March 14, 2023 • 34 mins
We go behind-the-scenes in the making of a mid-2000s flier party with an entrepreneurial teen party crew promoter from South Central to understand how parties were major money makers, but more importantly how they were created by kids who wanted to be the architects of their own worlds. Consider this your official invite to a ~*flier party*~.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I was so surprised when you message me, because
you know, I haven't heard Emory's name in so long.
You know, it always comes up here and there, but
it really caught me off guard. Became friends with Emory
and middle school and she was in another party crew.
It was called Tempted to Touch sne But we would
definitely go see what's cracking in South Central and then
(00:22):
we would go to the valley sometimes too. Did you
have a nickname when you were in the party crew?
Everybody knew me as Dreamer? Obviously it's like so old,
I haven't even and everybody knew her here. She knew
Emory as Tears. They knew each other from before the
party crew scene, you know, Like so those are like
(00:44):
so they're like things that I laugh about now, but
it's just so like, oh, like we were a little kids.
I know. Mine was Loca and our party crew was
lustful ladies. I was like so like la y d
eat easy and yeah, it was just like it was
(01:05):
like very sexy. We were like fifteen, It was like that.
But why were we looking older? Who were we yu?
We were doing some grown woman? Oh I know, yeah,
And I'm like if her daughter does that this day,
I have a heart attack. You mentioned that you saw
Emory like last at a party, Like, how do you
(01:26):
remember her at a party? Well, you know, I mean,
I'm not trying to get anybody in trouble, but I
remember the last time I came Emory. We were both, um,
we're nausing it. We were doing being something that was
the thing at that time, and she was holding a
girl can and they were walking together. The girl was
leading the way, Emory was behind with a balloon and
(01:47):
she was dancing through the crowd as she walked and
I just recognized her curly hair and I grabbed her
and I was like hey, and then she was like hey.
And then we just looked at each other and I
was like I miss you. How are you? And she
was like I miss you too. I'm good. And then
I just told her like, you know, whatever happened, it
(02:08):
doesn't matter, Like we just had a little leg chat
and then that was it. And then we just hugged
each other like so tight. And then I was like,
come back. My friend had a tank. We had a
whole tank. I told her come back and she was
like okay. But I never ended up seeing her because
that party ended up getting shot at and we all left.
(02:31):
It was just like a quick pass by, and I
never knew that that would be the last time I
was n Karina and Emery hadn't seen each other in
a while, but because they were both part of the
party crew scene, they were bonded. When I talked to
people from the party crew days, it's like we're speaking
(02:51):
the same language. It's like we share something special and
singular and also kind of universal, at least at that
moment in time. I want to welcome you into our
shared universe. Like who would sick everybody and their mother
in the car, like in the trunk, like everybody got
(03:13):
mapped into like two three cars, DJs and lunch and alcohol.
I don't even know how we got the alcohol. Who knows?
We have people downcing off the road like it was insane.
You know, it's a fucking movie. I look at super
Bad and those dudes are you know, fucking doing the
whole thing for beer? But our hours was just to
go out and party. We didn't need no money, Like
all we needed was like girls bring in three before ten.
(03:35):
Most of the time down sinking, shouting, you know, forgetting
about the week as a kid like the sne in
one word was crazy or in this world like let
(04:09):
from My Heart Michael Buddha Podcast Networks, Vice and Ellie's Studios.
This is Party Cruz, the Untold Story. I'm Jenisimoka. What
(04:54):
made the Party Crewsine unique was all the attention to detail,
the planning and the organizing that went into the creation
of a crew or into the making of a party.
Outsiders only paid attention when something tragic happened. We were
seen as victims or villains, or dumb kids playing adults.
(05:14):
But in my eyes we were more than that. We
were builders, planners, and hard workers. In this episode, I'm
giving you an inside look at a party with a
guide who has a ton of experience, someone you could
say was the architect of the party. Man. I would
do some crazy shit with the flyers. I would like
(05:38):
slide them inside people's cars and so I like the
crack of the door like that. I know how to
open cars. Don't ask me why, but I don't know
how to open cars. I would put that shit inside.
This is Marcos Velasquez. Back in the day, he was
a flyer party promoter. We call the parties flyer parties.
(06:01):
Because party crews printed their invites on glossy paper flyers.
Usually someone and the crew knew how to use a
pirated version of Photoshop, at least enough to design the
most colorful and chaotic flyer. Party crews were made up
of different roles. There was a main head. They're the
crewise leader. Sometimes they're even the founder. Some crews had
(06:26):
DJs who would DJ at the party, and some crews
had website designers. Well, I don't remember having a specific role.
I definitely brought the party vibes. But I also remember
doing little things like designing my cruise badges and driving
the girls around. I'm a producer at heart, so problem
(06:47):
solving was kind of my thing. But promoters like Marcos,
they were the ones who got the word out, and
some were involved in everything from the idea to the
actual party itself. I mean high school, there's like certain
teachers are real cool with me, and I would just
be like, yo, can't let people know about my fire
(07:08):
party in class? Wait yeah, hell yeah, someone them are cool. Yo.
I had some cool ass teachers. They were really cool ass. Fuck.
Marcos calls himself a creative arts entrepreneur. He's made music
videos managed artists, and he currently runs his own production company.
(07:28):
I'm a typical Mexican kid that happens to know how
to do certain things with cameras and microphones and soundboards
and blights and stuff like that. So that's just me.
We met last summer at his home studio in Lincoln Heights,
Marcos Marcos greeted me on his porch. He wore a
(07:49):
blue Kia bucket hat, which later he told me was
a signature hat, and he had long, dark wavy hair
loose down past his shoulders. Oh yeah, okay, good right now. Yeah.
Let me As a kid, he grew up in South
Central and its father worked for Proto stores on the
West Side. He was a grinder lef who worked a lot.
(08:12):
He worked as a fruit man. Then my dad would
like beautify them for them. You know. It's like he
was like low key and interior designer for like these
little fruit stands. And when my dad wasn't doing that,
he was like teaching me how to garden and my crib.
