The Brief

The longtime partner — and now wife — of Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do's top aide was hired by a nonprofit to carry out a $275,000 mental health contract funded by the county, but the work was never completed, a county spokesperson confirmed to LAist.

Supervisor Do told the nonprofit to hire the woman, Josie Batres, to do the work, according to multiple people briefed on the contract.

At the time, Batres was the longtime girlfriend of Chris Wangsaporn, Supervisor Do's chief of staff. The two were married in December 2021, a year into the two-year contract.

The contract required the nonprofit, Mind OC, to run community listening sessions and submit reports to help the county increase access to publicly-funded mental health services, especially among non-English speakers, foster youth, and other underrepresented communities. The people who spoke with LAist about Do's alleged directive did so on the condition they not be named, saying it could compromise their careers.

Neither Batres nor Wangsaporn responded to multiple requests for comment about the contract. Do did not respond to a voicemail left on his cell phone. Reached by phone, Do's attorney, Paul Meyer, acknowledged receiving a list of questions about the contract from LAist and said he could not talk.

The contract was issued to Mind OC, without competitive bidding, by Clayton Chau, the county Health Care Agency director at the time, according to the agency’s spokesperson. Chau told LAist he didn't remember the contract or any related directive from Do.

In a phone interview, Frank Kim, who was then the county's CEO and supervised the Health Care Agency director and other county executives, also said he did not remember the contract or any related directive from Do.

"If it happened, I'm not aware of that," he said.

He added that Do was closely involved in efforts to improve mental and behavioral health care and had frequent communication with county officials about the county’s programs.

“Supervisor Do had strong opinions,” Kim said. “Did he exert influence? Sure, he was a supervisor."

Jeff Nagel, the county's behavioral health chief, oversaw the contract for the county. He was deeply troubled to learn several months into the contract that Do directed that Batres be hired for the work, according to several people familiar with the situation.

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Imperfect Paradise host Antonia Cereijido speaks with LAist correspondent Nick Gerda, who broke the story, about LAist's ongoing investigation.

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Nagel left the agency in January 2022. He declined an interview for this story.

Marshall Moncrief, who was Mind OC’s CEO at the time of the county contract and now works elsewhere, didn’t respond to multiple phone and text messages for comment.

In a statement to LAist, Mind OC’s current CEO Phil Franks, who was hired after the contract ended, said he had no knowledge of a directive from Supervisor Do to hire Batres.

Ellen Guevara, a spokesperson for the O.C. Health Care Agency, told LAist the agency never received the work required in the contract. That work was supposed to include quarterly updates, an annual report and a final report.

Franks, Mind OC’s CEO, told LAist in a statement that the organization found a single report from Batres' home-based HR consulting firm TalentGate related to the contract, but didn't know whether it or any other related work had been turned over to the county. He didn't respond to a request from LAist for a copy of the report.

It's unclear whether payments went to Batres or TalentGate. Guevara said Mind OC hired Batres as their employee for the contract; Mind OC told LAist it subcontracted with TalentGate to fulfill it.

LAist made multiple requests for documentation of the hiring to the Health Care Agency and Mind OC but has yet to receive any.

The details of what happened

The $275,000 in taxpayer money was paid out to Mind OC over two years in six installments, according to county records.

Multiple people briefed on the contract told LAist that Supervisor Do directed the O.C. Health Care Agency to award the contract to Mind OC, and told Mind OC to hire Batres to do the work.

Josie Batres was hired by the nonprofit Mind OC to carry out a $275,000 mental health contract funded by the county, according to a county spokesperson.

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Screenshot via YouTube

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The contract is one of several LAist has uncovered over the past year in which Orange County taxpayer funds went to people close to Do during the pandemic without competitive bidding or disclosure on public agendas. In several cases, contractors didn't provide proof of how the money was spent, as required under those contracts.

