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L.A. TACO

Lexis-Olivier Ray is an award-winning staff investigative reporter for L.A. TACO known for holding powerful people in Los Angeles accountable and his reporting on Los Angeles culture. As well as an artist and filmmaker. In 2022, the Society of Professional Journalists&#8217; Los Angeles chapter named Ray one of their &#8220;distinguished journalists.&#8221; In 2023, Ray won a second place Anthem Award in their Health Innovation category for a texting service geared towards the unhoused community and service providers that he launched in 2021 with L.A. TACO and Subtext. Ray was a 2020 USC Center For Health Journalism (CHJ) Data Fellow. As well as a 2022 CHJ Impact Fellow. As a freelancer, Ray has contributed to the L.A. Times, Men&#8217;s Health Magazine, KCET and SFGATE.

Lexis-Olivier Ray

Investigative Report

Update: At The Peak of The Defund Era, L.A. Received $600 million in COVID Relief, Half Went to LAPD

L.A. TACO STAFF

News

Headlines: The Food Vendors Serving Corcoran State Prison; Sinkhole Opens in Hollywood Hills

One of L.A. TACO&#8217;s co-founders, Hadley Tomicki is a writer and editor on food, travel, and culture whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, UrbanDaddy, High Times, and many other places.

Hadley Tomicki

My Favorite Taco

My Favorite Taco: System of a Down’s Shavo on Armenian Eats, Asada, Alvarado Weed, and Life With Synesthesia

Lisa Kwon is a writer born, raised, and currently living in Koreatown. She will talk your ear off about Korean coffee culture and the dreadful effects of Los Angeles’ palm tree fetishism.

Lisa Kwon

Homelessness

Little Tokyo’s Oldest Mochi Shop Wanted Homeless Swept, and Now Public Is Fenced Off Too

Featured

Headlines: Bangkok’s “Chicano” Subculture; Psychedelic Toad Populations at Risk of Collapse

Gabriel Chabrán is a food writer and journalist from Highland Park. He currently lives in Long Beach with his wife Katie, their new baby, and their Russian Blue cat, Mars.

Gab Chabran

Music

‘Hong Kong Fuck You’ Is An Aggressive Blend of Industrial, Metal, and Punk Powered By Three Bassists and a Drummer

Jared Cowan is a photographer who also writes and podcasts extensively about L.A. filming locations. He is the co-founder of My Valley Pass, through which he leads film tours of the San Fernando Valley and Pasadena. Jared is also the co-editor of the recent book &#8220;World Film Locations: Los Angeles Volume 2&#8221; and the editor of the upcoming &#8220;World Film Locations: Philadelphia.&#8221;

Jared Cowan

Film

Revisiting American Me and Its Boyle Heights Apartment Building 30 Years Later

Headlines: Mike Tyson Making Ear-Shaped Cannabis Gummies; Little Tokyo Sees Homeless Sweep

Events

Weekend Events: Corned Beef Tacos, Israel Vibrations, and An All-Black Planet

Melissa Mora Hidalgo was born in Montebello and grew up in the L.A./O.C. borderlands of East Whittier and La Habra. She holds a Ph. D. in Literature from UC San Diego and is the author of Mozlandia: Morrissey Fans in the Borderlands (Headpress UK, 2016).

Melissa Mora Hidalgo

Travel

Tacos on the Streets of Dublin: Tracking the Rise of Mexico’s Most Iconic Food in Ireland

All Articles