Anyone could tell you that grew up in that on
(08:32):
the street. My house was like the most prettiest one
because we had roses. We had like crazy pine trees ever,
like wrapped up and shaped up in the shape of
arch or heart or whatever. And my dad was like
romantic in that sense. He would just make sure that
the garden was always like nice and pretty, and the
(08:52):
roses were always blooming and big and lush, and yeah,
he taught me how to like grow food and eat
from our land. I love that Marcos used the word
romantic because I think that's how a lot of us
were finding the beauty in our own spaces, in our
own communities. Yeah, so that's the type of environment. I
(09:18):
grew up in Sa Central's saw Cential. It's a beautiful shipthole,
but you know, with beautiful people. My mom is a
tough as mom, but she's also a gangster, so she
would just be down for whatever that consisted of making
money for us. I mean, my mom wasn't really like,
(09:40):
you know, like allow us to do anything. She would
be like, hey, you know what you're doing, She's protect
yourself and if you go to jail, I'm not betting you.
That was her whole thing. When Marcos was in the
third grade, his parents separated and they sold their home,
the one adorned with big blooming roses. Marcos and his
(10:04):
siblings moved from place to place. I grew up in
a cryb neighborhood and now I'm living in an all
blood neighborhood. Along the way, I just learned how to
like be cool with everybody, and no matter where you
come from, where you're from or whatever, it's just like
you just got to be cool with everybody. And it's
a survival skill in a sense. You know. When he
(10:25):
was in seventh grade, one of the main heads of
a party crew called High Intense saw something in Marcos.
We met up and he was like, yo, fool, what's up.
You're trying to get down with this, like promote these flyers,
like just throw them out in the school. And I'm like, okay, cool,
and he gave me like a fat stack. It was
(10:47):
like I wanted to say, probably like a thousand flyers.
So at the age of twelve, Marcos started as a
promoter and as an official member of High Intense. He
went by the nick name Jay. I mean, the money
was the main part of it for me. You know,
for a lot of other people it was like just
a party for free, but for me, it was always
(11:09):
the money. Just because my mom was like, yo, we
need to give an apartment, we need to have a
better living situation. And I was like a bum, you know,
Like the nicest thing I had was a nice, crispy
pro club to excel tall, to be exact, that was
like my nice thing to have a pro club. All
(11:33):
my guy friends in high school owned a pro club.
They were these thick Chris and White T shirts that
were worn extra long and extra baggy. It was a
uniform for LA guys of the two thousands. It's funny
that you say you're a pro club like size because
I dated a guy who wore three x L tall
and I always remember his pro club size. It was
(11:55):
just so specific. So like hearing you say to XL
tall and I'm like, oh, yeah, it was how tall
he is? Sixty four? Yeah, he could definitely pull that off.
It's crazy because like I feel like triends come back,
and I just feel like the two thousands were so
long ago, and I'm just like, is it coming back already? Yeah,
it's coming back. This is the year Air Forces and
this is the year possible pro clubs. I don't know
(12:18):
what component they're missing. I think they could throw some
flyer parties, I know to bring back the flyer party. Yes,
sponsored by a pro clubs. So it was to me
to like fly myself shoes or nice or clothes. You know,
Marcos saw flyer parties as a way to provide for
(12:41):
himself in a way that his parents couldn't. Hearing Marcos
reminds me how a lot of us grew up helping
out at home in different ways, taking care of our
younger siblings, translating for our parents, helping our families navigate
this country that was foreign to them, and sometimes pitching
in with income, real life problem solving skills. But we
(13:05):
were also kids, teenagers, and so flyer parties became a
separate space of our own where we use some of
those skills we developed for ourselves to make money, to
have fun, to be the main characters in our own world.
And there is a kind of beauty how these wild
nights all came together. That's after the break. Marcos started
(13:47):
as a promoter, but eventually grew into producing, organizing and
promoting the parties. And since Marco's put on a whole
lot of flyer parties, he got the process down to
a science. He's going to take us through the steps
of how to throw a flyer party step one. It
(14:07):
would make the flyer first, because the flyer was always
the number one thing, like the design, the involvement of
all the other party crews and everything was like the
number one thing. Like if your party crew wasn't like
branded right, you probably weren't going to succeed or you
weren't going to stand out. Marcos knew there was a
lot of competition. Sometimes there were twenty to thirty parties
(14:31):
a weekend all over LA. In the Sangibal Valley where
I lived, I remember there being at least two to
three parties a night, and sometimes crews in different areas
supported each other. I found an old flyer in my
room from two thousand and four. On the front, it
says calm experience one night when he's the late hottest
(14:53):
in travel to SGB. The party was titled when the
Cities Collide. This kind of support was important. When people
look at flyers, they want to know what crews gave
your party a stamp of approval and what other crews
would be in attendance. My crew, the left of the the ladies,
(15:14):
mainly supported other crews because of course, it was a
priority that girls were in attendance, so you would invite
the ladies of the party. Crews seen cruised with chicks only,
so you would definitely invite the chicks, like the girls,
and they showed up. It was like all the other
(15:35):
dudes were showing though for sure. So yeah, your flyer
had to be on point, but mainly and how to
be sexy, at least what a team considered sexy at
that time. I cringe a little when I think about
this man, dude. Usually it was like just like image
(15:59):
that you got from like Google whatever, of a chick.
You would crop out the chick and then you would
like add a flames and the sexiest chick you could find.
Or if it was like a winter time, then you
make it cold and like Chris me Sea and you
know Sanson's little helper with like a bikini and stuff.
(16:19):
That that was the vibe. And then they had just
had a ship load of logos at the bottom. Every
crew had a specific logo and the logo consisted of
let's say, let just use generalized Mickey mouse for the
high in tense. Remember Marcos was in a crew called
High Intense. The Mickey Mouse for the High in Tense
(16:39):
was a very High with a big ass joint and
red eyes, and that was the logo for High in Tense,
and that was the goal. Who could have the most
ratchet character as your logo. I remember for some of
the all girl crews the logos on the sexy side
(17:01):
playboy Bunnies, cartoon women in lingerie, and my crew, the
Lustful Ladies had a cartoon woman wearing brown and yellow lingerie.
