All posts tagged: Blackowned

10 Black-owned restaurants to support in Pasadena and Altadena

10 Black-owned restaurants to support in Pasadena and Altadena

Published by Sam Flores

I’ve never lived in Pasadena, but the city that sits below the San Gabriel Mountains in northeast L.A. has always felt like home. As a kid, I’d run into my aunt’s neighbors and coworkers while shopping with my mom on Lake Avenue. I knew to expect a wait at now-closed Roscoe’s Chicken ’n Waffles after my cousin’s Sunday dance recitals. Years later, when I worked at an office off Fair Oaks Avenue, I’d pass my lunch breaks by walking around the neighborhood and admiring the Craftsman homes. It turns out, many Black Southern Californians have a similar relationship to Pasadena and Altadena, its neighboring hillside community that suffered tremendous losses in the Eaton fire. After the fire, restaurateur Greg Dulan of Dulan’s on Crenshaw spent months offering free meals to residents in collaboration with World Central Kitchen. Like me, he had fond childhood memories of traveling there from his South L.A. neighborhood to visit relatives. A year later, the Pasadena-Altadena area is still recovering, with grassroots efforts led by longtime locals and business owners, including …

100+ Black-Owned Bookstores in the U.S.

100+ Black-Owned Bookstores in the U.S.

Published by Jenni Sidey

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. California Ashay by the Bay—Vallejo, CA Chukaruka—Fontana, CA Get Lit Books & Things—Moreno Valley, CA Malik Books—Los Angeles, CA Marcus Books—Oakland, CA Mija Books—Lakewood, CA Moments Co-Op—Oakland, CA The Multicultural Children’s Bookstore and Gifts—Richmond, CA Octavia’s Bookshelf—Pasadena, CA Old Capitol Books—Monterey, CA Reparations Club—Los Angeles, CA Shades of Afrika—Long Beach, CA Underground Books—Sacramento, CA Colorado The Shop at Matter—Denver, CO Townie Books—Crested Butte, CO Connecticut Kindred Thoughts—Bridgeport, CT Obodo Serendipity Books—Stratford, CT Delaware MeJah Books, Inc.—Claymont, DE Florida Best Richardson African Diaspora Literature & Culture Museum—St. Augustine, FL Black English Bookstore—Tampa, FL Cafe Resistance Bookstore & Coffee Shop—Jacksonville, FL Cultured Books Literacy Foundation—St. Petersburg, FL Dare Books—Longwood, FL Eden Books—Newberry, FL Erudite Encounters—Pembroke Pines, FL Essence of Knowledge—Cocoa, FL Pyramid Books—Boynton Beach, FL In Reading Color A weekly newsletter focusing on literature by and about people of color! Subscribe to Selected No Thanks Georgia 44th & 3rd Bookseller—Atlanta, GA All Things Inspiration—Mableton, GA The Black Dot Cultural Center …

10 best Black-owned dessert spots and bakeries in Los Angeles

10 best Black-owned dessert spots and bakeries in Los Angeles

Published by Sam Flores

“I just need a little something sweet.” It was a predictable post-dinner refrain growing up, stated matter-of-factly by my mother, Southern grandmother or aunts, as though they were prescribing themselves dessert. The assertion was made regardless of the meal we’d just eaten, whether it was a simple weeknight dinner or a generous spread at a holiday gathering. The necessity of dessert — nothing too heavy, just a taste of something sweet — never waned. Now I find myself doing the same thing, searching for the ideal treat that will perfectly round out my meal. In those moments, I gravitate to the classic Southern desserts I was raised on: cinnamon-swirled Sock-It-To-Me cake, crumbly 7-Up poundcake with a delicate lemon-lime glaze, peach cobbler and sweet potato pie with flaky, buttery crusts that prove just as delicious as the filling. Thankfully, Los Angeles has plenty of Black-owned dessert shops ready to curb my craving. On South Central Avenue, a landmark bakery now in its third generation of family ownership represents the largest manufacturer of sweet potato pie on …

14 Black-owned spots in L.A. from the 101 Best Restaurants guide

14 Black-owned spots in L.A. from the 101 Best Restaurants guide

Published by Sam Flores

The contributions made by Black-owned restaurants and bars in Los Angeles are immeasurable. Institutions like Harold and Belle’s in Jefferson Park, Dulan’s on Crenshaw in Hyde Park and Lalibela in Carthay have a long-standing presence in neighborhoods across the city. These are places that hold deep meaning for their communities, creating neighborhood hubs for locals and sought-after destinations for everyone else. These 14 restaurants and bars were featured in the most recent edition of The Times’ 101 Best Restaurants in L.A. written by critic Bill Addison and me. They were also pulled from our Hall of Fame, a collection of businesses whose importance exceeds any year’s list, as well as from the list of our favorite places to drink. In writing about Post & Beam for the most recent 101 list, I described John and Roni Cleveland’s Baldwin Hill’s restaurant as one of the beating hearts of our city. The same could be said for many of the businesses featured here. A colleague, assistant food editor Danielle Dorsey, recently reported on the planned closure of …

Black-owned businesses to support in South L.A.

Black-owned businesses to support in South L.A.

Published by Sam Flores

The shiny teal pickup truck that gleams in the parking lot at Earle’s on Crenshaw. The maze-like Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, where a cozy dessert shop and stylish restaurant hide behind multilevel parking garages. The 780-foot-long “Great Wall of Crenshaw” mural that depicts key points and figures throughout Black history. These are just a few of the landmarks that color Crenshaw Boulevard, a 23-mile-long thoroughfare that stretches from the high-rises of Mid-Wilshire to the cliffsides of Rancho Palos Verdes. Zoom in on the sections bordering neighborhoods like Jefferson Park, West Adams, Leimert Park and View Park-Windsor Hills and you’ll find the pulse of Black Los Angeles. “We have a high concentration of Black residents and businesses right along the boulevard,” says Jason Foster, president and chief operating officer of Destination Crenshaw. “We have cultural references from music to movies, and people who are actually driving the culture, like Issa Rae and Ava DuVernay, who got their grounding right here on Crenshaw.” Duane Earle of Earle’s on Crenshaw. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times) The Crenshaw …

Where to support Black-owned restaurants in L.A. for Juneteenth

Where to support Black-owned restaurants in L.A. for Juneteenth

Published by Sam Flores

My mother reminded me recently of a family trip we took to Allensworth, Calif., the state’s only Black-founded town (less than a two-hour drive from Los Angeles), for its annual Juneteenth festival. “The whole family went!” she insisted, trying to spark a memory. “We rented a van, we had matching T-shirts.” Finally, a hazy snapshot emerged: a vast golden field, my extended family spread out around picnic tables, laughing, talking, playing games and eating with other festivalgoers. Aside from the recognizably dry and flat lands of California’s Central Valley, the scene was interchangeable with family reunions, holidays and even summer trips to visit my great-grandmother in Jackson, Miss. (Dana Davenport, Marcel Rollock / For The Times) “Homecoming, church picnics, fish fries — they all share the same music, food and cadence as Juneteenth,” explained Nicole Taylor, author of “Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations,” the first Juneteenth cookbook released by a major publishing house. The holiday marks June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to …