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A Couple From Mexico Became Soft Taco Pioneers in Los Angeles 50 Years Ago. Now, Their Restaurant Is a Landmark

Smithsonian Magazine·Sarah Kuta·about 1 month ago
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Raúl and Lupe Martinez opened King Taco and served up soft corn tortillas like they remembered from home. The rest is—now officially—history, thanks to a vote from the Los Angeles City Council The original King Taco location in the Los Angeles Cypress Park neighborhood is now a historic-cultural monument. Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images In the mid-1970s, Raúl and Lupe Martinez opened a casual, walk-up counter in Los Angeles’ Cypress Park neighborhood, where they served soft corn tortillas topped with meat, salsa, cilantro and onions—a novelty in the United States at a time when hard-shelled tacos reigned supreme. Their tender creations caught on quickly, giving many Angelenos their first taste of authentic Mexico City-style tacos. “The hard shell was an Americanized version of what’s done only in a very small part of Mexico,” Casandra Martinez, the couple’s granddaughter, tells SFGate ’s Karen Palmer. “My grandparents were from Mexico City and wanted to serve the type of tacos they ate.…

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