LAist has reported that Supervisor Do directed more than $13 million in taxpayer funds to a nonprofit where his daughter Rhiannon Do held top leadership positions, most of it awarded outside public view, according to county records. Supervisor Do didn’t disclose his family relationship, and county officials say the group has refused to account for what happened with most of the money.

In August, county officials sued Rhiannon Do and others connected to the nonprofit, Viet America Society (VAS), for civil fraud, alleging they “brazenly plundered” millions in public funds for home purchases and renovations, and made “voluminous, unaccounted for ATM cash withdrawals.” Last month, Supervisor Do was publicly condemned by his colleagues on the O.C. Board of Supervisors through a censure. He’s facing multiple calls to resign, including from fellow Republican elected officials. He has not attended board meetings since his home — and homes owned by Rhiannon Do and others with ties to Viet America Society — were searched by federal agents on Aug. 22.

Rhiannon Do, a UCI law student, previously told LAist in April that she worked hard to buy the house and has done nothing wrong.

More about the Mind OC contract

The $275,000 county contract between the O.C. Health Care Agency and Mind OC ran from Dec. 1, 2020, to Nov. 30, 2022. It called for organizing and facilitating 24 listening sessions to gather input from groups "reflecting the social, economic, demographic, and geographic diversity in Orange County."

The contract was awarded without going on a public meeting agenda for a vote by the full Board of Supervisors.

Instead, it was awarded by Chau under COVID emergency contracting authority the board established during the pandemic, according to the county’s contracts database and Guevara, the county Health Care Agency spokesperson. The contract itself doesn’t say it’s related to COVID or the pandemic — nor was there a memo explaining why it was issued through emergency authority, as other contracts issued that way did at the time.

The contract was authorized by Chau, the then-director of the Health Care Agency and county health officer, according to Guevara. Chau told LAist that since the contract was small, it was unlikely to have been something he followed closely.

He added later via text message that his primary concern at the time was responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. "I had to rely on my department head to do their job on small contracts," he wrote.

In business filings with the state, Batres is listed as the CEO, CFO and secretary of TalentGate, the company Mind OC hired to fulfill the contract. TalentGate’s city business license listed it as a “home office for human resource consulting” located in San Gabriel at the time of the contract. Batres and Wangsaporn lived at the company’s address at the time they were married in late 2021, according to their marriage certificate.

TalentGate's LinkedIn profile says it’s a human resources company that addresses “organizational bottlenecks across the employee lifecycle.” Mental health is not listed in the "specialties" section of the company profile.

The county Health Care Agency says it never received the required reports detailing the results of the contract work. Guevara, the agency’s spokesperson, told LAist in an email that the county’s behavioral health team does not know whether the listening sessions were carried out and has no records showing how the money was spent.

“The funds were paid to [Mind OC],” Guevara wrote. “No details on what [Mind OC] did after that.”

She said the $275,000 was funded by the Mental Health Services Act, a voter-approved tax that’s meant to pay for mental health services, including treatment and prevention.

Payments from Viet America Society to Batres

Federal tax filings for Viet America Society — the nonprofit accused of fraud by the county — show it paid $40,000 to a company named "TalenGate" in 2020, based at the same home address as Batres’ company TalentGate. It was the organization's highest paid independent contractor that year, receiving $40,000, according to LAist's review of a VAS public tax filing.

That year, Viet America Society was funded by county dollars meant to feed needy seniors, which flowed to VAS through another nonprofit, Hand to Hand Relief Organization, according to public records obtained by LAist. The county also is suing Hand to Hand for alleged fraud in diverting those taxpayer funds in 2020, which Supervisor Do also had awarded.

The following year, VAS’ public tax filing shows it paid "TalenGate" another $10,000, while VAS’ financial ledger it filed with the county shows it paid the same amount to Batres herself in January 2021.

Reached by phone in April and this month, Batres declined to answer LAist’s questions about what the payments were for. VAS’ attorney, Mark Rosen, told LAist last week that he could not answer questions about them. The tax filings list the payments as being for “PUBLIC RELATION.” No further detail was provided.