I probably found it on Google images and photoshops on
faunch over it. Design Wise, there was a lot going
on on a flyer, but to us, all that time
(17:22):
and effort that goes into creating the look, it was
art trust. People in the scene were all about it.
But the wappos was spelled with the W and we
used the wood Chang w Our logo for our squad
was Harman from South Park, like dressing blue with glasses
and I'll doped out, you know. Car logo was a
(17:43):
play with bunny, but it was smoking a blood. It
was just a clover with like a girl in the front.
So the logo for the Party crew Infamous Ladies was
like the soilhouette of a girl with like Infamous Ladies
on the side of it. The logo went on your
badge that lamonaded and yard the old war. Whoever had
the biggest, best badge ever with the highest resolution was
(18:06):
like the goal And basically it was a piece of
paper that you were printed out like with the graphics
with the logo on it, and then on the bottom
will be your name or Elias, you know. And then
from there you go to Kinkos. And we would go
to the Kinkos on Figaroa by you were seen and bro.
(18:26):
They hated us there, Like I'm pretty sure not only me,
they hated all the other guys that would do the
same thing. I kind of love that in the mid
two thousands there were kids all over La sitting in
the Kinkos laminating and whole punching and printing crew badges.
The graphics dude, the guys that were actually print out
the flyers for us, they were key. So shout out
(18:48):
to the dudes that were all the printers of the
flyer party days, like you guys are the real MVPs.
Step two promotion. You stand outside parties and hand out
your freshly printed flyers to people as they left, or
slide them through car windows. You get the word out
(19:11):
any way you can. But also you had to promote
your flyers online like on MySpace or the smaller social
media site called Techno. For us, it was a site
for Ellie party teams. If you know, you know, you
would do the flyer and then you would attach the sound,
(19:32):
the music, the media players to it. You hadn't had
a banging esterio song attached to your flyer if not
that she was not you know, so an example of
the would attached to your flyer man all the Daddy, Yankee,
Niki jamshit, sir speedy. It was like gett. It's a
(20:00):
lot of step three location. Once you had the flyer,
you would look for a spot where a party was held,
depending on space and which neighborhood of LA you were in.
I would say ninety percent of the parties that we
(20:21):
went to were always at houses, ten percent like warehouses
and factors. Like we partied everywhere. If they had a
parking lot, we would through the parking lot. They had
a house, someone's house and it was a house party.
If it was abandoned warehouse and it was abandoned warehouse,
it was like at abandoned homes and ship like that.
Because we weren't allowed to throw parties were fifteen sixteen
(20:41):
at that time. We love people everywhere, so we had
keys to to empty lots. A lot of people did it.
The parties were always like somebody's grandma's backyard, you know,
and someone's older brother, would you know, get us a
couple of cakes of beer. If somebody's family members owing
more body shop or something like that. Sometimes we would
(21:02):
get lucky and get those ones. Some adults even made
a little cash. Hey shout out to the grandma's das
for allowing us to party on their spots for like
one hundred and fifty bucks. But they didn't always know
exactly what they were getting into. Were you straight up
with the owners of the house. I tried being as
straight up as possible, um, just because I didn't want
(21:23):
them the day of be like oh shit, like there's
NOAs tanks, Oh shit, there's people smoking weed. Oh shit,
there's underage drinking and you know, and they'll call the
cops on you. So I try to be straight up.
They're like, yo, you know Ostead seven, it's is you know.
(21:44):
But the actual addresses were never on the flyers. You
had to call one of the numbers listed on the
back of the flyer to get the location or ever
it was. There were some critical considerations. There was no restaurants,
(22:06):
there was no poor parties. If the people you know
that were helping us out with like their spot, they
were like nice enough to like let the people use
their restaurants at the house, that was dope. But you know, nah, bro,
you better not drink water before getting to a fly
party because if not, you're gonna piss on the sidewalk.
(22:27):
If you're a young lady, good luck, you know. I'm sorry.
I remember one time the family whose backyard were parting
in let me use their bathroom inside their home. I
cut through the living room while the whole family, from
the grandma to the kids, were sitting around the television.
I'm pretty sure they were watching Sabai. I just tiptoed
(22:47):
through the room in a small skirt like when it's
because my mom raised me. Right, Okay, so invites check
spot check. Next step is a vital one step four Marcos,
how to make sure the party was safe enough from cops,
(23:10):
rival crews, or even gang members. If you're not trying
to have your party get rated, you have the strategize
where are you going to face speakers, because the speakers
are allowed as shit, and if you're like facing them
towards neighbors, the neighbors will call the police and get
your shit rated. And then I would assess like the
(23:30):
spot on the security wise, like how safe for the spot?
And if it's not safe, how can I make it safe?
How do you assess the security? How many entry ways
does the spot have? And if it is the party
itself visible? To me, it's like having open visibility to
a party is like the biggest mistake you can have,
(23:51):
because back then people were just like shooting at parties
for no reason. If it was like an open area
with like no gaining, I would throw a party there
just because it's not safe. It's not you have no
protection and you're very vulnerable. My preferred type of parties
where like parties were, I would have the structure of
the house be out front and then the yard in
(24:15):
the back. You know. Then finally the day of the
party arrives. First you wake up. Usually when we would
wake up, it was because our homie were like pull
up and be like, hey give the young blah blah blah.
(24:35):
Marcos burshes his teeth, gets ready and then he goes
to get his NOS tanks were filled. He go to
auto shops and get a refill for one hundred to
one hundred and eighty dollars. And me and this food
name bing Bo, we were going to the valley end.
I wouldn't give a two exact details, but yeah, there's
(24:56):
a shop out there or was that would like sell
us NOS tanks. There were spots in saw Cential, but yeah,
we were just go in my little ninety one Integra
and go phillip these tanks. Drive back. Get ready for
the party. I remember getting ready, the anticipation, the feeling
(25:19):
in the pit of your stomach. Your friend parks the
car and you and your crew walk over to the gate.
