March 11, 2025 • 47 mins
When a fashion trend becomes a target for violence, what does that reveal about a society? In wartime Los Angeles 1943, young Mexican-Americans who wore zoot suits—characterized by their distinctive wide-legged, tapered pants and long coats—found themselves hunted through the streets by uniformed servicemen, beaten, stripped naked, and left humiliated while police arrested the victims rather than the perpetrators.
The road to this explosion of violence begins with the story of José Diaz, a 22-year-old Mexican immigrant preparing to serve in the U.S. Army, found brutally murdered after his farewell party. What followed was a massive dragnet that saw over 600 Mexican-American youths arrested within 48 hours, leading to California's largest murder trial where Henry "Hank" Leyvas and 17 others faced charges based on virtually no evidence. Through brutal interrogation techniques and a blatantly prejudiced court proceeding, these young men received harsh sentences for a crime they didn't commit.
Against the backdrop of World War II hysteria following Pearl Harbor, the zoot suit—with its excess fabric during rationing—became branded as unpatriotic, and those who wore them as un-American troublemakers. We trace how five days of unchecked rioting only ended when military authorities declared Los Angeles off-limits to service personnel, and how activists including Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth fought for justice for the wrongfully convicted. Most remarkably, decades later, the truth about who really killed José Diaz would finally come to light through a deathbed confession, confirming what many had long suspected: the entire case had been a miscarriage of justice motivated by racial prejudice.
This forgotten chapter of American history forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about how easily fear can be weaponized against minority communities, even as those communities' members were serving their country in uniform. Subscribe now to dive deeper into these hidden historical moments that continue to resonate in our society today.
PBS American Experience
Enrique "Henry" Reyes Leyvas (1923-1971) By Eduardo Obregón Pagán
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/zoot-enrique-henry-reyes-leyvas/#:~:text=He%20remained%20embittered%2C%20however%2C%20and,members%20of%20his%20family%20worked
Zoot Suit Riots | Full Documentary | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | PBS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzgZBH0oiwQ&t=524s
Mexican-Americans Risked Their Lives Wearing Zoot Suits | History Of | Racked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpQqfuxRxh8&t=8s
PBS American Experience
Lorena Encinas (1922-1991) By Eduardo Obregón Pagán
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/zoot-lorena-encinas/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Oh hey there.
Oh hey there.
How are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
My ears are plugged.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
What, what, what, what.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I'm sorry to hear that hear what yep yeah, um,
still recovering from a cold,but it's a lot better.
We're getting there, yeah, butmy ears are still plugged and
it's kind of weird yeah, that'sthe worst, because it just
messes with like everything inyour brain yeah, yeah, I get
that.
Yeah, anything new with you?
Uh, not really same yeah, yeah,I do have a new beer though.
(00:48):
Yeah, so do I.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, well, we recently went to kentucky yeah
and we brought back some beerswith us yeah, so it's from
country boy brewing, and thiswas you got the same brand I did
I did, yeah, okay, yeah, I kindof did that on purpose
georgetown, kentucky.
So which I don't know wherethat is I'm not familiar, yeah
(01:12):
same I don't know its proximityto louisville, but uh, then
again, the first and only timeI've ever been to kentucky was
when we went to louisville forour friend's graduation.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
But yeah, so you got a.
What is it?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
again I got cougar bait.
Cougar bait, yep, scandalousYep.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
And it's kind of an orange and white can and there's
a guy on the front and he lookslike he's fishing.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Oh, there you go.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, but it's an american blonde ale yeah it says
.
Any fisherman worth his saltwill tell you it's all about the
bait.
Lucky for you, you're holdingthe good stuff.
An american blonde ale, cleanand crisp cougar bait is sure to
help with your catch.
Whatever you may be fishing for, that's cute.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I have a halfway home American pale, ale Shall I read
you what they put on my cat.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
All right, this is the carrot on the string, the
reminder that you are halfwayhome to that well-deserved
reward.
It's time to buckle down andget the job done, because our
easy drinking, pale pale, pairswith well, with gumption.
Oh, hard work and good old,stick to it If this stick to it
(02:34):
if this.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Sure, yeah, okay, yeah, you're right, you have old
mayonnaise.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, I think I need to get my prescription updated,
so you know either way.
So cheers to a new beer, Cheers, We'd bring one back.
So give it a go All right.
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
I like it yeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, mine is definitely just a pale ale.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Mine is quite flavorful.
Actually, I do like it.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Mine's not bad.
It's got some good flavor to it.
I should stop turning my headtowards the.
Can I apologize?
No, it's decent.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah yeah.
I like it.
I've got a question for you.
What is your question for me.
How do you like to expressyourself in the way that you
look?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Oh boy, I guess my beard.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, you have an epic beard, thank you.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't really.
I'm not like one to get allfancy dressed up.
I guess I never have been.
That's not like I'm going to gowear a suit or anything out to
dinner or whatnot, but I don'tknow.
I wear polos a lot.
I wear button-up shirts a lot.
I don't really wear justt-shirts kind of thing, but I
(03:54):
don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I guess that Comfortable, but not like.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I'm not wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants kind of
thing.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
But I like to be comfortable with just jeans and
a you look, put together withyour polos and well, thank you
yeah how about you?
Um well, my hair's a mess, soit's always up.
It's a mess.
I really don't know how to takecare of it yet, and I'm still
working on that yeah because I'mI'm still figuring out that my
hair's wavy.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, so my expression usually comes in my
tattoos which I am overdue forone or two or five or five.
Yes, fair enough.
Yeah, so I want to take you toHollywood in the 1930s.
Okay, it's all glitz andglamour, right?
Yeah, la was actually superconservative at this time and
(04:43):
super segregated.
Okay, la was actually superconservative at this time and
super segregated.
So Jim Crow laws weren't just aSouthern thing, it was in
California as well, sure, and itwas discrimination against
Mexican Americans specifically.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, I suppose the population over there would be
quite high, with its proximityto California used to be a part
of mexico, correct?
Yeah, so exactly so.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Then jazz kind of makes a big wave, um, in the
area and it's like a nice breathof fresh air, almost like a
rebellion type of thing, sure.
And then you had these clubswhere there's blacks and whites
and mexican kids and they couldall hang out together, something
that wasn't really happeninganywhere else, sure.
And these jazz artists kind ofstarted this fashion trend of
(05:34):
the zoot suit.
The zoot suits- really yes yeah, so it's a very distinctive
style.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
It's baggy pants, but they're like nice pants pants
but they're baggy not like mchammer baggy pants.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Do you remember those ?
Yes, I do no, these are.
These are a notch above didthey call those parachute pants,
something like that?
Yeah, right, yeah um.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So zoosuit pants were wide at the knees, and then
they tapered at the ankle.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Oh, yeah, that's, that's weird.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
It's different.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Um, and then it also was paired with a long coat,
okay, usually, well, that waswell.
Okay, right on.
Um, uh, you was usually pairedwith, like watch change chains,
um, and so it's like a pocketwatch.
Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah Is thatchains, um, and so it's like a
(06:27):
pocket watch.
Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, is itexactly so?
Expressing yourself, pushingboundaries for these young
mexican americans was a way tosay we're here, we're proud,
we're part of california, we'repart of this, we're not going to
conform, sure.
So these kids were firstgeneration mexican americans
born in the us and they werekind of caught between two
different worlds.
(06:47):
Right, their parents wereimmigrants from mexico.
They had traditional values,often tied to the catholic
church, sure, and they wantedtheir kids close, yeah, and to
follow in their footsteps.
But these kids, they'reamericans, you know, and they
wanted similar things as otheramerican kids of this time.
Yeah, makes sense.
(07:07):
Um, they wanted to go downtownand shop and dance and just live
like other kids do, yeah, butsegregation was kind of a
constant barrier for them, sure.
So movie theaters, swimmingpools, sidewalks, even
everything bathrooms everythingwas divided, yeah, and it was
really tough to navigate and itwas kind of hard for them to
(07:27):
figure out who they were insociety okay and then pearl
harbor happened yeah and youremember the date I do, do you
tell us the date?
Not waiting for you to get itno, I have it written down, so I
can't get it wrong you do itdecember 7th 1941 correct what
(07:49):
happened on december 6th so over2 000 americans are killed.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
West coast is terrified now, because they
don't think they're gonna getattacked, right?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
they're.
They're on the edge.
The pacific fleet is stationedthere.
A lot of people had friends andfamilies who were directly, in
fact, impacted.
