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{{Short description|Anti-assimilationist Chicano counterculture}}
{{About|the Mexican American subculture|the Mexican city|Pachuca}}
[[File:PachucoStyle.jpg|alt=|thumb|323x323px|Pachuco culture is associated with the [[zoot suit]] and the idea of making flamboyant appearances in public.]]
{{Chicano and Mexican American topics sidebar|state=collapsed}}
'''Pachucos''' are male members of a [[counterculture]] that emerged in [[El Paso, Texas]], in the late 1930s. Pachucos are associated with [[zoot suit]] fashion, [[jump blues]], [[jazz]] and [[swing music]], a distinct [[dialect]] known as ''[[Caló (Chicano)|caló]]'', and [[Self empowerment|self-empowerment]] in rejecting [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] into [[Anglo-Americans|Anglo-American]] society.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Chàvez Candelaria|first=Cordelia|title=Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture: Volume 2|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=2004|isbn=9780313332111|pages=610–11|chapter=Pachucos}}</ref> The pachuco counterculture flourished among [[Chicano]] boys and men in the 1940s as a symbol of rebellion, especially in [[Los Angeles]]. It spread to women who became known as [[pachucas]] and were perceived as unruly, masculine, and un-American.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ramírez|first=Catherine Sue|title=The woman in the zoot suit : gender, nationalism, and the cultural politics of memory|date=2009|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-4286-1|location=Durham|oclc=272303247}}</ref> 

Some pachucos adopted strong attitudes of social defiance, engaging in behavior seen as deviant by white/Anglo-American society, such as [[marijuana]] smoking, [[gang]] activity, and a turbulent [[Nightlife|night life]].<ref name=":0" /> Although concentrated among a relatively small group of [[Mexican Americans]], the pachuco counterculture became iconic among Chicanos<ref name=":38">{{Cite book|last=López|first=Ian Haney|title=Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780674038264|pages=1–3}}</ref><ref name=":36">{{Cite book|last=Macías|first=Anthony|title=Mexican American Mojo: Popular Music, Dance, and Urban Culture in Los Angeles, 1935–1968|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2008|isbn=9780822389385|pages=9}}</ref> and a predecessor for the [[Cholo (subculture)|cholo subculture]] which emerged among Chicano youth in the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ramirez|first=Catherine S.|title=Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society: Volume 1|publisher=SAGE Publications|year=2008|pages=1005–006}}</ref>

Pachucos emerged in Los Angeles, [[California]], perhaps having roots in [[Pachuca, Hidalgo]], [[Mexico]], where loose-fitting clothing was popular among men.<ref name="Diego Vigil 2010">{{Cite book|last=Diego Vigil|first=James|title=Barrio Gangs: Street Life and Identity in Southern California|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2010|isbn=9780292786776|pages=40}}</ref> It later spread throughout the Southwest into Los Angeles, where it developed further. In the border areas of [[California]] and [[Texas]], a distinct youth culture known as ''pachuquismo'' developed in the 1940s and has been credited as an influence to ''[[Chicanismo]]''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Bojórquez|first=Charles "Chaz"|title=Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology|publisher=Duke University Press Books|year=2019|isbn=9781478003007|chapter=Graffiti is Art: Any Drawn Line That Speaks About Identity, Dignity, and Unity... That Line Is Art}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Francisco Jackson|first=Carlos|title=Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte|publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=2009|isbn=9780816526475|pages=135}}</ref> In LA, Chicano zoot suiters developed their own cultural identity, "with their hair done in big [[Pompadour (hairstyle)|pompadours]], and 'draped' in tailor-made suits ... They spoke [[Caló (Chicano)|caló]], their own language, a cool jive of half-English, half-Spanish rhythms ... Out of the zoot-suiter experience came [[lowrider]] cars and culture, clothes, music, tag names, and, again, its own graffiti language."<ref name=":1" />

