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L.A. TACO

Janette Villafana is an award-winning bilingual multimedia journalist. Her heart lies in community-based reporting, and her work is highly centered on showcasing and uplifting community voices, with a significant focus on the Latino community. She developed her beat at L.A. TACO, covering street vending communities in Los Angeles. Past work has been featured on NBC, LAist, Latino Rebels, and more. She is currently featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington in an exhibit titled “¡De última hora! Latinas Report Breaking News.”

Janette Villafana

Street Vending

Meet ‘Succs 2 Be You,’ the Street Vendor From Moreno Valley Who Quit His 22-Year-Job Pouring Concrete to Sell Plantitas

Memo Torres is the Director of Engagement and multimedia journalist for the James Beard award-winning L.A. Taco. He is also the host of the Daily Memo and writes for Apple Maps’ ‘Where Memo Torres Eats in L.A.’ You can see him on Netflix&#8217;s Taco Chronicles and Pressure Cooker.  You can hear him on KCRW’s ‘Good Food’ occasionally. He was a finalist for the Ruben Salazar Award for Latino journalists and a former third-generation landscaper.

Memo Torres

Tacos

This New San Diego-Style Taquería on La Tijera Has the Best California Burrito (and Bathroom) in Los Angeles

Francisco Avilés Pino is a Mexican writer and producer based in Los Angeles, whose work spans journalism, film, and fine art, exploring how power, identity, and culture shape immigrant and Latino/a life in America. Their work has appeared in the Museum of Contemporary Art-LA, HarperCollins, NPR, Vogue, The Nation, and The Intercept.

Francisco Aviles Pino

Politics

How L.A. Is Showing up in Solidarity for the Haitian Refugees at the Texan-Mexican Border

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

Five Itineraries for Exploring Los Angeles While Stoned Out of Your Mind

Kiko Martinez is a film and TV journalist from San Antonio, Texas. He&#8217;s a member of several film critic groups, including the Critics Choice Association and Hollywood Film Critics Association.

Kiko Martinez

Featured

Cry Macho’s Fernanda Urrejola on Leaving Latin America for Hollywood and ‘Breaking the Cycle of Machismo’

This Taquero From Puebla Always Dreamed of Serving His TJ-Style Tacos Near The Happiest Place on Earth, and It Just Came True

Jireh (she/they) is a queer Taiwanese/Hong Konger American writer based in Southern California with a passion for journalism and poetry. Summer 2021 they were an opinion pages intern at the Los Angeles Times and in fall 2021 will be an intern at NPR’s Diverse Sources desk.

Jireh Deng

Community

Not WeHo, But East L.A: A New ‘Queer Mercado’ Creates an Inclusive, Safe Space for LGBTQ-Owned Small Businesses in the Barrio

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

At Least Two Dozen L.A.P.D. Officers ‘Live’ Out of State, Yet L.A. Taxpayers Pay Their Salaries

After an Elderly Street Vendor Is Attacked and Robbed in Long Beach, ‘Mexicahana’ Hibachi Restaurant Offers Him a Safe Space to Work In

Noe Antonio Adame is a digital media obsessive that spends too much time watching shitty movies, wrangling his kids, and listening to 90s Pop Punk.

Noe Adame

Film

Luchadores vs. La Llorona and ‘Sexycomedias:’ The Art of Mexican Cult Cinema Is Now On Display In Boyle Heights

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