It's with both pride and sadness that we announce today that Daniel Hernandez will be leaving his post as Editor of L.A. TACO. In December of 2017, Daniel and I exchanged a series of phone calls to discuss the media landscape in Los Angeles, and how L.A. TACO was uniquely positioned to pick of the slack left by the changes at LA Weekly and the demise of LAist (before it's resurrection under KPCC). Our vision was to create a true alternative to the city's mainstream news outlets and to cover the real Los Angeles with the type of journalism Daniel has been known for throughout his career—uncompromising, fair, honest, and based in the community we serve.
Daniel's tenure has been incredible. He helped take a beloved local blog and turn it into a respected source of news and information, read daily by those in City Hall and at the local taqueria. His coverage of Los Angeles stands as an example of how to best do local journalism, with both compassion and a critical eye. Never swayed by trends or outside pressure, Daniel remained true to himself and to his mission with every story he wrote. Whether it was a deep dive into Oaxacalifornia or the type of human connections that can happen in every corner of our city. Perhaps most importantly, Daniel has passed on decades of experience in the form of guidance to journalists that he mentored within Team Taco.
I am thrilled to announce that one of those journalists, Javier Cabral, is our new editor. Javier's distinctive voice could only have come from East L.A. and the San Gabriel Valley, but his knowledge and interests span the entire city and globe. Raised on backyard punk, graffiti, and neighborhood wisdom, he has transformed himself into a journalist who cares about his stories more than any other writer I know. Javier cut his teeth as a teenage blogger, became Jonathan Gold's restaurant scout, was the West Coast Editor and Staff Writer at MUNCHIES, has written some of our most popular stories, and recently served as the main taco scout for the "Taco Chronicles" on Netflix, so you could say he's literally the perfect person to take over the reins.
The foundation Daniel has built will allow Javier to grow our audience, dig deeper into L.A.'s underground, and continue to bring our readers the kind of journalism they can only find here.
While Daniel will be leaving us, it's not a hard good-bye. He's still a member of Team Taco and will maintain his connection to the site and the company as Editor Emeritus. It's always hard to lose a journalist of his caliber, but we know that we're in great hands with Javier, and feel the best days are still to come for L.A. TACO.
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