Yeah, and the government,fueled by this fear and
prejudice, starts rounding upjapanese immigrants, thinking
they're all spies which is wildthey're japanese americans, yeah
(08:21):
, yeah.
And then there comes anexecutive order 120,000 Japanese
Americans are first forced intointernment camps.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, which is wild.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And I need to do an episode on that, because it's
not just the Nazis that hadconcentration camps, we just
called it internment camps, likeright.
I need to do research on that.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
But we also weren't then putting them into these
camps and then experimenting onthem and gassing them and all
that stuff.
No, but I, they did this fornational security.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Not saying it's right , but it was clearly different
motivation to put them in thesecamps than what the Nazis were
doing during the world war two.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
But I still would like to like what kind of
conditions they went through andthat kind of thing.
I'm sure it wasn't fine living.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, no, that'd be interesting to learn because,
yeah, I couldn't imagine havingto be put in that because of
your heritage, nationality,whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So the potential of invasion on the West Coast feels
pretty possible and the fear ofthat on the West coast feels
pretty possible and the fear ofthat is super contagious.
And people start targeting some, some people.
They start targeting youngMexican Americans.
They become a scapegoat, really.
So the suit suit which was justa fashion statement, suddenly
(09:43):
becomes a symbol of delinquency,of being un-american.
Okay, because, um, at this timepeople are being rounded up
into like factories and they'regoing, they're working for the
war effort, right, and here theyare, like wearing all this
extra clothing and so basically,if they had these on, they
(10:04):
could almost target them,because they're like oh, that's
one it was basically a target ontheir back.
Yeah, okay, yes, and so everyonewas fueled by hysteria and
xenophobia, and the newspaperswere not helping anything.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Well, good old media.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yes, so they printed sensational tall tales, often
completely made up, and theycreated like this big toxic
atmosphere.
On one side of the headlineyou'll see um the japanese and
pearl harbor on, and then rightnext to it'll be mexican
americans, and then then justthat close proximity was enough
(10:44):
to like cause, like additionalprejudice.
Sure that's, wild yeah so if wethink about what's happening in
America at the time it waswartime everyone was expected to
conform to be patriotic andwith these Mexican Americans
expressing themselves to theirstyles and music, they didn't
fit that mold okay, that otherpeople were putting on
(11:06):
themselves I guess that makessense yeah, so they people kind
of questioned their contribution, with the zoosie being its
loose, fit extra fabric.
It's basically what theyconsidered unpatriotic.
Unfortunately, it's just weirdyeah, yeah.
So we have this young man.
His name is Jose Diaz, he's 22years old, he is a Mexican
(11:30):
immigrant and he was aresponsible young adult.
He was not a citizen, okay, buthe still joined the army, the
US Army to fight, army to fight.
So he lived with his family atwilliams ranch was, which was a
diverse community of chinese,italian and mexican families,
(11:50):
okay and on august 1st 1942 theyall threw him a farewell party
because he was about to reportfor duty oh, wow yeah, it's
supposed to be a celebrationsure so the party did actually
take a dark turn oh, oh dear.
In the early morning hours,uninvited guests arrived.
Okay, they were looking fortrouble.
They were there for a purpose.
(12:12):
A fight broke out and Jose Diazwas found nearby, unconscious
and brutally attacked.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Oh Jesus.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
He had been stabbed and beaten.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Holy crap.
Yeah, just like a lot of stabsor just.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
He never regained consciousness and he Holy crap,
yeah, just like a lot of stabsor just.
He never regained consciousnessand he ended up dying.
It wasn't said how many stabwounds he had, but it was enough
to make him not wake up.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
It's irrelevant, it's just it's irrelevant yeah.
It sucks that there's peoplethat think they need to do that
and when this person isliterally going to go fight for
the United states in the war.
They're gonna fuck his shit upand, well, kill him, which is
sad yeah so.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
at any other time, a tragedy like this might have
been just a local story, sure,but with a climate of like fear
and prejudice that existedaround 1942, it became much
bigger.
And now, all of a sudden, itbecame a symbol of a narrative
of a Mexican-American crime wave, and it was perfect timing for
(13:17):
the LA officials and policeofficers.
They were pretty unpopular atthis time.
Many of them were corrupt.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Kind of all the way up to the top kind of a thing,
yep.
So they might have lookedglamorous, the LA officials, but
it was just a mess of vice andbribes, yep.
So the police saw Diaz's deathas kind of an opportunity to
kind of clean up their image,okay, as kind of an opportunity
(13:46):
to kind of clean up their imageand show everyone that they were
quote unquote doing somethingabout this supposed crime
problem.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Right which they really were perpetuating.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
So they all went into like full crackdown mode.
Okay, they raided neighborhoods, arresting over 600 Mexican
American kids in just 48 hours,over one murder.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So why were they arresting them?
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Because it was a Mexican-American kid surrounded
by Mexican-Americans at thisparty.
They knew it was aMexican-American crime problem.
Quote unquote crime problem,Right, and they wanted to look
good.
So they arrested all thesepeople to take action.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And is that who actually killed I?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
will get to that.
Okay, so they targeted kidsfrom the 38th Street
neighborhood and they were kindof labeled as the 38th Street
Gang.
Oh, okay.
And the media just kind of ranwith that, painting them all as
like these dangerous criminals.
Right, and it was a huge mediacircus and it set the stage for
(14:51):
the, for the biggest murdertrial california had ever seen
oh really I did try to like lookup facts to see if anything
like that has happened, since Icouldn't quite pinpoint it okay,
so it's possible that it'sstill the biggest murder trial
in california.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
That's wild yeah, and this was in 1942 42.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
So instead of things calming down, it just made that
fear and hysteria in thepopulation even worse.
And in wartime, la, it was likethere were two, these two
enemies the the axis powers andthen the mexican american youth.
This is wild, yeah, and diaz'smurder was just fuel for this
massive fire.
(15:34):
After all those arrests, thecops focused on this 38th street
group, saying that they werethe ones who crashed the party
where diaz was killed.
Right, and the cops ended uppinning everything on Henry Hank
Levis.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Henry Hank Levis Okay .
Speaker 1 (15:53):
They called him the ringleader.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Do we learn a little more about Henry here?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
So they called him Hank.
Hank Levis wasn't just a randomkid.
He was born in Arizona.
His parents escaped the MexicanRevolution.
They settled in the 38th Streetneighborhood in LA and,
unfortunately, hank did have ashort history with the cops
before all this, of course.
At one time he and his brothergot arrested for stealing a car
(16:21):
Whoops, but it was their dad'scar.
Oh, so, they spent three daysin jail until the dad could
prove that it was his car.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Oh yeah, like come on , that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
But then there was another time that they got
arrested for assault with adeadly weapon, and they spent
three months in jail waiting fora court, only to be cleared
completely.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Oh, wow, waiting for a court only to be cleared
completely.
Oh wow, so the cops kind ofalready had a nose for him.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
You know, I had a thing for him and hank was kind
of a natural leader, and that'sexactly why they kind of went
after him.
Okay, they needed anotherscapegoat, sure, of course, and
someone to pin it on, and he wasthe perfect target.
So when he said he was innocent, they beat him so badly that
his own sister couldn'trecognize him.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Holy crap.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
She said quote.
They had him handcuffed, thehands were behind the chairs, he
had his head down, his lip washanging all below his chin and I
called to him but he didn'tlift his head up.
He just was knocked out and thepolice said well, now you've
seen him.
End quote.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
What a dick.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yeah, isn't that awful.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
That's terrible Because, like, apparently you
just beat the guy for no reason,because he wasn't like
convicted at this point.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
That kind of police brutality was pretty common.
Especially towards Mexicans andMexican-Americans.
Back then it was common forcops to beat confessions out of
people.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
That's why it's funny that they get confessions only
because they're beating the shitout of these people.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
They needed to stop.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
They wanted them to stop beating the shit out of
them so they would confess tothese things that they never did
.
It's just wild that that waslike oh yep, he confessed, we
got him.
It's like, did he?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
though.
Yep, but hank did not.
Good, he did not confess.
In october 1942 he and 17 otherguys went on trial for killing
jose diaz.
17.
So this is, this was the numberthat makes it the biggest
murder trial in california 18total people were on trial.
Yeah, okay so during the trial,hank lavis tells his side of
(18:32):
the story.
He and his girlfriend, um, theycalled it the sleepy lagoon,
this area, okay, um.
So it was a popular spot formex-American youth to hang out
at.
It was like a lake of sorts,sure.
Because, they weren't allowed inregular city pools, right With
everybody else.
That makes sense.
