Pachuco | El Pachuco Zoot Suits

This outfit defined an era, created a riot, and was banned by the government

By Khanya Khondlo Mtshali – Timeline.com – AP Photo. Photo: A young pachuco sporting a zoot suit being held on vagrancy charges in Los Angeles County jail during the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943. (AP Photo) The tensions surrounding the zoot suit culminated in...

New Latin American music from Bululú and very old (new) Sephardic music from Kat Parra

By Andrew Gilbert – BerkeleySide.com – Photo: Eric Thompson. Photo: The nine-piece East Bay band Bululú brings its trópico-Venezuelan sound to BrasArte on Saturday. The creative frisson sometimes kindled by cultural diversity isn’t a one-size-fits-all...

Here is a comment worth posting from Jason Medina

The word “chuco” is a word that evolved from the Indians and the Mexicans that lived in this area. It meant dirty, low class. This is where the criminal element if you will, lived. Mexicans passed through here to get to the U.S. and outlaws who were on the run would...

Here is a comment worth posting from Ty and Maria Garcia

Yeyyy!!! Excellent!!! A lowrider car should be displayed in this collection as one of the greater creation of Chicanos. In addition, a Pachuco Suit Zuit should be displayed as we all know that the Pachuco Outfit came out from Mexican Americans… yes, back then, during...

Video: The history of El Paso’s Pachuco culture

By ElPaso411.com – Photo Not Credited. We’ve all heard people call El Paso Chucotown or just Chuco. If you walked down the streets of El Paso, Texas, in 1942, you probably wouldn’t think much of a man wearing an oversized suit and fedora hat. The style was...

Pachucos y Sirenas Looks Back at 1940s Chicano Counterculture #2

By Eneri Rodriguez – WestWord.com – Image: Carlos Frésquez/El Codex Pachuco. Image: “El Codex Pachuco” by Carlos Frésquez The show will spotlight artists including Justin Favela, Antonia Fernandez, Carlos Frésquez, Josiah Lopez, Jerry Vigil,...