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Celebrating the Taco Lifestyle in Los Angeles, CA

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L.A. TACO

Support L.A. TACO

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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; This year, 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

Illustration by Tommy Gallegos.

Crime

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

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L.A. Taco Guides

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

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.

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Hadley Tomicki

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Whittier Woman Busted For Selling Counterfeit COVID-19 Vaccination Cards From China

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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Featured

‘We’re One Bullet Away From Becoming a Hashtag:’ Santa Ana Community Demands Justice After Unarmed Man is Killed By Police While Having a Mental Health Crisis

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News

Toddler Killed While Visiting His Abuelo’s Tamal Stand in the Valley, Hit and Run Suspect Still At Large

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Personal Essay

Seven Months of Being Scared to Work: The City Attorney Charged Me With Committing A Questionable ‘Crime’ While Reporting

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Street Vending

A Man Was Murdered at a Taco Truck in DTLA, so Now the LAPD Is Targeting All Street Vendors Nearby

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Woman Who Attacked Flower Vendor Arrested That Same Day, ‘I Just Wanted to Work’ He Says

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Interview

‘He Did This to Himself,’ We Spoke to the Black Driver Behind Viral Retired LAPD Detective’s Racist Tirade

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Woman Steps In to Defend Flower Street Vendor After Pendejo Throws His Roses to the Floor