So they were kind of on a date,essentially, and they were
(18:55):
hanging out at the Sleepy Lagoon.
So as they were leaving theyboth actually got jumped by a
gang.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Oh, so Hank did.
Yes, Hank and his girlfriendOkay.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So Hank goes back to his neighborhood, rounds up some
friends and then goes back toSleepy Lagoon for revenge.
Sure, they mess with his girlright, oh, right yeah.
But it was kind of a case ofmistaken identity that that gang
wasn't even there.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So a fight breaks out anyway, okay, and Jose Diaz
ends up dead.
Oh, so Levis and his friendsadmit that they were involved in
the fight.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
But they also say and other people do back up their
story that Diaz wasn't eventhere when they arrived.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
So Diaz's murder was never officially solved.
There were no witnesses.
His body was possibly robbed,yeah.
So his body was found by someof the girls from the 38th
Street neighborhood.
Okay, and one of those girlswas Hank Leavis' girlfriend,
girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Yeah, just to kind of put it into perspective, right,
so the evidence was weak.
There was no weapon, nowitnesses and the trial, of
course, was a sham, right?
Many of the girls from the 38thstreet neighborhood were called
to the stand.
Okay, one after another, theyrefused to cooperate.
Okay, um, one of them was awoman named lorena encinas
(20:26):
lorena and she knew who killedjose diaz supposedly, but she
would never reveal her secret.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I feel like she should have just to end all this
farce.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
You would think.
But I'll get to that later.
All right, the LA legal systemwas pretty biased against the
American, the Mexican Americans.
The judge was prejudiced.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Everybody was back then.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah, they allowed racist testimony in the court,
which is wild, someone would say.
Like mexicans were naturalcriminals because of their aztec
heritage, jesus um so lavis andtwo others got life in prison
for first degree murder and nineother guys got second degree
murder With no witnesses.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
That's just terrible yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So these boys were imprisoned at San Quentin, which
is about 400 miles from theirfamilies.
Right, and the girls from the38th Street neighborhood were
also separated from theirfamilies, becoming wards of the
state.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Really yes, how come?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
It was just another way to imprison them really.
So, without a trial or jury,they were sent to Ventura School
for Girls.
Okay, it was an institutionknown for its harsh prison-like
condition, oh Lord, Withdisciplinary measures comparable
to like state prisons.
(21:52):
Oh God, yeah, the VenturaSchool had such a terrible
reputation that young womenfacing sentencing there took
desperate measures to avoidgoing there, including someone
swallowing safety pins.
Oh, to avoid going to thisinstitution.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
That's just how bad it was.
Yeah, wow, that's just how badit was.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
That's how bad their reputation was.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I would not want to swallow safety pins.
That doesn't sound like a goodoutcome.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
So this Lorena Encinas, who had knowledge of
Jose.
She could have used thatinformation to kind of bargain
her way out of trouble, but shedidn't.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Did it ever say as to why she kept on to it?
Yes, okay.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
So later her son explained that she was in prison
for refusing to cooperate withthe court.
Go ahead.
Thank you, head, thank you.
And throughout her time atventura, lorena remained silent
the entire time about josediaz's murder okay so now the
(23:02):
convictions of these, these menyeah didn't calm things down in
la at all I can't imagine.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
It didn't.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
In fact, the city was getting even more tense I say
it probably made things worse itdid so.
Since the war started, therehad been a huge influx of
sailors oh sure, and soldierslike in the vicinity.
Yes, and workers turning lainto like this big, booming
metropolis like this is wheretheir, their base was
(23:30):
essentially yeah, becausethey're getting ready to ship
out.
Yes, so all these new peoplemade the already strained
situation even worse, especiallyfor the Mexican-American
community.
Yeah, and they were alreadyfacing such massive
discrimination Right.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
So they built this new like Navy training center in
Chavez Ravine, which was um, ahistorically segregated
neighborhood, which only addedto the tensions that's where
they built the dodger stadium ohyeah yeah, I've been there oh,
maybe they took out the navaltraining facility they, if I I
(24:06):
don't quote me on this by anystretch, but I believe they like
went in there because this one,they built it, because I think
it was in the 50s.
I want to say they went intolike those neighborhoods and
basically said, yeah, get out,oh nice, yeah cool.
I could be wrong.
I thought I heard a story likethat once, where it's like they
just went in there and we wantto build something here and they
(24:28):
kind of like forced people out.
Kind of shit, if I'm, if I'mright yeah, but either way.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Well, let's continue on with this depressing story
with this debacle.
Yeah, hey, uh request nextstory uplifting were you not
here for my annie oakley story Iwas.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
That was uplifting.
Okay, let's just go up and up.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
You want a roller coaster?
Yeah, let let's do that.
Any more requests?
Come on.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Another beer please.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
So, with this huge increase in military presence,
it meant that the media'sattacks on the zoot suit wearing
Mexican American youth now hada much bigger audience.
Sure, and these young recruits,many of them fresh from other
parts of the country, wereprimed to see these young
(25:18):
Mexican-Americans as the enemy.
They came to LA to fight.
Yeah, they didn't really carewho they were fighting.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
No, they just wanted to fight.
Yes, because they were gettingprepared to go fight way worse
people in Europe or Japan or anyof the Pacific any blah, blah,
blah, yeah yeah.
So they were just raring to go.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
And these servicemen were not familiar with local
customs.
Of course not the Spanishlanguage.
No, of course.
There were some, absolutely,who were respectful.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Sure, you're always going to get the other side.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yes For sure impactful um, you're always
gonna get the other side, yes,for sure.
Um, but others, especiallythose who harass mexican
american women, stirred up a lotof anger and a lot of
resentment, right.
So things were already prettytense between these sailors and
the mexican american community.
It started with verbal fights,name calling, that kind of thing
, yeah, and then escalated ofcourse to physical, I would
(26:12):
would assume, right.
And many of these guys are justteenagers.
Sure, like they're young, theyare the youth.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
And they're coming back to their barracks in Chavez
Ravine, beaten up because ofthese brawls.
Wow, Right.
So sailors are being instructedto see these young mexican
americans as the enemy.
They were told to carry socksfilled with coins as weapons
doesn't that seem weird?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
because, like, that's your money, couldn't you put
some rocks in there instead?
Speaker 1 (26:43):
but yeah, that's wild but any little thing could set
them off.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
A look, a word, a phrase, there doesn't matter
yeah, I was just gonna try andquote like a phrase from that.
I'm drawing a blank on it, ofcourse, but they literally would
use any excuse to oh man, thewind blew towards me yeah, fuck
that guy.
Yeah, kind of shit, exactlysomething that stupid right they
were looking for any reason hesneezed and didn't apologize
(27:09):
yeah, he didn't say I sneezed.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
He didn't say bless you or something stupid yeah, so
these guys were training forhand-to-hand combat in the
pacific, right?
Yeah, when they were usingthese street fights as practice,
essentially, sure it was like agame to these soldiers.
Yeah, and by may 1943 everybodyin la knew something was was a
bruin yeah um.
So even the newspapers werestarting to warn that the city
(27:34):
did.
If the city didn't do somethingto ease the tension, there were
going to be riots.
They knew it was coming.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
It's amazing because they even knew they couldn't
really do anything about it.
They just let it happen,basically.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, so there were rumors that were starting to fly
Whispers about Mexican menassaulting white women.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Oh dear.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
And white servicemen harassing Mexican women, oh,
dear, and white servicemenharassing Mexican women.
Sure, it was pretty toxic, yeah.
And finally, on May 8th 1943,things reached a boiling point,
okay.
So someone spread a rumor thata sailor had been stabbed by a
zoot suitor in Santa Monica.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Oh dear.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
And within hours, hundreds of servicemen were out
on the pier, attacking anyonethey saw in a zoot suit.
Oh man, and the craziest partis the cops arrested the victims
of the attacks.
See, isn't that wild.
For their own safety.
No, it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
I know they're saying that to you at the time, but
that's not clearly what it wasfor their own safety.
No, it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I know they're saying that to you at the time, but
that's not clearly what it was.
But this thing on the pier wasjust a little taste of what was
to come.
It was just that very firstincident.
It was the tip of the iceberg.
On June 3rd, a group of sailorswere walking back to base when
two guys in zoot suits tauntedthem.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
And one gave a Nazi salute.
What, that seems like a poorchoice.
It was a poor choice, but thatwas it.
Sure, soldiers went back tobase, got reinforcements, armed
themselves.
They were out for blood.
Wow.
They marched downtown sayingthey were going to clean up the
streets.
