The economy has taken a toll on everyone, including unemployed Mexicans. The robust lines in front of Home Depot are now non-existent from the housing bust. Where are they turning to? For one, many are still selling fruits on the freeway exits but a new trend I noticed was the selling of flowers near Forest Lawn. I’ll call them Flower Slangers.
I drive by Forest Lawn everyday on my route to work and see the flower slangers on a daily basis. They’re usually all about 5’3, both men and women, and hold flowers in one hand and use their fingers of their other hand to signal the price. Today however, I witnessed a pretty sad moment.
Today, I decided to eat lunch at my home (nearby) and noticed the usual flower slangers near Forest Lawn on my way home. On my way back, the flower slangers were no longer at the same spot I saw them. Instead, I saw a Park Ranger truck parked and empty baskets of flowers on the flower further down the road. I then assumed the flower slangers are not allowed to sell the flowers along the streets and thus, were trying to escape. After driving further down the road, I saw a male flower slanger with a basket full of flowers in his hand. He was looking down the long road towards where the ranger was parked and crept next to an opening in the fence. I’m guessing the fence opening was his escape route and was on careful watch in case the park ranger decided to come by. I wanted to take a picture of this flower slanger but could not get a chance to pull over due to the traffic behind me. However, I was able to take a picture of one further down the road to give everyone a visual of the flower slanger.
It was sad to see that the Home Depot’s freelance workers had downgraded to selling flowers because of the housing bust and were now trying to make a living slanging flowers, only to escape their daily fear of the Park Ranger.