Girls in free of course. You walk past security, holding
hands in a line to cut through the crowd and
make it to the dance floor. Man, the ambiance is
(25:39):
like full of laughter and people drinking, people dancing. So yeah,
the music banging buried out the acoustics of the place.
We're always the greatest. If you didn't elevate your speakers,
then the sound didn't travel throughout the whole party because
the people's bodies absorbed sound. Had I don't know my
(26:01):
dad Yankee right UM's was picking up steam. It was
a lot of like too short ying Yang twin, shake
that monkey, lights at a one too like that lights
and the fog, the smell of the fog machine and
boie shaking contests is going down, you know, drinking contests
(26:22):
going on. I remember those as shaky contents like even
girls on girls, I feel like with Jap on each other.
Back then, there was a lot of crumping when it
came to battles. The guys were very baggy shirts or
vacuum pants. I remember some of us still had like
a hip hop vive. We're like, we will see the
rubber bands on your jeans and then you will wear
like air Force one shortens. That was like the vibe
(26:46):
bro And of course as far as ambient sound was
like the pop of balloons. I remember they're always being
a corner of the party dedicated to nastinks. People would
stand around the metal tank waiting for their turn to
get a balloon filled with naz naz is nitrous oxide.
(27:09):
Aside from the cloud of wheat smoke in the corner.
NAS was a drug of choice for a lot of
people attending flyer parties. NAS is dangerous. It can cause
nerve damage, increased heart rate. People have died after inhaling it.
My friends would tell me it gives them an immediate
head high when they inhale it. Sometimes it knocks people out,
(27:30):
like I've seen full on bodies collapsed to the ground.
I have this memory of like, um, it was like
a big backyard, but there was like a little area
where it was just like grass and people are just
laid out. I remember just just a bunch of teens
just like on the floor. And that kind of turned
you off to like not trying naz I think I was.
(27:50):
I'm just like I'm tall and I'm gonna fall hard.
Like I was like, maybe I don't want to do this.
How much did you sell a purple? How much? What
was the Bryce three for five? If that was the
play and if it tastes bad, we got like so
innovative with the ship that we like add flavors like
(28:11):
candy and or chata, certain sodas and then go fill
it up. It was in high high demand because that
was the majority of the money that was being made
in any flyer party was through the NAS. Because it's cheap,
(28:32):
it's easy to get and it's easy to sell it
helped that he had a connection back then. If you
were at least eighteen, legally autoshops could sell it to you.
Mark was quickly realized the way you made money at
a party was not at the door with entry fees.
(28:52):
It was everything inside the party. He could get five
hundred to a thousand balloons out of a nas tank
that he'd sell for a couple bucks each. He charged
five dollars for a mixed drink. He bought cheap can
beer to sell, never bottles so no one could ever
(29:13):
throw them. And everyone working the party was a friend.
You just orchestrate security, the doorman, the DJ, who's gonna
bartend for you. All these elements a hot fire, good location,
naz and booze, available girls on the dance floor, and
the security being on point were what made a party.
(29:36):
The successful party was definitely one that major money and
two moves, that had a good turnout and good closure,
Like it didn't get ready, but no one got hurt
and there was no fights, no one got robbed and
ended up three in the morning or two in the
morning and nothing happened. So for sure, we're gonna go
to this guy's party again. You know. The next day
(30:08):
Marcos would count his money, should our goals to like
just do like three to four, three to five racks,
you know, But then like all the homies needed to
eat too. Marcos was making three to five thousand dollars
on a good night on the weekends and he wasn't
even eighteen yet. The thing that impressed me the most
(30:29):
about marcos story, it's how he's always turned a little
into a lot. I think the most important thing in
my whole logic of like staying creative is that you
have to be a kid, like never lose a kid.
In many ways, Marcos is still that bright eyed teen hustler,
(30:53):
businessman or whatever you want to call it, thinking of
new and creative ways to make a living. The same
kid who watched his dad grow food from the land
and create heart shaped rose bushes outside of his home
in South Central and one of the many kids who
dreams up a world for teens like me, the world
(31:13):
Emory and I belong to. I do think definitely for us, girl,
it was about party and having fun and meeting people
and just mind the different areas and exploring. But with
Emory's death, it felt like that part of our world
got stripped away and kids in the party crew scene
(31:35):
were viewed only as a threat why their nature flyer
parties include elements that create a fertile environment for violence.
When a local politician would take up her case as
a rallying cry a warning against parties, but we have
to put everyone on notice that these parties may and
can be dangerous and the city should be doing more
(31:57):
to stop these that's next time. This episode was written, reported,
and hosted by me Jane Siamoka. Our show is produced
and reported by Sofia Polissa car Victoria Lejandro, and Kyle Chang,
and edited by Antonia Shido. Additional editing by Annie Abilis,
(32:19):
fact checking by Nidia about These. Sound design and original
music composition by Kyle Murdocks. Our supervising producer is Janet Lee,
Art by Julie Ruiz and Victuacoyon. Our executive producer from
Vice Audio is Kate Osbourne. Our executive producers from Elias
Studios are Antonia Seedhido and Leo gi. Our Vice president
(32:43):
of Podcasts from Elias Studios is China Naomi Krocmall. Special
thanks to the UCLA Department of Communication Archive for access
to their news collection. Extra special things to all the
party crew people who spoke to us. Pops from Infamous Ladies,
Caramel Diva from Lustful Ladies, Nessa from Clover Ladies, Wonders
(33:04):
from The Dope Squad, Armando from Los Wappos, Triple X
from Huggy's Production, MiGs from me Hinse, Miss Sick from
Lady Devotion, Chris from The Handsome Devils, Partygoer Max from Elhambra,
and Pringles from Code Read. Thank you for lending us
your voice. Party Cruise The Untold Story is a production
(33:25):
of Elias Studios in Vice Audio in partnership with Ihearts
Michael Tluda podcast Network. For more podcasts, listen to the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. And Hey, were you and a party crew?
Send us your party flyers or photos. I'd love to
see them, even a voice message about your memories. Anything.
