L.A. TACO is embarking on its biggest mission yet: to create a reliable taco and food guide for every neighborhood in Los Angeles! Along the way, we will also be releasing brief histories of each neighborhood to understand L.A. a little more and why each and every neighborhood makes our fine city unique. Check out the rest of our history and food guides on our neighborhood page.
Surprisingly few people know that El Monte is a big suburb of 115,000 people. Despite being a majority-Latino and a working class town, it hardly gets the respect it deserves when it comes to tacos.
We had a taco renaissance of sorts in 2020 in El Monte. I dare say the Five Points intersection, between Valley and Garvey, rivaled any taco row in East L.A. or South Central during the height of the pandemic (don’t get mad, foo, you weren’t there). There were vendors who sold churros, regional Mexican snacks, and other miscellaneous trinkets to pandemic-crazed raza. In many ways, it was one of the only forms of socialization in mid-2020.
But before I could try them all, many disappeared like the girl in 7th grade summer camp I never had the guts to talk to, after the city’s code enforcement began to crack down on street vendors, with at least one encounter turning violent.
Not to sound all creido, but I know what I’m talking about when it comes to tacos. Over the years, I’ve eaten tacos or burritos at 35-40 different places in town. I’m that guy. The “Eyy foo, let me know where to find a good taco spot” kind of guy.