Don’t let the holidays stress you out this year. You got enough to worry about.
Simply take in L.A. TACO’s holiday gift guide and find 23 ideas that anybody would be beyond stoked to get from you, from lowrider carpets and bong candles to cool Virgin jackets and mushroom gummiues.
And then, you know, pour some ponche, put on a necklace of mini Christmas lights, and just fucking chill.
Ho, ho, and ho!
Beyond the Streets has a lot of great gear for gifting from its Estevan Oriol x Teen Angels exhibit. So if this rug styled after Oriol’s own Blue Velvet lowrider doesn’t cut it, maybe something else will. Like a switchblade comb that was practically built to stuff stockings. Or a Teen Angels hoodie. Or a basketball emblazoned with the artist’s famous L.A. fingers sign. Or something else.
“It’s a candle, foo.” “No foo, it’s a bong.” Hey, chill foos, it’s both. Bong Candles are exactly what they sound like, soy wax-filled bongs that you burn from a wick up top. Then once the candle is done, you use the remaining vessel to take bong hits from at seven in the morning before looking at it and saying, “man, I shoulda thought of this.”
You know those people who decry the WWF-style craziness in U.S. politics and the use of violence to solve problems? Definitely don’t buy them this pinata of Donald Trump with tanning booth-style raccoon eyes, crazy hair, and a prison uniform. Or this one that you'll pick up in Mid-City from Amazing Pinatas. But for everyone else…
What? You thought we’d just be out here shouting out everyone else’s stuff? Naw dog. L.A. TACO’s got hats, notebooks, water bottles, coffee mugs, L.A. shirts, and a ton of other cool stuff that anybody you give gifts to will love. That’s why Oprah called them the “must-have items” for the 2024 holidays (in a dream we had once). Or give them an L.A. TACO membership, thereby giving us all a gift. Thanks. You shouldn’t have.
Cholo Writing: Latino Gang Graffiti In Los Angeles is a tome dedicated to the placas, tags, and typefaces established in Southern California that preceded today’s widely embraced graffiti art scene. It was recently re-released in a nice hardcover edition. You can find it at Downtown’s The Last Bookstore for your favorite art lover or freeway bomber.
It's never too early to get your kids getting up. FloMagic's Airbrush and Marker Kits are great entry points that will keep them off the streets, filled with stencils, markers, instructions, and a general vibe that normalizes writing all over things. The stencils feature unicorns and dinosaurs. Their first ACAB is still years away.
Crescent 9 THC Seltzers not only fit perfectly inside a stocking, they come in different strengths for a wide variety of stoners. Mom and other assorted lightweights will dig the 5mg ginger lemonades and tropical seltzers, while get-up-and-go types will enjoy the 10mg cans spiked with caffeine. If you’re getting them for us, though, we prefer the potent cans that come with 50mg of THC each, which come in flavors like raspberry lime, grape lemonade, and sour watermelon. See you in 2029, everybody!
Oaxacan pop-up Xnana sells bottles of its “salsa hoja de los dioses,” made with a base of avocado leaves and chile de arbol, with garlic, and tomatilloes, and coming from the owners’ mom’s recipe, passed down through generations. It’s 1000% better than getting a pair of socks and tastes better on barbacoa than socks do, too. Find it at Cafe Calle in the Central-Alameda neighborhood or holler via DM for pickup or delivery.
Pink Flamingos air fresheners starring Divine. Jurassic Park welcome maps. A Clockwork Orange socks. Movie monster oracle cards. Whatever kind of movie buff you’re giftee is, the Academy Museum Store will have something for them. Action!
Sacred tacos are given their praise in this shirt by our favorite L.A. graphic designer, Tacocidal Tendencies. It also comes with some advice we have dedicated our lives to following: “Eat Tacos.” Now it's your turn to help spread the word, padawan.
The home chef in your life may not consider buying themselves a cazo de cobre (traditional, hand-hammered copper pot) for rendering lush carnitas in their own kitchen. It’s going to take you to come in and give them one. You can find them on Olvera Street, at Northgate’s Mercado Gonzalez, and online. Your intervention will be appreciated.
One gets to a certain age where they don’t want toys or socks or candy. They just want good herb. Go ahead and get them a supply of Don Perico’s vape pens, which come in tropical flavors and are strong AF. In fact, you may want to leave one out for Santa. He can only drink so much milk.
Little Tokyo’s Delinquent Bros. is full of cool L.A.-style shit we love looking at, including hoodies, hats, tees, and tote bags like these, which sport colorful graphics that communicate the sentiment, “my bag could totally take your Trader Joe’s mini-tote in a dark alley.
AfriCali: Recipes From My Jikoni is the first cookbook from L.A.’s own Kiano Moju, featuring over 85 recipes influenced by her Nigerian, Kenyan, and Californian heritage like berbere braised pork tostadas, Swahili chicken biriyani, peri peri butter, cherry tomato kachumbari, and pili pili pineapple margaritas. The book is also filled with Moju’s photos from her African travels and delicious looking things from her home kitchen. Available at Now Serving in Chinatown and online.
The Taylor's Tonics’ Cafe Azteca currently has a waiting list at Galco’s Soda Pop Shop, a legendary emporium of vintage sodas and drinks in Highland Park. If your giftee really has their heart set on it, you’ll sign them up. Otherwise, you’ll just have to make a collection from the shop’s other 500+ beverages, which span the gamut from Soviet-themed Leninade to Fukola Cola.
Don Chamorron is a Michoacan-raised chef whose restaurant burned down in Montebello shortly after opening. While he works to bring it back, you can gift his insanely good salsa macha, made with strips of tortilla chip floating at the top. You can find it at local carnicerías, including Downey’s Carnicería Los Compadres, Montebello’s Carniceria Jarocho, El regalo de Michoacán in East L.A., Xefes Meat Market in Bell, El Milagro in Cudahy, and more, or via DM on Instagram.
Surely you know some people who could benefit from eating mushrooms, rendering their narrow social conditioning rudderless in the face of little blue meanies and tracers. All of which is to say, you can give people like your dad and boss and shit a gift of psilocybin gummies or tea for the holidays from Psilouette. Their dying ego will thank you.
Long Beach’s Cafe Cuate roasts its own, with respect and passion, highlighting beans from Central and South America, including a lighter roast of beans from Be'ena'a communities in Oaxaca and an extended caramelization on its “Las Camelias” beans from Guatemala’s Sur Occidente region. Ah, we love the smell of decolonization in the morning. Order online or stop by the cafe.
Hey punk! Here’s your gift subscription to Razorcake, the world’s only non-profit, bi-monthly punk magazine. Straight outta northeaste Los Angeles! Again, talking to you, punk.
You’ll know intuitively if your partner can pull off Hija De Tu Madre’s Virgencita Tapestry Jacket. If not, they also have amazing jewelry and clothes with a bit more subtlety to them, like these motherland necklaces and La Jefa desk plates.
If you want to gift something special to someone whose style is inspired by L.A.'s punk and goth scenes, you'll want to shop at Yolteotl Creations. The owner, Angie Zuzeth Rojas, creates hand-beaded jewelry that combines her love for the "dark side" and her love culture. Her pieces include spiked necklaces, beaded earrings, and more. She will drop an exclusive line of jewelry just in time for Christmas. Check her Instagram for more details and alerts.
Highland Park’s non-alcoholic De La Playa Records has over 100 N/A wines, plus a full bar serving liquor-less cocktails. So get your homie a gift certificate. They’ll need it after the holidays if they drink. And if they don’t, they’ll totally feel seen. Either way, it’s the fuckin’ thought that counts, right?
