The Brief

If you have lunch at Follow Your Heart vegan cafe on Sherman Way in Canoga Park, you may see a friendly-looking guy hovering around. He’s there for a few hours every day, doing a little bit of everything.

“It’s kind of my job to eat different things on the menu to ensure consistency. One cook teaches another cook and recipes totally change.”

Take note — that man is not just the food taster. He’s Bob Goldberg, now a wise elder to the vegan food scene in Los Angeles. He began Follow Your Heart with friends in 1970, as a vegetarian hippie hangout in the valley.

Bob Goldberg and his partners

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Courtesy Follow Your Heart

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Today, more than 50 years later, it’s a vegan grocery store and diner, with a college town food co-op vibe, selling plant-based diner food: sandwiches, pot pies, chili cheese fries. And even more importantly, Goldberg has had a massive impact on plant-based eating, creating Vegenaise and starting the Follow Your Heart and Earth Island brands.

The Follow Your Heart cafe first started as a juice bar in the back of Johnny Weissmuller’s American Natural Foods on Owensmouth. Weissmuller was an Olympic gold medalist and star of the Tarzan movies.

In 1973, Goldberg, along with partners Paul Lewin, Spencer Windbiel and Michael Besançon, bought out the market, and got rid of all the meat and dairy products.

“When we first started, this strip was still Antique Row — we’d get thrifted plates from the Salvation Army,” he remembers.

The place soon attracted a loyal following, with people traveling long distances to the West Valley, because back then, as Goldberg says, "vegetarian places were few and far between."

By 1976, they outgrew the store and moved into a former butcher shop, which is the current Sherman Way location.

Questioning authority

"I grew up in a family of grocers,” says Goldberg. His grandfather Sam Kapitanoff opened Crystal Foods shortly after the turn of the century when he arrived in Beloit, Wisconsin from Eastern Europe — “very New Agey name,” he laughs. He’d visit the store as a kid with his parents from Chicago, an hour-and-a-half away.

The other side of Goldberg’s family was in the model airplane kits industry. In those days, Carl Goldberg Products was a hugely inspiring company for would-be aeronautical engineers. However, model planes later fell out of popularity in the 70's with the emergence of the space program. “I was a national champion as a child,” he says with a smile.

Chef Proof Fujiyama-Ahira and owner Bob Goldberg at Follow Your Heart Market & Cafe in Canoga Park.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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In 1967, Goldberg got drafted into the army. Initially, he thought he’d have to travel overseas, but he received a last minute change of orders to join the Army Band. (Goldberg had played trumpet since he was 10 and studied music at Indiana University).

Goldberg says he wasn’t yet critical of the war in Vietnam. “It was a bad time — a turbulent time. But I was on board for everything. I didn't question authority ... that came later.”

In the barracks he was assigned to a room with one other guy who had the "opposite of my background.” He’d been in trouble with the law and a judge had given him the choice to go to jail or enlist. His barrack-mate showed him something rolled up in aluminum foil — he didn't know what it was. "I'd never seen marijuana,” he says. They went into a closet and got high.

A moment later Bob remembers sitting down on his bed and thinking “‘Everything I know was wrong’ — it just hit me. I remember an overwhelming feeling that I'd been lied to.”

In the Army Band he’d travel to midwestern states playing “a lot of parades,” Bob pauses, “but also Taps at a lot of funerals.” This experience made him see the impact of what war can do, which led to his embrace of meat-less eating.

“I became vegetarian for moral reasons. I was against unnecessary killing. And sometimes the practice of killing animals can lead to the killing of people.”

Out of the Army, in 1969, Goldberg drove across the country to Los Angeles. He spent the first few weeks on a buddy’s couch in Woodland Hills before finding a place up the street from Johnny Weissmuller’s.

Goldberg was glad to find somewhere he could get camaraderie and vegetarian food. “I was meeting my people and getting an education in living in a more peaceful way.”

A promotional image for Vegenaise that shows the product when it was first introduced in wide release in 1995.

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Courtesy Follow Your Heart

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The birth of Vegenaise

Their customers included many seeking a more spiritual parth, and would suggest books, which they’d sell in the corner of the shop. The Whole Earth Catalog, books on environmentalism or eastern philosophy, Hindu- buddhism, the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Michael Besançon was a follower of a guru whose followers’ culinary practice excluded meat, fowl, and eggs (though dairy was okay). So the menu at Follow Your Heart applied that approach to their familiar diner fare.

But they wanted to serve that part of the community that didn’t eat eggs. And without mayonnaise, the cafe’s sandwiches were less than appealing. “They still needed a lube," laughs Goldberg.

