Gustavo Arellano

Gustavo Arellano (born February 3, 1979) is a Mexican American writer and journalist. He is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times^[1] and the former editor of Orange County's alternative weekly OC Weekly.

Gustavo Arellano
Born	(1979-02-03) February 3, 1979 (age 46)
Occupation	Journalist
Language	English
Genres	Journalism, non-fiction, satire
Notable works	Ask a Mexican
Relatives	Jessica Alba (cousin)

Career

He is most notable as the author of the satirical column Ask a Mexican, which is syndicated nationally and has been collected into book form as ¡Ask a Mexican! (Scribner, 2008).^[2][3][4] Arellano has won numerous awards for the column, including the 2006 and 2008 Best Non-Political Column in a large-circulation weekly from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, the 2007 Presidents Award from the Los Angeles Press Club and an Impacto Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition, a 2008 Latino Spirit award from the California Latino Legislative Caucus, and was part of the Los Angeles Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning team that covered the L.A. City Hall tape leak scandal.^[5]

Gustavo Arellano has contributed commentary for the weekly "Orange County Line" on KCRW, and appeared on "Good Food with Evan Kleiman".^[6] Gustavo Arellano is a journalism professor at Orange Coast College.^[7]

In 2018, Arellano was featured in the "Tacos" episode of the hit Netflix show Ugly Delicious.^[8] He has also written an episode of the American cartoon Bordertown.

Personal life

He is a third cousin once removed of actress Jessica Alba.^[9] His wife owns and operates a restaurant in Santa Ana.^[10][11] Arellano was at the OC Weekly for 15 years before resigning in 2017.^[12] In January 2019, Arellano officially became a features writer for the Los Angeles Times, covering mostly Southern California.^[13]

Bibliography

• Ask a Mexican (Scribner 2007), ISBN 978-1416540038
• Orange County: A Personal History (Scribner, 2008), ISBN 978-1416540052
• Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America (Scribner, 2012), ISBN 978-1439148624