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 Long Beach Unified Board of Trustees on Wednesday authorized the school district to end the employment of close to 600 employees, a move the LBUSD says is necessary to stabilize its ballooning deficit.
More details: Board members approved two separate resolutions, the first of which does not renew the contracts of 515 certificated employees, who are on temporary contracts that must be re-upped annually.
Why it matters: Though it is common for the district to choose not to renew some temporary contracts, the non-renewal of hundreds of TK-12 teachers, early childhood education teachers and social workers represents a massive change for the next school year from the current workforce of 10,000 total employees.
Read on... for more about the cuts and what it means to schools in the district.
The Long Beach Unified Board of Trustees on Wednesday authorized the school district to end the employment of close to 600 employees, a move the LBUSD says is necessary to stabilize its ballooning deficit.
Board members approved two separate resolutions, the first of which does not renew the contracts of 515 certificated employees, who are on temporary contracts that must be re-upped annually. Though it is common for the district to choose not to renew some temporary contracts, the non-renewal of hundreds of TK-12 teachers, early childhood education teachers and social workers represents a massive change for the next school year from the current workforce of 10,000 total employees. While schools across the district will feel the cuts, Poly and Jordan high schools may be especially hard hit; 14 and 12 teachers at each site are listed on the district’s document of non-renewals.
The second resolution authorized the district to formally lay off 54 classified district positions: non-teaching staff members ranging from office support staff to instructional and recreation aides to library media assistants to parent liaisons.
The board votes come after months of warnings from the district that costs and spending have outpaced the district’s funding, saddling LBUSD with a $70 million deficit. The district is now attempting to shrink that deficit through a fiscal stabilization plan that “has prioritized preserving core instructional, wellness, and student support services,” the district wrote in an agenda item related to the cuts.
Prior to the vote, Superintendent Jill Baker framed the proposed cuts with the historical context of significant enrollment declines, the expiration of funds following the Great Recession and COVID-19 pandemic that had allowed the district to develop a healthy reserve, uncertain federal and state dollars and low attendance numbers, for which the district is penalized — “a really grave situation, fiscally,” she said, one that many districts across California are grappling with.
Baker walked board members through the significant efforts the district has made to manage costs, saving more than $47 million, including through significant central office reductions. Despite these efforts, it’s still not enough, Baker said.
“The release of temporary certificated contracts is one way of reducing the number of employees without impacting permanent certificated employees,” the district wrote in the agenda item.
For those 515 certificated employees who will be notified that their contracts will end, it’s a way that “the district can get away with letting teachers go without calling it a layoff,” said Peder Larsen, vice president of the Teachers Association of Long Beach, which represents certificated employees in LBUSD.
Some of them could be rehired, especially if their positions are in high demand, like science, math and special education teachers, Larsen said. Yet, it throws hundreds into a tailspin of uncertainty and fear, unsure if their jobs have definitively ended and how long they will have health coverage, he added.
While he said the district has not officially announced that no permanent certificated employees will be cut (they have until March 15 to do so), he said he is “reading the tea leaves” and predicting those permanent positions will be safe this year.
In his comment to the board during public testimony, Larsen advocated for examining the money spent annually on consultants and contracts and urged the board and district to re-examine their priorities and “choose to protect the people who serve students every single day.”
On both votes, School Board Member Maria Isabel López was the lone vote against the resolutions, voicing her opinion that some of these positions could have been saved if fiscal priorities had been different and major contracts had not been approved.
Other board members acknowledged that the votes will change lives. “There’s not one of us in this room that takes this lightly,” said Board President Diana Craighead before voting in favor of the cuts. Board Member Doug Otto said he was voting to adopt the resolutions “sadly, reluctantly and necessarily.”
Topline:
Los Angeles County says it’s filed a lawsuit against Roblox, the online gaming platform popular with children.
The complaint alleges the online environment has become a breeding ground for predators, among other claims.
What is Roblox? Roblox is a popular virtual world where players can make their own games and share them with other users. It markets to children and there are reportedly millions of users under the age of 13, according to the county.
The allegations: The lawsuit alleges that children in L.A. County have been “repeatedly exposed” to sexually explicit content and grooming on the platform. The complaint also claims that the company failed to put in place “effective moderation or age-verification systems.”
“This lawsuit highlights what happens when big tech companies put profits over children’s safety,” Scott Kuhn, assistant county counsel, told LAist.
Roblox response: In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Roblox said they “strongly dispute the claims in this lawsuit and will defend against it vigorously.”
“We take swift action against anyone found to violate our safety rules and work closely with law enforcement to support investigations and help hold bad actors accountable,” the company added.
Topline:
California is home to 36% of the nation’s families with mixed immigration status receiving federal rent assistance. Those 7,190 California households are at risk of losing their housing now that the Trump administration is proposing to exclude mixed-status families from federal housing support.
The context: Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federally funded programs such as Housing Choice Vouchers (also known as Section 8) or units in public housing projects. But citizens living with an undocumented spouse or parent have been allowed to receive such help. Nationwide, about 20,000 mixed-status families receive federal housing subsidies.
The change: The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department released a long-awaited proposed rule change Thursday that would exclude mixed-status families from federal housing assistance. Researchers with UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation note that Los Angeles is home to a disproportionate number of families who could be affected.
Why it matters: “If this rule were to go into effect, these families will just increase the number of folks that are facing housing insecurity or at risk of homelessness,” said Julie Aguilar, a Terner research analyst.
What local governments could do: In an analysis published Thursday, Terner researchers write that state and local governments could ease families through this transition by providing ongoing rental assistance, legal aid or one-time financial aid for moving costs of security deposits.