So they set about finding a mayo alternative. They went through lots of options before stumbling upon a guy who’d created a product called “Lecinaise” which was supposedly an egg-free substance made from lecithin, which helped emulsify lipids.

They began using it in the restaurant. But a few months later they started hearing that there were actually eggs in this “Lecinaise.” Eventually, Goldberg says “the guy got busted by the California Department of Food and Agriculture — he was soaking jars of regular mayonnaise to get the labels off and then putting his own label on top!”

The fried chicken sandwich from Follow Your Heart Market & Cafe in Canoga Park.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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The sprouts sandwich love plate, fried chicken, reuben and club sandwiches from Follow Your Heart Market & Cafe in Canoga Park.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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They immediately had to look for other options. But when they approached food manufacturers, they were told an egg-free mayo alternative wasn’t possible.

So Goldberg started experimenting. What could be a good plant-based solution? He tried mixing various oils and fats trying to find the best way to make them cohere. “It took a lot of trials, my whole fridge [was] full of various stages,” he says.

He finally came up with the answer in a dream. “I bolted up, and then sat in bed, waiting two hours for light — then mixed tofu scraps in a blender and combined them with oil,” he says, which gave the consistency he was looking for. Eventually they replaced the tofu with isolated soy proteins — and began making it themselves, as Vegenaise.

“We didn’t want to be a manufacturer, but that became the only option,” he says.

It was so popular that in 1988, Follow Your Heart started a manufacturing division, Earth Island, which expanded from Vegenaise into other plant- based products like salad dressings, dips, and cheeses.

It was highly successful — but around that time the original Follow Your Heart partnership started to dissolve. Goldberg says “we all wanted to do different things. Like many bands we broke up. We lasted about as long as The Beatles.”

Goldberg and Lewin bought out their other partners. Goldberg says “Spencer went into early retirement, and Michael went on to become an executive at Whole Foods.”

Vegetarian to vegan

At that time Follow Your Heart and their Earth Island products were vegetarian, which meant they made some dairy products in their factories.

But when they started making white label products for Trader Joe’s, they were forced to wrestle with whether to go vegan. Trader Joe’s Caesar and Blue Cheese salad dressings had been made with a plant-based rennet. But when that became unavailable, they faced a choice.

"I wasn't comfortable with the company using a natural rennet — the enzyme used to coagulate cheese — from the intestine of a baby cow when the vegan one ran out,” he says.

They ultimately decided to give up that part of the business, and became completely plant-based. “I wasn't willing to be involved in the slaughter of animals.”

He says they walked away from millions. "We saw a short-term drop in sales, but eventually it paid off.”

Goldberg spent nearly 30 years building Earth Island. In that time, their products became available at grocery stores across the country and around the world. Their offerings helped spread the ubiquity of plant-based eating to a new generation that could now more easily access vegan food.

In 2020, Bob's long-time friend and business partner, Paul Lewin, unexpectedly passed away. "His passing was a big part of why I was ready to close that chapter of my life" says Goldberg "as it was something that we had done together for 50 years, and without him, it just wasn’t the same". So in 2021, he sold Earth Island for an undisclosed amount to French food-product corporation Danone, famous for their yogurt, who also had a dairy-free division, including the plant-based milk alternative, Silk.

At the time, Goldberg felt like he had spent enough time at the factory. “It was a good thing — but it was just so big,” he says. “I wasn’t having as much fun as the first ten years with the four partners behind the bar. I didn’t know everyone on the staff anymore. I didn’t know our customers, it was all big grocers. It wasn’t the same personal experience.”

Part of the sale required Bob to stay on at Earth Island/Danone for an extra year to help the transition, but now Bob is back where it all started at Follow Your Heart in Canoga Park.

He still has an eye to the future, seeing trends and wanting to be part of them.

"I have a sense, and a vision that Canoga Park is beginning a real renaissance of development, with the Rams building a training facility and Warner 2035. If you look around, this was an almost affordable area. Over the next twenty years it's gonna be very much in demand. We’re hanging in there — we want to be a part of the next phase.”

Diners eat in the cafe at Follow Your Heart Market & Cafe in Canoga Park.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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They own the building across the parking lot, which still says “Mr Jack’s Wig Shop” (which was never actually a business, just the set design from the movie Licorice Pizza).

In that space they are going to build out a bakery and a coffee roaster. “We still have our wholesale bakery — but we want to get into the retail side,” says Goldberg.