(33:46):
You can send us a message or a picture at
Party Cruise at Elias Studios dot com. Support for this
podcast is made possible by Gordon and Donna Crawford, who
believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place
to live. This program is made possible, in part by
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by
(34:08):
the American people.
So I was so surprised when you message me, because
you know, I haven't heard Emory's name in so long.
You know, it always comes up here and there, but
it really caught me off guard. Became friends with Emory
and middle school and she was in another party crew.
It was called Tempted to Touch sne But we would
definitely go see what's cracking in South Central and then
(00:22):
we would go to the valley sometimes too. Did you
have a nickname when you were in the party crew?
Everybody knew me as Dreamer? Obviously it's like so old,
I haven't even and everybody knew her here. She knew
Emory as Tears. They knew each other from before the
party crew scene, you know, Like so those are like
(00:44):
so they're like things that I laugh about now, but
it's just so like, oh, like we were a little kids.
I know. Mine was Loca and our party crew was
lustful ladies. I was like so like la y d
eat easy and yeah, it was just like it was
(01:05):
like very sexy. We were like fifteen, It was like that.
But why were we looking older? Who were we yu?
We were doing some grown woman? Oh I know, yeah,
And I'm like if her daughter does that this day,
I have a heart attack. You mentioned that you saw
Emory like last at a party, Like, how do you
(01:26):
remember her at a party? Well, you know, I mean,
I'm not trying to get anybody in trouble, but I
remember the last time I came Emory. We were both, um,
we're nausing it. We were doing being something that was
the thing at that time, and she was holding a
girl can and they were walking together. The girl was
leading the way, Emory was behind with a balloon and
(01:47):
she was dancing through the crowd as she walked and
I just recognized her curly hair and I grabbed her
and I was like hey, and then she was like hey.
And then we just looked at each other and I
was like I miss you. How are you? And she
was like I miss you too. I'm good. And then
I just told her like, you know, whatever happened, it
(02:08):
doesn't matter, Like we just had a little leg chat
and then that was it. And then we just hugged
each other like so tight. And then I was like,
come back. My friend had a tank. We had a
whole tank. I told her come back and she was
like okay. But I never ended up seeing her because
that party ended up getting shot at and we all left.
(02:31):
It was just like a quick pass by, and I
never knew that that would be the last time I
was n Karina and Emery hadn't seen each other in
a while, but because they were both part of the
party crew scene, they were bonded. When I talked to
people from the party crew days, it's like we're speaking
(02:51):
the same language. It's like we share something special and
singular and also kind of universal, at least at that
moment in time. I want to welcome you into our
shared universe. Like who would sick everybody and their mother
in the car, like in the trunk, like everybody got
(03:13):
mapped into like two three cars, DJs and lunch and alcohol.
I don't even know how we got the alcohol. Who knows?
We have people downcing off the road like it was insane.
You know, it's a fucking movie. I look at super
Bad and those dudes are you know, fucking doing the
whole thing for beer? But our hours was just to
go out and party. We didn't need no money, Like
all we needed was like girls bring in three before ten.
(03:35):
Most of the time down sinking, shouting, you know, forgetting
about the week as a kid like the sne in
one word was crazy or in this world like let
(04:09):
from My Heart Michael Buddha Podcast Networks, Vice and Ellie's Studios.
This is Party Cruz, the Untold Story. I'm Jenisimoka. What
(04:54):
made the Party Crewsine unique was all the attention to detail,
the planning and the organizing that went into the creation
of a crew or into the making of a party.
Outsiders only paid attention when something tragic happened. We were
seen as victims or villains, or dumb kids playing adults.
(05:14):
But in my eyes we were more than that. We
were builders, planners, and hard workers. In this episode, I'm
giving you an inside look at a party with a
guide who has a ton of experience, someone you could
say was the architect of the party. Man. I would
do some crazy shit with the flyers. I would like
(05:38):
slide them inside people's cars and so I like the
crack of the door like that. I know how to
open cars. Don't ask me why, but I don't know
how to open cars. I would put that shit inside.
This is Marcos Velasquez. Back in the day, he was
a flyer party promoter. We call the parties flyer parties.
(06:01):
Because party crews printed their invites on glossy paper flyers.
Usually someone and the crew knew how to use a
pirated version of Photoshop, at least enough to design the
most colorful and chaotic flyer. Party crews were made up
of different roles. There was a main head. They're the
crewise leader. Sometimes they're even the founder. Some crews had
(06:26):
DJs who would DJ at the party, and some crews
had website designers. Well, I don't remember having a specific role.
I definitely brought the party vibes. But I also remember
doing little things like designing my cruise badges and driving
the girls around. I'm a producer at heart, so problem
(06:47):
solving was kind of my thing. But promoters like Marcos,
they were the ones who got the word out, and
some were involved in everything from the idea to the
actual party itself. I mean high school, there's like certain
teachers are real cool with me, and I would just
be like, yo, can't let people know about my fire
(07:08):
party in class? Wait yeah, hell yeah, someone them are cool. Yo.
I had some cool ass teachers. They were really cool ass. Fuck.
Marcos calls himself a creative arts entrepreneur. He's made music
videos managed artists, and he currently runs his own production company.
(07:28):
I'm a typical Mexican kid that happens to know how
to do certain things with cameras and microphones and soundboards
and blights and stuff like that. So that's just me.
We met last summer at his home studio in Lincoln Heights,
Marcos Marcos greeted me on his porch. He wore a
(07:49):
blue Kia bucket hat, which later he told me was
a signature hat, and he had long, dark wavy hair
loose down past his shoulders. Oh yeah, okay, good right now. Yeah.
Let me As a kid, he grew up in South
Central and its father worked for Proto stores on the
West Side. He was a grinder lef who worked a lot.
(08:12):
He worked as a fruit man. Then my dad would
like beautify them for them. You know. It's like he
was like low key and interior designer for like these
little fruit stands. And when my dad wasn't doing that,
he was like teaching me how to garden and my crib.
