San Diego’s taco shops don’t just feed our city, they cultivate culture. In Marshall Williams’ Taco Stand Vernacular photo series, these tortilla temples become a rigorous, black-and-white typology—glowing kiosks and drive-throughs isolated at dusk when the sky goes soft and signage calls to hungry dinner seekers.
“One evening, I was stopped at a stoplight, and was gazing over at this taco stand. It was sunset, and the way it was illuminated, it made such a transition, like it donned this evening persona. It just changed into this very kind of ‘come-hither’ being,” Williams says. “My interest is in the physicality of these places, their unique personalities.”
In these images, Williams honors each stand’s architecture and iconography, treating them as social focal points. Seen together, patterns surface…