When I visited Follow Your Heart to interview Goldberg recently, we had a lunch of plant-based Reubens. Afterwards, he gave me a copy of his 2020 book “The Vegenaise Cookbook, Great Food That’s Vegan, Too” and signed it “To Josh my great new friend. Integrity is the answer.”

For Goldberg, integrity means “making sure that one’s actions are congruent with one’s beliefs. That you are living in your truth. And when you aren’t, those relationships get fractured. Integrity is what makes things cohere.”

Kinda like Vegenaise.

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on Feb. 17, 2026.

Have you been wanting to join a running or walking club on the Eastside but don’t know where to start?

For many people, run clubs can feel intimidating, especially if you’re new to running or getting back into movement. But Eastside crews offer more than just miles, there’s also community.

Whether you’re training for your next marathon, keeping it to a no-frills walk, or simply looking to meet new people, Boyle Heights, East L.A. and other neighboring communities have options.

Here are the local run and walk clubs on the Eastside you can be a part of, almost every day of the week.

Boyle Heights

Cafecito Runners

The Cafecito Runners was founded by community members in February 2025 to create a safe space in Boyle Heights for those who share a love for movement and are “committed to collective care, joy and social justice.” Participants can enjoy a free cafecito after their monthly Sunday runs at Picaresca.

Boyle Heights Walking Club

The Boyle Heights Walking Club is a family-friendly neighborhood walk that brings the community together. The group also emphasizes the importance of standing up for their community and spreading “Know Your Rights” information during their walks.

Boyle Heights Bridge Runners

The Boyle Heights Bridge runners gather at Mariachi Plaza to celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2023.

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Jennifer Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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The Boyle Heights Bridge Runners have been part of the community for more than 12 years. What began as a small group of local runners has grown into a community of more than 50 members. Their route starts at the corner of 1st Street and Boyle Avenue at Mariachi Plaza and crosses the Sixth Street Bridge. They offer both 2- and 3-mile running groups

East LA

East LA Runners

The East LA Runners have been around the community for over eight years. They strive to be “a positive, safe space for community friendships, support, safety, and running,” according to their Instagram. Parking is available in the East L.A. Civic Center lot. Runners of all paces are welcome.

East LA Walking Club

East LA Walking Club founder Brissa Sanchez (right) says that the banner she carries on walks has prompted other pedestrians to join the group mid-route.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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The East LA Walking Club launched last year and meets weekly on Wednesdays with a new walking route every month. At the beginning of each month, a new route is posted on their Instagram account. Expect to walk about 45 minutes to an hour, covering roughly 2 miles.

323 Runners

The iconic El Pino tree serves as the home base for the 323 Runners, who started their club in 2024. They offer a 4-mile run or a 2-mile walk, and runners of all ages and paces, including fur babies, are welcome.

El Sereno

El Sereno Runners

The El Sereno Runners started in June 2025 “to provide an opportunity for runners in El Sereno to connect” after organizers noticed their neighborhood didn’t have a running club. They run 4.5 miles around El Sereno but also offer a 3-mile option for beginners or people who enjoy a walk/run mix.

El Sereno Walking Club

The El Sereno Walking Club launched earlier this year with the goal of helping people “build community through movement.” The club also supports local businesses. At a recent walk, Raiz Pressed Juice provided wellness shots. All ages and paces are welcome.

Around the Eastside

Running Mamis

Running Mamis runners reach the finish line after a run at L.A. State Historic Park on March 8, 2025.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Running Mamis was created in 2018 to offer a safe space for mothers and women on the Eastside. They organize activities such as short-distance runs, self-care activities and full marathon training. Side note: You don’t have to be a mom to join!

California Democrats this weekend in San Francisco have an opportunity to set the tone in a pivotal election year when their voters could decide control of the U.S. House.

As Democrats across the country push to harness dissatisfaction with the Trump administration into a transformative November midterm, all eyes are on the nation’s largest state party as it chooses who to support in California’s June primary.

Party leaders are riding high after voters backed Proposition 50, the ballot measure to gerrymander congressional districts in favor of Democrats. The three-day gathering gives it an early opportunity to build on that momentum for the upcoming elections.

The state’s marquee race this year is the one to succeed outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom, a national Democratic star with presidential aspirations who terms out at the end of this year. But don’t expect a rousing party endorsement there: With nearly 10 candidates, it’s unlikely any of them will attract enough of the 3,500 expected Democratic delegates to secure the nod. Newsom himself won’t attend, a spokesperson said.

