LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles is already home to many Hispanic communities, like those from Mexico, central and south America. But according to a new Census report, there’s a Hispanic Caribbean population that’s quickly growing and calling L.A. home, and they’re bringing their traditional foods with them.

Deany Santana is the head of the kitchen at her family-run Dominican restaurant, El Bacano in North Hollywood. The first brick and mortar Dominican restaurant in LA.

“My mom and my grandma, they would just, we would hang around with them in the kitchen and we were shown what to do, how to do it,” she said.

The Santanas cook traditional dishes, like Sancocho, which "has pork, beef, chicken, and to that we add root veggies, plantains."

The Santana siblings are part of a growing group of people with Dominican roots moving to LA in recent years.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, people with origins from the Dominican Republic have been the fastest growing Hispanic Caribbean population in California, seeing a 103% jump in the past ten years.

In the 2022 Census in Los Angeles, the year Deany Santana and Jonathan Santana moved to LA, over 7,000 Dominicans were listed in LA County.

“Most Dominicans here are transplants from like New York,” Jonathan Santana said, “so they don’t have nothing here.”

Santana has seen this growth himself.

“Absolutely. When I would first come visit, I would never run into my people at all. But we definitely weren’t out here in The Valley. But after opening up….there’s a lot,” he said.

The other Hispanic Caribbean groups that are growing a significant presence in LA are Puerto Ricans and Cubans.