Pachucos were perceived as alien to both Mexican and Anglo-American culture–a distinctly ''Chicano'' figure. In Mexico, the pachuco was understood "as a caricature of the American", while in the United States he was perceived as so-called "proof of Mexican degeneracy."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mazón|first=Mauricio|title=The Zoot-Suit Riots: The Psychology of Symbolic Annihilation|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=1984|isbn=9780292798038|pages=5}}</ref> Mexican critics such as [[Octavio Paz]] denounced the pachuco as a man who had "lost his whole inheritance: language, religion, customs, belief." In response, Chicanos heavily criticized Paz and embraced the oppositional position of the pachuco as an embodied representation of resistance to Anglo-American [[cultural hegemony]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thananopavarn|first=Susan|title=LatinAsian Cartographies: History, Writing, and the National Imaginary|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2018|isbn=9780813589886|pages=65–66}}</ref> To Chicanos, the pachuco had acquired and emanated self-empowerment and agency through a "stylized power" of rebellious resistance and spectacular excess.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rossini|first=Jon D.|title=Contemporary Latina/o Theater: Wrighting Ethnicity|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|year=2008|isbn=9780809387021|pages=65–69}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Pèrez-Torres|first=Rafael|title=Movements in Chicano Poetry: Against Myths, Against Margins|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1995|isbn=9780521478038|pages=128–29}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The origin of the word "pachuco" is uncertain, but one theory connects it to the city of El Paso, Texas, which was sometimes referred to as "Chuco Town" or "El Chuco".  People migrating to El Paso from Ciudad Juarez would say, in Spanish, that they were going "''pa' El Chuco''". Some say "pa El Chuco" comes from the words ''Shoe Co.'', a shoe company that was located in El Paso in the 1940s during the war. The majority of Mexican migrants would cross the border in order to work for this famous shoe company in El Paso. Throughout the years the term "pa El Chuco" was used when Mexican immigrants were heading to El Paso looking for a job. In order to cross the American border with success the migrants would have to dress nice and look nice; otherwise, they would get rejected at the border.  These migrants became known as pachucos.<ref>Zoot Suit Discovery Guide. [http://research.pomona.edu/zootsuit/en/zoot-suit-la/ L.A. in the Zoot Suit Era.] Retrieved 2 June 2013.</ref>

"Pachuco" could also have derived from the name of the city of [[Pachuca]], Hidalgo, Mexico,<ref name="Diego Vigil 2010" /> as the majority of Mexican migration to the United States came from the [[Mexican Plateau|Central Plateau]] region, of which Hidalgo is a part.<ref name="Cardoso 1980">{{cite book |last1=Cardoso |first1=Lawrence A. |title=Mexican Emigration to the United States, 1897–1931: Socio-Economic Patterns |date=2019 |orig-date=first published 1980 |edition=open-access e-book |publisher=University of Arizona Press |location=Tucson |doi=10.2307/j.ctvss3xzr |isbn=978-0-8165-4029-7 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvss3xzr.5 |page=2 |jstor=j.ctvss3xzr.5 |access-date=23 July 2021 |quote=The central plateau area includes the country's most  populous states, with population density ranging from twenty to sixty people per kilometer. Mexico, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, Hidalgo, Jalisco, and Aguascalientes are some of the states in this region. . . . These areas provided two-thirds of the emigrants to the United States.}}</ref>

Connections have also been found between "Pachucos" and mixed civilians who lived near the Mexican–American border during the turn of the century, and between "Pachucos" and the poor soldiers who fought in the [[Mexican Revolution]] in the armies of [[Pancho Villa]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pqp01|title=PACHUCOS|last=ARNOLDO|first=DE LEON|date=2010-06-15|website=tshaonline.org|language=en}}</ref>

== Style ==
[[File:Pachuco.jpg|thumb|upright|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 suit]]s, and often styled their hair into [[ducktail]]s. Things like decorative chains and tattoos were also sometimes part of the pachuco look. The unique speech of pachucos was a very important element of their defined style.  Consisting of creative phrases and some English words, [[Caló (Chicano)|Caló]] was a very popular form of speech among pachucos.  Pachucos were seen as gangsters in the eyes of conservative Americans with ethnic prejudices.<ref>[https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/fashion-art-and-dance-culture/pachuco/ Pachuco – Subcultures and Sociology - Grinnell College]</ref>