They had bats, chains, theirlittle money bags or whatever
(29:19):
sock bag yeah and they werehunting for anyone wearing a
zoot suit, right, like that wastheir calling card.
So they went to a corner.
They went to the corner wherethey had originally been taunted
, but the guys weren't there themexican americans weren't there
, of course.
So they found out across thecity looking for zoot suiters,
(29:40):
um, or really anyone who lookeddifferent.
Yeah, and they raided cafes,they stormed the movie theaters,
they pulled out all these youngkids, some as young as 13,
beating them, stripping themnaked and leaving them in the
streets wow, that's reallyshitty thing to do it was
absolute brutality yeah, do youknow what movie we were watching
(30:01):
?
for the love of god, that wasnot in my research just curious.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
That's wild, though, that they would pull out these
young kids even.
It's like clearly they havenothing to do with this.
But yeah, let's be a complete,total douchebag and beat them up
, strip them naked, leave themthere.
It's like what the fuck on main?
Speaker 1 (30:21):
street brutality.
It became their main goal, yeah, humiliating these kids.
So they literally burned thesezoot suits in the streets so
that's why they were likestripping them yeah of their
zoot suits and like making ashow of it.
It was a public display of power.
Yeah, we're in charge, yepright.
(30:42):
A lot of people at the timethought, or they bought into the
idea, that these kids were justtroublemakers avoiding the war.
Sure, but the truth was many ofthese victims were too young to
even enlist yeah, I mean 13year olds and all that.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
they can't.
What are they supposed to do?
Yeah, I mean, come on.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
And the LAPD finally stopped that particular group of
soldiers on June 3rd.
But the violence didn't stop,of course, because it kept
spreading Right.
So the next night it was evenworse.
Hundreds of servicemen wereback on the streets, turning
downtown LA into a practical warzone.
Right, they were armed, theywere angry and they were
(31:20):
targeting anyone who looked likethey might be a zoot-sitter.
And this time the cops fuckingdidn't care.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Sounds like it.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
The police basically waited until the servicemen were
done, beating up and strippingthose kids before they even
bothered to show up.
Wow, yeah, and again theyarrested the victims.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
For their safety.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
For disturbing the peace.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
This time, oh, come on.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah, and there were rumors that the cops were even
helping the servicemen, pointingout who to target.
Right, it's possible they werein on it because of all the
corruption in the LAPD at thetime Wow.
But the riots went on forseveral nights and the lack of
any response from the city wastruly horrific.
(32:07):
Right Over 150 Latinos wereinjured and 500 were arrested,
jesus Christ, and it kind oflooked like the city was
actually sanctioning theseattacks Because they weren't
doing anything to stop them.
And with the news of all of this, it's literally a propaganda
goldmine for the enemy.
(32:29):
Germany, Japan used it to showthe world how divided and messed
up America was Right, which wasa huge international
embarrassment.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Well, I can imagine yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
So finally, after five days of writing, on June
8th the military stepped in anddeclared LA off limits to all
military personnel.
They're like get the fuck outof this city.
Yes, washington was finallybreathing down their necks.
Worried about the propaganda,they canceled all leave and
(33:04):
confined everyone to base.
And just like that, the ridestopped isn't that amazing
amazing what you can do when youjust I don't know, don't be a
dick yeah, it's just fuckingcrazy how quickly it ended.
Once something was oncesomething was actually done.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Done about it?
Speaker 1 (33:22):
yeah, no, for sure by mid-june similar riots
targeting suit suitors, bothamerican excuse me,
mexican-american andafrican-american yeah broke out
in other cities like new yorkand detroit.
Oh sure, but back in la, aftereverything calmed down, everyone
was kind of left warning orlike what the hell just happened
(33:42):
?
Right, the city was pretty muchcondemned, but nobody here
wanted to take responsibilityyeah sure so eleanor roosevelt
actually suggested in a speechthat it was about race.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
The rights were about race well, I mean, that's what
it was about, because clearlythey were but, okay but to save
face, the la press attacked hercalled her a communist and said,
no, it's not about race well,it's because they're just trying
to save their own ass becausethey didn't fucking do anything
about it when it's clearly aboutrace, because they're they're
going after one certain race, Imean, and maybe collectively
(34:19):
some others in the vicinity,right, but they were targeting
the one.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
So it's a hundred percent about race, you fucking
idiots so eventually there weretwo communi, nope, two
committees that were created tohandle this kind of attack.
Okay, a state committee whichconcluded that race was the
central factor, duh, and then amayor's committee.
What?
Speaker 2 (34:42):
A mayor.
What does a mayor's committeeall entail?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Just people in the mayoral office created a
committee and denied that it wasa race problem completely.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Again, they're just trying to save their own ass.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yes, they didn't want to admit that it was a race
riot.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
They blamed it on delinquent kids and downplayed
the military's role when clearlyit just escalated really fast
when they were involved, sotheir role was quite large but
while la was trying to sweep itall under the rug, yeah, there
was another story unfolding thesleepy lagoon murder, murder,
yep and um, we're talking about,like, the defense committee
(35:21):
which was formed back in 1942.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
It was still fighting to clear the names of the 38th
street guys who were wronglyconvicted right they actually
had a lot of activists andcelebrities on their side orson
wells, oh really, and ritahayworth, oh wow the actress
yeah, I know who she is yeah, sothey, they were advocates for
these mexican, american youth.
Oh wow, nice and in 1944 theyfinally won their appeal oh cool
(35:48):
the court agreed that theoriginal trial was biased and
overturned all the convictions.
That's wild.
Hank lavis and the others werefinally released from san
quentin that's fantastic, didthose?
Speaker 2 (36:01):
what happened to the girls that were wards of the
state then?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I, I think they were there until, like, they were 18
or something.
Oh, I think I wrote it downlater and I don't remember, I
think, because I wrote this liketwo weeks ago, sure, but it was
a huge victory, right?
Right, these ordinary citizens,activists, showed what a small
group of people can actually doin the big realm of things,
(36:27):
right?
So Hank Lavis had spent abouttwo years in prison before he
was released, but unfortunatelythat wasn't the end of his
brushes with the law.
Of course was released, butunfortunately that wasn't the
end of his brushes with the law.
Of course hank lavis got rightback to work after his release
and started seeing his oldgirlfriend again okay um, but he
was pretty bitter and it wasn'tlong before he was back in bars
, in the bar, back behind barsthere it is uh, for selling
(36:49):
drugs um right, which he didlike a 10 to 12 year stretch.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Yeah, I mean, I can understand why it'd be pretty
bitter, though.
Yeah, but that doesn't mean,you should go sell trucks.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
But later on Hank finally did get a little bit
more settled.
He opened a restaurant ohreally it was called Hank's on
Whittier Boulevard in East LA.
Okay, and it's where his familyworked.
So, he had some girlfriendsover the years, but he never got
married.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Is it still open today?
Speaker 1 (37:15):
I didn't look.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
On July 6, 1971, Hank left a bar in East LA to call
home from a payphone.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Telling his family that he'd be there soon.
He went back inside and notlong after he actually died of a
heart attack.
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Yeah, he was 48.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Pretty young.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Yeah, oh, wow, yeah, he was 48, pretty young, yeah,
yeah, so towards the end of herlife, on january 5th 1991,
lorena and sinis yes the onewith the knowledge about jose
diaz's killer, yeah she finallyconfessed about what really
happened at sleepy lagoon okayher daughter said that Lorena
kept quiet all that time becauseher brother, louis, was mixed
(37:58):
up in the murder.
Lorena wasn't a snitch and shewas trying to protect her
brother.
Sure, she said that Louis wasat the party before the 38th
Street gang showed up and he gottossed out for starting trouble
.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Later that night, when Jose Diaz and a couple of
other guys left the party, louieand his buddies, looking for
revenge, jumped them.
A fight broke out.
Diaz got stabbed and was leftfor dead Sure.
And then, right after that,hank Leavis and his crew showed
up.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
So that's why they got put in court, yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
So Louie and Sinus was picked up in the whole like
dragnet of everything followingthe Sleepy Lagoon murder, but he
was let go by the police.
Oh wow, years later he didcommit suicide while holding up
a Los Angeles branch of the Bankof America in 1972.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
To this day, jose Diaz's murder is still
considered unsolved.
Yeah, okay, To this day, joseDiaz's murder is still
Considered Considered unsolved.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
But that is the story of the Zoot Suit riots and the
death of Jose Diaz.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
So is that where the Cherry Poppin' Daddies got their
song from yes, it is yes.
