Topline:
A hued twist to traditional Mexican fare brings success to a taquería on 1st Street owned and operated by long-time Boyle Heights resident Yesenia Castro. Say hello to Pink and Boujee.
Come for ... the abundance and creative use of the color pink, which finds its way into every facet of the experience. The food is pretty good, too.
Where is it? 1908 E. 1st St. It's open Tuesdays-Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Walking along the 1st Street Corridor heading East, a bright pink building stands out from all the rest. Its name and tagline — Pink and Boujee, “Not your average taquería” — are sure to get people to look twice.
This story originally appeared in Boyle Heights Beat, which is an LAist partner newsroom.
Once inside, if the smell of tortillas hechas a mano doesn’t grab your attention, then the bright-colored pink brunch foods surely will. The color pink comes from the dragonfruit and beet used to color many of the food items. But the color is not limited to just the food and the outside building. Inside, the restaurant walls, chairs, booths, and decor are all pink.
The concept first went viral on TikTok with more than 800,000 views when it was still a pop-up food truck in the fashion district in May of 2022. Now with a brick and mortar at 1908 1st Street since February, supporters from near and far are showing up.
“I’ve always loved food. It’s been a very important thing for me growing up,” said owner Yesenia Castro. “When I created Pink and Boujee I wanted to create something that represented a little bit of everything.”
For some customers, the pink aesthetic definitely makes a difference.
“It’s a cute experience to just not go to your regular taqueria, and it elevates it,” said Angel Jaelin, a customer visiting from Seattle, Washington.
“I know it might be hard for people to understand,” said Castro. “I think once you really see the beauty of it and the art of even making something pink that still has the rich flavors, it might change your idea once you try it and once you learn about it.”
The restaurant is Mexican and family-owned, which is important to the 28-year-old.
“We work and try our best to bring good quality things while still keeping traditional flavors and still making it look really pretty and presentable,” she said.
I think once you really see the beauty of it and the art of even making something pink that still has the rich flavors, it might change your idea once you try it and once you learn about it.
For customer Keithy Arabella Orellanam, seeing her generation put a twist on traditional foods is exciting.
“The pinkness is the reason I came last week, but the tacos are the reason I came this week,” Orellanam said. “The tacos are the bomb, I’m not even gonna lie.”
The menu has themed names for its dishes, for example, Boujee Chilaquiles, Pink Taco Trio, and Pink Pancakes. Prices range from $10 to $15. The restaurant also serves non-alcoholic mocktail drinks, like virgin mimosas and rosé, along with aguas frescas. Although tacos and alcohol are the usual pair, Castro wants to curate a different and healthier option.
“We had a girl celebrating a bachelorette,” Castro recalled. “I gave her a rundown of what we can and can’t provide, because people usually want to have mimosas and such. She’s like, ‘Oh my god that’s actually perfect because I’m a year sober.’”
Castro didn’t set out to be a restaurant owner. She attended a magnet high school in Downtown Los Angeles focusing on fashion, business, and electronics. While she was excited to do something creative, she found herself pursuing careers like medicine in order to make money.
“I went to medical school, but that didn’t work out,” said Castro. “I ended up being in sales, and that didn’t work out. That’s when I kind of navigated to the business world. I did a little bit of everything I would say, to prepare me for what I’m doing now.”
The pinkness is the reason I came last week, but the tacos are the reason I came this week. The tacos are the bomb, I’m not even gonna lie.
Caroline Salinas, a content creator and a social media strategist, understands that deviating from the status quo is hard and that’s why she supports Latina entrepreneurs where she can.
“I think with our background, we’re taught to chase careers that are typical,” Salinas said. “So whenever I see someone chasing a dream that is risky, I admire that and I want to support it.”
For Salinas, unique takes on traditional food like at Pink and Boujee allows customers to learn about the journey someone took to add flair to these plates.
“There’s beauty to trying the different subcultures within the Latino cultures,” she said. “It’s also been interesting since social media has kind of gotten bigger since the pandemic, it’s really beautiful to realize that Latinos show up. When one is struggling, someone will make a video and people will show up and save them.”
As a DACA recipient growing up in Boyle Heights, Castro is not new to hard challenges. Pink and Boujee has given her hope about what the future can hold.
“We can open doors for other entrepreneurs or other DACA recipients, I just feel like that itself is important,” said Castro. “If I could do that, take up space in the spaces that I have taken up, as an immigrant and DACA recipient, then I know anyone else can do it.”
“To me that is success,” she added. “That is being successful, what you do with your platform and with your power.”
Topline:
The Garfield Bulldogs defeated the Roosevelt Rough Riders 28-24 at the 91st East LA Classic.
