St. Valentine, Patron of Entrepreneurs

Nineteen-year-old Frankie Garcia won't tell you where he gets the roses and teddy bears he sells on the street near the train tracks at East Lewelling Boulevard—that's top secret. But he can tell you who buys them. 

"Mostly men," Garcia said of the folks who've been coming, slowly, slowly, through the weekend and the first hours of a drizzly Monday morning. 

He and his brother thought they'd try their luck at the flower-buyingest day of the year, after modest success on previous holidays. But the rain or the competition or some combination of the two seemed to have thwarted their best efforts.

"Maybe people will get into the spirit, flash for their loved ones," Garcia said, with a wistful glance at his $60 teddy bear basket.   

Maybe what he needed was a bigger bear. An inflatable one as tall as the men it was meant to attract seemed to do the trick at Valeria's Flowers on East 14th Street in Ashland.

"It's the busiest day of the year,"said employee Maria Rivera of Valentine's Day at Valeria's. "Mother's Day is busy, but not like this."

All told, the store had already sold about 300 roses and 700 blooms.

Rivera said that so far, roughly 80 percent of her customers had been men. Most, especially the younger ones, would spend $5 on a single rose. But plenty who could spent more, splurging on a dozen roses ($30) or a mixed bouquet.

Among them was Raul Franco, who had to check his receipt to see how much he'd spent on two bouquets of roses and a box of chocolates.

"I don't know, really, but it doesn't matter," he said, although as it happened, they'd set him back about $77. 

"One is for my mom and one is for my friend," he said. "I've known her for a couple of years—we were going out, but then we broke up. But she's special to me, so I've got to get her something today." 

Elsewhere, customers were less sentimental.

The one who came to vendor Jose Maciel outside on Lewelling Boulevard was looking for stuffed dog at a deal. Maciel quoted him $25, but the customer wasn't buying. 

"Look, can you do $20 right now, cash?" the gentleman inquired.  "I'm just trying to get something for my girlfriend." 

Maciel thought it over, nodded, and gave him the dog. 

Plenty of others also seemed to be doing well—so well, in fact, they didn't have time to talk about it. But nobody could compete with Anahid of the eponymous Anahid Designs, who tried. 

By 2 p.m., her tiny store in the long-time home of was packed with men pouring over Ecuadorian long-stemmed roses and tropical orchids. Just five days into her new digs on Hesperian Boulevard, Anahid was almost too busy to speak to customers as they searched for that certain something.

One pointed, indicating "something amazing."

Anahid shook her head, pushing a gravity-defying bouquet with another buyer's name on it further into the refrigerated display case.

"All amazing things are sold!"