What is Pachucas?

noun, plural pa·chu·cas [puh-choo-kuhz; Spanish pah-choo-kahs]. a teenage girl who associates closely with pachucos. GOOSES. GEESES.

What does the Spanish word pachuco mean?

Definition of pachuco : a young Mexican-American having a taste for flashy clothes and a special jargon and usually belonging to a neighborhood gang.

What is Pachuco style?

Pachuco style was a dominating trend among Mexican-American youth in the 1930s-40s. Pachucos became known for their distinguished look, dialogue, and actions. Pachucos dressed in recognizable Zoot suits, and often styled their hair into ducktails.

How do pachucos talk?

Of particular interest is the use of Caló, or “Pachuco Slang,” a language that is not Spanish nor English nor “Spanglish” but a unique language which the Pachuco culture brought to LA from El Paso and Cuidad Juaréz. Caló incorporates a lot of rhyming, code-switching, and alteration of phonemes and spelling.

What did the Pachucas do?

Known to keep razor blades in their hair, Las Pachucas or ‘cholitas’ were the female counterpart to the male zoot suiter, or pachuco. Las Pachucas were involved in much of the violence surrounding the Zoot Suit Riots, often in documentation being seen throwing things and yelling at law enforcement.

Why did Pachucos wear zoot suits?

Their rebellion against the expectations placed on them came out looking pretty fantastic. At the time the poor and working classes wore loose fitting clothes, and the young Pachucos decided they were cool with that as long as it looked fly, so they chose to wear loose fitting Zoot suits like they saw in the movies.

What language is pachuco?

Mexican Spanish
“The word ‘pachuco’ originated as the local Mexican Spanish slang term for a resident of the city of El Paso, probably early in the 20th century.

Is it still illegal to wear a zoot suit in LA?

In Los Angeles, it is illegal to wear a zoot suit. This law doesn’t make much sense today, but back in the 1930s and ’40s, good fabric was hard to come by because of the war effort. Zoot suits, because of their excessive fabric, were seen as unpatriotic.

Are zoot suits illegal in Los Angeles?

The next day the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution that banned the wearing of zoot suits on Los Angeles streets. The number of attacks dwindled, and the rioting had largely ended by June 10.