From KCRW, I'm Evan Klyman, and you're listening to good food.

When Joe and Celia Ward Wallace opened South LA Cafe, they were tired.

Tired of waiting for fresh affordable food options to come to their neighborhood.

So they decided to stop waiting and try to make it happen on their own.

In November 2019, they opened a bright cheery 2200 square foot cafe at the corner of Western

Avenue and MLK Boulevard.

But South LA Cafe has never been just about the food.

The Ward Wallaces are on a mission to fight racial, social, and economic inequality,

and as they like to say they're doing it through coffee, community, and connection.

Their next big project, overseeing the Natural History Museum's entire food and beverage program,

including a new cafe that opens this week.

Joe and Celia Ward Wallace are the subject of this week's in the weeds.

I'm Joe Ward Wallace, one of the co-founders of South delay Cafe and South delay.

I'm Celia Ward Wallace I am the CEO and co-founder of South LA Cafe.

I was in and co-founder of South LA Cafe.

I was inspired along with my husband and partner,

Joe Ward Wallace, to open up South LA Cafe

because we are a residence of the community.

My husband's born and raised in South LA. I grew up in the

community a child of community organizers and we were raising our own children

here in this neighborhood and while we had the privilege to drive

outside of our community for food and safe places to gather we saw that our residents, our neighbors,

...