L.A. TACO is about to embark on its biggest mission yet: to create a taco or food guide for every single neighborhood in Los Angeles! Along the way, we will also be releasing brief histories of each neighborhood to understand L.A. a little more and why each and every neighborhood that makes our fine city is unique in its own way. Check out five things you may not have known about Artesia's history published earlier this week.
For many, Artesia is synonymous with the “Little India” portion of Pioneer Avenue, where a wide spectrum of Southern Californians makes the drive to browse saris, Bollywood movies, jewelry, and sweets, interspersed with lunchtime dosas and thalis, one of many boons of the boom of immigration from the subcontinent that began in the early 1980s. While only about 10 percent of Artesia's 16,000+ population identifies as South Asian, it has become a destination for its extremely regional and diverse options for Indian food and family-owned Indian grocery stores. It can be overwhelming, so here is a guide to the eight best restaurants to get a sense of this southeast L.A. neighborhood. And yes, it is worth the drive.