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Valentine's Day can be rough on guys. There's flowers ($80 for a dozen roses at a store on La Cienega), candy ("Are you trying to get me fat?"), jewelry (That little diamond thingie costs how much?), and dinner (you did make reservations in January, right?). You could have taken Tom Lykis' advice and dumped her last week, or planned an out of town business trip. Or you could go to the Flower District with dozens of wholesale shops and a couple over sized warehouses. Yup, another reason to venture downtown.
If you want to find the Financial District, look around Flower Street. If you want to find the Flower District, look around Wall Street. Your wallet stands a better chance of surviving the latter. For the truly desperate, $12.75 will get you a dozen roses. They're not the finest quality, so for $30 you can upgrade to that "West Side" aesthetic. $40 will knock her socks (and other things) off. At about $100 you can fill the bedroom with rose petals and candles, plus a couple dozen long stemmed babies lying on the bed. Good luck pulling that off at Conroy's.
Visiting the Flower District is an experience worth the price of admission. Some of the larger warehouses actually do charge a couple bucks to get in the front door, but you'll make it up even if you're just buying a small bouquet. The best way to get there is to take 7th Street east from Figuroa and turn right on Wall. You'll pass a solid city block of flower shops before you reach 8th, where florists seem to blossom in all directions. When you find parking, a cross section of LA life emerges. Hardened cops can be seen shopping for their sweetie (LAist saw squad cars from El Monte PD, LAPD, and the LA Sheriff). Shouts of "Mangoes! Mangoes!" drift through the air as cart vendors peddle fruits and ice creams. At least five different languages can be heard within one hundred yards.
The only problem is that the flower district sells out of the freshest roses early in the morning. By afternoon, pickings get slim. If you need to save face tomorrow, at least the bargains will be fresh. Remember that florists (especially in a wholesale district) can only command high prices before Valentine's Day, Mothers Day, and Christmas. The rest of the year, it's easy to strike a deal that makes your lady think you spent some serious green.
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I wouldn't necessarily call the people manning shops along Wall Street florists - they're more like vendors. Like, if you really wanted to find a deal, you would buy roses at one place, a vase at another shop, and ribbon (possibly a whole roll), elsewhere. They jack up the price a little for convenience.
My mom (she's the florist) goes to the flower market most Fridays by 2 a.m. when she has a Saturday wedding. But then again, they don't let the public in till about 7 a.m.