Historic label on the table for King Taco

Restaurant that changed the way Angelenos view Mexican cuisine and eventually influenced taco culture across the country is poised for recognition

- STEPHANIE BREIJO

KING TACO'S Cypress Park site could become a historic-cultural monument.

(STEPHANIE BREIJO Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles taqueria where soft tacos were popularized starting 50 years ago is poised to become a city-designated historic-cultural site.

The original King Taco sparked interest for generations of Angelenos in more varieties of Mexican cuisine and eventually influenced taco culture across the country.

In the 1970s, an era rife with hard-shelled tacos stuffed with ground beef, cheddar cheese and shredded lettuce, founders Raúl and Lupe Martinez helped proselytize soft, tender corn tortillas piled with grilled meats, cilantro, onions and fresh salsas. They spread that gospel through a small fleet of food trucks and nearly two dozen restaurants, helping to change the way Angelenos conceptualize Mexican food.

"They told me I was crazy," Raúl Martinez told The Times in 1987, "but... here I am."

Their first storefront, a casual walk-up counter founded in 1975, is currently under consideration as a historic-cultural monument, a testimony to its “significant contributions to the broad cultural, economic or social history of the nation, state, city, or community,” according to the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission.