When Samuel Solis opened Taco Boy in Anaheim in 1985, my hometown was a taco desert.
Mexican meals in Anaheim again then was Cal-Mex combo plates and fast-food hard-shell tacos. To get one thing so simple as carne asada on a heat corn tortilla dressed with cilantro and onion, my father often took us to the King Taco off Third Avenue and Ford Boulevard in East Los Angeles, or Taqueria de Anda in close by Fullerton if we have been actually determined.
Solis had labored in taquerias in L.A. County since arriving within the U.S. as a 21-year-old within the late Seventies. After a stint at a number of King Tacos, adopted by a taco truck in downtown L.A. and a restaurant in Huntington Park, he acquired a former tortilleria close to Anaheim Metropolis Corridor. The road housed a bunch of bars and the unique Northgate Gonzalez market, proper subsequent to barrios.
“Right here was my raza from Guanajuato,” stated Solis, now 66, referring to the Mexican state the place he was born. His son, Samuel Jr., sat subsequent to him as they waited for the lunch rush at their small, sparsely adorned spot. “However there additionally wasn’t lots of competitors again then. We did good from the beginning.”
“Households would go to Northgate, then come right here,” Samuel Jr. added. He remembers early morning journeys to L.A. along with his dad for produce and tortillas, and napping on 50-pound baggage of beans.
Samuel Solis, entrance, and his son Samuel Solis Jr., in entrance of their family-owned restaurant Taco Boy.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
“At first, it’s like a jail,” his father added, talking over the chintzy grupero music that blared from an digital jukebox. “It’s important to be right here seven days per week, 15 hours a day. Finally, it will get simpler.”
Taco Boy rapidly grew to become an Anaheim establishment. With a accomplice, Solis was capable of purchase the gleaming white constructing that homes his restaurant and three different companies. One other Taco Boy opened in Anaheim, run by Samuel Jr. and his uncle. Samuel Sr. earned a fame as a kindhearted proprietor, the kind that gave out free bean-and-cheese burritos to those that wanted a meal and regarded the opposite approach if homeless individuals bathed in his restrooms.
My household and mates haunted the place for years. I cease in each as soon as in awhile, not simply to conjure up Proustian recollections however as a result of the no-frills menu — tacos, burritos, sopes, quesadillas, with menudo on Sundays — remains to be scrumptious.
“The primary phrase right here,” stated the 40-year-old Samuel Jr., “is historical past.”
Samuel Sr. ought to be within the autumn of his life. He formally retired this 12 months whereas remaining Taco Boy’s proprietor. However once I sat down with the 2 Samuels lately, they regarded beleaguered.
It’s been a tough couple of years. Lorenzo Camacho, the uncle of Samuel Sr.’s spouse and his right-hand man, died of COVID-19 on the finish of 2020; a big picture of him hangs close to the money register. The pandemic compelled the household to chop again hours. Taquerias now cowl Anaheim, and rival taco joints stand simply blocks away.
Now, Taco Boy has turn into sufferer to the rash of burglaries afflicting eating places throughout Southern California that appear to be getting increasingly more brazen.
The Tex-Mex chain HomeState suffered so many break-ins at their Sherman Oaks location that they introduced in February that they might not settle for money. In March, thieves hit seven eateries in Rancho Santa Margarita in half an hour. Final week, 10 Glendale eating places noticed burglaries in only one Saturday morning. This week, two gun-wielding males held up Lucy’s Drive-In in Mid-Metropolis — the primary time that my favourite place in Southern California for a chile relleno burrito had skilled something like this.
Samuel Sr. stated his enterprise had suffered only one theft earlier than final fall. Since then, his two areas have weathered seven break-ins, together with two in 5 days final month. The final time, the register on the authentic one was left open and empty, as if to let anybody who broke in know there was nothing left to take. Thieves nonetheless took off with a card reader and unsuccessfully tried to attract $10,000 from the restaurant’s account.
“That is what I do now,” he quietly stated. Solis pulled up an app on his cellphone. It confirmed reside footage from the 14 safety cameras at his Taco Boys. “I can’t even sleep proper now as a result of I’m anxious.”
He then pulled up footage that confirmed a person prying open a money register on the authentic location some months in the past. The entrance and backside glass panes of the entrance door have been smashed in.
Taco Boy restaurant is one in every of Orange County’s first taquerias. The restaurant has had a string of break-ins lately so they simply put in the metallic bars on the entrance door and home windows.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
“There was $100 in there. They left $40 in quarters, in order that they took $60.”
Solis paused. “The machine value $2,000. It was destroyed.”
I attempted to look away, however Solis urged me to maintain watching. “Look, he’s going for the sodas!” he stated with a bitter giggle. “He took three Cokes.”
Samuel Jr. regarded on with a grimace. “It’s irritating. You are feeling helpless, ineffective. They stroll away with cash, and we stroll away with an insurance coverage declare.”
“Not even,” his father responded. “The harm we get doesn’t even attain our deductible, so we have now to pay out of pocket.”
The household has filed police experiences, however their instances stay excellent. Samuel Sr. thinks Anaheim ought to beef up safety within the neighborhood.
Samuel Solis Jr, on the entrance counter of Taco Boy.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
“However they’re not going to have a police automotive circle round right here,” he stated. “As a result of these burglaries aren’t simply occurring round right here.”
“I don’t wish to blame the pandemic, however it modified lots of people’s minds,” his son stated. “Children didn’t go to high school and at the moment are out on the streets. Issues gave the impression to be going up for a bit [after lockdowns were lifted], however lots of issues have gone backwards.”
Father and son are matter-of-fact males who tried to not present a lot emotion throughout our discuss. However weariness underlined their voices as they described what’s subsequent. Taco Boy has two big home windows that provide a panoramic view of Anaheim Boulevard. After 35 years, the Solises are lastly going to put in iron bars on them.
“It’s going to vary the aesthetic, however oh effectively,” Samuel Sr. stated. “If we attempt to maintain it good like how it’s, [the break-ins are] going to proceed. ”
“Issues aren’t going to vary, however we have now to adapt,” Samuel Jr. stated. He stayed quiet. “It’s painful. We’ve been conducting enterprise without end. To have individuals mistreat us this fashion …”
The 2 Samuels bid me farewell. Cleavers thumped within the background as I acquired as much as put in my common order: an al pastor burrito and an horchata. Taco Boy’s lunch rush by no means got here. Once I left, I seen the sliding iron gate on the bar subsequent door was coated in graffiti.
Eating places like Taco Boy are the canary within the coal mine of native economies. They’re the place we go to loosen up and commiserate and eat. When the individuals who run them are beneath siege, so are the remainder of us.
