The legend of the Pachuco: Inside the stylish Mexican counterculture

In the 1930s, Mexican American youth in the Southwest united to oppose racism, segregation and discrimination in the United States. Influenced by the style of Black Americans in Harlem, New York, a Mexican group called Pachucos emerged.

Pachucos, young Mexican Americans with a penchant for flashy attire, embraced zoot suit fashion, jump blues, jazz and swing music and affirmed their self-empowerment by rejecting assimilation into white American society.

The group was formed after the Mexican Revolution, which took place from 1910 to 1920. It was a long and bloody struggle involving several factions forming constantly shifting alliances. Ultimately, the revolution led to the end of the 30-year dictatorship in Mexico and the establishment of a constitutional republic.

"The Mexican Revolution was a huge upheaval in Mexico," novelist Luis J. Rodriguez told ABC News. "A million people were killed and there were a million refugees. Even though there were Mexicans already here, a lot of the refugees ended up becoming the first barrios, especially in L.A., Texas, around Arizona, around the Southwest."

In Texas, between 1910 and 1920, there were massacres, killings, and lynchings, resulting in the deaths of approximately 3,000 Mexicans, mostly at the hands of Texas Rangers and others, Rodriguez said.

As Mexican laborers made their way into American lands through the Bracero program, an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico that allowed Mexican citizens to temporarily work in America to help with the crops due to an enormous manpower shortage in the U.S due to World War II. Some people didn't like the idea and said Mexicans were taking their jobs.

"Discrimination went crazy," Rodriguez said. "The restrictive companies, you can't live in certain places, segregation, schools. So youth, especially in L.A., some of them just decided to just resist."

In the 1940s the Pachucos emerged in L.A. and introduced a new kind of fashion that would unify the resistance movement in the city.

"They were taking the zoot suit from Harlem, came out of the jazz clubs and they wear these really very stylized clothing," Rodriguez said. "And the Mexicans made it more garish."

The zoot suit was more than just a fashion statement. It was meant to stand out because even though Mexicans weren't allowed in the same places as white Americans, they were going to make their presence known by being visible and heard as they walked around, Rodriguez said.

A zoot suit is defined by its big shoulders and lapels, making it an exaggerated suit, Vanessa Estrella, owner of "El Pachuco Zoot Suits," said. When you add accessories, it completely changes the look, Some common accessories include skinny belts and chains. Many people also wore necklaces to signify their religious beliefs.

During World War II, a fabric shortage led to rationing. Newspapers at the time blamed Pachucos for undermining the war effort by using more wool. The zoot suit used a lot of fabric since it was oversized.

One news article stated, "Every boy who buys such a garment and every person who sells it is really doing an unpatriotic deed.”

"It was wrong," Rodriguez said about the news articles at the time. "It was just being used to be an anti-Mexican, anti-Chicano attempt at Pachuco at a time when the racism was very strong and people could believe it."

The Los Angeles police went to great lengths to arrest young Mexican Americans and put them in prison. Pachuco Luis Garcia alleges that anyone wearing a zoot suit would be jailed if spotted on the streets.

This reached its peak in 1943, when there were riots, and sailors in downtown L.A. said Pachucos were attacking them. The riots started when sailors descended into Downtown LA and started beating up and stripping off Pachucos of their clothing. This went on for days.

"So what happens when police started arresting people for wearing zoot suits?" Rodriguez said. "Everybody in the community says zoot suits are illegal. You can't wear them. And then it spread like wildfire. You can't wear zoot suits in L.A."

This led to the decline of the Pachuco subculture into the 1950s and, in the 1960s, according to research on Grinnell College's website.

"Cultural erasement, I think, has been what they've been trying to impose from the start," Garcia said. "To hear the people that looked like me were mistreated just because they looked like me or because we're different was upsetting. We're no less American than anybody else."

Last year, Los Angeles City Hall issued an apology for the sanctioned brutality that targeted Mexican Americans, as well as African Americans and Filipinos, 80 years ago. Councilman Kevin de Leon said it was prejudicial, it was racism, and it should have never happened.

For the first time, hundreds gathered this year in their best retro outfits and vintage cars to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the Zoot Suit Riots.

"We all cruised through the bridge," Estrella said. "The police was so nice and generous, they were able to close down Sixth Street Bridge. I don't think it's ever been done before. We drove all through downtown L.A. It was the most beautiful thing. Our new generation has to learn what happened in the past so that it doesn't repeat itself."