Cuban Music Festival ~ Echo Park, May 18 Sunday&#8217;s festival brought a balanced mix of proud anti-Castro Cuban Americans, salseros who just wanted to dance, conga players and energy inciters, local bands, and families from the neighborhood who stood in long lines for home style Cuban cooking (empanadas, platanos, papas rellenas, fried yucca and more).…

Cuban Music Festival ~ Echo Park

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<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Blending her time in the kitchen as a line cook with her passion for storytelling, Lauren Bethke writes about community, inclusivity and the city she loves the most—Los Angeles.</span></p>


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Lauren Bethke

a sign in the style of a parking sign: "NO I.C.E. PLEASE GET A REAL JOB"

Signage

Who Is L.A.’s Hero Posting Up These Anti-ICE Parking Signs?

<p>Julianne Lê graduated from UCLA in 2025 with a major in English and minor in Asian American Studies. Maybe it&#8217;s because she isn&#8217;t jaded yet, but she is super eager to peek into the overlooked corners of L.A. and write about them. Lê is the former editor-in-chief of UCLA&#8217;s Pacific Ties Newsmagazine and was a finalist for the Associated Collegiate Press&#8217; &#8220;Podcast of the Year&#8221; award in 2024.</p>


Julianne Lê

a collage featuring women, drag queens, and Indigenous art. a woman speaking into a microphone is the central focus. it is a colorful collage with bright purples, blues, red, yellow, and green

Culture

‘If We Don’t Laugh, We’ll Cry’: Meet the Indigenous Activists Behind L.A.’s Chapter House

<p>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.</p>


Hadley Tomicki

Film

L.A.’s Most Iconic Horror Movie Houses and Where To Find Them

<p>Héctor Zaldívar is the head of a print magazine and art/music publication titled Dead Relatives. Completely written and designed by Zaldívar, every month subscribers are mailed in-depth stories on different subcultures from graffiti in Latin America to hardcore punk to lowrider culture and back.</p>


Héctor Zaldívar

How An OG Chicano-Run Tattoo Parlor Doubles as a Secret Art Gallery in a Shifting Neighborhood

<p>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.</p>


Lexis-Olivier Ray

Ozempic billboard photographed from a car on the 101 Freeway.

Featured

Ozempic Sponsoring the L.A. Olympics? Who’s Behind This Billboard In Echo Park?

Gerado Flores shows an L.A. TACO reporter the bloody, golf ball-sized abrasion he sustained after being hit with an LAPD projectile.

News

Street Vendors Injured By LAPD Projectiles While Caught In Crossfire During Dodger Celebrations

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Investigations Newsletter: When Social Media Breaks the News of Your Friend’s Murder

<p><span style="font-size: large"><strong>Dr. Gabriel Buelna</strong> holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Claremont Graduate University and serves as a faculty member in the Chicana/o Studies Department at California State University, Northridge. He is the founder and principal attorney of The Buelna Law Firm, A.P.C., based in South Pasadena, where he focuses on Family and Criminal Law. In addition to his academic and legal work, Dr. Buelna serves as an elected Trustee for the Los Angeles Community College District.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large">Dr. Buelna is <strong>fully bilingual in English and Spanish</strong>, allowing him to effectively serve and advocate for diverse communities across Los Angeles. He can be reached at <strong><a href="mailto:gabriel@buelnalaw.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gabriel@buelnalaw.com</a></strong>. Follow him on TikTok <strong>@TacosAndLaw</strong> or visit <a href="http://www.buelnalaw.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.buelnalaw.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1750964813950000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1Njv5I6LbOH4Mhu0M6otpZ">www.buelnalaw.com</a>.</span></p>
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Gabriel Buelna

<p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-weight: 400">Enrique M. Buelna is a faculty member in the History Department at Cabrillo College. He specializes in Chicano history with an emphasis on class, race, labor, radical activism, civil rights, immigration, culture, and identity. He is the author of Chicano Communists and the Struggle for Social Justice (2019). Dr. Buelna earned his doctorate in history from the University of California, Irvine, and holds an M.A. in Public Administration from the University of Washington, Seattle.  </span></p>


Enrique M. Buelna

Opinion

Final Notice: Democrats Must Abolish ICE If They Win Tomorrow

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<div>Frank Shyong is a freelance journalist who writes the Lunch Box newsletter on Substack, which publishes original reported essays on food, diaspora, and history. He was a reporter and columnist for the <em>L.A. Times</em> for more than 12 years, covering the San Gabriel Valley, AAPI communities, and life in Los Angeles.</div>
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Frank Shyong

Politics

SGV Organizers Step Up to Stop Data Centers By Running Against the Politicians Who Failed Them

<div>Ivan Ehlers is an Ecuadorian-American cartoonist and writer. He is a regular contributor to <i>The New Yorker</i>, <i>MAD Magazine</i> and the <i>Los Angeles Times</i>.</div>
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<div>IG: <a id="m_-8957504711371111195plusReplyChip-0" class="gmail_plusreply"></a>@ivan_ehlers</div>


Ivan Ehlers

Sunday Taquitos #36: The End Is Near

<p>3rd-generation Angeleno Mike Sonksen, aka Mike the PoeT, is a poet, professor, journalist, historian and tour guide. Sonksen’s read poetry at over 100 academic institutions, appeared on radio and television and hosted at the Getty Center. His latest books are <em>Traces, Places, Faces</em> and <em>Poets of My City: A Collective Effervescence</em>. Sonksen was recently appointed the Long Beach Design District&#8217;s first Poet-in-Residence.</p>


Mike Sonksen

"Protect the Water, Revoke the Permits!" rally

Books

Vanguards of Language: Obi Kaufmann, Saul Williams, and the Power of Poetry

Taco Members Only

A Stunning Iranian Bakery From a Former Spago and Lucques Pastry Chef

<p>Former editor of L.A. Taco. I still live in Los Angeles but mainly just hang out at parks and stare off into the distance.</p>


Erich Redson

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Echo Park

<p>Erwin Recinos is a seasoned visual artist with an eye for capturing life as a working commuter aboard public transportation in and around Los Angeles. For 20 years now, Recinos has been documenting the urban landscape, street culture, and Hispanic communities of Los Angeles utilizing his daily routine and the city of Los Angeles as an inspiration. Recinos also works with popular food and event websites such as LATACO.com and Eater LA to capture the cuisine and culture that is so important to the city of Los Angeles and across Southern California.</p>


Erwin Recinos

<p class="p1">An award-winning journalist covering ICE and immigration raids. Host of the Daily Memo. ‘Where Memo Torres Eats’ on Apple Maps. Seen on Netflix, occasionally on KCRW. 3rd-gen landscaper. Proud son of an immigrant. Golden Bear.</p>