Anyone could tell you that grew up in that on
(08:32):
the street. My house was like the most prettiest one
because we had roses. We had like crazy pine trees ever,
like wrapped up and shaped up in the shape of
arch or heart or whatever. And my dad was like
romantic in that sense. He would just make sure that
the garden was always like nice and pretty, and the
(08:52):
roses were always blooming and big and lush, and yeah,
he taught me how to like grow food and eat
from our land. I love that Marcos used the word
romantic because I think that's how a lot of us
were finding the beauty in our own spaces, in our
own communities. Yeah, so that's the type of environment. I
(09:18):
grew up in Sa Central's saw Cential. It's a beautiful shipthole,
but you know, with beautiful people. My mom is a
tough as mom, but she's also a gangster, so she
would just be down for whatever that consisted of making
money for us. I mean, my mom wasn't really like,
(09:40):
you know, like allow us to do anything. She would
be like, hey, you know what you're doing, She's protect
yourself and if you go to jail, I'm not betting you.
That was her whole thing. When Marcos was in the
third grade, his parents separated and they sold their home,
the one adorned with big blooming roses. Marcos and his
(10:04):
siblings moved from place to place. I grew up in
a cryb neighborhood and now I'm living in an all
blood neighborhood. Along the way, I just learned how to
like be cool with everybody, and no matter where you
come from, where you're from or whatever, it's just like
you just got to be cool with everybody. And it's
a survival skill in a sense. You know. When he
(10:25):
was in seventh grade, one of the main heads of
a party crew called High Intense saw something in Marcos.
We met up and he was like, yo, fool, what's up.
You're trying to get down with this, like promote these flyers,
like just throw them out in the school. And I'm like, okay, cool,
and he gave me like a fat stack. It was
(10:47):
like I wanted to say, probably like a thousand flyers.
So at the age of twelve, Marcos started as a
promoter and as an official member of High Intense. He
went by the nick name Jay. I mean, the money
was the main part of it for me. You know,
for a lot of other people it was like just
a party for free, but for me, it was always
(11:09):
the money. Just because my mom was like, yo, we
need to give an apartment, we need to have a
better living situation. And I was like a bum, you know,
Like the nicest thing I had was a nice, crispy
pro club to excel tall, to be exact, that was
like my nice thing to have a pro club. All
(11:33):
my guy friends in high school owned a pro club.
They were these thick Chris and White T shirts that
were worn extra long and extra baggy. It was a
uniform for LA guys of the two thousands. It's funny
that you say you're a pro club like size because
I dated a guy who wore three x L tall
and I always remember his pro club size. It was
(11:55):
just so specific. So like hearing you say to XL
tall and I'm like, oh, yeah, it was how tall
he is? Sixty four? Yeah, he could definitely pull that off.
It's crazy because like I feel like triends come back,
and I just feel like the two thousands were so
long ago, and I'm just like, is it coming back already? Yeah,
it's coming back. This is the year Air Forces and
this is the year possible pro clubs. I don't know
(12:18):
what component they're missing. I think they could throw some
flyer parties, I know to bring back the flyer party. Yes,
sponsored by a pro clubs. So it was to me
to like fly myself shoes or nice or clothes. You know,
Marcos saw flyer parties as a way to provide for
(12:41):
himself in a way that his parents couldn't. Hearing Marcos
reminds me how a lot of us grew up helping
out at home in different ways, taking care of our
younger siblings, translating for our parents, helping our families navigate
this country that was foreign to them, and sometimes pitching
in with income, real life problem solving skills. But we
(13:05):
were also kids, teenagers, and so flyer parties became a
separate space of our own where we use some of
those skills we developed for ourselves to make money, to
have fun, to be the main characters in our own world.
And there is a kind of beauty how these wild
nights all came together. That's after the break. Marcos started
(13:47):
as a promoter, but eventually grew into producing, organizing and
promoting the parties. And since Marco's put on a whole
lot of flyer parties, he got the process down to
a science. He's going to take us through the steps
of how to throw a flyer party step one. It
(14:07):
would make the flyer first, because the flyer was always
the number one thing, like the design, the involvement of
all the other party crews and everything was like the
number one thing. Like if your party crew wasn't like
branded right, you probably weren't going to succeed or you
weren't going to stand out. Marcos knew there was a
lot of competition. Sometimes there were twenty to thirty parties
(14:31):
a weekend all over LA. In the Sangibal Valley where
I lived, I remember there being at least two to
three parties a night, and sometimes crews in different areas
supported each other. I found an old flyer in my
room from two thousand and four. On the front, it
says calm experience one night when he's the late hottest
(14:53):
in travel to SGB. The party was titled when the
Cities Collide. This kind of support was important. When people
look at flyers, they want to know what crews gave
your party a stamp of approval and what other crews
would be in attendance. My crew, the left of the the ladies,
(15:14):
mainly supported other crews because of course, it was a
priority that girls were in attendance, so you would invite
the ladies of the party. Crews seen cruised with chicks only,
so you would definitely invite the chicks, like the girls,
and they showed up. It was like all the other
(15:35):
dudes were showing though for sure. So yeah, your flyer
had to be on point, but mainly and how to
be sexy, at least what a team considered sexy at
that time. I cringe a little when I think about
this man, dude. Usually it was like just like image
(15:59):
that you got from like Google whatever, of a chick.
You would crop out the chick and then you would
like add a flames and the sexiest chick you could find.
Or if it was like a winter time, then you
make it cold and like Chris me Sea and you
know Sanson's little helper with like a bikini and stuff.
(16:19):
That that was the vibe. And then they had just
had a ship load of logos at the bottom. Every
crew had a specific logo and the logo consisted of
let's say, let just use generalized Mickey mouse for the
high in tense. Remember Marcos was in a crew called
High Intense. The Mickey Mouse for the High in Tense
(16:39):
was a very High with a big ass joint and
red eyes, and that was the logo for High in Tense,
and that was the goal. Who could have the most
ratchet character as your logo. I remember for some of
the all girl crews the logos on the sexy side
(17:01):
playboy Bunnies, cartoon women in lingerie, and my crew, the
Lustful Ladies had a cartoon woman wearing brown and yellow lingerie.
