Gustavo Arellano, known for his “Ask a Mexican” columns, is the Los Angeles Times’ newest California columnist.
According to Norman Pearlstine, the paper’s executive editor, Arellano “will have a wide berth in both what he writes about and the forms he takes, but a central mission will be diving deeply into Southern California’s disparate communities and how the Latino experience is transforming the region.”
Arellano joined the LAT in January 2018 as a columnist, moving on to a feature writer role at the end of that year. Since then, he has written a wide range of topics and anchored the LAT’s Proposition 187 podcast.
Prior to the LAT, he spent a decade as editor and publisher of the OC Weekly. In 2017, after the publication’s new owners asked him to lay off half the staff, Arellano refused and quit.
Author of three books, “¡Ask A Mexican!” (2007), “Orange County: A Personal History” (2008) and “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America” (2012), he is a regular contributor to several long-form publications, as well as KCRW.