Topline:
Phil Rosenthal and Nancy Silverton's Larchmont diner, Max & Helen's, became an instant phenomenon, with eight-hour waits and celebrity sightings. Running it are husband-and-wife team Lily Rosenthal Royal (Phil's daughter and creative director) and Mason Royal (director of operations), who are navigating viral fame while trying to build the neighborhood fixture they originally envisioned.
Why now: Four months after opening, Max & Helen's has settled into a rhythm — weekday afternoons feel like a true neighborhood spot, while weekends still draw destination diners from across L.A.
Why it's important: In a city where diners have become increasingly scarce, Max & Helen's represents both nostalgia and community-building. The couple running it are proving that intentional hospitality — from thoughtful seating that sparks conversations to creating a space where everyone feels welcome — can matter as much as the food itself.
It wasn't supposed to be a big deal. After all, it was just a diner.
Sure, Phil Rosenthal (creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and Netflix's Somebody Feed Phil) and Nancy Silverton (owner of Mozza and Chi Spacca) — two of Los Angeles' most iconic food voices — were teaming up on the project. Still, the concept was modest: fluffy scrambled eggs, turkey club sandwiches and coffee refills.
Named in memory of Rosenthal's late parents, Max and Helen — familiar faces to fans of his Netflix series — their unpretentious love of diner classics became both the menu's foundation and its guiding philosophy.
Yet within weeks of opening in November, Max & Helen's had eight-hour waits, viral hot chocolate and celebrity sightings, including Timothée Chalamet, Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez. It came as a shock to the newly married couple running it all, Lily Rosenthal Royal, Phil's daughter and the diner's creative director, and her husband, Mason Royal, the director of operations, who oversees the kitchen. (They started working together a week after their wedding).
"We thought we were gonna be hot for Larchmont," Rosenthal Royal says.
Instead, Max & Helen's became a destination — the kind of place people plan their weekends around, wait four hours for and drive across L.A. to experience.
Rosenthal and Silverton were never going to run Max & Helen's themselves — the plan was always to build it and hand it over. Royal, who has 12 years of restaurant experience, caught Silverton's attention during tastings.
"Nancy was like,'I feel like Mason would be good as the guy running the show,'" Rosenthal Royal said.
The couple had been developing their own pop-up when the opportunity at the diner arose, and suddenly they were running the family business.
For Royal, working with Silverton has been a dream. For Rosenthal Royal, the project is deeply personal — a love letter to her grandparents and the diners her father grew up on.
"We opened it almost selfishly because we live in Larchmont," she said. "We wanted a diner for ourselves, for our friends, for our community."
Rosenthal is clear about their importance.
“Diners are democratic with a small D,” he told me last year when the project was still in development. Places where everyone is welcome, where community can flourish — something he felt was increasingly rare.
The frenzy has now cooled slightly — while weekends still draw four-hour waits, midweek is much calmer.
When I visited with my family on a recent weekday morning, the wait was about 45 minutes. We were seated in the corner banquette area, accompanied by crocheted cushions bearing the name "Max & Helen's." Along with the wood-paneled walls and the black-and-white family photographs, it felt more like a cozy roadside diner you'd stumble upon on a drive up the coast than something nestled among the lifestyle boutiques and specialty stores that crowd Larchmont Boulevard.
The menu was simple, which made ordering easy, with breakfast and lunch options.
I tried Nancy's omelet ($18) with herbs and farmer’s cheese, which was thin and crepe-like, folded perfectly at the edges, and impossibly fluffy, offering bursts of freshness from the herbs.
I was particularly curious to try the waffle, which has been both widely lauded (for its taste) and lambasted (for the $17 price point).
It was transcendent, with golden, crisp ridges and deep pockets built to cradle syrup. Rosenthal Royal told me they use a three-day-fermented sourdough batter, a labor-intensive process that gives the waffle its distinctive texture and flavor.
What truly set it apart, for me at least, was the whipped maple butter: airy and lush, melting into every nook, both indulgent and unexpectedly light.
As for the price — it's a generous portion, and a comparable waffle at Mel's Drive-In in Santa Monica costs $13.50. Apparently, those extra few dollars equal rage bait these days.
I was less impressed with the turkey club ($19), well-cooked bacon, fresh vegetables and a spicy mayo. Nice nods to California diner cuisine. But the bread was a bit thin, without the heft needed to support the rest of the sandwich's company.
Still, the tallow fries ($8) were exceptionally crispy, and the hot chocolate, $9.50, — another viral sensation — was stellar, thick and rich with a brûléed marshmallow on top.
I even took the liberty of dipping a few fries into the chocolate, which turned out to be a genius move.
Royal hasn't taken a day off since opening — a fact his wife is quick to call out with a laugh. Their partnership works because their roles complement each other: His operational rigor meets her's warmth and joy.
"Mason runs a tight ship," Rosenthal Royal said. "But we want this to be warm and fun and lighthearted."
It's that balance — systems and soul — that they hope will define Max & Helen's beyond the viral moments.
The pair hope Max & Helen's becomes an institution like Apple Pan or Musso & Frank — a place where, as Rosenthal Royal put it, "Max and Helen would feel at home, where everyone feels loved and seen and warm."
A man recently came in with a gift, telling Rosenthal Royal he'd met someone at the counter she'd seated him next to. They're now dating.
"If we could have that happen over and over again," she said, "I'd be so happy."
Beyond the diner, Rosenthal Royal is also releasing a children's book this spring, co-written with her father — a fitting parallel to their collaborative work at Max & Helen's. Three months in, they've built something bigger than they imagined. Whether it stands the test of time depends on whether the hype fades into something more enduring: a neighborhood fixture that just happens to make a really good waffle.
