Opening on June 28th at 7pm and running through July 16th ~ Cory Helford Gallery ~ 8522 Washington Boulevard, Culver City ~ 310-287-2340

Corey Helford Gallery presents “Natural History Museum Part I”, a solo exhibition of new works by Los Angeles artist Carlos Ramos. For his first solo show in Los Angeles, Ramos replicates the natural history museum experience for his audience, fusing the natural world with the art world. A series of twenty four large-scale paintings based on classic grand dioramas and a special installation of skeletal structures will transform the gallery into an epicenter of flora and fauna.

Carlos Ramos was born and raised in Burbank, California where he was obsessed with doodling and MAD magazine as a child. Ramos went on to create numerous shows for Cartoon Network, Walt Disney Studios, and Nickelodeon. His talent also extends to writing for Cartoon Network, drawing caricatures for Rolling Stone and Consolidated Skateboards, and doing stand-up comedy. Ramos’ work has been featured in numerous galleries including Gallery 1988 and I Am 8-Bit, and he co-hosted The Burning Brush Auctions with Tim Biskup. For more information about Carlos, go here: monkeypuzzles.com.

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Hi There.

We know from our web stats that there are a bunch of L.A. TACO readers out there and we really love you all. We never expected the site to get popular when we launched it two summers back, and every day has been a lot of fun for us. Through the site (which has been without contact info) and through our MySpace and Flickr accounts, we’ve met so many cool people– artists, writers, photographers, activists, athletes, printers, publishers, authors, and many more passionate individuals from every walk of life.

The best thing about doing the site is the community we’ve started to form, and we want to open that up to all our readers and anyone else who understands this here taco lifestyle and loves Los Angeles. We’re open to anything anyone from the community wants to cover, but here are some specific things we’d like to get do right away to help broaden the daily offerings:

Activism — cover the world of activism and social change in Los Angeles
Fashion — street fashion pictures and stories
Green — everything from hikes to environmental awareness
Live Music — do you go out to lots of good shows and take pix?
News — cover what’s happening in the city or on other sites etc.
Character Profiles/Interviews–who inspires, puzzles, or frustrates you in Los Angeles

Anything else you want to share with the world and your friends about this great city, we’d love to know more.If you want to get involved….register and then email us with details about what you can contribute: info@lataco.com

You can also use that email address to send us pictures that you’ve taken of your art or stuff you’ve found on the street!!

Hi, we’re testing a new ratings system so if the ratings don’t work, just reload the page. 

Artists, designers, fans of LATACO, etc. please send us your Christmas or Holiday card designs that we will post up on the site. The more the merrier! Just make sure they’re no wider then 500px.

Send to: metrofeed [at] gmail [dot] com

Whether it’s his massive toy collection, a hiper-kewl Flickr account, or the crazy sticker combos he gets up ninja-style, 455er is dedicated to giving our eyes something we can feel. He’s also the newest Taco contributor. Welcome 455er!

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We’ll be rocking the dark and the macabre all month long, enjoy it! If you have suggestions for the darker side of LA life, such as bars, restaurants, scary places, etc. please email us at metrofeed (at) gmail.

We love Flickr and several of you have asked for a Taco group and pool. Well, here it is: http://www.flickr.com/groups/lataco/ Please join the group, submit photos, have fun and eat tacos!

photo by John Wise

From yesterday’s LA Times:

On Avalon Street in Echo Park, Victoria Villicano is known as a devoted mother who is often seen behind the wheel of her SUV, driving her two teenage sons to stores and sporting events.

But Los Angeles Police Department detectives say the 42-year-old woman also drove a five-member tagging crew (HIV), including her two children, around Silver Lake and Echo Park, stopping long enough for the group to jump out and vandalize…