Headlines: Chiles Secos Stand Closes After 48 Years at Grand Central Market

Welcome to L.A. TACO’s daily news briefs, where we bring our loyal members, readers, and supporters the latest headlines about Los Angeles politics and culture. Stay informed and look closely.

—Downtown: Esotouric suspects Grand Central Market's 48-year-old Chiles Secos stand has shuttered operations, despite decades of being in business and write-ups touting its family-owned Mexican goods such as mole and pipian paste, spices, and dried chiles. An anonymous source confirmed the closure or imminent closure with L.A. TACO and also counted up to eight future vacancies by the end of May. [Esotouric/Instagram]

—Beverlywood: A man was taken to the hospital in critical condition after being shot twice in the Beverlywood neighborhood on Easter morning around 2:30 am. As the party ended and guests dispersed, a fight broke out on the Robertson Boulevard sidewalk, at which point the man was shot. Four people were detained and released at the scene, while a suspect vehicle was said to have fled the scene traveling north. [KTLA]

—Hollywood: 27-year-old Alex Garcia was arrested at Gower and Santa Monica Boulevard on Saturday under suspicion of stabbing another man on the Metro's Red Line the previous Thursday. The victim, who remains, hospitalized, entered the train and is said to have become involved in a verbal argument with Garcia, who was already on the train. Garcia is accused of slashing the man across the abdomen and causing severe injury to the victim. Garcia is being held on $1,000,000 bail and has been booked for attempted murder. [NBC]

—A local couple who claims they're in the "top" percentage of earned incomes laughs at the notion they'll ever be able to afford a home in Los Angeles, saying, "With housing costs being what they are, just the idea of us ever owning a home is absolutely, like it’s funny. It’s like, we might as well own a spaceship." [Fortune]

—Pacific Palisades: 32-year-old local Ashleigh Lawrence was killed on Saturday morning when a 21-year-old motorist driving south on PCH slammed into a group of pedestrians and vehicles parked on the shoulder overlooking the beach. Another person was taken to the hospital, while the driver was arrested on suspicion of DUI. [ABC]

—Supporters are crying out against the firing of Los Angeles Magazine editor Maer Roshan after four years at the helm. Addressing one of the new owners, attorney Mark Geragos, Maer himself tweets, "We spent four years during COVID with a decimated staff reinventing@lamag from a trifling celebrity zine into a smart, sexy, nationally-respected magazine. This week, its new owners inexplicably decided to tear it all down. That’s not progress,@markgeragos. It's vandalism." [Maer Roshan/Twitter]

—A melodic dialect of Spanish that has been preserved in New Mexico for over 400 years is in danger of dying out as a newer generation shows little interest in preserving it and English and more recognizable forms of Spanish continue to be more prevalent. [NYT]