I probably found it on Google images and photoshops on
faunch over it. Design Wise, there was a lot going
on on a flyer, but to us, all that time
(17:22):
and effort that goes into creating the look, it was
art trust. People in the scene were all about it.
But the wappos was spelled with the W and we
used the wood Chang w Our logo for our squad
was Harman from South Park, like dressing blue with glasses
and I'll doped out, you know. Car logo was a
(17:43):
play with bunny, but it was smoking a blood. It
was just a clover with like a girl in the front.
So the logo for the Party crew Infamous Ladies was
like the soilhouette of a girl with like Infamous Ladies
on the side of it. The logo went on your
badge that lamonaded and yard the old war. Whoever had
the biggest, best badge ever with the highest resolution was
(18:06):
like the goal And basically it was a piece of
paper that you were printed out like with the graphics
with the logo on it, and then on the bottom
will be your name or Elias, you know. And then
from there you go to Kinkos. And we would go
to the Kinkos on Figaroa by you were seen and bro.
(18:26):
They hated us there, Like I'm pretty sure not only me,
they hated all the other guys that would do the
same thing. I kind of love that in the mid
two thousands there were kids all over La sitting in
the Kinkos laminating and whole punching and printing crew badges.
The graphics dude, the guys that were actually print out
the flyers for us, they were key. So shout out
(18:48):
to the dudes that were all the printers of the
flyer party days, like you guys are the real MVPs.
Step two promotion. You stand outside parties and hand out
your freshly printed flyers to people as they left, or
slide them through car windows. You get the word out
(19:11):
any way you can. But also you had to promote
your flyers online like on MySpace or the smaller social
media site called Techno. For us, it was a site
for Ellie party teams. If you know, you know, you
would do the flyer and then you would attach the sound,
(19:32):
the music, the media players to it. You hadn't had
a banging esterio song attached to your flyer if not
that she was not you know, so an example of
the would attached to your flyer man all the Daddy, Yankee,
Niki jamshit, sir speedy. It was like gett. It's a
(20:00):
lot of step three location. Once you had the flyer,
you would look for a spot where a party was held,
depending on space and which neighborhood of LA you were in.
I would say ninety percent of the parties that we
(20:21):
went to were always at houses, ten percent like warehouses
and factors. Like we partied everywhere. If they had a
parking lot, we would through the parking lot. They had
a house, someone's house and it was a house party.
If it was abandoned warehouse and it was abandoned warehouse,
it was like at abandoned homes and ship like that.
Because we weren't allowed to throw parties were fifteen sixteen
(20:41):
at that time. We love people everywhere, so we had
keys to to empty lots. A lot of people did it.
The parties were always like somebody's grandma's backyard, you know,
and someone's older brother, would you know, get us a
couple of cakes of beer. If somebody's family members owing
more body shop or something like that. Sometimes we would
(21:02):
get lucky and get those ones. Some adults even made
a little cash. Hey shout out to the grandma's das
for allowing us to party on their spots for like
one hundred and fifty bucks. But they didn't always know
exactly what they were getting into. Were you straight up
with the owners of the house. I tried being as
straight up as possible, um, just because I didn't want
(21:23):
them the day of be like oh shit, like there's
NOAs tanks, Oh shit, there's people smoking weed. Oh shit,
there's underage drinking and you know, and they'll call the
cops on you. So I try to be straight up.
They're like, yo, you know Ostead seven, it's is you know.
(21:44):
But the actual addresses were never on the flyers. You
had to call one of the numbers listed on the
back of the flyer to get the location or ever
it was. There were some critical considerations. There was no restaurants,
(22:06):
there was no poor parties. If the people you know
that were helping us out with like their spot, they
were like nice enough to like let the people use
their restaurants at the house, that was dope. But you know, nah, bro,
you better not drink water before getting to a fly
party because if not, you're gonna piss on the sidewalk.
(22:27):
If you're a young lady, good luck, you know. I'm sorry.
I remember one time the family whose backyard were parting
in let me use their bathroom inside their home. I
cut through the living room while the whole family, from
the grandma to the kids, were sitting around the television.
I'm pretty sure they were watching Sabai. I just tiptoed
(22:47):
through the room in a small skirt like when it's
because my mom raised me. Right, Okay, so invites check
spot check. Next step is a vital one step four Marcos,
how to make sure the party was safe enough from cops,
(23:10):
rival crews, or even gang members. If you're not trying
to have your party get rated, you have the strategize
where are you going to face speakers, because the speakers
are allowed as shit, and if you're like facing them
towards neighbors, the neighbors will call the police and get
your shit rated. And then I would assess like the
(23:30):
spot on the security wise, like how safe for the spot?
And if it's not safe, how can I make it safe?
How do you assess the security? How many entry ways
does the spot have? And if it is the party
itself visible? To me, it's like having open visibility to
a party is like the biggest mistake you can have,
(23:51):
because back then people were just like shooting at parties
for no reason. If it was like an open area
with like no gaining, I would throw a party there
just because it's not safe. It's not you have no
protection and you're very vulnerable. My preferred type of parties
where like parties were, I would have the structure of
the house be out front and then the yard in
(24:15):
the back. You know. Then finally the day of the
party arrives. First you wake up. Usually when we would
wake up, it was because our homie were like pull
up and be like, hey give the young blah blah blah.
(24:35):
Marcos burshes his teeth, gets ready and then he goes
to get his NOS tanks were filled. He go to
auto shops and get a refill for one hundred to
one hundred and eighty dollars. And me and this food
name bing Bo, we were going to the valley end.
I wouldn't give a two exact details, but yeah, there's
(24:56):
a shop out there or was that would like sell
us NOS tanks. There were spots in saw Cential, but yeah,
we were just go in my little ninety one Integra
and go phillip these tanks. Drive back. Get ready for
the party. I remember getting ready, the anticipation, the feeling
(25:19):
in the pit of your stomach. Your friend parks the
car and you and your crew walk over to the gate.
Girls in free of course. You walk past security, holding
hands in a line to cut through the crowd and
make it to the dance floor. Man, the ambiance is
(25:39):
like full of laughter and people drinking, people dancing. So yeah,
the music banging buried out the acoustics of the place.
