your comment literally made me laugh out loud - i should have been mindful that much like korea, california has a strong north south rivalry 
where i grew up we didn’t have much of a hispanic population (or the idea of focusing on important crimes) so the idea of not being summarily executed for having a picnic let alone a park where people *gasp* smoke cannabis in public was very freeing, and having had very little exposure to international food mission burritos were exotic, tasty, and most importantly to a student traveler: cheap.
maybe they were average, but hey, as they say: set and setting 
