¿Por Qué Tengo Tanto Pegue Con Los Pelones?

LA Naca hearts pelones and pelones heart LA Naca. It's true. Don't get me wrong, I would never buy apparel from PepBoys (porque solamente compro ropa de Los Callejones), but, I'd be lying if I said I didn't own a pair of Dickies overalls purchased at Costco in 1997.

I also can scan a club and tell you EXACTLY which Shar Pei-necked pelon is gonna come ask me to dance at some point in the evening. Sometimes, it's a gift, but oftentimes, it's a curse.

Here is an example of two very handsome men enjoying a day at the beach. Are they in swim trunks? No. Are they in Speedos? Gracias a Dios que no. Are they even wearing chanclas?? NO! Why not? Because they're pelones. Whether they're at the beach, your sister's church wedding, or at Whittier Narrows having a carne asada, they sport bald heads, long socks and my favorite...capris.

(photo courtesy of flickr search)

There's just something about cholo culture that is so intriguing and nostalgic to me, and that's without even being a member of the Raider Nation or 18th Street. Por ejemplo, I just saw a sky blue ext/white int '64 Impala riding past, and it made me miss the days when I used to roll in '62 Impalas and '75 Caprices all throughout NacoLAndia while listening to the baby-making music known as Art Laboe's Dedicated to You Vol. 3 on the Alpine tape deck.

But, let's keep it real. I didn't own those cars. I just was lucky enough to get lucky in them. For the most part, we nacos roll on one type of vehicle: the MTA bus. Trust me when I say nacos don't have the greatest taste in cars, if we are ever lucky enough to own one.

Several years ago, I had a 13 year-old Pontiac Grand Am handed down to me. After owning it for a month, the transmission started to fail and the reverse gear was temperamental, causing me to manually push my way out of parking lots and driveways several times a day until I finally gave up and donated it for the tax write-off, which was worth more than the car. Why did I Flintstone my way out of parking lots for 2 years? Por NACA.

But I'm not the only one. Oh, no. Cars painted with just primer: nacos. Cars with multi-colored doors from different types of cars: nacos. Any (barely) working Datsuns, Yugos or Chevettes: nacos. Cars covered in La Selección stickers: nacos. Trocas with Durango license plates: nacos.

And then one day, I saw the ultimate, most nacorrific vehicle I'd ever seen in my life. This is the spitting image of Tio Roge's car that he owned back when he was a coyote--I mean--when he worked at a printing press.


Though slightly blurry, you can still clearly make out that it is a troca with a camper shell. The tailgate was removed/fell off and replaced with a piece of plywood. If that wasn't cool enough, I guess the owner decided to spray paint the car's make across the back of the vehicle, in case there was any question as to which manufacturer was responsible for this catastrophic carcancha rollin' east down 6th.

Behold its glory.

Off to dream of good times had in '82 Caddies, again.

Hasta mañana.