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L.A. TACO

Professional punk and Editor-In-Chief for James Beard Award-winning L.A. TACO. Associate Producer for JBA-winning Las Crónicas Del Taco. Former restaurant scout for Jonathan Gold. Co-author of &#8220;Oaxaca: Home Cooking From the Heart of Mexico (2019, Abrams) and &#8220;Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling&#8221; (2023, Abrams).

Javier Cabral

News

Headlines: L.A. Abortion Rights Activists Issue Call to Protest At Noon; Landlord Forced to Pay Tenants $12.5 Million Settlement In Deposit Dispute

Tacos

Amid a Looming Recession, Five of L.A.’s Best Taquerías Fight to Open New Locations

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

Los Angeles

Headlines: Navy Vet Sucker-Punched in Koreatown; CHP Officers Receive Pandemic Bonuses of $1,500

Community

L.A. Is Banning ‘Fixing Bikes on the Street’ To Curb Theft, Critics Argue it’s Going to Affect Black and Brown Communities the Most

Video

Trader Joe’s Frozen Birria Is Proof That Birria Has Entered the Mainstream

L.A. TACO STAFF

Headlines: North Hollywood Strippers Seek To Unionize; L.A. Hires a “Chief Heat Officer” In Hopes Of Reducing Deaths

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

L.A. Taco Guides

Tour De Long Beach: Six Spots to Hit Up This Summer In La Playa Larga On A Bike

Headlines: Punks Aim Fireworks and Throw Rocks at LAPD Officers In Boyle Heights; Mexico’s Richest City Limits Water Use to Only Six Hours a Day Amid Drought

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

California May Become First U.S. State to Make Gun Owners Buy Liability Insurance

Melissa was born in Moreno Valley, raised in Arizona, and recently returned from living in México, the motherland. She lives by the words: “siempre en la calle.” USC and Fulbright alum, but don’t tell her to &#8220;Fight On.&#8221;

Melissa Montalvo

James Rojas (right) grew up attending and hosting disco parties in East L.A. Photo courtesy of James Rojas.

Culture

‘La Raza Likes to Dance:’ Remembering When Underground Disco Parties Exploded In L.A.’s Eastside In the 70s

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