Alberto Santos Has Been Watching Over Ferry Street for 33 Years

Alberto opened A. Santos Florista in 1991 in the space his father found after arriving from Faro. He doesn't call it a legacy. He calls it the family business, which is technically the same thing, but in the way he says it you understand the difference. The flowers come from Colombian and Ecuadorian growers he's worked with for fifteen years. He knows which varieties each family wants for which occasions — he knows this because he's been present at most of the occasions. The wildflower bouquets he builds in the morning are never planned out. He assembles them from what's right. He's been doing this long enough that "what's right" and "what's beautiful" have become the same thing.