Aliza Daniel, left, and Veronica Daniel, right, have made Black people tacos a central part of their cuisine at home.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Topline:
Black families have for years put their own flavorful spin on the classic Mexican dish, using turkey and certain seasoning to create something unique to the culture.
Why it matters: As Mexican and Black communities lived near each other in big cities in the 50's, the intermingling of cultures led to a new take on the tradition.
Why now: As the next generation comes of age, 'Black Tacos' is having a moment, although Barbara “Sky” Burrell, the owner of Sky’s Gourmet Tacos in Mid City has been cooking that style for more than 30 years. "As years go on…you begin to experiment with this and that, and you understand cultures, and black and brown start coming together,” she says. “We break bread and it's like, ‘oh, these are different and they're good.’”
Growing up in the San Gabriel Valley, Veronica Daniel remembers her mom Aliza making tacos differently than the ones she ate in a traditional Mexican restaurant.
Instead of just piling diced onions, cilantro, meat and freshly made salsa onto two lightly grilled corn tortillas, Aliza had her own approach.
“I didn't really realize that it was so culturally different until I became an adult,” says Daniel, who is now interning with LAist Studios.
#290: Today we're doing one of our favorite thing on HTLA: explore – and eating – LA's rich food scene. Every heard of Black tacos? Or as some people refer to them: Black people tacos? Well, they're a thing, especially in LA, and they are delicious. Think traditional soul food spices and braised meats with all the Mexican fixins' that Angelenos love.
#290: Today we're doing one of our favorite thing on HTLA: explore – and eating – LA's rich food scene. Every heard of Black tacos? Or as some people refer to them: Black people tacos? Well, they're a thing, especially in LA, and they are delicious. Think traditional soul food spices and braised meats with all the Mexican fixins' that Angelenos love.
Daniel’s mom uses ground turkey in her tacos instead of traditional Mexican meats like carne asada or al pastor, and lightly sprinkles an assortment of toppings to her tacos — shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, cheddar cheese, sour cream and, more recently, avocado salsa — inside an juicy, oiled-up corn tortilla shell.
But the key difference is the seasoning. Aliza uses the Trader Joe's version of Lawry’s salt, a blend of salt, herbs and spices, like paprika, that has been a staple in Black households for decades. Plus, she adds cumin.
Aliza Daniel adds shredded lettuce to her signature ground turkey taco.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Aliza moved to Los Angeles from Texas when she was 10 years old with her mom and five siblings, and she recalls her mother making classic soul food dishes growing up.
But once Aliza started her own family in L.A., she tells her daughter she started making tacos in the home. “For me, cooking and making Black tacos was a way of having something healthy for my children, but also something that they could pick from … they could choose what they wanted inside of it,” Aliza explains.
Fixings to make the tacos Veronica Daniel grew up eating.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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Aliza Daniel adds taco seasoning to ground turkey.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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In fact, Black families in cities like L.A, Houston and Chicago have been making these traditional Mexican quick meals in their own unique way since the 1950s, mostly because of the close proximity of Black and Mexican communities. Those in the know affectionately refer to the dish as Black people tacos or, simply, “Black tacos.”
“For me, it's like the culture — it’s how you make it, what you do with it and the spirit behind it,” Aliza says. “I think, especially for African Americans, for us, food … it’s about family. It’s how we all come together. I’m not only cooking for myself, but family and anyone else who walks in that door.”
All about the seasoning
“I think the Black taco really is an intermingling of two cultures that have come together using traditional elements from Mexican food,” explains Debra Freeman, a food anthropologist, “and African Americans are taking some foods that they're renefamiliar with and cooking techniques and putting a spin on it.”
That “spin,” she says, is typically applied to the protein, which could be anything from oxtail to chicken or even sweet potatoes but, like Aliza’s tacos, ground turkey is a typical go-to. The seasoning is also essential. Unlike a traditional Mexican taco where a lot of the flavor and heat comes from the salsa, the meat is what gives a Black taco some kick.
Veronica Daniel and her mom Aliza add fixings to a ground turkey taco.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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“So the emphasis really is on how the meat is seasoned … cayenne, garlic powder, onion, onion powder, and braising the meats instead of searing the meats,” she adds. “That's actually really important.”
“My mom started getting the tortillas and I started makeshifting,” Burrell says. “I would get up to the stove with a chair … and prepare things my folks would never think about eating at the time.”
When she first began to play around with ingredients, she stuffed tacos with foods she knew: baked potatoes, fried chicken, eggs and spices like oregano and cumin.
