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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.”

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Janette Villafana

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Street Vending

SELA’S Patata Street and NELA’S Avenue 26 Street Vendors Team Up After Bell Shuts Down Its Growing Night Market, Citing ‘Risk to Homeless Shelter’ Nearby Among Concerns

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).

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Javier Cabral

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Featured

Ten Big L.A. TACO Stories That Have Impacted Los Ángeles Made Possible By Member Support. Help Us Reach Our Goal to Keep Them Going

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Sean Vukan

Photo by Sean Vukan

Gentefication vs. Gentrification: Montebello’s New ‘Blvd Market’ Container Food Hall Is Now Open

Street Vendors Near Ave. 26 in Northeast Los Angeles

Despite Public Pressure and Two Meetings with Cedillo, Displaced Ave 26 Street Vendors Still Have No Answers

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.

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Lexis-Olivier Ray

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News

Video: Guy in a Prius Caught Swiping Succulents from a Sidewalk in Highland Park

Angela Burgos is an Ecuadorian-American writer and researcher from East Hollywood. She enjoys writing both fiction and non-fiction pieces that highlight the complexities of the people of Los Angeles.

Angela Burgos

Kenia Haro

A Latina Third Grade Teacher Has Started an Open Air Market to Create Space for Her Lennox Community in the Midst of SoFi’s Gentrification Effects

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Here is the Quickly Growing List of L.A. Bars Not Allowing Unvaccinated People on Premises

Ural Garrett is an Inglewood native and graduate of Southern University And A&amp;M College. For over a decade, the content curator and social media strategist has worked alongside various brands and outlets including Complex, IGN, MTVNews, Oculus, Trigger Mix Reality, TechRadar, LA Weekly, and more.

Ural Garrett

LA Taco – Inglewood Parking Permit Photo 1 – 2021 (1)

SoFi Stadium and Upcoming Clippers Arena Leads to Inglewood’s Controversial New City-Wide Parking Permit Program

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In Gentrifying East Hollywood, These Three Tienditas Fight to Survive

Brenda Nicolas is Zapoteca born and raised in Los Angeles. She is also Assistant Professor in Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) whose research looks at Oaxacans in California and Oaxaca, Mexico.

Brenda Nicolas

MidCity Cookout #1

Food

Meet the Indigenous Mujeres From Oaxaca Cooking Tlayudas for Struggling Families in Mid-City