How LA Taco Trucks Jumped at the Chance to Feed First Responders

In just over 24 hours last week, the swift-moving Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire in Altadena burned through a significant portion of both neighborhoods on January 7. Over 150,000 people have had to evacuate their homes while the fires, fueled by hurricane-force winds, destroyed thousands of residential and commercial buildings, including more than a dozen restaurants.

Angelenos sprung into action. Notably, Los Angeles’s restaurant community mobilized far and wide to feed evacuees, as well as first responders. Inspired by the overwhelming response to the disaster, Los Angeles’s street food vendors moved to join in, but many weren’t quite sure who to reach out to first. Still, restaurant owners and workers behind these loncheras had the urge to do something immediately.

By Thursday, January 9, the Eaton and Palisades fires continued burning while several other fires broke out, including the Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills. Theodoro “Teddy” Vásquez of Teddy’s Red Tacos, owner of the popular birria chain with 10 branches, says he found himself in a dark place. Like many Los Angeles restaurant owners strained by the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising overhead costs, and inflation, Vásquez wasn’t ready for another setback — this one in the form of an unfurling natural disaster that might threaten his businesses and livelihood. Then he logged into Facebook.

“I started seeing all this stuff happening, people posting about donating food, water, and other things, so I thought, ‘Why not bring tacos,’” says Vásquez. His hopelessness soon gave way to a rush of determination, like the 2,500-gallon water dump that helped quell the Sunset Fire. The charismatic taquero found an address in Pasadena after scrolling through the numerous social media posts of volunteers pointing to relief centers for food drop-offs and other donations.

With a pot of birria de res, corn tortillas, beverages, and a crew of six, including Vásquez himself, Teddy’s Red Tacos food truck mobilized on the morning of Saturday, January 11, without fully knowing what was going to happen. “My goal was to bring a smile to each face with tacos,” says Vásquez. In Pasadena, an evacuee who had lost their home pointed Vásquez and his team to head north on North Lake Avenue to Altadena, where he was eventually stopped by police and denied access.

“I was thinking it wasn’t going to happen after the police sent me up another street where a sign said [the road was closed],’” says the taquero. Vásquez steered the truck into the opposite lane and drove around the barrier, where a group of first responders recognized the truck. He turned up another street where firefighters, deputies, evacuees, and National Guard members had gathered, finally receiving the go-ahead from attending authorities to serve there. From 10:30 a.m. until after dark, Teddy’s Red Tacos served over 200 first responders and disaster victims with generous plates of tacos de birria de res, consomé, and café de olla. “I wanted to serve fast and take care of everyone,” says Vásquez, who also provided seating and a canopy for cover.

A Teddy’s Red Taco partner who goes by YL and operates the shop on Windward Avenue in Venice eventually set up a truck near firefighters and first responders in the Pacific Palisades. YL connected with World Central Kitchen and worked alongside the organization to serve beef birria tacos and quesadillas.

With a similar impulse to just go out and serve, José Morales of Tacos La Carreta hitched up his cart fitted with a smokestack and brought five staffers to help cook. “I was watching everyone going out there [on social media], and I thought maybe I could bring carne asada, but I was worried about cooking with charcoal with a fire going on,” says Morales. Univision journalist Yarel Ramos reached out to Morales and directed him to the Pasadena Community Job Center on Sunday, January 12. Volunteers collecting non-perishables and bottled water, as well as firefighters, evacuees, and the National Guard, queued up for Morales’ Mazatlán-style tacos de carne asada. Morales has reached out to partner with World Central Kitchen but has not received a response to deploy yet.

Carnitas street vendor Guadalupe Báez put out a request on Instagram asking how to serve firefighters and was connected with Helen Johannesen, beverage director of Jon and Vinny’s, and chef Jon Shook. On Saturday, January 11, Báez served 100 carnitas burritos to first responders battling the unruly, and, at the time, less than 15 percent contained, Palisades fire. Victor Villa of Villa’s Tacos also created a post urging his followers to send him an address where he could go to provide food to first responders; eventually, he took his team to serve first responders and firefighters in Pacific Palisades, the Rose Bowl, and Altadena.

Tacos Los Huicholes and influencer José Diaz of Rock and Roll Foodie streamed their location at the Rose Bowl armed with two hot dog carts and enough food to make 500 hot dogs. The pop-up grew so fast that Diaz and Tacos Los Huicholes were asked to relocate to Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, where the flash mob ballooned to thousands of evacuees, dozens of vendors, endless pallets of water and non-perishables, Port-a-Potties, and even a live music performance from Los Desvelados.

Featured on social media and local newscasts, the Santa Anita Park donation center gathering is just one of many examples of the generosity of Angelenos during times of crisis. Diaz, who hosts monthly pop-ups for unhoused people that are funded by crowdsourced donations, was moved to launch this event after a conversation at the Rose Bowl with a woman who lost everything except for her dog’s favorite tennis ball.

Los Angeles is a taco city, and as the fires rage on and displaced Angelenos remain in need of a reprieve, tacos — and the workers who serve them tirelessly to their communities — have become a source of comfort and consistency. Diaz, a recovering alcoholic, is doing everything to help during this time of need: “When I ended up in the hospital diagnosed with early-stage cirrhosis, and I said if I get through this, I know my life has a purpose,” he says. “Many of my friends were evacuated, and I was evacuated, so I just wanted to contribute.”