Relationship between Chau and Mind OC 

Chau worked as a high-level executive at Mind OC before he took over the county health agency in May 2020, according to a county news release about his hiring. Mind OC's public tax filing shows it paid Chau $133,000 that year for that work — the same year the agency awarded the no-bid contract at issue to Mind OC.

County records reviewed by LAist show Chau did not disclose his income from the nonprofit on legally-required disclosure forms intended to provide transparency about potential conflicts of interest. State law also generally restricts government officials from awarding contracts to people or groups that paid the official at least $500 in income during the previous 12 months.

Chau, who previously was fined in 2014 for failing to disclose income unrelated to Mind OC, told LAist he did not know why the Mind OC income wasn't disclosed on his forms.

Chau resigned from the Health Care Agency last year and now works for a health care consulting firm.

Three Mind OC contracts recently canceled

Mind OC has faced recent troubles in its relationships with the county and O.C. cities.

In August, the county abruptly canceled a major contract with the group to manage the county's signature mental health campus, Be Well, in the city of Orange. That contract was ended a little over two years into a three-year, $63.8-million deal with the county. The rupture came after an audit found Mind OC failed to provide proper oversight of mental health and substance use treatment services on the campus.

In a joint statement, the county and Mind OC said the decision was "based on an ever-evolving public, private partnership model."

Additionally, two cities, Newport Beach and Anaheim, recently canceled their contracts with Mind OC to provide mobile mental health crisis response to residents. Newport Beach City Councilmember Lauren Kleiman told LAist the service hadn't been effective in getting unhoused people with mental health problems off the streets.

"Given the voluntary nature of street outreach, the data over the past year did not demonstrate their ability to produce street exits in a way that justified the use of taxpayer funds to extend the contract," Kleiman wrote in an email to LAist in late August.

When asked about Anaheim ending the contract in September, Mind OC CEO Franks told LAist in a statement that the organization and the city had mutually agreed to sunset their agreement. A spokesperson for Anaheim said the city no longer needed the services.

Supervisor Do’s ties to Mind OC

Mind OC was formed in 2018 to coordinate a public-private network of mental health providers and resources known collectively as Be Well OC. The concept arose, in part, from a Board of Supervisors ad hoc mental health committee formed in 2015 and run by Supervisor Do and then-Supervisor Lisa Bartlett. At the time Mind OC was created, the county was under fire for failing to spend state funds allocated for mental health services, and for the severe shortage of psychiatric care available to residents.

Supervisor Do has been a consistent champion of Mind OC and Be Well. In a video posted earlier this year to his YouTube channel, Supervisor Do dates the origin of Be Well to a meeting seven years ago between himself, county health care leaders, and Dr. Richard Afable, a former Hoag Hospital CEO who has been Mind OC’s board president since the group was formed in 2018.

O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do (left) and Dr. Richard Afable, the president of the Mind OC board of directors, speak in a 2024 video about the Be Well campus under construction in Irvine.

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O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do's YouTube page

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The highly produced video features Supervisor Do and Afable — in hard hats and bright yellow vests — signing beams at the construction site of a planned Be Well campus in Irvine. Do and other supervisors have awarded the organization at least $40 million in public funds to build that second campus.

Afable did not respond to a request for comment.

In May, the county signed an additional $95 million, three-year contract with Mind OC to run the Irvine campus, starting in January.

How to watchdog local government

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention.

Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.

• Read tips on how to get involved.
• The next scheduled board meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 22. You can check out the O.C. Board of Supervisors full calendar here.
• Learn how to submit a public comment to the O.C. Board of Supervisors.

The state of California is walking back protections meant to keep destructive golden mussels out of Lake Oroville, one of the largest and most important reservoirs in the state.

The move follows a new state-funded risk assessment that the invasive species poses a lower risk to the lake, which water managers say changes the state’s calculus on costly and difficult measures aimed at keeping the invaders at bay.