Why it matters: The event drew crowds in red and gold, blue and white, all there to cheer on their team and claim Eastside bragging rights.
Check out ... some of the night’s best moments. The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
The fans in the stands. The players on the gridiron. The Friday night lights.
Those were just some of the scenes inside Weingart Stadium, where the Garfield Bulldogs defeated the Roosevelt Rough Riders 28-24 at the 91st East LA Classic.
The event drew crowds in red and gold, blue and white, all there to cheer on their team and claim Eastside bragging rights.
Here are some of the night’s best moments.
The post The best moments from the 91st East LA Classic appeared first on LA Local.
Topline:
The L.A. County District Attorney’s office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez earlier this week. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.
Most serious claims haven’t materialized: Though federal prosecutors made headlines claiming in court documents and on social media that Alvarez was “leading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City,” they have not filed charges related to those claims.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez on Wednesday. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He had served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.
Why Alvarez’s arrest made headlines: Alvarez was working as a city-contracted peace ambassador in MacArthur Park when he was arrested by federal agents in May. Federal and county prosecutors each brought felony charges against him, claiming he was in possession of body armor as a violent felon.
Bill Essayli, who leads the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A., pointed to the case on social media to criticize city officials for allowing taxpayer money to be “shelled out to a convicted gang murderer.”
About his criminal record: Judges in federal and state court have now dismissed prosecutors’ felony charges against Alvarez, after U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang found on Sept. 9 that Alvarez did not have a violent felony conviction. Alvarez was 15 when he committed a gang-related murder. He was tried and convicted as an adult in 2002. After a change in state law increased the age at which minors could be sentenced as adults to 16, Alvarez’s case was sent back to juvenile court, and he was released in 2024. At that point, he had served more than 20 years.
Most serious claims haven’t materialized: Though federal prosecutors made headlines claiming in court documents that Alvarez was “leading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City,” they have not filed charges related to those claims.
Topline:
An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.
The backstory:
Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Eliana Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring. “There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” Pipes said. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”
What's next: ¡Sí Se Puede!’s upcoming free shows are:
An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.
The show's extension had been announced prior to the news that Huerta died Wednesday, Oct. 28., at her Bakersfield home. She was 96 years old.
“There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” said playwright Eliana Pipes. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”
Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring.
The next free, family-friendly shows are:
Topline
There’s a whole world of underground Southern California music history that’s hidden in storage boxes — photos, fliers, cassettes and other memorabilia. Research librarians at the California State University, Los Angeles are holding a community archive event on Nov. 5 to ensure the cultural memory of L.A.’s underground music scenes are preserved for future generations.
Why it matters: The memorabilia are the physical remnants of the supportive L.A. communities built around music and enjoyment. But many of these objects languish out of sight, and run the risk of being lost, along with the memories attached to them.
Why now: For four years, archive staff have held an annual day to receive ephemera from the public. They're doing it again on Thursday, Nov. 5.
Read on… to hear how goth, rockabilly and other underground clubs in L.A. inspired the head archivist.
Right around the year 2000, there was a club night in Hollywood called Clockwork Orange. Fans of The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and other bands came for the DJ’s mix of their favorite songs but also for a vibe that welcomed people regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual and gender identity.
“I was a pretty shy person, and so that was a place where I could sort of be myself and express myself,” said Azalea Camacho, a regular there in those days.
She had just graduated from Workman High School in the City of Industry and was also clubbing at rockabilly music nights in Rosemead and goth club nights in downtown L.A.
Camacho said there was lots of memorabilia from those times, such as photos taken in and outside the clubs, ticket stubs and promotional fliers. They're the physical remnants of those supportive communities built around music and enjoyment, but many of them languish in shoeboxes and storage units, at risk of being lost — along with the memories attached to them.
“I think the danger is maybe those stories are not being told, or people don't know about the story,” she said.
More than two decades later, Camacho is now in a position to make sure those stories are kept alive. She’s head of special collections and archives at the university library at California State University, Los Angeles.
Four years ago, she and library staff created an annual day for area residents to donate or digitize memorabilia for their Sounds of the Underground Archive. This year it's on Thursday, Nov. 5. They’ll accept physical donations, but they’ll also have a scanner to digitize printed material, so people can keep items that are precious to them.
Date: Thursday, Nov. 5
Time: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: Cal State LA Library Community Room, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles
Camacho is hoping this year will bring in a bumper amount of memorabilia. It's taken time to get the word out, she said.
“From the actual community archiving day [we’ve collected] maybe 100 or less than 100 items. … It's not a lot,” she said.
She said they're on the lookout for a wide range of mementos, including:
