Lunch was on the President Thursday at Tacos 1986.
President Joe Biden and his motorcade stopped for chicken quesadillas at the restaurant in Los Angeles' Westwood area during his two-day Southern California visit. Joined by Rep. Karen Bass, who is running against LA billionaire businessman Rick Caruso for mayor of Los Angeles.
"Takeout order for Bass," Biden said as he approached the counter. "What do we owe you?"
The cashier said he qualifies for a "public service" discount. Biden handed over $60 in cash and told the cashier to use what's left for the next customer's order.
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Tacos 1986 has six Los Angeles locations.
On his way out, Biden was asked by a reporter about LA's gas prices. The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County recorded its largest decrease since at least February 2020 Thursday, dropping 5.4 cents but still at a hefty $6.257.
"Well, that's always been the case here," Biden said. "Nationwide, they came down by $1.35, and we're still down over a dollar."
The drop was the eighth consecutive daily decrease after rising to a record.
The average price has dropped 23.7 cents over the past seven days, including 4.7 cents Wednesday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
The national average price dropped nine-tenths of a cent to $3.913. It is the second day in a row the national average price dropped. It rose for 11 consecutive days, dropped four-tenths of a cent Oct. 2 and resumed increasing Oct. 3 before dropping one-tenth of a cent on Wednesday.
About President Biden's Los Angeles Visit
President Biden arrived in Los Angeles Wednesday on a West Coast trip that comes with just weeks to go before nationwide midterm elections that could re-shape Congress. Biden's SoCal visit comes after a stop in Colorado, where he was to designate the first national monument of his administration. Camp Hale is an alpine training site where U.S. soldiers prepared for battles in the Italian Alps during World War II.
In Southern California, Biden will participate in a campaign event focused on the nation's infrastructure and a Thursday fundraiser for House Democrats. Deadline reported that the fundraiser is in Brentwood, but it was not immediately clear who organized the event.
Biden will be in Orange County Friday, where he will deliver a talk about "lower costs for American families," the White House said. Details about the discussion were not immediately available.
“We've been very clear that the president is going to go out, the vice president is going to go out,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday. “They're going to talk about the successes that we have seen in this administration in the last 19 months.”
The visit comes at a time when early voting for the Nov. 8 election is already underway in California, where every registered voters is sent a mail-in ballot, and a firestorm surrounds the Los Angeles City Council. On Tuesday, Biden joined a long list of national, state and local leaders calling for the resignations of three Los Angeles City Councilmembers over a recorded conversation about redistricting that included racist remarks about the 2-year-old adopted Black son of a colleague.
On Wednesday, Nury Martinez, who earlier resigned from the position of council president, announced she is stepping down from her council seat. The announcement came after days of protests and public pressure.
Biden last visited os Angeles in June when he was a host for the Summit of the Americas. He also spoke at two Democratic National Committee fundraisers during that visit.
Biden will leave Southern California Friday to visit Oregon, where that state's Democratic governor faces a challenge from an unaffiliated candidate.