Nice.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
It is.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
They gonna throw back a bottle of beer.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
It's actually a pretty catchy song.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
I love that song I remember when it I mean I've
listened to it the majority ofmy life, so yeah.
I enjoy it very much.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Good.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Take us to beer beer.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
What did you think of the story?
Speaker 2 (39:28):
I liked it.
It's different, kind of notsomething you normally would
would normally learn about,basically, so not something you
normally would would normallylearn about, basically.
So yeah, yeah, I mean, I'd be,to be honest, the only thing I
knew about the zoot suit riotswas the song by the cherry
poppin daddies, so I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
The outfit is super cool.
I actually really like theoutfits yeah, you're gonna get
one.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
No, get a purple, one , oh oh, can they be pinstripes
too, because that's cool oh, canit be purple with like
different, like a darker shadeof purple as the pinstripes.
Now we're talking contrast um,but no, I, I had no idea that
was even a thing, basically.
(40:16):
But yeah, no, that wasinteresting and way to go,
police to basically shit the bedon that.
So you know, yeah, we're justgoing to let them do their thing
, then we'll arrest the onesthat got attacked.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Fucking idiots.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
So I'm going to do something that you don't know is
coming.
Oh, do you want to share anidiom with me?
Speaker 2 (40:43):
he's not prepared yes , yes, I do you can get one for
me hold, please, all right.
So the idiom I have, um iscoming down the pike.
You've heard that one before,right?
Speaker 1 (41:01):
yeah, I've actually used that recently and somebody
was like what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (41:04):
yeah, I think this one came from you, oh okay, I
was like.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
I literally like wrote it in an email to someone,
right?
Speaker 2 (41:12):
and I believe that's why, yeah, you said, oh, we
should do that one, because Ijust used it, or something like
yeah you want to know a littlemore about it.
So the phrase coming down thepike originates from the term
turnpike.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
You know which that is, which refers to a type of
road where a toll is paid topass through, and a pike is
simply a shortened version ofthat, essentially meaning coming
down the road and signifyingsomething approaching or
expected in the near future.
So, but it's uh, it meanssomething is on the horizon or
about to happen, like kind oflike what I said before.
(41:46):
Um, but it's kind of like theydon't really know exactly where
it the it originated from, kindof thing.
Um, but basically the mostcommon and except accepted
explanation is that pike refersto the term pike, like I said,
and that these roads were oftenprivately owned and required a
(42:06):
toll and so on.
Um, but then coming down theroad the phrase coming down the
pike so it's kind of combined itwould then have originally
meant something literallyapproaching or appearing on the
road.
So it's basically just you knowwhat's coming ahead of you,
yeah, kind of thing.
So, um, there's some differentlike theories on where it
(42:29):
originated from.
Um, I believe it's american.
It came from originally america, basically, um, yeah, coming
down the pike is mainly justsomething is coming down in the
future and near futureopportunities, whatever the fuck
you want to call it like that.
(42:49):
But um cause, you had said thatone recently and then and
people think it's pipe P I P?
Speaker 1 (42:56):
E coming down the pipe.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
I, when I was a kid, I always thought, I mean, I
always thought people weresaying I'm like what do you mean
, pike?
Yeah, it's because it soundslike it should be coming down a
pipe.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Which I can get the confusion on it, but it's
technically coming down the pike.
Yes, um, since you gave me thatone, I'll do another quick one,
because this came from yourhusband which is limelight.
Basically, before electricity,theaters would use heated
calcium oxide, which is known asquicklime, to illuminate stages
(43:31):
.
This is where the phrase in thelimelight comes from that's
awesome yeah.
It.
Basically it came from the 19thcentury, basically, um, but the
uh I I kind of found adifferent couple of different
things.
The one I gave you is the onehe sent me, um, but it says the
invention of limelight in theearly 1800s, a type of stage
(43:53):
lighting, like it said, wasdeveloped using calcium oxide,
also known as quick lime, andthat's what.
When it was heated to a hightemperature, it gave a bright
white light okay because theydidn't have a say, have
electricity they needed to lightup the stage.
Yeah, it's crazy yeah, um, itsays limelight was first used in
(44:13):
theaters in the 1830s.
It provided a much brighter andmore focused light than the gas
lights that they used werecommonly used at the time, so
allowed for more dramatic andeffective stage lighting.
Because obviously back then,without electricity, they just
literally had gas lamps.
Those gave off light but not aton of it yeah so it was still
(44:34):
really dim and this made it, soyou can see yeah everything on
the stage.
So there's a a rush song.
The band rush, who I'm a prettybig fan of, um called limelight
.
It's a really good song yeahbut uh, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
So you'll see like now is it lime, l y or l I?
Speaker 2 (44:54):
l, I m e okay, yeah, um, but yeah, so it's been
around for a while and, uh, itbasically like if you're in the
limelight it's just referring tois like you're on you're on the
spotlight you're on the stage,yeah, spotlights on you, kind of
thing.
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, so I thought, since I didone that came from you, I
should do one from your husband.
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Yeah, so thanks, nathan, but yeah, so well, what
do you think about your uhcountry boy brewing beer?
Uh, it's pretty good and I'llanother one.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Um no, I mean it's, it's just a regular american
pale, ale it's pretty easy going.
Only five and a half percent,so not too shabby though yeah,
my uh, cougar bait.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
The american blonde ale is 4.9 percent.
Um, I really liked it.
I'm I actually finished mine ohgood, I know that's.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I mean that's, that's a rarity for you.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
It is yeah yeah, but you know you allowed me to like
take a breath at the end and Icould actually finish it while
you were talking.
Speaker 2 (45:58):
I'm glad I could help .
Yes, but well, yeah, so it'snice that we're able to bring
some beers back so we could trysomething a little different,
because that's what we like todo, and not always.
I know we go to our Modelo'sand our Summer Shandy's a lot,
but it's nice to get somedifferent type of beers out
there.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Try them and see what we like.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Yeah Well.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
I suppose All right, buffoons, that's it for today's
episode.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Buckle up, because we've got another historical
adventure waiting for you.
Next time Feeling hungry formore buffoonery, or maybe you
have a burning question or awild historical theory for us to
explore.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
Hit us up on social media.
We're History Buffoons Podcaston YouTube X, instagram and
Facebook.
You can also email us athistorybuffoonspodcast at
gmailcom.
We are Bradley and Kate.
Music by Corey Akers.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn
those notifications on to stayin the loop.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to
rate and review us.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Remember, the buffoonery never stops.
Oh hey there.
Oh hey there.
How are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
My ears are plugged.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
What, what, what, what.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I'm sorry to hear that hear what yep yeah, um,
still recovering from a cold,but it's a lot better.
We're getting there, yeah, butmy ears are still plugged and
it's kind of weird yeah, that'sthe worst, because it just
messes with like everything inyour brain yeah, yeah, I get
that.
Yeah, anything new with you?
Uh, not really same yeah, yeah,I do have a new beer though.
(00:48):
Yeah, so do I.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, well, we recently went to kentucky yeah
and we brought back some beerswith us yeah, so it's from
country boy brewing, and thiswas you got the same brand I did
I did, yeah, okay, yeah, I kindof did that on purpose
georgetown, kentucky.
So which I don't know wherethat is I'm not familiar, yeah
(01:12):
same I don't know its proximityto louisville, but uh, then
again, the first and only timeI've ever been to kentucky was
when we went to louisville forour friend's graduation.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
But yeah, so you got a.
What is it?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
again I got cougar bait.
Cougar bait, yep, scandalousYep.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
And it's kind of an orange and white can and there's
a guy on the front and he lookslike he's fishing.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Oh, there you go.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, but it's an american blonde ale yeah it says
.
Any fisherman worth his saltwill tell you it's all about the
bait.
Lucky for you, you're holdingthe good stuff.
An american blonde ale, cleanand crisp cougar bait is sure to
help with your catch.
Whatever you may be fishing for, that's cute.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I have a halfway home American pale, ale Shall I read
you what they put on my cat.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
All right, this is the carrot on the string, the
reminder that you are halfwayhome to that well-deserved
reward.
It's time to buckle down andget the job done, because our
easy drinking, pale pale, pairswith well, with gumption.
Oh, hard work and good old,stick to it If this stick to it
(02:34):
if this.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Sure, yeah, okay, yeah, you're right, you have old
mayonnaise.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, I think I need to get my prescription updated,
so you know either way.
So cheers to a new beer, Cheers, We'd bring one back.
So give it a go All right.
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
I like it yeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, mine is definitely just a pale ale.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Mine is quite flavorful.