No state agencies or scientists have found mussels in Oroville yet. But invasive species experts say the revised policy of the Department of Water Resources increases the likelihood that golden mussels will invade Lake Oroville and hitch a ride on boats to other lakes. They disagree, though, about whether preventing such an incursion is even possible.

”California is under an epidemic of golden mussels,” said Anthony Ricciardi, a professor of biology and the director of the Bieler School of Environment at McGill University. “Like in any epidemic, you got to control the key hubs — or else the war is lost.”

Reopening Lake Oroville

California water managers first discovered golden mussels invading California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in October 2024 — marking their first detection in North America.

The voracious and rapidly spreading mussels can encrust surfaces so thoroughly that they choke off water supplies and damage dams and power plants.

They are now invading critical infrastructure in the Delta. And the very pumps, canals and aqueducts that keep water flowing to much of the state are funneling the larvae to irrigation districts and water suppliers downstream.

San Joaquin and Kern Counties have declared states of emergency, and state officials are updating key facilities along the state’s nature-defying water delivery system to reduce mussel damage.

With summer weather coming in hot, state water managers said that they are ending a program to prevent mussels and their larvae from stowing away on boats to invade Lake Oroville, one of California’s largest reservoirs.

The department now no longer requires inspections and decontamination for boats launching at Lake Oroville and nearby reservoirs — the Thermalito Forebay and the Thermalito Afterbay.

The Department of Water Resources says lakes and launches upstream in the Feather River watershed didn’t take similar precautions, raising the risk that golden mussel larvae would wash into the reservoir on river flows regardless of the boat inspections.

The cost of the inspection program for the lake was also around $7.5 million to start it up, and $6.5 million per year to continue it. Installing UV treatment to prevent mussels from settling in the pipes at powerplants downstream from Oroville, by contrast, would cost an estimated $1 million.

“We severely impacted recreation at that lake,” said Tanya Veldhuizen, special projects section manager in the California Department of Water Resources’ environmental assessment branch. “We also evaluated the risk to our infrastructure and what it would take to mitigate mussels — and that was much lower than expected.”

Cold water, fewer mussels? 

The decision reflects the findings from a new risk analysis the department commissioned for these reservoirs and related hydropower and fishery hatchery facilities, as well as for the Upper Feather River Lakes.

Conducted by a Canada-based consulting firm specializing in aquatic invasive species, the assessment reports that, while surface temperatures are warm enough for the mussels to survive in shallower water at Lake Oroville, they’re too cold lower down for the mussels to reproduce at depths greater than 60 feet below the surface.

Unlike the Delta, the waters at Lake Oroville are also low in nutrients, Veldhuizen said. Between the scarce food, cold temperatures, and water levels that drop enough to dry out mussels on the shoreline, Veldhuizen said she doesn’t expect the mussels to reach nuisance levels.

The department also expects cold water released from the reservoir will slow the growth of any larvae that reach the Feather River Fish Hatchery and the Oroville-Thermalito Complex powerplants downstream.

But Oroville’s shoreline, boats and docks remain at risk — and that’s what worries Ricciardi.

“That's where the action is. The boats will be moving them,” Ricciardi said — because boats and aquatic weeds clinging to vessels and their trailers can ferry mussels from one lake to another.

Fish and Game Warden Mark Rose and Allee, a Belgian Malinois, who was trained to sniff golden mussels at Thermalito Forebay, in Oroville in June 2025. The dog sniffs watercraft in an attempt at detecting the golden mussel and preventing its spread into California lakes.

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Miguel Gutierrez Jr.

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CalMatters

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And adult mussels can actually survive even in very cold water, says Demetrio Boltovskoy, a retired researcher formerly at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council. One study in China found they can live for weeks at near-freezing temperatures.

Still, Boltovskoy said that while he isn’t specifically familiar with Lake Oroville, reducing precautions may be reasonable.

“No matter what precautionary measures you take, sooner or later it will spread,” he said. “I don't think that stopping their range expansion is actually feasible at all.”

But invasive species experts are sharply divided on the subject. That’s true especially in California.

