The Times begins writing about zoot suits, calling it the attire of “organized groups of youths, mostly Mexican, engaged in the rival gang fights.” “The boys and even their girl friends wear ...

Zoot suits were held up as symbols of profligacy. “Every boy or girl who buys such a garment and every person who sells it,” the head of the WPB stated, “is really doing an unpatriotic deed.” ...

Teenage boys wearing zoot suits walk down a city street in 1943, attracting attention from military and civilian passersby in more standard street wear. The “unpatriotic" baggy outfits were seen ...

After the riot ended, the Los Angeles City Council banned the wearing of zoot suits on Los Angeles streets. Within a year of the riots Hank Leyvas and the boys were released from prison.

Zoot suits exaggerated the smart 1930s look ... As the black author Ralph Ellison in his magnificent novel The Invisible Man wrote: “What about these three boys, coming now along the platform, tall ...

Zoot suits became popular during the 1930s and early ... Sorties Bared in Gang Roundup” and “BLACK WIDOW GIRLS IN BOY GANGS; WAR ON VANDALS PUSHED” painted young Latinos and Latinas as ...

More than 20 indictments were issued in Díaz’s death, and, in 1943, members of a group called the 38th Street Boys were convicted. One was sentenced to life in prison. Within months, what became known ...

and boy, did we do a number on them. We chased them up to Whittier and caught them. They found out they can’t win them all. It was like getting even.” Zoot Suit, United States, 1940–42 ...