Actually, I do like it.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Mine's not bad.
It's got some good flavor to it.
I should stop turning my headtowards the.
Can I apologize?
No, it's decent.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah yeah.
I like it.
I've got a question for you.
What is your question for me.
How do you like to expressyourself in the way that you
look?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Oh boy, I guess my beard.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, you have an epic beard, thank you.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't really.
I'm not like one to get allfancy dressed up.
I guess I never have been.
That's not like I'm going to gowear a suit or anything out to
dinner or whatnot, but I don'tknow.
I wear polos a lot.
I wear button-up shirts a lot.
I don't really wear justt-shirts kind of thing, but I
(03:54):
don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I guess that Comfortable, but not like.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I'm not wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants kind of
thing.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
But I like to be comfortable with just jeans and
a you look, put together withyour polos and well, thank you
yeah how about you?
Um well, my hair's a mess, soit's always up.
It's a mess.
I really don't know how to takecare of it yet, and I'm still
working on that yeah because I'mI'm still figuring out that my
hair's wavy.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, so my expression usually comes in my
tattoos which I am overdue forone or two or five or five.
Yes, fair enough.
Yeah, so I want to take you toHollywood in the 1930s.
Okay, it's all glitz andglamour, right?
Yeah, la was actually superconservative at this time and
(04:43):
super segregated.
Okay, la was actually superconservative at this time and
super segregated.
So Jim Crow laws weren't just aSouthern thing, it was in
California as well, sure, and itwas discrimination against
Mexican Americans specifically.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, I suppose the population over there would be
quite high, with its proximityto California used to be a part
of mexico, correct?
Yeah, so exactly so.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Then jazz kind of makes a big wave, um, in the
area and it's like a nice breathof fresh air, almost like a
rebellion type of thing, sure.
And then you had these clubswhere there's blacks and whites
and mexican kids and they couldall hang out together, something
that wasn't really happeninganywhere else, sure.
And these jazz artists kind ofstarted this fashion trend of
(05:34):
the zoot suit.
The zoot suits- really yes yeah, so it's a very distinctive
style.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
It's baggy pants, but they're like nice pants pants
but they're baggy not like mchammer baggy pants.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Do you remember those ?
Yes, I do no, these are.
These are a notch above didthey call those parachute pants,
something like that?
Yeah, right, yeah um.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So zoosuit pants were wide at the knees, and then
they tapered at the ankle.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Oh, yeah, that's, that's weird.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
It's different.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Um, and then it also was paired with a long coat,
okay, usually, well, that waswell.
Okay, right on.
Um, uh, you was usually pairedwith, like watch change chains,
um, and so it's like a pocketwatch.
Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah Is thatchains, um, and so it's like a
(06:27):
pocket watch.
Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, is itexactly so?
Expressing yourself, pushingboundaries for these young
mexican americans was a way tosay we're here, we're proud,
we're part of california, we'repart of this, we're not going to
conform, sure.
So these kids were firstgeneration mexican americans
born in the us and they werekind of caught between two
different worlds.
(06:47):
Right, their parents wereimmigrants from mexico.
They had traditional values,often tied to the catholic
church, sure, and they wantedtheir kids close, yeah, and to
follow in their footsteps.
But these kids, they'reamericans, you know, and they
wanted similar things as otheramerican kids of this time.
Yeah, makes sense.
(07:07):
Um, they wanted to go downtownand shop and dance and just live
like other kids do, yeah, butsegregation was kind of a
constant barrier for them, sure.
So movie theaters, swimmingpools, sidewalks, even
everything bathrooms everythingwas divided, yeah, and it was
really tough to navigate and itwas kind of hard for them to
(07:27):
figure out who they were insociety okay and then pearl
harbor happened yeah and youremember the date I do, do you
tell us the date?
Not waiting for you to get itno, I have it written down, so I
can't get it wrong you do itdecember 7th 1941 correct what
(07:49):
happened on december 6th so over2 000 americans are killed.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
West coast is terrified now, because they
don't think they're gonna getattacked, right?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
they're.
They're on the edge.
The pacific fleet is stationedthere.
A lot of people had friends andfamilies who were directly, in
fact, impacted.
Yeah, and the government,fueled by this fear and
prejudice, starts rounding upjapanese immigrants, thinking
they're all spies which is wildthey're japanese americans, yeah
(08:21):
, yeah.
And then there comes anexecutive order 120,000 Japanese
Americans are first forced intointernment camps.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, which is wild.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And I need to do an episode on that, because it's
not just the Nazis that hadconcentration camps, we just
called it internment camps, likeright.
I need to do research on that.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
But we also weren't then putting them into these
camps and then experimenting onthem and gassing them and all
that stuff.
No, but I, they did this fornational security.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Not saying it's right , but it was clearly different
motivation to put them in thesecamps than what the Nazis were
doing during the world war two.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
But I still would like to like what kind of
conditions they went through andthat kind of thing.
I'm sure it wasn't fine living.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, no, that'd be interesting to learn because,
yeah, I couldn't imagine havingto be put in that because of
your heritage, nationality,whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So the potential of invasion on the West Coast feels
pretty possible and the fear ofthat on the West coast feels
pretty possible and the fear ofthat is super contagious.
And people start targeting some, some people.
They start targeting youngMexican Americans.
They become a scapegoat, really.
So the suit suit which was justa fashion statement, suddenly
(09:43):
becomes a symbol of delinquency,of being un-american.
Okay, because, um, at this timepeople are being rounded up
into like factories and they'regoing, they're working for the
war effort, right, and here theyare, like wearing all this
extra clothing and so basically,if they had these on, they
(10:04):
could almost target them,because they're like oh, that's
one it was basically a target ontheir back.
Yeah, okay, yes, and so everyonewas fueled by hysteria and
xenophobia, and the newspaperswere not helping anything.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Well, good old media.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yes, so they printed sensational tall tales, often
completely made up, and theycreated like this big toxic
atmosphere.
On one side of the headlineyou'll see um the japanese and
pearl harbor on, and then rightnext to it'll be mexican
americans, and then then justthat close proximity was enough
(10:44):
to like cause, like additionalprejudice.
Sure that's, wild yeah so if wethink about what's happening in
America at the time it waswartime everyone was expected to
conform to be patriotic andwith these Mexican Americans
expressing themselves to theirstyles and music, they didn't
fit that mold okay, that otherpeople were putting on
(11:06):
themselves I guess that makessense yeah, so they people kind
of questioned their contribution, with the zoosie being its
loose, fit extra fabric.
It's basically what theyconsidered unpatriotic.
Unfortunately, it's just weirdyeah, yeah.
So we have this young man.
His name is Jose Diaz, he's 22years old, he is a Mexican
(11:30):
immigrant and he was aresponsible young adult.
He was not a citizen, okay, buthe still joined the army, the
US Army to fight, army to fight.
So he lived with his family atwilliams ranch was, which was a
diverse community of chinese,italian and mexican families,
(11:50):
okay and on august 1st 1942 theyall threw him a farewell party
because he was about to reportfor duty oh, wow yeah, it's
supposed to be a celebrationsure so the party did actually
take a dark turn oh, oh dear.
In the early morning hours,uninvited guests arrived.
Okay, they were looking fortrouble.
They were there for a purpose.
(12:12):
A fight broke out and Jose Diazwas found nearby, unconscious
and brutally attacked.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Oh Jesus.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
He had been stabbed and beaten.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Holy crap.
Yeah, just like a lot of stabsor just.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
He never regained consciousness and he Holy crap,
yeah, just like a lot of stabsor just.
He never regained consciousnessand he ended up dying.
It wasn't said how many stabwounds he had, but it was enough
to make him not wake up.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
It's irrelevant, it's just it's irrelevant yeah.
It sucks that there's peoplethat think they need to do that
and when this person isliterally going to go fight for
the United states in the war.
They're gonna fuck his shit upand, well, kill him, which is
sad yeah so.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
at any other time, a tragedy like this might have
been just a local story, sure,but with a climate of like fear
and prejudice that existedaround 1942, it became much
bigger.
And now, all of a sudden, itbecame a symbol of a narrative
of a Mexican-American crime wave, and it was perfect timing for
(13:17):
the LA officials and policeofficers.
They were pretty unpopular atthis time.
Many of them were corrupt.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Kind of all the way up to the top kind of a thing,
yep.
So they might have lookedglamorous, the LA officials, but
it was just a mess of vice andbribes, yep.
