Cholo Graffiti in East Los Angeles with Cheech Marin / Part 1

“Here’s an interesting series of 4 posts
that I have put together from the MOCA’s
‘Art in the Street’ website. 
The exhibition took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art, in Los Angeles,
from April 17 to August 8, 2011.
​(See more about the show here)"

Free Graffiti Font Downloads

"The MOCA site features a great interview with Cheech Marin in conversation with three East L.A. artists, each with close knowledge of cholo-graffiti. "

Cholo-Graffiti style

"They all came up around the early 70’s, (when I was in High School), just before the New York Graffiti style came to the west coast. This was all way before I picked up a brush and started teaching myself how to paint… and discovered how interesting the soon-to-be dying art of sign-painting was!
​Back then there were guys still making a living as sign-painters and writers, and I could always make a few bucks fumbling my way through the odd sign-job or menu-board, and I liked learning all about lettering styles."

New York Graffiti style

But I never did any graffiti or tagging!
Well, almost never. Mainly because I couldn’t see any money in it! I did manage to paint quite a few large bill-boards and record-covers and movie posters for the studios and record stores in Hollywood, before the vinyl industry and large format printers took it all over.
(But that’s a tale for another blog.)
​This one is about graffiti and street-painting.
Anyway… I have always been fascinated with lettering styles and the history of fonts and such, so now that I am semi-retired, and in my (early!) seventies, I’m taking the time to explore and understand the graffiti culture better.” 
​    -Roberto Quintana WFA aka ‘sQuint’

​Here’s the start of Cheech’s interview…
Cheech Marin:
“Although the origins of American graffiti are typically traced back to New York and Philadelphia in the late 1960s and 1970s, an earlier history began in the barrios of Los Angeles decades before. Here a subculture developed among Mexican-American youths who were both detached from the culture of their parents and, because of widespread discrimination, prevented from identifying as entirely American. The ‘Pachucos’, as they called themselves, dressed in extravagant, dandyish zoot suits, and they didn’t stray far from the small neighborhoods where they lived. Gangs emerged as a means of asserting cultural pride and maintaining control over their communities, and street writing was a way of defining territory. Gang life further evolved after the Los Angeles riots of 1943, known as the Zoot Suit Riots, in which racial tension erupted into a series of brutal confrontations between white military servicemen and the young Pachucos.*

Military Servicemen (with Clubs) and young Pachucos (with Zoots)

"In the postwar period, Pachuco culture developed into the ‘Cholo’ gangs of the 1960s. Derived from the Aztec word 'xolotl', meaning “dog,” the word Cholo had been used in the United States as a derogatory term for a person of Mexican heritage, but in the ’60s, Mexican-American activists reclaimed the term—along with 'Chicano'—for themselves, transforming an ethnic slur into a badge of pride. Cholo gang members, like the Pachucos, emphasized the creation of a uniquely Chicano youth culture based around the streets.”

This photograph of three men sporting variations on the zoot suit was taken by Oliver F. Atkins.

​And Here’s a video-interview of Cheech about his own story…

Cheech Marin Tells His Life Story
(Full Interview/ VLADTV)

There have been some great comedic duos that have brought us countless laughs over the years... There’s been Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. But none of them represented the era of counterculture and hippie free love as much as Cheech and Chong.

Back in the '70s and '80s, this comedic duo achieved commercial and cultural success with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and feature films. Their story and career are one of the most unique in comedy history.

The Legendary comedian and actor appears here on VladTV, where he spoke about his career, childhood, and family life. Cheech explains how he formed his comedy duo with Tommy Chong and how they transitioned that success into a string of classic films. Cheech also talks about his solo success in film. Later in the interview, Cheech offers his thoughts on the shift in attitudes towards marijuana and much more.

​-AND-
Check out Cheech’s FANTASTIC! Art Collection
at his very own Art Museum!

The Cheech Marin Center
​for Chicano Art
and Culture
opened in June 2022
​ as a public-private partnership between RAM (Riverside Art Museum), the City of Riverside, and comedian Cheech Marin
—one of the world’s foremost collectors of Chicano art!

​A significant portion of Cheech’s collection will always be exhibited and can continue to be toured at venues across the nation and throughout the world!