“The World’s Shortest Railway” has re-opened after nine years of repairs and restructuring after a fatal accident. Above and below, historic pictures of Angel’s Flight from the UCLA archives.

1962

1955

Dr. Jeffrey Pilcher, proud practitioner of the taco lifestyle, and one of the nation’s top taco experts has spent a lifetime researching and sampling Mexican and other Latin American cuisines. All the while, he’s been documenting taco innovations and compiling them in a forthcoming book that is sure to be a big hit in the taco community. Currently a professor at the University of Minnesota, Pilcher graciously agreed to an interview with TACO.

TACO: What are the earliest known origins of the taco?

Dr. Jeffrey Pilcher: Well, if you consider the taco as just a corn tortilla with something in it, then the origins surely go back fifteen hundred years, to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, where construction workers munched tortillas and beans. But if you’re asking, what have people actually called tacos, the story becomes more interesting. Basically, there are various theories on the origins of the word taco. Some people think it comes from indigenous words, but if you want actually documentary evidence, the term dates back no further than 1891. That’s right, 1891. Manuel Payno’s novel, Bandidos de Rio Frio, is the first definitive use of the word taco. And an interesting use it is, if you want to check it out. Of course, he didn’t invent the term. He just picked it up from street slang. So where did the term really come from? My research indicates that it was first used by miners in Real del Monte, a silver mine northeast of Mexico City, in the late 18th century. And what was this first taco? Appropriately, a stick of dynamite!

TACO: Have there been distinct phases in the development of the taco?

JP: Absolutely, after the tacos de minero of the miners, there were Mexico City tacos, mostly barbacoa, in the late nineteenth century. By this time there were also tacos dorados. These two versions of soft and hard tacos spread out all over the Mexican republic, adapting to fit the various regional cuisines of Mexico. But the real innovation came with the invention of the Mexican American taco. Glen Bell claims to have invented the taco shell in the early 1950s. Wrong! If you look in the records of the patent office, you will see that the first patent for taco shells was assigned to a man named Juvencio Maldonado. That’s why I insist on calling the taco shell the Mexican American taco, not the fast food taco. The only thing Bell invented was the corporate commissary.

TACO: We know that there are many influences on the original Mexican taco including European, Middle Eastern, and local flavors. What do you think are the “building blocks” or most essential elements of today’s popular tacos?

JP: Well, start with the indigenous tortilla. And salsa. Then add the Spanish pig. Next, the Lebanese tacos al pastor. Finally, the Mexican American taco shell. All are contributions, if they’re made fresh with sazon.


Dr. Pilcher in Mexico

TACO: What historical trends have propelled the taco from regional cuisine to global powerhouse?

JP: Well, I hate to say it, but gringos took a big role in carrying the taco around the world in the post-war era. Two groups in particular, appropriately, when you think about who was actually eating tacos back in the day: surfers and soldiers. The counterculture and the military are two groups of Norteamericanos who have a disproportionate love with Mexican food. I can’t explain it, but there you have it.

TACO: What does the phrase “taco lifestyle” mean to you?

JP: When I go to Mexico City, or most anywhere else with a substantial Mexican population, I have to decide whether to check into a hotel immediately, or schlep my suitcase to a good taqueria and worry about lodging later.

TACO: Do you see “Tacology” becoming a discipline in American or Mexican Universities in the future?

JP: There are a number of promising young scholars working on tacos in Mexico, and I think the first chair in taco studies will likely be founded there. There is a taco bell distinguished professorship at Washington State University, but it is in business management and therefore doesn’t count.

TACO: Look into your Crystal Salsa Bowl: what are the emerging trends in taco culture that will catch on?

JP: The salsa bar is spreading in Mexico, and while I am always happy with that creamy taqueria guacamole, I have friends who load up their tacos with all kinds of sauces and garnishes. I will probably lose all cred here, but I’m okay with fusion. If we can eat tacos al pastor, why not Korean tacos?

A piece on LA’s last drive-in theater in the City of Industry by Matt Schrader.

Ballard Mountain

Called “Niggerhead Mountain” for more than 100 years, Negrohead Mountain was renamed in the 1960’s and is finally being renamed again, this time after one of Los Angeles’ most interesting pioneers. The LA Times reports:

Negrohead Mountain is an unlikely memorial to a former slave who made a name for himself at the western end of Los Angeles County. More than 120 years ago, pioneers in the Santa Monica Mountains named the peak for John Ballard, the first black man to settle in the hills above Malibu.

Ballard was a former Kentucky slave who had won his freedom and come to Los Angeles in 1859. In the sleepy, emerging city, he had a successful delivery service and quickly became a landowner. Soon he was active in civic affairs: He was a founder of the city’s first African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The arrival of the railroad triggered a land boom in Los Angeles in the 1880s, boosting property values and bringing the city its first sense of class structure and the beginnings of segregation.

Ballard packed up his family and moved about 50 miles west to the snug valley in the middle of the Santa Monica range. He settled first on 160 acres — space that eventually doubled in size when one of his seven children, daughter Alice, claimed an adjoining plot.

The BBC attended the name change ceremony: Reports:

A California peak formerly known as Negrohead Mountain has been officially renamed in honour of the black pioneer who settled there in 1869. The 619-metre peak near Malibu, became Ballard Mountain after John Ballard, a blacksmith and former slave. Dozens of Ballard’s relatives attended the renaming ceremony on Saturday.

The name originally contained an even more offensive racial slur which appeared on federal maps, but was changed to “negro” in the 1960s. The US Geographical Survey approved the change last year after an application by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors…

The name change is the result of years of hard work by Moorpark College Professor Patricia Colman. From the Moorpark Student Voice:

Thanks to the work of a Moorpark College history professor, a Southern California mountain will be renamed to honor the man who first settled in the area and erase the original racial slur.

History Prof. Patricia Colman and the National Park Service have been working together since 2005 to change the name from Negrohead to Ballard Mountain in honor of the first settler, John Ballard, who was African American.
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According to Colman, the name change will take effect in about 10-12 months.
“We need to start recognizing all pioneers, black, and white, whatever, so we can get a better understanding,” she said. ““This isn’t just black history, it’s all history.”

Ballard’s existing relatives were at the renaming ceremony:

“I don’t know what it means to Los Angeles as a whole, but it means a lot to me,” Ballard’s 85-year-old great-grandson Reggie Ballard, a retired LA Fire Department captain, was quoted as saying.

Photos from Talkin’ Stuff

Signal Hill Cemetery ~ 1151 Willow St. ~ Long Beach ~ CA

“Though silent, he speaks.”

Glen Bell, founder of Taco Bell (and Der Weinerschnitzel), has died at the age of 86 at his home in Rancho Sante Fe. The Southern Calfornian and former Marine is survived by his wife, three children, and four grand-children.

Many taco purists bemoan the rise of Taco Bell, which is many Americans’ first exposure to tacos or mexican food. The bastardization of the street taco into the crunchy, cheesy, lettuce-y fast-food taco induces revulsion and contempt in street gourmets the world over, and rightly so. However one cannot deny that to date, Glen Bell is the man most responsible for bringing the words “taco” and “burrito” to the farthest corners of the planet, setting the stage for the global taco revolution. As people discover authentic tacos, they realize that the transcendant flavors and aromas of a taco can reveal the lies behind corporate hegemony of all aspects of life. Or something like that.

Bell was a fast-food titan and originator, one of the original crew of Southern Californians who invented fast food. Like the others, he started out slinging hamburgers, but switched to tacos to both differentiate himself and introduce people to his favorite food, tacos. He is the direct or indirect inspiration for SoCal taco-preneurs from Southgate to San Diego. Originally sold for 19 cents out of a window in his taco shack in San Berdoo, the empire grew and grew and grew before it was sold to Pepsi in 1978 for $125m. Today there are more than 5,000 Taco Bells in 14 different countries including China and Dubai.

Tonner Canyon ~ Native Daughters of the Golden West ~ Tonner Canyon Rd. ~ Brea

Adams Pack Station ~ Chantry Flat ~ Big Santa Anita Canyon ~ Arcadia

E Clampus Vitus

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Dock Ellis was a successful and eccentric major league baseball pitcher. Perhaps his greatest story is the time he pitched a no-hitter that was the culmination of a 2 day acid-trip. The video above combines an interview Dock did with some great original animation.

Dock got sober in his later years, and worked as a drug counselor in Victorville. He died in LA in December 19th, 2008.

Santa Monica Pier ~ Looff ~ Santa Monica