Instead, one of the biggest questions will be whether California Democrats continue to anoint establishment candidates — those with backing from elected party leaders, high-dollar donors and powerful lobbying groups — or if political newcomers can convert their grassroots support from the party into actual endorsements.

For years, young Democrats in particular have urged the party to embrace bolder, more progressive ideas such as universal health coverage, tuition-free college, banning the sale of arms to Israel and eschewing the Democratic Party’s longstanding deference to seniority and incumbency through term limits. The brashness of the second Trump administration has given new urgency to those demands as the Democratic base tires of what activists call a milquetoast “radical civility” approach.

“The fact that we’re in a national emergency means there’s no time for incrementalism or moderation,” said Heidi Hall, a Nevada County supervisor and the first Democrat to announce she is challenging incumbent GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley to represent a competitive district east of Sacramento.

“Any Democrat in office who’s not willing to fight this hard should get out, should step aside and let someone else in who is going to fight it,” Hall said. “Or they’re going to be complicit in what’s happening.”

Kiley has since said he will run for Congress again, but not in his current district, which has changed dramatically since the passage of Prop. 50.

Early signs suggest there’s at least some appetite for new blood in California’s overwhelmingly Democratic congressional delegation of 52 members. In January, local delegates blocked five sitting Democratic congressmembers — Reps. Ami Bera, John Garamendi, Doris Matsui, Brad Sherman and Mike Thompson — from securing endorsements that incumbents typically receive by default. Those members instead have had to court delegates to earn the party’s nod as they face challenges from further left-leaning, and mostly younger, candidates.

And while Thompson, Garamendi and Sherman were able to amass enough support from local delegates in a pre-convention endorsement vote, Matsui must continue seeking support at the convention. Bera was iced out of an endorsement entirely since he was unable to secure even a simple majority of votes from delegates in his district.

“People on the ground are tired of insider politics like this,” Hall said. “They want to be heard and they want the opportunity to choose the candidate they want.”

Hall’s team spent more than a month calling delegates and gathering petition signatures to deny Bera an automatic endorsement. She criticized the seven-term congressman from Elk Grove, who represents the Sacramento-based 6th Congressional District, for jumping into the race in the neighboring 3rd District where she is running after the new Prop. 50 maps made the seat far more favorable to Democrats.

In a preliminary endorsement vote, Hall placed third behind Bera and fellow grassroots candidate Chris Bennett, who also switched districts in November.

Another endorsement fight to watch is in the 22nd Congressional District, where two Central Valley Democrats have embraced different tactics to win swing votes as they vie for the chance to topple incumbent GOP Rep. David Valadao, a top target for Democrats nationally this cycle.

Randy Villegas, a community college professor, Visalia school board trustee and political newcomer, is hoping to win his party’s endorsement over establishment-favorite Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, who is endorsed by the powerful Service Employees International Union of California.

Villegas is campaigning on the economic populist message popularized by progressives such as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, while Bains, a physician from Kern County, portrays herself as a moderate “Valleycrat” who isn’t afraid to buck party leadership.

Winning the party endorsement over the incumbent or establishment favorite will still be an uphill battle, said Mai Vang, the progressive Sacramento city council member challenging Rep. Matsui in the 7th Congressional District. To her, the party’s endorsements signify more than just an infusion of campaign money and volunteer door-knockers.

“It’s about the future of this country and what kind of Democratic Party we want to be moving forward,” Vang said. “In this moment, we have to ask ourselves, ‘What type of leaders do we want to send to the halls of Congress to fight this authoritarian administration?’”

Who will Democrats support for governor?

One race in which there will almost certainly be no endorsement is the wide-open governor’s race.

It’s typically hard to secure the party’s endorsement in any race without an incumbent, requiring a candidate to get 60% of delegates’ votes. This weekend, a whopping eight Democrats running for governor will give speeches before delegates on Saturday — and that doesn’t even include all the Democrats in the race.

Those vying for the endorsement include former Rep. Katie Porter, a consumer attorney who made her name in Congress challenging corporate executives; Rep. Eric Swalwell, a former prosecutor known for playing a role in the second Trump impeachment; and the self-funding billionaire Tom Steyer, who has poured some of his hedge fund-gained wealth into environmental activism.

Lagging them in campaign cash and polls are former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, former state Controller Betty Yee, state public schools chief Tony Thurmond and former Assemblymember Ian Calderon.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was the latest to enter the race last month, missing a party deadline to seek the endorsement. But the moderate, who is not well known outside of the Bay Area, has quickly raised millions of dollars in campaign donations from tech executives like Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, making him a formidable opponent. 