Last year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife told CalMatters that invasions delayed translated to money saved. This year, the wildlife department directed inquiries about the new Oroville strategy to the Department of Water Resources.

“There’s so much to protect yet,” Martha Volkoff, environmental program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Invasive Species Program, said last summer. “Yes, it’s a lot of work, but the long-term savings — to the environment and to all the other ways that it costs us — is investment well spent, even if we just delay new introductions.”

Relying on boaters: Clean, drain, dry

The responsibility now rests more heavily with boaters to ensure their boats are clean, drained and dry — especially when leaving an infested body of water, like the Delta.

If state water managers detect mussels at Lake Oroville, she said, the department will begin inspecting boats as they leave the lake.

It's a strategy already in use at other infested lakes, including Castaic and Pyramid.

Managers of other Northern California lakes told CalMatters they will continue their inspection programs, including at lakes Folsom, Tahoe and Berryessa.

Drew Gantner, manager of water resources at Solano County Water Agency, which oversees the mussel program at Lake Berryessa, called the Oroville decision concerning.

“If Lake Oroville does surrender its program and becomes infested with golden mussels it creates an increased risk for all waterbodies,” Gantner said. “At that point, any watercraft travelling to Berryessa (or anywhere else) from Lake Oroville would essentially be no different than watercraft coming from the Delta.”  

Ricciardi agreed that the stakes extend well past Oroville’s dam and downstream facilities.

“There is another thing about invasions. They often surprise you,” Ricciardi said. “Sometimes invaders don't act the way they're supposed to act.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters — sign up for their newsletters — and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Some years ago, we were living in South Jersey, outside of Philadelphia. We had friends visiting, so we decided to take them to Independence Hall, where, as all Americans know, the Declaration of Independence was signed. As a Brit, I was excited to see the actual origins of American democracy.

We’d joined a tour, and I was admiring a particularly lovely wooden molding on the wall when I heard the guide say, “And that was when the British surrendered.”

I stopped in my tracks. Excuse me? You see, we, the British, do not surrender. You may have heard that, via our publicist Winston Churchill. We do not surrender on beaches. Or fields, or streets or hills, or any manner of geographic landmark.

I turned to my American husband. "What’s this place he’s talking about, Yorktown?" He stared at me in faint disbelief. “Um, you’ve heard of it, right? It’s where the British lost their final battle?” I shook my head. Nothing. Why did I not know this?

I mean, I had a pretty good British education. I remember learning that the American colonies had declared their Independence, but I thought that was because of the cost of tea or something — and not wanting to be judged for how posh your accent was. But the idea that Britain actually fought to keep those damn colonies — and LOST — well, that was a shock to my system.

From what I remember in the school text books, it was “America declared independence, never mind, we still ruled a lot of the world, let's move on.”

Yet as my American daughter went through school over here, U.S. history was a constant theme. The colonies, George Washington, the Civil War. What you choose to teach your children, that’s the way a country passes on its values.

What I learned in England was a lot about kings, like an Alfred who burnt the cakes, or a Henry who kept on marrying women.

Which makes me realize how much myth-making all countries do. And as an immigrant, to move from one mythology to another rattles all the marbles in your brain. How could this thing, that is so important to millions of your new co-patriots, be reduced to nothing in your childhood textbooks?

But the longer you live here, the more it shifts. And as you absorb more American history and go through Fourth of July holidays, the more you appreciate what was sacrificed to bring the nation into existence.

If I ever get to go back to Independence Hall, I hope I'll have a very different reaction. I’ll be much more aware of the import of what happened and the bravery and determination behind it.

And for that, as a comparatively new American, I am truly grateful.

Ask anyone in Los Angeles and they’ll swear that their favorite burrito spot is the best. While I can’t guarantee mine is the best, I can confidently say it’s unlike anything you’ve ever had. Enter: The chicken tikka burrito.

Four years ago, when I was accepted to USC, I immediately started looking online for food around the area. I bookmarked a tweet from 2018 that said if there was one place I had to eat at in my four years there it was 23rd Street Cafe — now Cafe 23.

