The history of al pastor in Los Angeles likely began with Raul Martínez, who founded the King Taco chain of restaurants in 1974. Martínez installed some of the first trompos (vertical spits) in Los Angeles at his Eastside taquerías to prepare Mexico City-style al pastor (pork marinated in adobo) cooked on a vertical spit.
From the moment their bright, shapely trompos were placed outside the orange and yellow lonchera toward the rear of a gas station at the corner of South La Brea Avenue and Venice Boulevard in Mid-City, Angelenos have been hooked on Mexico City-style tacos de al pastor. Today, the streets of Los Angeles teem with marinated pork tacos shaved from trompos.
In the case of tacos de al pastor, these trompos are mounted with thin cuts of carne adobada (adobo-marinated meat) built in layers to form a conical or cylindrical mound of meat. The most notable regional variations are tacos de al pastor in Mexico City and Puebla, tacos de adobada in Tijuana, and tacos de trompo in Monterey.
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