The History of “Cholo” | Decoded

You might think the word “Cholo” along with the trademark look of tattoos, eyeliner, dickies t-shirts and bandanas is relatively recent, but the reality is that, while the look might be new, the word is hundreds of years old. So where does this word come from? Watch the episode to find out.

Special Thanks

Directed by: Andrew Kornhaber
Director of Photography: Eric Brouse
GFX By: Noelle Smith
Editing By: Linda Huang

Sources

Gwen Stefani’s Cultural Appropriation

[b]

”Taking something from a culture that isn’t hers” literally civilizations were built and thrived in this concept. So chill.

[congratulashuns]

i need a HBO or Netflix drama about those Pachuca women in zoot suits and i need it yesterday.

[xaedc]

Stop saying Latinx even my phone autocorrects it to Latino

[pogules]

She has to be the whitest Aztec I ever seen in my life.

[xaedc]

Wait cholo is kinda like the n word where they took an offensive work and made it their own

[MakiPcr]

Why name drop Columbus? He got nothing to do with Mexico, you're thinking Cortés

[jaygarcia]

Gwen was showing appreciation, she grew up around chicanos. She looked beautiful in her music video. Stop the hate

[digitalmimi]

Very interesting. I had no idea “cholo” actually represented a movement and not just a fashion style.

[StreetArtillery]

Gwen Stefani grew up in Orange County and was close to the chicano culture. As was Sublime guitarist singer Bradley Nowell. She didn't steal anything since both were born and raised around said culture

[t-towncommitted]

why is this black girl teaching me about cholos

[bathtubwine]

Why are a black and an asian descent lady making comment about latinas? They do have their own voice. Maybe just let latinas talk instead of spreading propaganda.

[monothirty]

Fun fact: *Only the red haired Xolo’s guided people across the river to the underworld.

[mendoza]

Gwen Stefani actually grew up in the 90s around Mexican Cholo culture in southern California. Not like she's from Knoxville, Tenessee. She probably had cholo friends and seen them in school growing up. She was just paying homage to the life style and perpetrating the stilo outta respect and recognition to people in her area. Leave gwen alone. She looked fine in that video.

[beautifullez]

Why are they hating on Gwen Stephani? It's not like she doesnt cite her sources. If you want examples of cultural appreciation vs appropriation, look at how Stephani does it. Might not be perfect but still way better than the Kardashians.

[acx]

History of Cholo as told by leftist hipsters 😆

[GNick]

"None of them are nice, or even accurate." You're right, there is nothing accurate about Latinx. It's either Latino or Latina

[PoaTB]

Dear Gwen Stefani, thank you for dressing in our attire. It opened up a platform for a conversation. Now peeps that were curious knows a little more about us. Thanks!

[BarrioTirilon]

A very common misconception is that Pachucos were mainly in East L.A. Actually they were all over California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas but they originated along the border of Juarez and El Paso, in fact the nick name for El Paso is El Chuco which can from the Calo slang word for chueco or crooked. The original Pachucos weren't even called Pachucos, they were know as Tririlones or Tirilis for short and they predate not only the name Pachuco but also predate the Zoot Suit by about 30 years or so. It was the people from California that gave them the name Pachuco because when asked where they were going they would respond "back home, Pa Chuco". The style traveled from Texas to California via the Southern Pacific Rail road by Mexican Americans looking for work on the rail road. The Zoot Suit and Jazz culture actually hit Texas first because Texas is right next door to Louisiana. Pre-Pachuco East L.A. and California already had gangs going back to the 1800's but were not like the Cholo gangs of today, they were made of different races and lower class criminals that stuck together. When the Pachucos arrived to the Los Angeles area they estabished about 50 gangs.

[joejokool]

i don't understand why you guys are throwing shade at gwen. she grew up in so cal, what do you expect?

[TheShopsKids]

Funny how MTV is taking shots at Gwen Stefani, when they played her music videos ALL THE TIME in the 2000s.