Still, all the candidates will work the crowds this weekend. The gathering, which will feature both official work like voter registration training and boozy schmooze-fests hosted by interest groups and campaigns, represents the highest concentration of the most active party loyalists in the state. It’s a chance for the candidates to win the attention of potential organizers, volunteers and benefactors.

Failing to secure a sizable number of delegates could ramp up pressure on some candidates to drop out, as poll after poll points to the wide field of Democrats splitting voters’ support and putting Republicans in the apparent lead. In California’s top-two primary, the two candidates who receive the most votes move on to the general election, regardless of party, leading some Democrats to be anxious that two Republicans could advance.

For months, polling has shown the top two Republican candidates, former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, besting most Democrats. In the latest poll by Emerson College, published Wednesday, the top-polling Democrat was Swalwell, with 14% of likely voters supporting him. He was sandwiched between top-polling Hilton and Bianco, meaning the three are statistically tied. No other Democrat got more than 10% of surveyed voters’ support.

Party Chair Rusty Hicks dismissed the concerns that there are too many little-known Democrats in the race, and would not say whether he or the party would intervene to prompt candidates to drop out and consolidate support.

“I’m committed to doing what’s required to ensure we win in November of 2026, period,” he said. “The reality is, by the time you get to the end of March and beginning of April, you’re likely to see the field naturally thin itself out.”

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a fiery warning to what he called the “billionaire class” at a rally Wednesday in Los Angeles in support of a tax initiative that would target California’s wealthiest residents.

“The billionaire class no longer sees itself as part of American society,” said the Vermont independent, who won the 2020 California Democratic presidential primary by 8 percentage points over former President Joe Biden. “They see themselves as something separate and apart, like the oligarchs of the 18th Century, the kings and the queens and the czars, they believe they have the divine right to rule and are no longer subject to democratic governance.”

The proposed November initiative would tax the 2025 net worth of billionaires residing in California by 5%, allowing them to pay off the tax over five years. The revenue would go into a special fund with 90% reserved for health care and 10% reserved for K-12 education.

Instead of targeting income, like most taxes, this one aims at individuals’ collected wealth.

“They’re saying there’s nothing you can do about it. Well, we’ve got some bad news for them, starting right here in California,” Sanders told the L.A. crowd.

He said California’s richest people are preparing to spend heavily to defeat the initiative, and voters should be ready for deceptive messaging.

“Their ads will not be saying, ‘We are billionaires, we want it all, please vote down this referendum,’” Sanders said to laughs from the crowd at The Wiltern theater. “What they are saying is, ‘If you stand up to us, we are gonna punish you.’”

Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West and St. John’s Community Health in Los Angeles, the sponsors of the proposal, are gathering signatures to place the measure on the ballot in November amid opposition from some other unions.

It’s also a risky proposition for Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run and needs the support of the deep pockets in Silicon Valley, to whom he has been close for years. He and the leading Democrats who are running to replace him have come out against the tax as part of a larger opposition push expected to ramp up in the coming weeks. They argue that they support making wealthy people pay more, but this specific measure would drive billionaires out of California.

That pushback will now also include Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, who pledged to introduce a bill this week in Congress that would prohibit any state from levying a tax retroactively on people who no longer live in the state.

Dr. Jackline Lasola, an obstetrician, said at the rally Wednesday that the tax would help maintain staffing in hospitals that could be affected by an estimated $30 billion in annual cuts to federal Medicaid funds, beginning in 2027.

“At a time when this administration is gutting our health care, our safety nets and our public services, we’re here to protect Californians,” Lasola said. “It’s time to tax the billionaires.”

Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, played the band’s best-known song, “Killing In The Name Of,” but replaced the second half of a lyric: “Some of those who burn crosses / are the same that hold office.”

There’s little question that California could use the money. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax reform and budget bill — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — is projected to cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid over a decade.

California is estimated to lose roughly $30 billion in federal Medicaid funds annually as a result. The state’s Medi-Cal agency estimates 3.4 million people will lose coverage as a result of federal eligibility changes. The bulk of cuts won’t take effect until 2027, but states, including California, are already taking steps to shrink their health insurance programs for low-income and disabled individuals.

Opponents of the billionaire tax argue that its impacts won’t be felt for years, but the state budget will be hit from losing the income tax that the billionaires pay, which accounts for a significant portion of California’s revenue.

The opposition has coalesced around three proposed ballot measures designed to invalidate the proposed billionaire tax. One would forbid retroactive taxes, a second would prohibit any taxes that exclude revenues from their calculation and a third would exempt non-residents and part-time residents from a net-worth tax.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.