One favorite recipe includes chicken breasts baked in corn flakes. “Add some good seasoning, strip it up, put in that taco,” she says.
Fusion cooking
Freeman likens the evolution of the Black taco to American barbecue, which has its origins in Virginia with enslaved pit masters.
“There are so many different types of barbecue that spring up as African Americans migrate,” Freeman says. “People kind of have these fusions of barbecue and they're using different ingredients.”
Barbara Burrell, owner of Sky's Gourmet Tacos, prepares her signature shrimp taco.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Sky's Gourmet Tacos has been open on Pico Boulevard since 1992.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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This fusion cooking is at the heart of Black culinary culture in the U.S., Freeman says. As enslaved Africans were forced to do most of the cooking in homes in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was about adapting to a foreign land while trying to preserve traditions from home that had been left behind.
“They are, without knowing it, creating a new cuisine, right? Let's say yams to sweet potatoes … Yams were in West Africa, very prevalent,” says Freeman. “That was not the case in America, but [sweet potatoes were] similar enough that they knew how to prepare it, they knew how to work with it, how to season and flavor it.”
A ‘moment’ for Black Tacos
Freeman acknowledges that Black tacos are having a moment but notes the blend of cultures has happened in various cities over the last several years.
“I think that this has been happening in certain pockets of America in the Black community, but there wasn't necessarily a name for it,” Freeman says. “It was just something that was going on at home, in kitchens and folks were adapting tacos to what ingredients that they enjoyed and preparing it in a way that they were more familiar with.”
The signature shrimp taco at Sky's Gourmet Tacos.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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Sky’s owner Burrell has been at it most of her life, including more than three decades professionally. Long recognized, she says, as the “taco girl,” Burrell has been running her restaurant on Pico for 32 years.
Sky’s tacos are deeply grilled, and include a variety of meats and her special “Sky’s Sassy Sauce.” At her restaurant, you can try the shrimp taco that helped put the eatery on the map, plus salmon tacos, turkey tacos and even filet mignon tacos.
When Burrell finally opened up her own restaurant in 1992, there were definitely skeptics, especially among her Latino neighbors in Mid City. She says she attracted a lot of curious questions as a Black woman selling tacos — and ones stuffed with turkey, no less.
Barbara Burrell welcomes customers to her restaurant.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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“And all of a sudden you've got this taco and it's a turkey taco and you say ‘who eats a turkey taco?,’” she remembers with a laugh.
But after a while, she says, the turkey tacos — and the other varieties — caught on.
“As years go on … you begin to, you know, experiment with this and that, and you understand cultures, and black and brown start coming together,” she says. “We break bread and it's like, ‘oh, these are different and they're good.’”
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story said Aliza Daniel uses Lawry's salt on her tacos. She uses a version of the seasoned salt sold by Trader Joe's
A bald eagle couple has been spotted in Los Angeles County this past week.
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Courtesy L.A. County Dept. of Parks and Recreation
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Topline:
A pair of nesting bald eagles was spotted in Los Angeles County this past week, according to a social media post from the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Why it matters: Nesting bald eagles are a fairly rare sight in Southern California, since they typically nest along the California-Oregon border.
The backstory: The Department of Parks and Recreation did not disclose the location of the birds, and reminded L.A. residents in their post that bald eagles are a federally protected species and disturbing their nests could “disrupt breeding and impact their success.”
What's next: It takes about 35 days for bald eagle eggs to incubate. If the new visitors lay eggs, Los Angeles could have our very own eaglets as early as next month.
A pair of nesting bald eagles was spotted in Los Angeles County this past week, according to a social media post from the Department of Parks and Recreation. (You can check out the full post and video on Instagram.)
The Department of Parks and Recreation did not disclose the exact location of the birds.
Nesting bald eagles are a fairly rare sight in Southern California, since they're more commonly found close to the California-Oregon border.
A look at where bald eagles typically nest.
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Courtesy California Department of Fish and Wildlife
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Of course, there are notable exceptions, including Southern California's most famous bald eagles: Big Bear's Jackie and Shadow, whose yearly attempts at parenthood have become big national news on occasion.
Park officials are reminding everyone that bald eagles are a federally protected species and disturbing their nests could “disrupt breeding and impact their success.”
The history
Bald eagles were once close to extinction in the lower 48 U.S. states. By the early 1970s, there were fewer than 30 pairs in California, all in the northern part of the state. The species has rebounded since being protected under federal and state laws.