We're always the greatest. If you didn't elevate your speakers,
then the sound didn't travel throughout the whole party because
the people's bodies absorbed sound. Had I don't know my
(26:01):
dad Yankee right UM's was picking up steam. It was
a lot of like too short ying Yang twin, shake
that monkey, lights at a one too like that lights
and the fog, the smell of the fog machine and
boie shaking contests is going down, you know, drinking contests
(26:22):
going on. I remember those as shaky contents like even
girls on girls, I feel like with Jap on each other.
Back then, there was a lot of crumping when it
came to battles. The guys were very baggy shirts or
vacuum pants. I remember some of us still had like
a hip hop vive. We're like, we will see the
rubber bands on your jeans and then you will wear
like air Force one shortens. That was like the vibe
(26:46):
bro And of course as far as ambient sound was
like the pop of balloons. I remember they're always being
a corner of the party dedicated to nastinks. People would
stand around the metal tank waiting for their turn to
get a balloon filled with naz naz is nitrous oxide.
(27:09):
Aside from the cloud of wheat smoke in the corner.
NAS was a drug of choice for a lot of
people attending flyer parties. NAS is dangerous. It can cause
nerve damage, increased heart rate. People have died after inhaling it.
My friends would tell me it gives them an immediate
head high when they inhale it. Sometimes it knocks people out,
(27:30):
like I've seen full on bodies collapsed to the ground.
I have this memory of like, um, it was like
a big backyard, but there was like a little area
where it was just like grass and people are just
laid out. I remember just just a bunch of teens
just like on the floor. And that kind of turned
you off to like not trying naz I think I was.
(27:50):
I'm just like I'm tall and I'm gonna fall hard.
Like I was like, maybe I don't want to do this.
How much did you sell a purple? How much? What
was the Bryce three for five? If that was the
play and if it tastes bad, we got like so
innovative with the ship that we like add flavors like
(28:11):
candy and or chata, certain sodas and then go fill
it up. It was in high high demand because that
was the majority of the money that was being made
in any flyer party was through the NAS. Because it's cheap,
(28:32):
it's easy to get and it's easy to sell it
helped that he had a connection back then. If you
were at least eighteen, legally autoshops could sell it to you.
Mark was quickly realized the way you made money at
a party was not at the door with entry fees.
(28:52):
It was everything inside the party. He could get five
hundred to a thousand balloons out of a nas tank
that he'd sell for a couple bucks each. He charged
five dollars for a mixed drink. He bought cheap can
beer to sell, never bottles so no one could ever
(29:13):
throw them. And everyone working the party was a friend.
You just orchestrate security, the doorman, the DJ, who's gonna
bartend for you. All these elements a hot fire, good location,
naz and booze, available girls on the dance floor, and
the security being on point were what made a party.
(29:36):
The successful party was definitely one that major money and
two moves, that had a good turnout and good closure,
Like it didn't get ready, but no one got hurt
and there was no fights, no one got robbed and
ended up three in the morning or two in the
morning and nothing happened. So for sure, we're gonna go
to this guy's party again. You know. The next day
(30:08):
Marcos would count his money, should our goals to like
just do like three to four, three to five racks,
you know, But then like all the homies needed to
eat too. Marcos was making three to five thousand dollars
on a good night on the weekends and he wasn't
even eighteen yet. The thing that impressed me the most
(30:29):
about marcos story, it's how he's always turned a little
into a lot. I think the most important thing in
my whole logic of like staying creative is that you
have to be a kid, like never lose a kid.
In many ways, Marcos is still that bright eyed teen hustler,
(30:53):
businessman or whatever you want to call it, thinking of
new and creative ways to make a living. The same
kid who watched his dad grow food from the land
and create heart shaped rose bushes outside of his home
in South Central and one of the many kids who
dreams up a world for teens like me, the world
(31:13):
Emory and I belong to. I do think definitely for us, girl,
it was about party and having fun and meeting people
and just mind the different areas and exploring. But with
Emory's death, it felt like that part of our world
got stripped away and kids in the party crew scene
(31:35):
were viewed only as a threat why their nature flyer
parties include elements that create a fertile environment for violence.
When a local politician would take up her case as
a rallying cry a warning against parties, but we have
to put everyone on notice that these parties may and
can be dangerous and the city should be doing more
(31:57):
to stop these that's next time. This episode was written, reported,
and hosted by me Jane Siamoka. Our show is produced
and reported by Sofia Polissa car Victoria Lejandro, and Kyle Chang,
and edited by Antonia Shido. Additional editing by Annie Abilis,
(32:19):
fact checking by Nidia about These. Sound design and original
music composition by Kyle Murdocks. Our supervising producer is Janet Lee,
Art by Julie Ruiz and Victuacoyon. Our executive producer from
Vice Audio is Kate Osbourne. Our executive producers from Elias
Studios are Antonia Seedhido and Leo gi. Our Vice president
(32:43):
of Podcasts from Elias Studios is China Naomi Krocmall. Special
thanks to the UCLA Department of Communication Archive for access
to their news collection. Extra special things to all the
party crew people who spoke to us. Pops from Infamous Ladies,
Caramel Diva from Lustful Ladies, Nessa from Clover Ladies, Wonders
(33:04):
from The Dope Squad, Armando from Los Wappos, Triple X
from Huggy's Production, MiGs from me Hinse, Miss Sick from
Lady Devotion, Chris from The Handsome Devils, Partygoer Max from Elhambra,
and Pringles from Code Read. Thank you for lending us
your voice. Party Cruise The Untold Story is a production
(33:25):
of Elias Studios in Vice Audio in partnership with Ihearts
Michael Tluda podcast Network. For more podcasts, listen to the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. And Hey, were you and a party crew?
Send us your party flyers or photos. I'd love to
see them, even a voice message about your memories. Anything.
(33:46):
You can send us a message or a picture at
Party Cruise at Elias Studios dot com. Support for this
podcast is made possible by Gordon and Donna Crawford, who
believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place
to live. This program is made possible, in part by
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by
(34:08):
the American people.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com