So the police saw Diaz's deathas kind of an opportunity to
kind of clean up their image,okay, as kind of an opportunity
(13:46):
to kind of clean up their imageand show everyone that they were
quote unquote doing somethingabout this supposed crime
problem.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Right which they really were perpetuating.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
So they all went into like full crackdown mode.
Okay, they raided neighborhoods, arresting over 600 Mexican
American kids in just 48 hours,over one murder.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So why were they arresting them?
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Because it was a Mexican-American kid surrounded
by Mexican-Americans at thisparty.
They knew it was aMexican-American crime problem.
Quote unquote crime problem,Right, and they wanted to look
good.
So they arrested all thesepeople to take action.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And is that who actually killed I?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
will get to that.
Okay, so they targeted kidsfrom the 38th Street
neighborhood and they were kindof labeled as the 38th Street
Gang.
Oh, okay.
And the media just kind of ranwith that, painting them all as
like these dangerous criminals.
Right, and it was a huge mediacircus and it set the stage for
(14:51):
the, for the biggest murdertrial california had ever seen
oh really I did try to like lookup facts to see if anything
like that has happened, since Icouldn't quite pinpoint it okay,
so it's possible that it'sstill the biggest murder trial
in california.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
That's wild yeah, and this was in 1942 42.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
So instead of things calming down, it just made that
fear and hysteria in thepopulation even worse.
And in wartime, la, it was likethere were two, these two
enemies the the axis powers andthen the mexican american youth.
This is wild, yeah, and diaz'smurder was just fuel for this
massive fire.
(15:34):
After all those arrests, thecops focused on this 38th street
group, saying that they werethe ones who crashed the party
where diaz was killed.
Right, and the cops ended uppinning everything on Henry Hank
Levis.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Henry Hank Levis Okay .
Speaker 1 (15:53):
They called him the ringleader.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Do we learn a little more about Henry here?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
So they called him Hank.
Hank Levis wasn't just a randomkid.
He was born in Arizona.
His parents escaped the MexicanRevolution.
They settled in the 38th Streetneighborhood in LA and,
unfortunately, hank did have ashort history with the cops
before all this, of course.
At one time he and his brothergot arrested for stealing a car
(16:21):
Whoops, but it was their dad'scar.
Oh, so, they spent three daysin jail until the dad could
prove that it was his car.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Oh yeah, like come on , that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
But then there was another time that they got
arrested for assault with adeadly weapon, and they spent
three months in jail waiting fora court, only to be cleared
completely.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Oh, wow, waiting for a court only to be cleared
completely.
Oh wow, so the cops kind ofalready had a nose for him.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
You know, I had a thing for him and hank was kind
of a natural leader, and that'sexactly why they kind of went
after him.
Okay, they needed anotherscapegoat, sure, of course, and
someone to pin it on, and he wasthe perfect target.
So when he said he was innocent, they beat him so badly that
his own sister couldn'trecognize him.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Holy crap.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
She said quote.
They had him handcuffed, thehands were behind the chairs, he
had his head down, his lip washanging all below his chin and I
called to him but he didn'tlift his head up.
He just was knocked out and thepolice said well, now you've
seen him.
End quote.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
What a dick.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yeah, isn't that awful.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
That's terrible Because, like, apparently you
just beat the guy for no reason,because he wasn't like
convicted at this point.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
That kind of police brutality was pretty common.
Especially towards Mexicans andMexican-Americans.
Back then it was common forcops to beat confessions out of
people.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
That's why it's funny that they get confessions only
because they're beating the shitout of these people.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
They needed to stop.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
They wanted them to stop beating the shit out of
them so they would confess tothese things that they never did
.
It's just wild that that waslike oh yep, he confessed, we
got him.
It's like, did he?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
though.
Yep, but hank did not.
Good, he did not confess.
In october 1942 he and 17 otherguys went on trial for killing
jose diaz.
17.
So this is, this was the numberthat makes it the biggest
murder trial in california 18total people were on trial.
Yeah, okay so during the trial,hank lavis tells his side of
(18:32):
the story.
He and his girlfriend, um, theycalled it the sleepy lagoon,
this area, okay, um.
So it was a popular spot formex-American youth to hang out
at.
It was like a lake of sorts,sure.
Because, they weren't allowed inregular city pools, right With
everybody else.
That makes sense.
So they were kind of on a date,essentially, and they were
(18:55):
hanging out at the Sleepy Lagoon.
So as they were leaving theyboth actually got jumped by a
gang.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Oh, so Hank did.
Yes, Hank and his girlfriendOkay.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So Hank goes back to his neighborhood, rounds up some
friends and then goes back toSleepy Lagoon for revenge.
Sure, they mess with his girlright, oh, right yeah.
But it was kind of a case ofmistaken identity that that gang
wasn't even there.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So a fight breaks out anyway, okay, and Jose Diaz
ends up dead.
Oh, so Levis and his friendsadmit that they were involved in
the fight.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
But they also say and other people do back up their
story that Diaz wasn't eventhere when they arrived.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
So Diaz's murder was never officially solved.
There were no witnesses.
His body was possibly robbed,yeah.
So his body was found by someof the girls from the 38th
Street neighborhood.
Okay, and one of those girlswas Hank Leavis' girlfriend,
girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Yeah, just to kind of put it into perspective, right,
so the evidence was weak.
There was no weapon, nowitnesses and the trial, of
course, was a sham, right?
Many of the girls from the 38thstreet neighborhood were called
to the stand.
Okay, one after another, theyrefused to cooperate.
Okay, um, one of them was awoman named lorena encinas
(20:26):
lorena and she knew who killedjose diaz supposedly, but she
would never reveal her secret.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I feel like she should have just to end all this
farce.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
You would think.
But I'll get to that later.
All right, the LA legal systemwas pretty biased against the
American, the Mexican Americans.
The judge was prejudiced.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Everybody was back then.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah, they allowed racist testimony in the court,
which is wild, someone would say.
Like mexicans were naturalcriminals because of their aztec
heritage, jesus um so lavis andtwo others got life in prison
for first degree murder and nineother guys got second degree
murder With no witnesses.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
That's just terrible yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So these boys were imprisoned at San Quentin, which
is about 400 miles from theirfamilies.
Right, and the girls from the38th Street neighborhood were
also separated from theirfamilies, becoming wards of the
state.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Really yes, how come?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
It was just another way to imprison them really.
So, without a trial or jury,they were sent to Ventura School
for Girls.
Okay, it was an institutionknown for its harsh prison-like
condition, oh Lord, Withdisciplinary measures comparable
to like state prisons.
(21:52):
Oh God, yeah, the VenturaSchool had such a terrible
reputation that young womenfacing sentencing there took
desperate measures to avoidgoing there, including someone
swallowing safety pins.
Oh, to avoid going to thisinstitution.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
That's just how bad it was.
Yeah, wow, that's just how badit was.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
That's how bad their reputation was.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I would not want to swallow safety pins.
That doesn't sound like a goodoutcome.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
So this Lorena Encinas, who had knowledge of
Jose.
She could have used thatinformation to kind of bargain
her way out of trouble, but shedidn't.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Did it ever say as to why she kept on to it?
Yes, okay.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
So later her son explained that she was in prison
for refusing to cooperate withthe court.
Go ahead.
Thank you, head, thank you.
And throughout her time atventura, lorena remained silent
the entire time about josediaz's murder okay so now the
(23:02):
convictions of these, these menyeah didn't calm things down in
la at all I can't imagine.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
It didn't.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
In fact, the city was getting even more tense I say
it probably made things worse itdid so.
Since the war started, therehad been a huge influx of
sailors oh sure, and soldierslike in the vicinity.
Yes, and workers turning lainto like this big, booming
metropolis like this is wheretheir, their base was
(23:30):
essentially yeah, becausethey're getting ready to ship
out.
Yes, so all these new peoplemade the already strained
situation even worse, especiallyfor the Mexican-American
community.
Yeah, and they were alreadyfacing such massive
discrimination Right.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
So they built this new like Navy training center in
Chavez Ravine, which was um, ahistorically segregated
neighborhood, which only addedto the tensions that's where
they built the dodger stadium ohyeah yeah, I've been there oh,
maybe they took out the navaltraining facility they, if I I
(24:06):
don't quote me on this by anystretch, but I believe they like
went in there because this one,they built it, because I think
it was in the 50s.
I want to say they went intolike those neighborhoods and
basically said, yeah, get out,oh nice, yeah cool.
I could be wrong.
I thought I heard a story likethat once, where it's like they
just went in there and we wantto build something here and they
(24:28):
kind of like forced people out.