What's next
It takes about 35 days for bald eagle eggs to incubate. If the L.A.'s new eagle residents lay eggs, Los Angeles could have our very own eaglets as early as next month.
People walk through a courtyard full of small publishers during LITLIT.
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Los Angeles Review of Books
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Topline:
The free book festival LITLIT celebrates small independent publishers on the West Coast from Seattle to Santa Monica. It’s returning to L.A. the weekend of June 6 and 7.
Why it matters: The “Big Five” major publishers dominate publishing in the country. The literary fair highlights works from small presses on the West Coast.
The backstory: The Los Angeles Review of Books started LITLIT in 2019, to introduce LARB publishing workshop students to the industry; it has since grown into a festival celebrating independent publishers and other local literary arts practices.
Read on... for details on the event.
Held by the Los Angeles Review of Books since 2019, LITLIT, or The Little Literary Fair, started out as a way to introduce students from workshops to the publishing industry.
It has since grown into a gathering of independent West Coast publishers from Seattle to Santa Monica. This year’s iteration on June 6 and 7 is the biggest yet, with more than 50 publishers participating in the event at Sci-Arc in Downtown L.A.
People look through a small library of used books from "A Good Used Book," a Los Angeles based book pop-up, during LITLIT 2024.
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Los Angeles Review of Books
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It’s ‘small’ lit
The fair aims to get the public in front of books that don’t originate from the so-called “Big Five” publishers — behemoths like Penguin Random House and HarperCollins.
The Little Literary Fair Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) 960 E. Third St., Los Angeles Preview day: Friday, June 5, 6 p.m. Full fair: Saturday, June 6, to Sunday, June 7, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Free admission Info and RSVP
“They really get to control what people get to see, and so we hope LITLIT lets people see more of what is out there and what they can support directly,” said Emily VanKoughnett, public programs and engagement director for LARB.
One of VanKoughnett’s favorite independent publishers will be there. Two Lines Press, the publishing arm of San Francisco’s Center for the Art of Translation, deals specifically in translated works.
Two Lines Press, which specializes in translated works, show off their books to attendees of LITLIT.
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Los Angeles Review of Books
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They’ve published authors from across the world, translating books from more than 100 different languages into English.
“ We do our work in quiet rooms, so it's really nice to be able to meet readers and talk to them about what's interesting them. These festivals are really valuable to us in that way,” said CJ Evans, publisher and editor-in-chief of Two Lines.
Pressed locally
Local favorite Angel City Press, which operates under the auspices of L.A. Public Library, will also be there with one of their newly published titles, Los Angeles Central Library POPS, that celebrates 100 years of the Central Library.
People at LITLIT 2024 look through different small presses.
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Los Angeles Review of Books
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You’ll also find LA-based Errant Press, which specializes in books that break the traditional form — like a poem printed on measuring tape or a matchbox sized poetry collection.
“It’s really cool to see the kinds of risks that people are able to take, the kinds of communities they’re able to serve and really highlight here on the West Coast,” said Irene Yoon, executive director of LARB.
Panels, printing presses, and workshops
The two-day fair also hosts various panels and workshops, including one on the art of comedic writing and another on how to tell the stories of Los Angeles through archival materials.
“This is, I think, the most panels we've ever done,” VanKoughnett said.
People sit down for a panel discussion at LITLIT 2024.
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Los Angeles Review of Books
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Workshops on how to navigate the literary world with a completed manuscript and making your own comics and zines are also on the itinerary.
“It's not until we're all in the same room with all our best books literally out on the table that you get to see kind of what a phenomenal publishing culture Los Angeles truly has,” said Terri Accomazzo, editorial director of Angel City Press.
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Josie Huang
is a reporter and Weekend Edition host who spotlights the people and places at the heart of our region.
Published May 31, 2026 5:00 AM
Stephanie Trujillo and her mother Linda Alashti have co-owned Wet Paws since 2023.
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Josie Huang
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LAist
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Topline:
After the Eaton Fire displaced most of its customers, Altadena pet groomer Wet Paws faced a June 1 deadline to decide whether to renew its lease. A social media plea sparked an outpouring of community support.
The backstory: Wet Paws estimates its lost up to 90% of its customer base after the fire, leaving it struggling to stay afloat.
What's next: The business has decided to renew its lease banking on Altadena's recovery and more customers returning to the area.
Running a small business is tough under normal circumstances. Running one in a wildfire burn scar can feel nearly impossible.
