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L.A. TACO

Acton

Adams-Normandie

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Altadena

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Artesia

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Baldwin Park

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Neighborhoods

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

Featured

Days After Putting LAPD On Blast, L.A.’s Top ‘Cop-Watcher’ Is Charged With Rare Eavesdropping Crime

L.A. TACO STAFF

News

Headlines: SoFi Assault Suspect Turns Self In; Minimum Wage Going Up

Los Angeles

Your Guide to This Weekend’s Events: GZA Performing in O.C., a Lapel Pin Art Exhibit, and More

Cesar Hernandez is Lynwood&#8217;s second best export behind Weird Al, and a writer and podcaster. Illustration by Tommy Gallegos.

Cesar Hernandez

Food

Drugs, Punk Rock, and Handmade Street Pasta: How Popping-Up Gave This Burnt Out Chef a Second Chance

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

This Popular Oaxacan Restaurant in Los Angeles Got Rid of All Its Tequila, But There’s a Catch

Visiting L.A.? Here Are the Ten Tacos You Need to Try, Mapped

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

Chente mural. Photo via Ms. Phoenix/Flickr.

Music

Boyle Heights Street Honoring Mariachi Queen Lucha Reyes May Get Renamed For Mariachi King Vicente Fernandez

Architecture

Pig ‘n Whistle Slayer ‘Mr. Tempo’ Mocks L.A. Preservationists With Taunts (and Farts) In New Video

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

People

She Was Eight When She Worked At Her Parents Paletería in Huntington Park. Now This Latina Is Serving Her Bolis At the Super Bowl

Michael is a native Angeleno and a photojournalist / professional basketball player. He most recently played in Japan.

Mike Ojo

Photo Essay

Heartbreaking Scenes From Valentina Orellana Peralta’s, the 14-Year-Old Killed by LAPD Bullet, Funeral in South L.A. (Photo Essay)

Hollywood