==Culture==
[[File:Acapulco TIN TAN (1915-1973) (3325809157).jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of Mexican actor [[Germán Valdés]] here being depicted as "Tin Tan" and wearing a pachuco outfit]] 
The Mexican [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel laureate]] [[Octavio Paz]] writes in the essay, "The ''Pachuco'' and Other Extremes" that the Pachuco phenomenon paralleled the [[zazou]] subculture in [[World War II]]-era Paris in style of clothing, music favored ([[jazz]], [[Swing (genre)|swing]], and [[jump blues]]), and attitudes. Although there was no known link between the two subcultures, they both are most certainly derivative localized blends of [[American pop culture]] in the United States.

While he was not the first Mexican comedian to perform as a Mexican American zoot suiter, Mexican comedian and film actor [[German Valdés]] better-known by his artistic name "Tin-Tan" is Mexico's most famous and celebrated pachuco.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/mexicos-most-celebrated-pachuco-tin-tan|title=Mexico's Most Celebrated Pachuco: Tin Tan|last=Guzmán|first=Romeo|work=KCET|date=23 February 2017|access-date=6 February 2020}}</ref>

Pachuco culture in America was at its height during [[World War II]].  The Wartime Productions Board in 1942 thought it necessary to cut back on fabric consumption, so they enacted regulations on the amount of fabric used for suits. This enactment targeted Pachucos in particular because of the excess fabric used in their zoot suits. Pachucos boldly chose not to follow these regulations, demonstrating rebellious attitudes and pride in their culture. Pachucos continued to flaunt zoot suits, now attained through bootleg tailors. As a result, these flashy zoot suits were seen as unpatriotic by other Americans. This controversial series of events helped shape Pachuco culture, and zoot suits became a symbol of cultural pride among Mexican-Americans. It didn't all end well, however, as this also led to rising tension between Pachucos and other Americans, playing a part in the start of the 1943 [[Zoot Suit Riots]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://research.pomona.edu/zootsuit/en/zoot-suit-la/|title=L.A. in the Zoot Suit Era: Zoot Suit Discovery Guide|website=research.pomona.edu|language=en-US}}</ref>

The pachuco subculture declined in the 1960s, evolving into the [[Chicano]] style. This style preserved some of the pachuco slang while adding a strong political element characteristic of the late 1960s American life.

==La Pachuca==
{{main|Pachucas}}
[[File:Pachucas_at_the_Lincoln_Park_Car_Show,_El_Paso,_TX,_September_22,_2024.jpg|thumb|Pachucas at the Lincoln Park Car Show, El Paso, TX, September 22, 2024]]
The "Pachuca," the female counterpart of the Pachuco, had an aesthetic sensibility as strong as the male zoot suiter. The Pachuca's hairstyle tended to be a high "coif" or [[bouffant]], with the hair put up in some way (a more pronounced version of the typical hair style of the time) by [[Backcombing|ratting]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Escobedo|first=Elizabeth R.|date=2007|title=The Pachuca Panic: Sexual and Cultural Battlegrounds in World War II Los Angeles|journal=Western Historical Quarterly|volume=38|issue=2|pages=133–156|doi=10.2307/25443504|jstor=25443504|issn=0043-3810|doi-access=free}}</ref> their hair or affixing hair rats. Their makeup was heavy, particularly using a red colored lipstick. The preferred colors of clothing were black and gray. Some pachucas wore the traditionally male zoot suit, albeit with modifications to fit the female form. Sometimes, she donned the standard heavy gold pocket chain. Another variation involved a [[sweater]] or [[Coat (clothing)|coat]] - often a variant on the male zoot-suit finger-tip jacket - over knee-length [[skirts]], plus [[fishnet stockings]] or [[bobby socks]] and [[platform shoes]].<ref>Ramírez, Catherine S., ''The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory.'' Durham: Duke University Press, 2009. p. xii [http://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php?productid=10934] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804191449/http://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php?productid=10934|date=2012-08-04}}</ref>

