Street Vendors

After he was laid off last fall from his job driving a delivery truck, Ricardo Lara couldn't find another full-time position that would pay the bills. So he went into business for himself driving an ice cream truck. At first, he was making as much money peddling Heath bars, Bomb Pops and ice cream sandwiches as he did at his old job. But that didn't last. As the economy melted down, so did sales, despite his seven-day workweek plying the streets of South Los Angeles.

Amado Campos stands before a makeshift altar in his living room, crosses himself and prays to St. Jude, patron saint of lost causes. "Help me, San Juditas. Bring good people in my path and keep the bad ones far away." It is just after 10 a.m.

For the last two months, Green Truck mobile catering services would park on Wilshire Boulevard along Los Angeles' Miracle Mile and serve handmade organic fare to the neighborhood's lunch crowd. "It was wonderful," said Bobby Allen, general manger of the Culver City-based company. "We had a line of people every day." But last week, the lines disappeared after police officers swooped in and forced Green Truck and several other mobile food vendors parked in the mid-Wilshire area to move on. Some drivers said they were cited for minimal violations such as parking too close to the curb, or parking too far away.

A court commissioner has nixed a Los Angeles law that cracked down on how long taco trucks and other food coaches could stay open up for business. The ordinance, approved by the City Council in 2006, forced operators to stay on the go: Trucks were prohibited from parking in the same spot in a residential neighborhood for more than half an hour or in a commercial area for more than an hour. A similar law adopted by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors was tossed out by a judge last year.

The latest public health debate swirling in the quaint beach city of El Segundo is whether to allow the number of ice cream trucks in town to double. For the past decade, El Segundo has had one licensed ice cream truck vendor. But earlier this month, Chekesha Palmer applied to become the second, igniting a debate among city leaders over the pros and cons of ice cream trucks. "I think they create problems," Councilman Don Brann said at last week's council meeting. "I don't see much good about issuing a permit for someone to do this in our town."

Senovia Amigon arrived at the Boyle Heights street corner at 3 a.m. Valentine's Day to stake out her turf. After eight years peddling romantic trinkets near the auto body shops and menudo stands at 4th and Soto streets, Amigon wasn't about to let anyone crowd her customary spot. "If someone comes," she said in Spanish, "you kick them out." At the prime corner location, early arrival could mean the difference between a modest windfall and bunches of wilting, leftover flowers.

Business was brisk one recent night as the smell of sizzling carne asada floated from an East Los Angeles taco truck. A row of customers sat on folding chairs, tacos and quesadillas in hand. Two blocks down Cesar Chavez Avenue, Jesus Huerta's La Tia Tamale restaurant stood empty. "If they weren't there," Huerta said of the shiny chrome-sided Taqueria "El Pecas" truck, "I'd be selling right now."

"Carne Asada Is Not a Crime," proclaims a website that has suddenly caught fire to rally food lovers across Los Angeles in defense of the iconic taco truck, now in the sights of a government crackdown. After county supervisors passed a law two weeks ago, threatening hefty fines or a year in jail against operators who linger too long in one place, a pair of former Occidental College roommates took it upon themselves to ignite a protest.

They were a distasteful breed, all in all, the loud-mouthed young hustlers who sold newspapers on this city's street corners, and when the 11- and 12-year-old newsboys got driven out in the early part of the last century, the old men and toothless reprobates who replaced them were scarcely any better. "In every condition of decrepitude, some with two crutches, some with one, some with but one arm, some partially blind and some totally blind," a county judge wrote in 1937.

Much as Barack Obama has kindled unprecedented interest in presidential politics, so too has he prompted a flood of merchandise, collectibles, television deals and book contracts. Presidents have always inspired such capitalism. But marketing experts say the historic nature of this election and the strong brand that the Illinois senator's campaign cultivated have sparked incredible demand for all things Obama.