If not, there are restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores and farmers’ market vendors with tameleras who handcraft thousands for the holidays. Most are in East L.A. with a sprinkling in the Valley and Westside.

Your best bet to score tamales at the smaller "mom and pop" locations is to order in advance, unless you want to wait in line and watch the sunrise—in which case, you’re sure to make a few new friends.

Here are 12 places in L.A. County to check out for your holiday tamales.