In 2016, Juana Dominguez was serving her locally famous quesadillas from her stand south of downtown Los Angeles at Main and 41st streets when two 24-foot flatbed trucks pulled up, each half-filled with the confiscated carts of other street vendors.
The day Dominguez dreaded most had arrived and there was nothing she could do about it. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) had come for her grill. (Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to the DPH as a city agency.)
This article was co-produced and co-published with Capital & Main, an award-winning publication that reports from California on economic, political, and social issues.
Dominguez, 52, and her husband had splurged on the grill for $3,800 at a yard sale. It did everything Dominguez needed, combining a broad flat-top comal with a full refrigeration system to keep salsas and other toppings cool—but it still didn’t meet Los Angeles County’s stringent health code. Soon it joined the other seized grills and carts. Dominguez watched the flatbed truck round a corner on Main Street and vanish.
Annual city permits are priced at $291 ($541 after July 1), while county permits cost $772 yearly. Vendors must also pay $746 for a one-time cart inspection. Licensing permits for California physicians cost $820 every two years, by contrast, in a profession with median salaries of more than $200,000.