It's not easy being a tamale street vendor in Los Angeles
The interview is short. I would have liked hearing more from Antonio.(See photo slideshow by Anna Bosch)
The police constantly watch all the goods and services that are sold illegally here: drugs, sex, fake IDs, even street food. Health inspectors have to dispose of all food that isn't to code and that might be unsafe. Sometimes they dump full carts of tamales into the gutter. And the gangs in the area, they charge rent to any vendors who sell goods on the streets that they've marked as their territory. Here's Antonio.
ANTONIO: It's dangerous. It's very, very dangerous. You have to be careful with the gangs, you have to be careful with the police, you have to be careful with the cars. There are a lot of dangers in the street.
The tamaleros play a game, sort-of like a high-stakes version of hide-and-go seek. And there are rules that all the street vendors have to follow.
ANTONIO: Don't throw trash in the street. Second of all, if you see the police, don't make eye contact. And the gangs have asked me to pay rent, but no I have refused to do that.
UPDATE Devin Browne says: "[T]he radio story was based on a multimedia piece Anna and I produced together which can be seen here."
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I don't know about LA, but in Houston, Chingo Bling is the tamale kingpin. Indy mex-rapper makes some funny songs, some insightful songs, and keeps me entertained. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chingo_Bling
I may be a gringo, but Chingo does it better for me than a bunch of Faygo-sippin' midwesterners in clown paint.
I believe another problem in that neighborhood is the cake, which has been left out in the rain.
So flattered to have a piece mentioned on boingboing. Thank you. Wanted to also let you know that the radio story was based on a multimedia piece Anna and I produced together which can be seen here:
http://macarthurparkmedia.com/2009/06/tamales-on-the-run/
thanks,
Devin Browne
I used to love the late night suicide dogs being sold outside of the clubs. They weren't too suicide-y for me, as I'd spent 4 years building my tolerance in Tijuana.
$30 a day! Damn! I'd probably average a spend of $15 a week if this guy was in my line of fire (which may only be $7.50 profit).
Either he is charging way to little OR the vendors need to do some price fixing so they can make a living (or minimum) wage.
Not to digress, but perhaps this is why I'm doughy like our dear friend Talik. Fortunately, I like tamales but no longer live with my mom.
jaytkay, I may hate you forever for putting that song back into mental play...
I like tamale, hot hot tamale! I like tamale, hot hot!
Thanks for sharing the link, Devin!
Very good document! Thanks for the link too...
The vendors might see health inspectors as enemies but as a reader I feel they are on my side. Also hot tamale.
Note to businessmen:
There's only one thing that pretentious white people like better than government safety regulations, and that's bicycles. So if you want to avoid regulations and dispense toxic products, you'd better be on a bike! If you're not on a bike, you're a dangerous anti-government reactionary capitalist threatening the health and economy of the nation with your heartless, un-regulated greed. But once you're on a bike, you become a plucky hero of the people, dispensing justice to The Man™ in the form of subprime derivatives, melamine, and e.coli!
The problem in my neighborhood is that there aren't enough of these guys. Because they have to keep on the lowdown and stay mobile, there's never one around when you get a hankering for tamales, and always one honking his little horn just after you've already eaten.
Reminds me of this, police raid latino food vendors and some hip hop activists get arrested trying to do copwatch:
http://www.wiretapmag.org/race/43603/
Saddest thing; he still makes more money than me (after taxes).
In Chicago there are guys who do a circuit of west end bars with cases full of tamales, starting around 11pm. I don't know anything about the economics of the trade, but they seem to do a land office business. As far as safety is concerned, I've never had problems with the tamale guys, and I've been poisoned in several of the finer establishments in Chicago.
Am I the only one who feels like an idiot for not knowing what a Tamale is?
re: #15 Where is the Chicago "west end"?
re: #16 Answer can be found here.
Jaytkay,
Depending on who you ask, Chicago's "West Side" can be anywhere from River West to Central Ave. and can include neighborhoods such as Wicker Park, Bucktown, Ukrainian Village, Humboldt Park and Garfield Park.
I tend to say "west end" from force of habit (London and Toronto). Why do you ask?
I wouldn't mistrust the unregulated tamales. Wish I could try one.
I'm relieved no one repeated the "Chili today, hot tamale" weather joke.
Ahhhh, got it. I asked because I didn't know of a west end. I see it's analogous to someone from LA calling Chicago expressways "The 94" or "The 290" instead of "94" or "290".
I might have to ride down from Ravenswood some night for some of those tamales.
One of the guys comes by the Mutiny on a regular basis. Or at least did when I lived there.
Here's an LA Times a story about the vendor killed in February in MacArthur Park/West Lake:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/01/local/me-vendor1
And from a few years ago, a fantastic Los Angeles Magazine first person article about a female tamale vendor in the same neighborhood:
http://www.lamag.com/article.aspx?id=4272
The singular is "tamal", no e on the end if you please.
Also @#11 ERNUNNOS
No need to be nasty.
Not sure if you're familiar with the area, but MacArthur Park isn't exactly in a part of town that's full of "pretentious white people". Mostly working class Latino folks. Folks who'd recognize Antonio, especially if he made a habit of selling steamed e. coli in a corn husk. I'm pretty certain this fellow didn't wake up 14 years ago with an urge to sell toxins.
Damn, now I'm jonesing for tamales from the vendor outside the grocery store in Cancun. My wife and I used to grab a few while waiting for the minibus with the milk-crate seats.
The singular is "tamal"
Yes it is, IF you are writing in Spanish.
@#24JAYTKAY
I guess you're right. There's also the whole avocado/aquacate thing too (unless that's just a thing with me). Cranky mode is a little sensitive in regards to the names of foodstuffs sometimes. Standing down.
re #17: Thanks, very clever, but that wasn't my question.
OK, R1CH, all snark aside, I am sure you are not alone in the tamale-challenged club.
As a teen I worked in a Mexican restaurant, a stand-alone restaurant, not a chain, with Mexican owners, in a mid-size Midwest city. But I never had a tamale until I was 25 and moved to Chicago.
So, moving forward, if you get the chance, try a fresh tamale, in the corn husk. They are probably on the Big Mac end of the healthy scale, I wouldn't make it a staple, but they are tasty.
I've worked at a couple of places where guys brought in their mothers' homemade tamales to sell. $1 or $2 each. Genuine MOM-MADE food! That is a big deal in my book! I'm job hunting, maybe that should be a pre-requisite for potential employers.
Just a comment on the culinary, but as a Yuman right on the border I know Mexican food and the tamale isn't one of my favorites, nor does it seem to be a favorite of the locals.
Here it's all about the burritos and the rolled tacos, so maybe its a regional thing as the cuisine here is Sonoran, is it considered different in Los Angeles?
"I'm pretty certain this fellow didn't wake up 14 years ago with an urge to sell toxins."
I doubt any restauranteur wakes up with an urge to sell toxins. We still require them to submit to health inspections. Despite best intentions, e.coli outbreaks do happen. We didn't create these rules just to be killjoys. I like tamales myself. Had two for lunch just the other day. But I bought it from an establishment that... follows the rules.