Central Ave. Btwn Alameda Ave. &amp; 1st St. ~ Downtown Los Angeles We asked a tough-looking hombre downtown what he had in his 4:20-scrawled cage and he said &#8220;a rock.&#8221; After a few seconds taking us in, he reached around his neck and pulled this 4-year old rattlesnake from under his rear collar. The man…

Rattlesnake ~ Downtown

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Lizbeth Solorzano is a graduate student pursuing a Master&#8217;s in Specialized Journalism. As a native to Los Angeles, she loves writing stories about arts, culture, and local news. Growing up bilingual, she loved learning about different cultures and stories around L.A.

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Lizbeth Solorzano

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

Tucker Collins stands in front of a gallery wall of framed accolades.

Taco Members Only

A Freshman At USC Got a New Camera For Christmas, Then Lost His Eye To a ‘Less-Lethal’ At a Protest

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.

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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?

Izzy Ramirez is a Los Angeles-based staff reporter with L.A. TACO, documenting immigration enforcement and state power as it unfolds on the ground. Their work centers real-time alerts and long-term public archiving throughout the Southern California region.

Izzy Ramirez

A.k.a. Afroxander; Editor-At-Large (formerly Weekend Editor) at L.A. Taco and a lecturer at San Diego State University. He has covered arts, culture, history, politics, and sports with an emphasis on Latin America and its U.S. diaspora for over two decades.

Ivan Fernandez

Protests

Thousands March on City Hall in Support of Iranian Crown Prince’s Global Day of Action

A Los Angeles police officer stands facing a red, white, and blue mural by the artist Barbara Kruger. The mural asks nine questions: “Who is beyond the law?”, “Who is bought and sold?”, “Who is free to choose?” “Who does the time?”, “Who follows orders?”, “Who Salutes longest?”, “Who prays loudest?”, “Who dies first?” and “Who laughs last?”.

News

LAPD Replaces ‘Less-Lethal’ Gun ‘Known To Maim People’ With Another ‘Less-Lethal’ Gun Capable Of Doing The Exact Same Thing

Professional punk and Editor-In-Chief for James Beard Award-winning L.A. TACO. Associate Producer for JBA-winning Las Crónicas Del Taco. Former restaurant scout for Jonathan Gold. Co-author of &#8220;Oaxaca: Home Cooking From the Heart of Mexico (2019, Abrams) and &#8220;Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling&#8221; (2023, Abrams).

Javier Cabral

Featured

As Protests Raged Around Them, this ‘Banned In L.A.’ Punk Band Played to Hundreds At MDC

Kate Stuzin is a senior at USC majoring in journalism with a minor in law and social justice, currently serving as an assignment desk intern at ABC7 Los Angeles. She creates reels on Instagram @bykatestuzin and reports for Annenberg TV News, covering stories across campus and the greater LA community.

Kate Stuzin

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Drink

No Sign, No Menu, and Alcohol-Free: Inside Downtown L.A.’s Hidden Tea Speakeasy

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

Ivan Ehlers

Comix

Sunday Taquitos #32: Total Recall

Aisha Wallace-Palomares

a drawing of a federal immigration agent behind caution tape

What to Do If a Federal Immigration Agency Kills Your Loved One

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

L.A.’s Best Arepas Find a Permanent Home In Mar Vista

Joey Scott is an investigative journalist and documentary photographer whose work has been featured in Wired, The Guardian, and Los Angeles Public Press. He covers policing, protests, surveillance, and prisons.

Joey Scott

Altadena Residents Haunted By Flock Cameras Installed After Deadly Fire

Sports

Are The Lakers Still L.A.’s Team?

Sam Ribakoff is a reporter, journalism teacher, communicator for labor unions, and a nice guy from Long Beach.

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Sam Ribakoff

a drawing of Karen Bass and Nithya Raman looking at one another

Politics

Who Won Last Night’s Debate Between Nithya Raman and Karen Bass?

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Downtown

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.

Héctor Zaldívar

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