randolph Hearst built him two green houses in which to grow his flowers. Later the Gomes family moved back to Oakland, CA, where Mr. Gomes worked at the Dunsmuir-Hellman Historical Estate and sold plants from his home. In 1942, he purchased the nursery on MacArthur Blvd. It was here that he worked his magic with hundreds of azaleas and rhododendrons that were to become Macy’s first Easter Flower Show in 1946.

Sixty-five years and three generations later, the tradition lives on. In a triumph of timing, intuition and know how, nearly 500 plants are coaxed into simultaneous bloom each year for the Macy's Flower Show.