Chicano Lifestyle--Timothy

Growing up in the Chicano lifestyle is like no other, to be able and feel what it was like
living in the 50s, 60’s and every decade to come after that, threw just music. As a kid the music industry is what surrounded my family, correction the Chicano music industry is what surrounded my family. Lights dropping up and down from the head and tails of different Lowriders to Sunday carne asadas after the iglesia. The family to come from all around Mexico, spreading threw Juarez, Jalisco, and Colima is what gave the ticket into this Vida Loca. The streets where it all began for the Chicano is not as dirty as it is seen through TV news, it’s a beautiful place, where everyone’s smiling and in love through the voices of Brenton Wood and Barbara Mason, where cars give the looks of fireworks as the hydrologics kick in. 

The word chicano does not come from the same meaning as mexicano, in the 1960’s this word was adopted during the breakout of the civil rights movement. Under huge leaders like Ceaser Chaves who founded the United Farm Workers union in assisting his dedication to create better pay and conditions for farm workers, students from all different universities followed him threw different marches, originating “chicano” and taking it in as a point of pride. This is the culture, we do it all for the culture and that’s something that I learned and something that was taught to me as a kid. Still the culture is strong today, though not only in just LA or East LA but

all through the United States, and very popular in Japan as the japaneese adopted a lot of the chicano style. To go through the deep parts of Japan and having the vibes of being in Los Angeles is how every story of that trip is created. 

Since the younger ages, where the nights seemed longer the biggest memories that are contained, memories of sunday afternoons going to car shows just to see lowriders bumping their motion, owned by a knucklehead ese and his heina. That was the move every Sunday, it was always a Sunday afternoon even on a Tuesday afternoon. A few years back hitting the years of about 12 or 13, my father and my family had been distant from the game and the surroundings of celebrities. Though after a phone call to meet up at a car and clothing show, it only took a few minutes for my pops and I to get on the road and start catching up with old friends.The remembrance of pulling up and seeing the different generations of cars lined up, with their owners showing them off like it was a new puppy. This was the day all the stories of my father and his lifestyle of rolling and partying with celebrities became true through my head. The day where famous people with lines of fans wanting autographs took a break, and wanting to come take pictures with the pops. It was cool having people like Angel, the hands of Los Angeles come and take pictures, to have clothes be given to us, and to be behind the scenes with it all. I just knew the feeling it all gave me, and the pride it gave me that I am a chicano and i live this sh*t. 

A wise man named Estevan Oriol once said “ we don’t have lowriders, we our lowriders’ and that’s how we keep the culture alive. This is why we drive 20mi per hour in a 50mi per hour zone, and don’t give a f*ck. This is Southern California and a chicano has a style, the way we wear our clothes, the way we cruise, the music we shoot threw our ears, that Motown jam, and

that old school funk. 50s and 60s Motown music adopted a name of oldies, or Lowrider oldies, this is the blood the chicano lifestyle bleeds.. The feeling lowrider oldies gives you, it’s to the point where your 6 years old and your in love, you have not one clue what your in love with or with who, but the beats of a heart flashes red as if you met the love of your life. Or even to the point where there is no flash just a breaking crack and your even more in love because your heartbroken. Growing up as a child, this is the only music to be introduced to myself , almost as if me and my grandpa were the same age. I lived through the 50’s and 60’s on a sunday afternoon, to be surrounded by the cars, the style of clothes, music, and the feeling. Then as lights turned down that funky junky music popped and our bones popped. To breakdance, pop locking was what made the old school funk so famous. Seeing my pops get down every party was what inspired me to dance and start pop locking and break dancing at a young age. 

This is why I live, this is why my blood still flows today because the feeling this life gives me. As a child my father and mother hung around Chicano celebrities, different rap groups being Cypress Hill, Psycho Realm, artist being Mr. Cartoon, Estevan Oriol, and dozens more during their young life. Celebrities that kept the culture alive, and celebrated the chicano heritage through music, photography, and art. Still today those artist keep it alive, and are huge idols to myself. This is not only because of that, how, or why they celebrate it, though because they found what they loved in life, found out why each of their footsteps were meant to step on this world, and that's what I want to know, what I’m here for. 

This is the Chicano lifestyle, this is my lifestyle and I couldn’t be more proud to live and present the culture. We showboat our heritage as we cruise down the boulevard, and it’s like everything is gone in the world just for a few seconds.