That's the reality many Altadena business owners are still navigating nearly a year and a half after the Eaton Fire destroyed the community and the local economy. Businesses are grappling with how do you stay open when so many of your customers are gone?
At Wet Paws, a pet grooming business along Lake Avenue, that question recently came to a head.
The shop reopened in January but business remained slow. Wet Paws co-owner Stephanie Trujillo estimates the fire had displaced up to 90% of their customers.
Marley, a Cane Corso from Pasadena, went for her first grooming session at Wet Paws in more than a year.
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Josie Huang
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Then came a conversation with their landlord several months ago that forced a decision.
"He reached out and said, 'Are you going to re-sign your lease?'" Trujillo recalled.
The answer wasn't obvious.
Marketing Lab+ Los Angeles County has launched a program offering free marketing assistance and storefront improvements to eligible Altadena businesses. The deadline to apply is June 8.
"I said, unfortunately, we're not even making it. We're paying out of our own pocket," she said. "So he said, 'I'll give you until June 1.'"
The deadline meant Trujillo and her mother, Linda Alashti, who have owned the business together since 2023, had only a few months to figure out whether Wet Paws had a future in Altadena.
Wet Paws is hardly alone. As businesses struggle, Los Angeles County recently launched a programoffering free marketing assistance and storefront improvements to fire-affected businesses. The deadline to apply is June 8.
A flag banner and sandwich board on the sidewalk outside Wet Paws advertises its services.
But relief has not arrived quickly enough for many businesses.
One particularly slow April Sunday at Wet Paws drove home how dire the situation had become, when they had only one customer.
As she drove home to Fontana, Trujillo began composing a social media post.
"So this isn't easy for us to share," the post began, "but I wanted to reach out with an open heart and hope."
In the message, Trujillo asked the community to book appointments and spread the word to help their business survive.
Before posting it, Trujillo showed it to her mother.
Wet Paws groomer Elizabeth Ranes takes care of a basset hound client.
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Josie Huang
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"We're very prideful, and it's very hard to ask people for help," she said. "I felt embarrassed that we had to ask the community for help."
Her mother's advice was simple. "Just post it," she told her. "The worst that's going to happen is nobody sees it or nobody cares."
Instead, the opposite happened. By the next day, the post had been viewed and shared hundreds of times across Instagram and Facebook.
The phone started ringing, said Wet Paws groomer Elizabeth Ranes.
"I got well over 50 calls," Ranes said. "We booked out for the last three weeks of the month when we made that post.”
Customers told Alashti that they “didn't know you were back, because they don't come this way anymore.”
Decor inside Wet Paws embraces a playful canine motif.
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Josie Huang
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Among those who returned was Penny Dahlstrom, a Pasadena resident whose 113-pound Cane Corso Marley had been a Wet Paws regular before the fire.
Dahlstrom had tried taking Marley to a large pet store chain while Wet Paws was closed.
"My husband went in to pick her up, and he hears crying, and it was her," Dahlstrom said. "That's not just her nature."
The social media appeal didn't just bring back former customers. It also introduced the business to new ones, Trujillo said.
But recovery remains uneven.
Some days are still slow. And the shop continues to deal with lingering fire-related electrical damage in the back of the building.
Wet Paws is operating on a temporary electrical system, limiting how much power it can use at any given time.
"If we run our AC, and the neighbors run their AC, we lose power," Trujillo said.
As the June 1 lease deadline approached, Trujillo and her mother weighed their options. They could walk away and cut their losses. Or they could commit to rebuilding alongside a community they had come to love.
Ultimately, they thought about the response to their post and the customers who had shown up when the business needed them most. And they had faith that Altadena would rebuild to its full strength.
They chose to renew the lease for another three years.
"I can't imagine what the community is going through, losing their homes and losing everything that they had," Trujillo said. "Yet they're still coming back."
And as long as they do, she said Wet Paws will be there for them and their fur babies.
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published May 31, 2026 5:00 AM
Mural by Geoff McFetridge.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Topline:
A collective of artists has painted more than 70 murals across seven elementary schools in and around Los Angeles to bring art to students in under-resourced communities.
Why now: The collective just wrapped up their latest murals at Breed Street Elementary in Boyle Heights.
The backstory: The idea to paint murals at schools came from Erik Caruso, a fifth grade teacher in Paramount, after he found out that many of his students had never been to an art museum.
On a recent Monday, students at Breed Street Elementary in Boyle Heights started their day like no other — with a tour of the murals hand-painted over the weekend across the playground.
