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L.A. TACO

Acton

Adams-Normandie

Agoura Hills

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Alhambra

Alondra Park

Altadena

Angeles Crest

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Artesia

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Bel-Air

Bell

Bell Gardens

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Broadway-Manchester

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Calabasas

Canoga Park

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Castaic Canyons

Central-Alameda

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Neighborhoods

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

How Boyle Heights Became a Dance Battleground for Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo

Christer Maxine Schmidt is a writer and musician from Thousand Oaks, California. She is currently a writer on The Echo newspaper published at California Lutheran University.

Christer Maxine Schmidt

Community

Few Gay Bars Left in L.A. Face Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Debt As City Prepares to Re-Open

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

Featured

In Long Beach, a Mujer-Owned Tortilla DIY Non-Profit  Raises Money for L.A.’s Homeless and More

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

Fed up With Street Vendor Abuse, This Former Bernie Staffer Is Arming Them, Offering Security, and Teaching Self-Defense

Ben Mesirow is an Echo Park native who writes TV, fiction, food, and sports. At one time or another, his writing has appeared in The LA Times, Litro, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Los Angeles Magazine, and scratched into dozens of desks at Walter Reed Middle School.

Ben Mesirow

L.A. Taco Guides

Wake and Roast: The L.A. TACO Guide to Finding the Best Low-Key Local Coffee Beans

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

UPDATE: Company Selling L.A. Cop-Influencer Gear Removes Item After Cease and Desist From City

Mike Sonksen aka Mike the PoeT is a 3rd-generation Los Angeles native. Poet, professor, journalist, historian and tour-guide, his latest book &#8220;Letters to My City&#8221; was just published by Writ Large Press. He teaches at Woodbury University.

Mike Sonksen

In a Rapidly Changing L.A., This OG Muralist From South Central Captures Communities As They Transform

Homelessness

In Sunny Los Angeles, More Homeless People Die From the Cold Than in SF and NYC, Combined

East Los Street Vendor Pushes Through After Being Attacked and Robbed While Selling Fruit in Long Beach

Melissa Mora Hidalgo was born in Montebello and grew up in the L.A./O.C. borderlands of East Whittier and La Habra. She holds a Ph. D. in Literature from UC San Diego and is the author of Mozlandia: Morrissey Fans in the Borderlands (Headpress UK, 2016).

Melissa Mora Hidalgo

El Monte

Dr. Beer Butch: To Survive the Pandemic, This South El Monte Brewery Started an Experimental ‘Beer Club’

Long Beach