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

Mariah Castañeda

Featured

Are Public Hand-Washing Stations Working in L.A.? Do Cops Have to Wear Face Masks, Too? We Asked Mayor Garcetti

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

Decriminalize Street Food…Again: 100 L.A Street Vendors March for Their Right to Earn

Nancy Guan is a multimedia journalist with an emphasis on writing and audio storytelling. She has experience reporting on housing issues in L.A., art, food, and culture.

Nancy Guan

San Gabriel Valley for Black Lives Matter: Hundreds Turn Out to Protest Police Brutality in L.A.’s Suburbs

Laura is a desmadrosa, a product of East Los, an educator, and a hood establishment connoisseur.

Laura Tejeda

‘This Is Bigger Than Carnitas:’ How an ‘All Lives Matter’ Post by El Momo Underscores Deep-Rooted Anti-Blackness

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

Marching for Black Lives and Cruising to Support Undocumented Immigrants, This Is the New, Progressive Whittier

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

Update: L.A.’s City Council Watered Down a Motion That Protects Renters Affected by Coronavirus. Over Half of Them Are Landlords

A.k.a. Afroxander; Weekend Editor at L.A. Taco and a lecturer at San Diego State University. He has covered arts, culture, history, politics, and sports with an emphasis on Latin America and its U.S. diaspora for over two decades.

Ivan Fernandez

‘The System Failed Him:’ For the Last Remaining Sibling of the Zaragoza Family, Measure R Is a Matter of Life and Death

Sam Ribakoff is a multimedia journalist and documentary filmmaker from Long Beach, CA.

Samuel Ribakoff

L.A. Taco Votes: Your Ultra Last Minute Voter Guide for Los Angeles County

Here’s Tio Bernie Sanders’ New Video on L.A.’s Housing Crisis, an L.A. Taco Exclusive

I document Los Angeles. I walk the streets religiously trying to expose every alley, avenue, and crack the sidewalks have to offer.

Kemal Cilengir

“Reject the Cover-Up,” Protesters Descend on Los Angeles City Hall After Trump’s Impeachment Trial Acquittal (Photo Essay)