The first time I had a bite, I knew I had to sing its praises to everyone I knew.

Cafe 23 is a perfect amalgamation of what makes University Park such a special place: how global it truly is. With USC — a school whose student body is roughly one-quarter international students — and the neighborhood’s many longtime residents, there’s something for everyone. 

And for those who don’t know it, South L.A. is a hotbed of food culture. With the historic 27th Street Bakery and the anticipated reopening of Chef Marilyn’s restaurant, there’s plenty to eat. For those hankering to try something new, however, these three restaurants offer a culinary twist on Mexican staples.   

So whether you’re in the area visiting the Los Angeles Public Library’s oldest brand, on your way to a biweekly knitting night in Inglewood, or need a quick bite before heading to the Koreatown Run Club, these cross-cultural Mexican fusion spots are well worth the visit.

Thai Corner Food Express

Thai Corner Food Express offers three Thai Taco varieties every Tuesday: from left, the spicy shrimp with mango and guacamole; chicken with coconut and mango; and beef with shredded coconut and mango.

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Erick Galindo

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Located in the back corner of Mercado La Paloma is Thai Corner Food Express, owned by Aritsa Elliot, who has served Thai food in the Figueroa corridor for nearly 20 years.

But, in April, the restaurant started offering the “Thai Taco.” Elliot said the idea came from a desire to satisfy her own curiosity. 

“I wanted to try Mexican masa with Thai spicy sauce or the herbs in a taco,” Elliot told The LA Local. 

Every Tuesday, Thai Corner offers choices such as a coconut beef taco, a spicy shrimp taco or a drunken noodle chicken taco served on homemade blue-corn tortillas made with masa from Komal, another popular Mercado La Paloma restaurant.

Developing the flavors was no easy feat and was the result of experimentation and collaboration. The owner of Komal suggested to Elliot that she should incorporate shaved coconut into the beef taco to really represent Thai flavors.

The blending of these two cuisines allows for flavors and spices that are typically muted by rice or noodles to be the main attractions.

As a side dish, you can order the Thai guacamole. It’s a creamy, sweet take on the classic dish, topped with diced mango. It doesn’t taste like any other guacamole I’ve tried, but it kind of works — especially with the tacos. Each taco is served with a dollop of it and sliced Thai chili peppers. 

3655 S Grand Ave. C-4, Los Angeles

Taqueria Vista Hermosa

The Al Pastor Cheeseburger from Taqueria Vista Hermosa is one of their best-selling items

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Erick Galindo

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Right next to Thai Corner is Taqueria Vista Hermosa. For 25 years, owner Raul Morales has been using his family’s al pastor adobo — which goes back three generations to his ancestral home in Vista Hermosa, Michoacán — to feed customers of Mercado La Paloma.

Now, he’s using that adobo to make a brand new al pastor cheeseburger. The taqueria began selling the burger two months ago because nowhere else in Mercado La Paloma offered one, and the restaurant wanted to fill that niche.

“At first, I was like that sounds weird. I’ve never heard of that,” Sarah Morales said. She’s the owner’s daughter and an employee of Taqueria Vista Hermosa. 

“We had all the employees here taste it,” Sarah added. “Everybody kept saying it’s the best burger they’ve ever had. It’s been one of our most popular selling items.”

The behemoth burger comes with a ground beef patty slathered in adobo, a giant pineapple ring, grilled red onions, oozing provolone cheese and a generous helping of their superb avocado aioli. Make it a combo and it will come with a bucket of fries perfect for dipping the house-made aioli. Just trust me. Dipping in that aioli is worth the extra carbs.

Raul said he prides himself on the fact that the burger doesn’t come with many typical burger staples. His inspiration: burgers from Michoacán. This choice has been met with some pushback from customers who expect a more traditional burger.

“People say ‘Oh I want a classic, you don’t have a classic? … You don’t have lettuce?’ No. I have it, but I don’t want [to add it],” Raul said. “This isn’t a burger place … I make my own unique burger.”

