On April 10, 2024, I failed as the editor-in-chief of L.A. TACO. At least that’s the way I felt.
That was the day I got the news from our publisher that we were straight-up running out of money to make payroll, and we immediately furloughed our tiny staff of three of the most loyal and hardest-working people I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. That was the only way we could prevent the publication from completely shutting down.
I was the only employee who stayed on a salary, and I had survivor’s guilt. I wrote yet another heartfelt “Letter from The Editor” breaking the news and sharing our subscriber numbers with our readers and members. I remember even subtweeting about the news. The last [taco-fueled] independent publication covering news, food, and culture that I often describe to people as “a taco-fueled journalism experiment” did not work. We had just become another statistic, our online traffic sinking steadily.
It was a shock, but not entirely out of nowhere. After all, many of us were anticipating this hit as soon as Google announced AI summaries, which would produce answers to searchers’ queries at the top of their search results, summarized from within our stories, without registering the page hit or crediting the journalists who probably took hours, days, or weeks to create the results in the first place.
But the next day, you all had our back, and you heeded the call to support L.A. TACO by becoming a paid subscriber, allowing us to add enough members to re-hire everyone after less than 24 hours of their furloughs being announced.
Even then, despite that sudden momentum, reaching enough members to become truly sustainable seemed both unattainable and unrealistic. We weren’t out of the woods yet.
But today, Monday, August 18, 2025, our readers have shown us that they have our backs again.
We did it: We have reached the level of paid members to L.A. TACO, making us a self-sustaining publication! For the first time since L.A. TACO’s rebrand to a news-first platform in 2018, the site has secured the community support needed to thrive, ensuring we can continue delivering bold, independent journalism that celebrates and informs the vibrant Los Angeles food and culture scene. We don't need to advertise for things we don't agree with or take payments for corporations.
This means that you believe in our mission of truly uncensored street-level independent journalism. With your memberships, we were able to hire Memo Torres full-time. We also immediately hired Marina Watanabe, a multimedia journalist who is both an editorial and video force. She quickly edited and reported a voiceover for the videos about the recent ICE raid at the Japanese American National Museum last week, and also wrote one of our most popular food guides on the best places to get handrolls in Los Angeles.
Hell, we even hired a weekend editor, Iván “Afroxander” Fernandez, to make sure we can keep publishing stories well into the weekend, when ICE thinks they can strike without journalists noticing. We'll keep hiring part-timers and more freelancers if we can keep this momentum going.
This milestone is a triumph for L.A. TACO, a testament to the power of community and the belief in our scrappy, taco-fueled mission to keep Los Angeles informed and connected. To our readers, members, and supporters: You are the heartbeat of this publication, and we’re endlessly grateful for your trust and investment in our work. We don’t answer to advertisers, foundations, or a board of directors– we answer to you!
A special shoutout goes to Memo Torres, who burns the midnight oil to keep us all informed with his nightly updates, ensuring no ICE abduction, no matter how secretive they try to be, slips through the cracks. His dedication is the backbone of our mission.
But we can’t rest on this victory. Journalism is a relentless, ever-shifting landscape, and today’s stability could vanish tomorrow. The challenges we face—whether from algorithm changes, AI-driven search summaries, or the unpredictable tides of the industry—mean we must stay vigilant. We’re not “okay,” just because we’ve hit this goal; we’re only as strong as the community that sustains us.
So, please keep joining L.A. TACO as paying members, keep sharing our stories, and help us reinvest these resources to bring you more of the fearless, street-level journalism that defines L.A. TACO.
Together, we’ll keep fighting to tell the stories that matter most to our city.
As always, our tip line is open at tips@lataco.com.
In solidarity,
Javier Cabral
