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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

Crime

Friends with Benefits: Emails Show How Jose Huizar Used His Power to Help Developers Beat the System

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

Tacos

A ‘Civic Hacker’ Mapped Out Every Single Place That Sells Tacos In L.A. and It is Absolutely Beautiful

L.A. Taco Guides

Counting Cash At Dinner: The L.A. TACO Guide to the Restaurants Jose Huizar Dined At While Allegedly Collecting Bribes

Cesar Hernandez is Lynwood&#8217;s second best export behind Weird Al, and a writer and podcaster. Illustration by Tommy Gallegos.

Cesar Hernandez

Los Angeles

The L.A. TACO Guide to the Best Birria Served In a Bowl and In Consomé – Birria Week

The L.A. TACO Guide to the Best Goat and Beef Birria (Mixed) – Birria Week

Featured

The L.A. TACO Guide to the Best Birria de Res (Beef) Tacos In Los Angeles, Mapped – BIRRIA WEEK

Proposed ‘Julius Levitt Square’ Seeks to Counter Erasure of Jewish History In Boyle Heights

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

Community

This Community Group in Boyle Heights Took Matters Into Their Own Hands And Cleaned More Than 200,000 Pounds of Trash in a Year

Mariah Castañeda is a feisty multimedia journalist and social media editor.

Mariah Castañeda

Music

How Chicano Batman’s Eduardo Arenas Got Inspired to Write His Anti-Gentrification Cumbia Rebajada Featured on ‘The Sellout’

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 the Infamous ‘Uneeda’ Lincoln Heights Building From the ‘The Return of the Living Dead,’ 37 Years Later