El Pipila ~ San Miguel de Allende ~ Mexico

Born here; known everywhere

Courtesy of Mike Zahir

Courtesy of Mike Zahir

Ever wonder about those chickens you see grillin’ on the street when you are driving around?  Not only are they delicious but they are also pretty cheap… 2 whole chickens freshly grilled, tortillas, beans, rice, salsa for about 20 bucks.  You can find them mostly on the east and down to the south.  Exact locations are irrelevant since they move around quite a bit.  When you are driving around checking out the taco trucks, don’t forget these guys!

The Barkhor ~ Lhasa ~ Tibet

These photographs were taken in Tibet, 1994. Two good books about Tibet are In Exile from the Land of Snows: John F. Avedon, and The Open Road: Pico Iyer.

Rebuilding Ganden Monastery.

When the pillaging was done, dynamite was placed in the gutted buildings and their walls blown up. Field artillery was also used, so that within a three-year period the entire landscape of Tibet stood scarred by ruins resembling bombed cities. Because the buildings’ walls were so thick, virtually none, not even Ganden- slated for total obliteration as the Gelugpa sect’s most sacred monastery- could be completely razed, but stood as ghostly ever-present reminders of what had been. The desctruction of Tibet’s monasteries came as a collective shock that all but the youngest Tibetans found incomprehensible. Whatever personal tragedy Tibetans had experienced paled in the face of what now seemed to be the end of civilization as they knew it. – “In Exile From The Land of Snows”

Herding goats with a sling.

Terdrum. Once visited by Padmasambhava who brought forth a healing hot springs with his lightning bolt.

Chushi Gangdruk

Rio de Janeiro ~ Brasil

Taco takes you to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the run up to Carnavál 2009. In the words of Bob Marley, “Sun is shining, the weather is sweet. Make you want to move your dancing feet.” Heads up for Los Angeles’ own Brazilian Carnaval 2009 at the Hollywood Palladium, Feb. 21. See this sight for additional Brazilian events around town. Here’s how Cariocas celebrate the taco lifestyle.

DJ Ácaro is an outstanding human being and one of Rio’s top DJs. He’s turned us on to some soul stirring & ass shaking music with his encyclopedic knowledge of rock ‘n’ roll music.  DJ Ácaro runs this book/record store with his beautiful wife and a friendly staff of knowledgeable locals. Baratos da Ribeiro is a tribute to the heart and soul of rock ‘n’ roll. Once a week they host live music and DJ Ácaro spins vinyl. They also host a book club, and a record club. Check out their website to practice your Portuguese. Habitually selling and acquiring second hand books and LPs, Baratos da Ribeiro has a very choice selection of LPs. And the book store is not your common dog pile of unwanted pulp fiction and lousy cook books. Someone here has a keen sense of organization, and they’ve taken special care to showcase a diverse and juicy array of world literature. The sound system is booming and the books perfectly insulate the sound of live music as you browse the collections with a beer in hand. If you are mining for gold, here’s a good place to start.

baratosdaribeiro.com.br

Saloon 79 ~ Rua Pinheiro Guimarães, 79 – Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro

Banda Like a Rolling Stone

Coletivo Home Grown ~ 19H – Maria Quiteria 68, Ipanema

This place hosts in-store graffiti demos and sells spray paints, skate videos and street fashion. Eye popping graffiti color is dripping from every other wall of this epic city. What we have to show you is just the trimmings. Desfrutar!

John “the ninja” Nijhawan

Estadio do Maracanã

Brazil hosts the World Cup in 2014!

Shenanigan’s Irish Pub

“Add to this the fact that Los Angeles is spread out over 453 square miles, inclosing within its city limits sheep and cattle ranches, virgin forests and mountain ranges, as well as Hollywood and at least 25 to 30 small towns and you begin to get the idea of what a difficult task it is to build any kind of community feeling! The only fertility of such a soil was the kind on which grew radicals, cultists, utopians and fanatics.” Ralph Hancock, “Fabulous Boulevard.”

T$F H+R

Primm ~ Nevada

January 01, 2008

“The nineteenth century was an era of significant change for Santa Catalina Island. The Island was host to Spanish ships, Native Americans, Russian and Aleutian otter hunters, miners, ranchers, and a company of Union soldiers. As the century drew to a close the Island’s history took an interesting turn when the fishermen and sheepherders were joined by entrepreneurs with the foresight and vision to develop the Island into a resort community. ” www.ecatalina.com

“At the time of first European contact, it is thought that the people living on Santa Catalina Island called their island Pimu and themselves Pimungans (or Pimuvit). They were excellent seamen and paddled their plank canoes skillfully across the sometimes treacherous channel to trade. After Spanish colonization, their apparently flourishing population declined drastically with the introduction of new diseases to which they had little immunity. As the mission system altered the economic landscape of Southern California, the Pimungans’ trade and social networks were disrupted.” www.catalina.com

“In the aftermath of this enormous culture shock, their society could no longer sustain itself. By the mid-1820s, the few Pimungans left had migrated or were moved to the mainland. The Pimungans, along with other Native American groups that were in the sphere of influence of Mission San Gabriel, came to be referred to in the European community as Gabrielinos. There are people living in the Southern California area today who have Gabrielinos among their ancestors. Some are actively involved in researching and preserving their traditional culture.” www.catalina.com

Queen Mary, Long Beach.

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