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Photos: Valentine's Day At The Los Angeles Flower District
For vendors working in the Flower District of downtown Los Angeles, Valentine's Day is one of their major business days. But today has been a mixed bag.
Some vendors, like Lucrecio Hernandez of Gabi's Flowers, said they were barely holding on, due to the rising costs of flower prices and the drop in public demand. But Hernandez added that he'll keep at it as long as he makes enough to feed himself.
Juan Negrete of So Cal Wholesale Flowers said that typically, by 9am, they would have been sold out.
"At this time, we'd be done, closed, at home, but if you look around, we're still full," he said. "We're scared. Today is over for us; now it's the arrangement seller's turn."
While many flower vendors agreed with Negrete and Hernandez's outlook, folks in the arrangement business said today hasn't been much different from previous years.
Estella Rodriguez, a pop-up arrangement seller, said her business seems the same, if not better, than previous years. She thinks that may be because people are exhausted and are looking to celebrate something. By 10:30am, her stall was almost completely sold out.
This is what Valentine's Day looked like in 2021 at the Flower District.
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