The Original Food Trucks

La Asociación de Loncheros, a nonprofit advocacy organization that's now 300 members strong, grew out of the 2008 grassroots effort Carne Asada Is Not a Crime. Before Angelenos knew about kimchi tacos, L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina proposed changes to a peddling ordinance. It would have made it a misdemeanor — punishable by a maximum $1,000 fine and/or six months in jail — for loncheras to violate parking restrictions in certain areas.

In protest, two professors from Occidental College launched saveourtacotrucks.org and circulated an online petition that garnered more than 8,000 signatures. Then they penned an open letter to Molina and invited other Angelenos who love taco trucks to do the same. Winning that fight paved the way for Twitter trucks.

PHOTO BY ANNE FISHBEIN

Taquitos from Prime Time Cuisine on Wheels: Formerly a taco truck, it's now a custom-wrapped "food truck."

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More About

• Lucy Granados
• Arturo Pena
• Erin Glenn
• Street Food
• Food and Cooking

And now those trucks are inspiring some loncheras to innovate.

"After about three years, some of our members are starting to see benefits of utilizing social media," says Glenn, CEO of the Asociación. "But only a handful of them have expressed interest in it."

The bigger effect might be that the trendier trucks are helping the loncheras shed the "roach coach" stereotype — and giving them the freedom to innovate on the food front.

Lucy Granados says she doesn't really get the new technology. But after 20 years aboard a roving kitchen, she knows how to cook. She appointed her daughter-in-law as social media wiz for Prime Time Cuisine on Wheels. That allows Granados to create new items for the menu.

"We've added several high-end items like quesadillas with fish, shrimp and crab," Granados says. "We've always made quality food. Now we can charge more for it."

Award-winning journalist Patricia Nazario started her career as a local TV news reporter and has filed radio stories from South America for NPR, Marketplace and BBC World Service. She's producing Masa Revolution, an independent documentary film about the national food truck movement.