On Hollywood’s congested avenues, the familiar sounds of helicopters hum overhead. The occasional fireworks crackling and the distant rumbling of cars along the 101 break the din of the quieter side streets. Amid the urban soundtrack, the sharp honk of an ambulant elotero horn cuts through with an urgency that summons visions of spicy ears of corn or esquites covered in mayonnaise, queso Cotija, melted butter, and finely ground chile powder. One enterprising vendor has turned this area into a roving fleet of elote golf carts, serving the beloved Mexican street food in one of Los Angeles’s most iconic neighborhoods.
Elotes and esquites are testament to Indigenous ingenuity and more popular than ever, whether they’re served from roadside stands or as a course in a modern Mexican restaurant menu. Eloteros sell in nearly all Latino neighborhoods in Los Angeles, but in the central neighborhoods of Hollywood, which is 30 percent Latino, and East Hollywood, which is 47 percent Latino, there has been a gap. In majority Latino neighborhoods, such as Boyle Heights, East LA, and Huntington Park, eloteros have a strong customer base, especially near schools and markets. In contrast, the last elotero of note in Hollywood was Benjamín Ramírez, whose cart was attacked in 2017 by an Argentine man in a viral video. Seeing an opportunity to fill the void in Hollywood and East Hollywood in 2017, José Pablo Caselin, from Acatzingo de Hidalgo, Puebla, opened Elotes Los Santaneros and began selling elotes and esquites from a shopping cart in Hollywood.
Soon, Caselin’s brother Samuel joined the business, as did his nephews José Luis, or “Emy,” Fausto, and José. The Caselin family covers a lot of ground, from Hollywood Boulevard to Olympic Boulevard, with Hollywood High School and Vermont Boulevard as the west and east borders, respectively. The family serves the snack with style: Elotes Los Santaneros now has six gas-powered golf carts, each equipped with a utility bed that’s ideal for eloteros. “We have cousins in Arizona who sell elotes, and I think they were the first ones to use golf carts here, ” says José Luis.
Each cart sports a novelty Puebla license plate and the Caselin family name written in the tricolor letters of the Mexican flag across the windshield. The Mexican flag flies proudly mounted on a pole fixed to the hood, an act of defiance in the face of unprecedented, overreaching Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids that have terrorized the Latino community. “We are out and selling, and giving it all we got,” says José Luis, undeterred by the ICE’s continued presence in the city.
“We are out and selling, and giving it all we got.“
— José Luis caselin, elote vendor
Street by street, these golf carts honk their horns for regulars, especially in pockets where Hollywood’s Mexican, including a significant Oaxacan population, and Central American residents are clustered. Customers can also call in for a special delivery. “Many of our clients call us or send a WhatsApp message asking us to come by their street,” says José Luis.
The Caselin recipes for elotes use both mayonnaise and melted butter, queso Cotija, and freshly ground chile de árbol powder. Lime juice can be added upon request. The esquites, which are made in salted water seasoned with epazote and chile de árbol, are exceptional, constructed with rich layers of mayonnaise, melted butter, and Cotija that cling to the walls of the plastic cup between moist, loose kernels of corn. The final touch is a dollop of mayonnaise that covers half the cup, a snowy top layer of Cotija, and, finally, a little more butter and chile powder. For a more trendy variant, try the tostiesquites, essentially the same preparation but served in an open bag of Tostitos chips.
There are other snacks on the golf cart, like raspados (shaved ice) made with fresh fruit. The raspado offerings include native Mexican flavors such as pineapple, sweet and sour guanábana (soursop), and nanche (sometimes spelled nance), a bright yellow fruit that tastes like a cross between an olive and a cherry. Other crowd favorites are strawberry, mango, tamarind, and coconut.
On Mother’s Day, the Elotes Los Santaneros fleet put on quite the show. “We got all six carts and gave away elotes and raspados to many of the mothers in the community at Lemon Grove [Recreation Center in East Hollywood],” says José Luis. Elotes Los Santaneros have endeared themselves to locals in Hollywood, East Hollywood, and Koreatown by continuing to operate through the toughest periods of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent federal government raids. The immigrant-owned business serving one of Mexico’s best street foods from a fleet of golf carts demonstrates the resilient nature of Mexican eloteros, fruteros, and taqueros in Los Angeles.
“Come see us and ask for your esquites con tocho morocho [a little of everything],” says José Luis. Elotes Los Santaneros operates daily from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., (323) 557-8499.
