Cholo Look Is Out--Trendy Blends Better

The cholo , once as much a symbol of Latino street gangs as the Audi 5000 was for yuppies, is in decline among young gang members, whose new uniforms of choice range from trendy name-brand sportswear to the dress down “stoner” look.

The Latino gang member in khaki pants, bandanna and tank top, long a fixture in the barrio, is becoming an anachronism. In Pacoima, San Fernando and elsewhere in Los Angeles, teen-age gang members can be seen in what one gangs expert dubbed the “GQ look,” consisting of colorful warm-up jackets and $80 athletic shoes. Showing how firmly the new trend is taking hold, gang members also can be found listening to the latest techno-pop music in their cars, which carry personalized license plates.

The older cholo gangs who still cover their old Chevys in primer paint and crave Rosie and the Originals’ “Angel Baby” are “losing the recruitment war,” said Sgt. Tom Wilkinson, a member of the gang task force in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division.

“The cholo is going out,” pronounced Pablo Palato, a spokesman for El Proyecto del Barrio, a community services organization in Pacoima. “Younger Hispanics do not identify with them.”

One San Fernando Valley New Wave gang that has existed less than a year already has 150 known members, police said. “Everything changes,” shrugged a teen-ager in a blue-and-white Reebok jacket emblazoned with “Slick Rick,” explaining the evolution of the new gangs during a conversation outside a Pacoima housing project.

Attitude, Fashion

The cholo ‘s origins date back several decades to the original zoot suiters and the pachucos , who were prominent in the 1940s. Experts say the term itself is hard to define, and describes both an attitude and a fashion, both of which can be traced to World War II.

The khaki pants were adapted from old military uniforms, said Manuel Velasquez of Community Youth Gang Services, a community liaison with gangs in the Valley. “There is a way they stand, too. A cholo stands straight up, to look powerful,” as though at attention. Even though not all cholos were gang members, over time, the baggy pants outfit came to be recognized as a gang uniform. The look grew into a stereotype that was lampooned by barrio comedians even as it was copied by each succeeding generation of gangs.

Its ease of recognition was part of the problem. “In years gone by, the LAPD already knew what you looked like,” said Velasquez, who has served as an adviser to several Hollywood productions.

“You get in trouble too much, you dress like that,” said a second gang member at the Pacoima projects, who was wearing a Philadelphia ‘76ers warm-up jacket with the official NBA logo testifying to its pedigree as an official league catalogue item.

Gangs learned that if they dressed like everyone else, they could conduct their business without interference, Velasquez said. “Now they’re more into trendy clothing.”

Fila Labels Popular

Velasquez said “a lot of the kids” favor Fila labels, an expensive line of sportswear, and even have their favorite shopping stops.

When they’re out on the street, some of the snappier-dressed gang members have a habit of carrying baseball bats, telling their parents they are a baseball team, Wilkinson said. Their slick, red warm-up jackets enhance that image.

Wilkinson said he brought parents up short when he asked them: “When was the last time you saw a game?’ ”

Velasquez said other factions of Latino gang members that have cropped up recently include some with the spiky hair “punk rock-style,” others with long hair called “stoners” and even a group of former cholos who dress in three-piece suits. They look so clean-cut, “I would let my daughter go out with them,” Velasquez said.

“We still have our die-hard cholo ,” said Los Angeles Police Detective Joe Suarez, a specialist in Latino gang activity. “But, for the most part, we see the younger Latino . . . wearing different clothing.”

But what is being abandoned by many younger Latinos is being picked up elsewhere.

At a Suicidal Tendencies concert, for example, “half the crowd is dressed like cholos ,” said Velasquez. “But they’re mostly white.”