== Costa Rica ==
In Costa Rica the term "pachuco" refers to someone who has common habits and who is often very rude.<ref>{{cite web|last=Green Energy Network|title=Pachuco|url=http://www.ruralcostarica.com/costa-rican-spanish-word.asp?word=Pachuco|work=Costa Rican Spanish Dictionary|access-date=5 November 2012}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Hispanic and Latino Americans}}
* [[Zoot Suit Riots]] – a confrontation between pachucos and U.S. servicemen in Los Angeles during World War II in which unarmed pachucos were brutally beaten and jailed
* The opening scenes of the film ''[[American Me]]'' depict confrontations between pachucos and white American soldiers during the Zoot Suit Riots.
* The [[Sleepy Lagoon murder]] was a confrontation between two Los Angeles pachuco gangs that resulted in a crackdown on the culture.
* [[Cholo]] and [[wikt:vato|Vato]] are terms for modern-day Chicano street gangsters, though the association with the zoot suit is no longer present.
* [[Black dandyism]] – another example of how fashion can be a form of resistance, self-expression, and cultural pride for marginalized communities.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Barker |first=George Carpenter |title=Pachuco: an American-Spanish argot and its social functions in Tucson, Arizona |publisher=University of Arizona Press |year=1950}}
* {{cite book |first=Manuel |last=Cantú |title=Pachuco Dictionary |date=2007 |publisher=Computer Images |isbn=978-0-615-15944-7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022150440/http://pachucodictionary.com/ |url=http://pachucodictionary.com/ |archive-date=2016-10-22 |url-status=dead}}
*{{cite journal |first1=Laura L. |last1=Cummings |year=2003 |title=Cloth-Wrapped People, Trouble, and Power: Pachuco Culture in the Greater Southwest |journal=Journal of the Southwest |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=329–348 |jstor=40170329}}
* {{cite book |last=Cummings |first=Laura L. |title=Pachucas and Pachucos in Tucson: Situated Border Lives |publisher=University of Arizona Press |year=2009}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fuentes |first1=Dagoberto |last2=López |first2=José A. |title=Barrio Language Dictionary |location=[[La Puente, California|La Puente, CA]] |publisher=El Barrio Publications |year=1974}} 
* {{cite journal |last=Madrid Barela |first=A. |title=In Search of the Authentic Pachuco. An Interpretive Essay, Part I. |journal=Aztlán |date=Spring 1973 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=31 60|doi=10.1525/azt.1973.4.1.31 }}
*{{cite book |last=Paz |first=Octavio |author-link=Octavio Paz |translator-first=Lysander |translator-last=Kemp |chapter=The ''Pachuco'' and Other Extremes |title=The Labyrinth of Solitude |publisher=Grove Press |year=1961 |orig-date=1950, pub. by Cuadernos Americanos}} 
* {{cite journal |last=Ramirez |first=Catherine Sue |title=Crimes of Fashion: The Pachuca and Chicana Style Politics |journal=Meridians |volume=2 |issue=2 |year=2002 |pages=1–35|doi=10.1215/15366936-2.2.1 |s2cid=197688724 }}
* {{cite book |last=Ramirez |first=Catherine S. |title=The Woman in the Zoot Suit |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2009}}
*{{cite book |author-link=raúlrsalinas |author=raúlrsalinas |title=Un Trip Through the Mind Jail y Otras Excursiones |location=San Francisco |publisher=Pocho Ché |year=1980}}
* {{cite book |last=Sánchez-Tranquilino |first=Marcos |chapter=The Pachuco’s Flayed Hide |editor-first=John |editor-last=Tagg |title=Grounds of Dispute: Art History, Cultural Politics, and the Discursive Field |location=Minneapolis |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=1992}}
* {{cite book |last=Serrano |first=Rodolfo G. |title=Dictionary of Pachuco Terms |publisher=California State University |year=1979}}

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[[Category:Culture of Mexico]]
[[Category:Chicano]]
[[Category:History of subcultures]]
[[Category:Youth culture in the United States]]
[[Category:Mexican youth culture]]
[[Category:Subcultures]]
[[Category:Spanish language in the United States]]
[[Category:Counterculture of the 1930s]]
[[Category:Counterculture of the 1940s]]
[[Category:Counterculture of the 1950s]]
[[Category:Mexican-American culture]]