PACHUCO HISTORY

Pachuco refers to a particular subculture of Hispanic and Latino Americans associated with zoot suits, street gangs, nightlife, and flamboyant public behavior. The idea of the pachuco – a zoot-suited, well-dressed, street-connected flamboyant playboy of Hispanic/Latino heritage – originated in El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez,Mexico, and moved westward, following the line of migration of Mexican railroad workers ("traqueros") into Los Angeles, where it developed further.

A pachuca is the female counterpart, often idealized as a beautiful Latina/Hispanic woman in extravagant evening dress or a female version of the zoot suit, out with a pachuco boyfriend for a night on the town. Pachucas broketaboos of their time by wearing men's-style pants sometimes and appearing in public often with their pachuco boyfriends; at the time, a "good woman" was considered to have her place in the home. They defied gender stereotypes and roles in Mexican-American culture in much the same way flappers had in European-American culture in the 1920s.