In the future, the taqueria may expand its cross-cultural menu to include a pizza or a flatbread, Sarah added. 

“When you have a bite, you remember the flavor,” Raul said. “I want that, I want a memory. I want a ‘Disneyland.’ When you go to Disneyland you have memories, same thing with food.”

3655 S Grand Ave. C-5, Los Angeles

Cafe 23

A paneer tikka quesadilla at Cafe 23 comes stuffed with spiced paneer and melted jack cheese, served on a metal tray alongside the restaurant’s signature red and green salsas.

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Nick Ducassi

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Just a mile away from Mercado La Paloma, at the end of a residential block on 23rd St. you will find a cafe that’s been serving Indian-influenced Mexican food for more than a decade. Cafe 23 proudly serves Indian street food and has given some classic menu items a Mexican twist. 

They have things like burritos and quesadillas but you can get them loaded with chicken tikka, lamb or paneer tikka.

The burritos come with whatever Indian protein you like, plus rice, beans and onions. The quesadillas come with jack cheese and  are served with the restaurant’s signature red salsa and green salsa.

For a little extra, you can turn your burrito into a breakfast burrito by adding eggs and hash browns. Their breakfast burritos have even gotten attention from Eater and, yes, LAist.

In an interview with LA Weekly,  the owner at the time Hari Singh, said that the restaurant opened in 2006 and originally had a completely different menu. Back then, they were serving things like burgers and pastrami sandwiches.

“There were a lot of Indians in this neighborhood — mainly students at USC — and they kept asking me, ‘Why don’t you make Indian food?’ So we started with a few Indian dishes,” Singh said. “Then we came up with this idea to start mixing Indian with Mexican. And people loved it.”

936 W 23rd St., Los Angeles

Thai tacos, paneer quesadillas and al pastor burgers: How the area around USC became a cross-cultural culinary hub appeared first on LA Local.

Angelenos are getting ready to celebrate the 250th Independence Day across the city. But did you know California didn’t join the U.S. until 74 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed?

This week, Steven Hackel, a history professor at U.C. Riverside who specializes in early America, joined LAist’s AirTalk with Larry Mantle to discuss what our state was like at that time.

He said in 1776, California was one of the most densely settled regions in the Western Hemisphere. The state was populated with over 100 different tribal nations speaking a wide range of languages, according to Hackel.

“Wherever there was land — and animals and plants — people were living,” he said.

A complex economy was already common in Indigenous communities. He characterized it as a two-tiered system: communities relied on resources in their immediate area for survival, and participated in a “tremendous” exchange of goods, including spices and obsidian.

Spanish colonial influence was still “fairly light … but changes were afoot,” according to Hackel.

Most Indigenous communities remained in their ancestral villages, although missions across the state were growing. For the Indigenous people forcibly brought to the missions, the rebellions were “almost immediate,” he said.

California also wasn’t entirely cut off from the rebellion on the East Coast. When Spain joined France to support the colonies against England, California missions paid a tax to fund the Spanish military’s efforts.

Though it wasn’t yet part of the union, Hackel said that with their in-state rebellions and financial support of the colonies, our state was “integrated into this larger age of revolutions.”

The ruins of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, which was built from 1791 to 1805. The mission is often referred to as the "Godmother of the Pueblo of Los Angeles".

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Courtesy of The Los Angeles Public Library

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The state’s biodiversity has also evolved since 1776. Miguel Ordeñana, a community science manager at the L.A. County Natural History Museum, said our region had a “vibrant, lush, thriving landscape.”

It was home to grizzly bears and other types of migratory birds and steelhead trout, according to Ordeñana

Spanish colonizers were afraid of some of those animals, he said, and paid for bounties on animals like wolves, bears, coyotes and mountain lions.

But long before the Spanish arrival, Ordeñana noted that Indigenous communities had coexisted with those animals for centuries before.

You can listen to the full conversation: