Where carne asada is a crime

For over 140 years, street vendors hawking Mexican food have been a staple of life in Southern California. Horse-drawn tamale wagons turned into taco trucks, turned into hot dog carts, turned into pop-up tents — …and, eventually, hipsters caught on and these trends went national.

But even as SoCal has become famous worldwide for its street food scene, government officials have amped up their war on it.

Today, we examine one city’s crackdown on street vendors. And we also talk to an East L.A. taquero affected by code enforcement.

More reading:

Column: He’s L.A. food royalty. He began with a taco cart. Let street vendors thrive

Anaheim teams with county to take down taco stand pop-ups

Where to get beef birria, and a haircut. Seriously.