The Pachuco’s portrait
On Saturday I photographed 2 gentlemen that are used to dance on the street.
“Pachuco” and “pachuca” are terms created during the 1940s to 1950s to refer to Mexican-American men and women who dressed in zoot suits or zoot suit-influenced clothing. Although there is no definite origin of the word "pachuco", one theory claims that the term originated in El Paso, Texas. The city of El Paso was typically known as “Pueblo Chuco” or “El Chuco”. The people who immigrated from Los Angeles to El Paso used to say that they were leaving “for El Chuco.” These immigrants became known as the pachucos. This term came to Los Angeles with the Mexican-American workers who immigrated during the industrialization of city centers.
Due to his characteristic pachuco wardrobe in several of his films, Tin Tan, Mexican actor, singer and comedian, as Valdés is better known, is a characteristic figure of that counterculture, in addition to being baptized and known as "El Elvis Presley de los Pachucos" and “El Pachuco de Oro” due to his help popularizing them in Mexico and being a pioneer in the dance, something essential that a pachuco must know how to do.
The Mexican rock group Maldida Vecindad dedicated a song to Tin Tan:
No se como te atreves
A vestirte de esa forma
Y salir, así
En mis tiempos todo era elegante
Sin greñudos y sin rock
Hey pa fuiste pachuco
También te regañaban
Hey pa bailabas mambo
Tienes que recordarlo
No se como se atreven
A vestirse de esa forma
Y salir así
En mis tiempos todas las mujeres
Eran serias no había punk
Hey pa fuiste pachuco
También te regañaban
Hey pa bailabas mambo
Tienes que recordarlo
No se como se atreven
A vestirse de esa forma
Y salir así
Yo recuerdo
Mi generación era
Decente y muy formal
Hey pa fuiste pachuco
También te regañaban
Hey pa bailabas mambo
Tienes que recordarlo
Transl:
I don't know how you dare To dress like that And go out like that In my time everything was elegant Without shaggy hair and without rock
Hey pa you were pachuco They also scolded you Hey pa you danced mambo You have to remember it
I don't know how they dare To dress like that And go out like that In my time all women Were serious there was no punk
Hey pa you were pachuco They also scolded you Hey pa you danced mambo You have to remember it
I don't know how they dare To dress like that And go out like that I remember My generation was Decent and very formal
Hey pa you were pachucoThey also scolded youHey pa you danced mamboYou have to remember it
I was resting on a bench and seeing this gentleman walking with his friend I asked him if I could photograph him. He immediately said yes. We talked for a while and he surprised me in thanking me when I said that on the contrary it was I who had to thank him for his willingness to have a portrait done. I photographed 2 times:
I realize these gentlemen are from another era. An era where elegance of manners and education were a common way of living in relation to society.
As a photographer I can only be happy to portray not only two lovable people, but a whole culture and an era that is terribly missing today, in an increasingly ugly society and where people without talent, poor in education and culture. When I made these portraits I was very tired for an intense day of work under the sun where I walked miles, but I I regained strength and enthusiasm to meet this opportunity to introduce my readers to a part of American* culture.
*Yes, American because American is not only USA as many mistakenly think…