It’s the latest of seven elementary schools in and around L.A. to get the treatment. Over 70 murals in the last 13 years, brought by a collective of artists to students in under-resourced neighborhoods with little access to art education.
“The kids were so excited,” said Stefanie Barbee, a math teacher at Breed. “Just pure joy.”
The students snaked through the paintings on handball courts and school walls: cartoon animals, bright orange flowers, a circle of meticulously painted lines. The works span genres and sensibilities.
Mural by artist hi-dutch.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Operation Creative Freedom
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“It's grassroots. We're not getting money from anyone,” said Erik Caruso, the fifth grade teacher in Paramount who's the group glue. To them, they are just an assembly of like-minded friends — and friends of friends — who spend one weekend out of the year hanging out and painting murals for school kids.
But the collective is anything but typical. It includes artists like the late Rich Jacobs, who died from leukemia this year; Tim Kerr; pro skater Ray Barbee; and Japanese artists Yusuke Hanai and hi-dutch. The vibe's always low-key, and somehow they've managed to stay under the radar.
Mural by artist Yusuke Hanai.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Mural by artist Yusuke Hanai.
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Sandy Yang / James Hamblin
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“The kids have no idea that they show in huge galleries or have pieces hanging in museums,” said writer Martin Wong, co-founder of the pioneering Asian pop culture magazine Giant Robot. "Or they're famous in the skateboarding scene or surf or music."
Their reward is the Monday morning after, seeing the happiness on the kids’ faces.
“The artists are waiting all weekend — it’s that moment,” Caruso said.
Mural by artists Sandy Yang and James Hamblin.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Operation Creative Freedom
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James Hamblin was at Breed for the meet-and-greet earlier this month. He painted a mural designed by his partner Sandy Yang on one of the handball walls.
“Sandy's design is pretty abstract, so it was interesting because the kids were [asking], you know, ‘ What is it?’” Hamblin said. “It was great because I could tell them I had no idea and like, ‘What do you guys think it is?’"
Bring the art museum to the school
Erik Caruso.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Operation Creative Freedom
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The idea came to Caruso in 2011, after he took about two dozen students from his Paramount school to MOCA and discovered that only four had ever been to an art museum.
“I wonder if there's a way we can bring the art museum to the school,” he said.
Caruso, a 24-year veteran, was no stranger to bringing art — and artists — directly to his students. In 2009, he launched a monthly art project for fifth graders that culminated in a year-end show where they met and shared work with living contemporary artists.
Caruso's 5th grade art project, featuring works by artist Tim Kerr.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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The murals were next.
They painted their first ones at his school in 2012. Soon, the project expanded to the rest of Los Angeles.
Crew at work
Mural by artist Chris Johanson.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Mural by artist Chris Johanson.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Operation Creative Freedom
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The painting takes place between Friday and Sunday, but planning takes months.
At Breed, the connection was made through math teacher Barbee — wife of Ray — who is on a two-year stint at the Boyle Heights school to help students catch up on the subject.
“I had sort of planted that seed that at some point I would love for a school I was working at to be the recipient of the beautiful work,” she said.
Breed Street Elementary in Boyle Heights.
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Sandy Yang / James Hamblin
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She brought Caruso out for a site visit last September.
“He has a really amazing kind of vision about where to place the artists … based on just their artwork and where it is in relation to the street view,” Barbee said.
Next came an introduction to the principal and the approval process.
“One of the biggest challenges with what we are doing is, you know, they want flipping dolphins and stuff like that,” Caruso said. “But we want to cross over into fine art pieces.”
Mural by artists Lookout & Wonderland.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Mural by artists Lookout & Wonderland.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Paying it forward
Caruso estimated that as many as 40 artists and musicians have joined the effort.
The core group now, he said, is about 11 people, and friends and families often tag along to help out, given they have just 16 hours over three days to finish the job.
Mural by artist Oitama.
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Sandy Yang / James Hamblin
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Mural by artist Lori Damiano.
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Operation Creative Freedom
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Among the regulars: Wong and his wife, Wendy Lau, who once organized DIY punk shows to fund music education at their daughter's Chinatown school. In Caruso, they saw a kindred spirit.
Caruso later brought the collective to paint at that school and eventually invited their daughter, Linda Lindas bassist Eloise Wong, to join his fifth grade art and music project.
“All of these kids on the blacktop were all just screaming their hearts out,” Eloise said. “It's cool how Erik — Mr. Caruso to them — shows them, like, raw ways to express themselves through cool art.”