Kind of shit, if I'm, if I'mright yeah, but either way.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Well, let's continue on with this depressing story
with this debacle.
Yeah, hey, uh request nextstory uplifting were you not
here for my annie oakley story Iwas.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
That was uplifting.
Okay, let's just go up and up.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
You want a roller coaster?
Yeah, let let's do that.
Any more requests?
Come on.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Another beer please.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
So, with this huge increase in military presence,
it meant that the media'sattacks on the zoot suit wearing
Mexican American youth now hada much bigger audience.
Sure, and these young recruits,many of them fresh from other
parts of the country, wereprimed to see these young
(25:18):
Mexican-Americans as the enemy.
They came to LA to fight.
Yeah, they didn't really carewho they were fighting.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
No, they just wanted to fight.
Yes, because they were gettingprepared to go fight way worse
people in Europe or Japan or anyof the Pacific any blah, blah,
blah, yeah yeah.
So they were just raring to go.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
And these servicemen were not familiar with local
customs.
Of course not the Spanishlanguage.
No, of course.
There were some, absolutely,who were respectful.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Sure, you're always going to get the other side.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yes For sure impactful um, you're always
gonna get the other side, yes,for sure.
Um, but others, especiallythose who harass mexican
american women, stirred up a lotof anger and a lot of
resentment, right.
So things were already prettytense between these sailors and
the mexican american community.
It started with verbal fights,name calling, that kind of thing
, yeah, and then escalated ofcourse to physical, I would
(26:12):
would assume, right.
And many of these guys are justteenagers.
Sure, like they're young, theyare the youth.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
And they're coming back to their barracks in Chavez
Ravine, beaten up because ofthese brawls.
Wow, Right.
So sailors are being instructedto see these young mexican
americans as the enemy.
They were told to carry socksfilled with coins as weapons
doesn't that seem weird?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
because, like, that's your money, couldn't you put
some rocks in there instead?
Speaker 1 (26:43):
but yeah, that's wild but any little thing could set
them off.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
A look, a word, a phrase, there doesn't matter
yeah, I was just gonna try andquote like a phrase from that.
I'm drawing a blank on it, ofcourse, but they literally would
use any excuse to oh man, thewind blew towards me yeah, fuck
that guy.
Yeah, kind of shit, exactlysomething that stupid right they
were looking for any reason hesneezed and didn't apologize
(27:09):
yeah, he didn't say I sneezed.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
He didn't say bless you or something stupid yeah, so
these guys were training forhand-to-hand combat in the
pacific, right?
Yeah, when they were usingthese street fights as practice,
essentially, sure it was like agame to these soldiers.
Yeah, and by may 1943 everybodyin la knew something was was a
bruin yeah um.
So even the newspapers werestarting to warn that the city
(27:34):
did.
If the city didn't do somethingto ease the tension, there were
going to be riots.
They knew it was coming.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
It's amazing because they even knew they couldn't
really do anything about it.
They just let it happen,basically.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, so there were rumors that were starting to fly
Whispers about Mexican menassaulting white women.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Oh dear.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
And white servicemen harassing Mexican women, oh,
dear, and white servicemenharassing Mexican women.
Sure, it was pretty toxic, yeah.
And finally, on May 8th 1943,things reached a boiling point,
okay.
So someone spread a rumor thata sailor had been stabbed by a
zoot suitor in Santa Monica.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Oh dear.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
And within hours, hundreds of servicemen were out
on the pier, attacking anyonethey saw in a zoot suit.
Oh man, and the craziest partis the cops arrested the victims
of the attacks.
See, isn't that wild.
For their own safety.
No, it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
I know they're saying that to you at the time, but
that's not clearly what it wasfor their own safety.
No, it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I know they're saying that to you at the time, but
that's not clearly what it was.
But this thing on the pier wasjust a little taste of what was
to come.
It was just that very firstincident.
It was the tip of the iceberg.
On June 3rd, a group of sailorswere walking back to base when
two guys in zoot suits tauntedthem.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
And one gave a Nazi salute.
What, that seems like a poorchoice.
It was a poor choice, but thatwas it.
Sure, soldiers went back tobase, got reinforcements, armed
themselves.
They were out for blood.
Wow.
They marched downtown sayingthey were going to clean up the
streets.
They had bats, chains, theirlittle money bags or whatever
(29:19):
sock bag yeah and they werehunting for anyone wearing a
zoot suit, right, like that wastheir calling card.
So they went to a corner.
They went to the corner wherethey had originally been taunted
, but the guys weren't there themexican americans weren't there
, of course.
So they found out across thecity looking for zoot suiters,
(29:40):
um, or really anyone who lookeddifferent.
Yeah, and they raided cafes,they stormed the movie theaters,
they pulled out all these youngkids, some as young as 13,
beating them, stripping themnaked and leaving them in the
streets wow, that's reallyshitty thing to do it was
absolute brutality yeah, do youknow what movie we were watching
(30:01):
?
for the love of god, that wasnot in my research just curious.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
That's wild, though, that they would pull out these
young kids even.
It's like clearly they havenothing to do with this.
But yeah, let's be a complete,total douchebag and beat them up
, strip them naked, leave themthere.
It's like what the fuck on main?
Speaker 1 (30:21):
street brutality.
It became their main goal, yeah, humiliating these kids.
So they literally burned thesezoot suits in the streets so
that's why they were likestripping them yeah of their
zoot suits and like making ashow of it.
It was a public display of power.
Yeah, we're in charge, yepright.
(30:42):
A lot of people at the timethought, or they bought into the
idea, that these kids were justtroublemakers avoiding the war.
Sure, but the truth was many ofthese victims were too young to
even enlist yeah, I mean 13year olds and all that.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
they can't.
What are they supposed to do?
Yeah, I mean, come on.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
And the LAPD finally stopped that particular group of
soldiers on June 3rd.
But the violence didn't stop,of course, because it kept
spreading Right.
So the next night it was evenworse.
Hundreds of servicemen wereback on the streets, turning
downtown LA into a practical warzone.
Right, they were armed, theywere angry and they were
(31:20):
targeting anyone who looked likethey might be a zoot-sitter.
And this time the cops fuckingdidn't care.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Sounds like it.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
The police basically waited until the servicemen were
done, beating up and strippingthose kids before they even
bothered to show up.
Wow, yeah, and again theyarrested the victims.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
For their safety.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
For disturbing the peace.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
This time, oh, come on.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah, and there were rumors that the cops were even
helping the servicemen, pointingout who to target.
Right, it's possible they werein on it because of all the
corruption in the LAPD at thetime Wow.
But the riots went on forseveral nights and the lack of
any response from the city wastruly horrific.
(32:07):
Right Over 150 Latinos wereinjured and 500 were arrested,
jesus Christ, and it kind oflooked like the city was
actually sanctioning theseattacks Because they weren't
doing anything to stop them.
And with the news of all of this, it's literally a propaganda
goldmine for the enemy.
(32:29):
Germany, Japan used it to showthe world how divided and messed
up America was Right, which wasa huge international
embarrassment.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Well, I can imagine yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
So finally, after five days of writing, on June
8th the military stepped in anddeclared LA off limits to all
military personnel.
They're like get the fuck outof this city.
Yes, washington was finallybreathing down their necks.
Worried about the propaganda,they canceled all leave and
(33:04):
confined everyone to base.
And just like that, the ridestopped isn't that amazing
amazing what you can do when youjust I don't know, don't be a
dick yeah, it's just fuckingcrazy how quickly it ended.
Once something was oncesomething was actually done.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Done about it?
Speaker 1 (33:22):
yeah, no, for sure by mid-june similar riots
targeting suit suitors, bothamerican excuse me,
mexican-american andafrican-american yeah broke out
in other cities like new yorkand detroit.
Oh sure, but back in la, aftereverything calmed down, everyone
was kind of left warning orlike what the hell just happened
(33:42):
?
Right, the city was pretty muchcondemned, but nobody here
wanted to take responsibilityyeah sure so eleanor roosevelt
actually suggested in a speechthat it was about race.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
The rights were about race well, I mean, that's what
it was about, because clearlythey were but, okay but to save
face, the la press attacked hercalled her a communist and said,
no, it's not about race well,it's because they're just trying
to save their own ass becausethey didn't fucking do anything
about it when it's clearly aboutrace, because they're they're
going after one certain race, Imean, and maybe collectively
(34:19):
some others in the vicinity,right, but they were targeting
the one.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
So it's a hundred percent about race, you fucking
idiots so eventually there weretwo communi, nope, two
committees that were created tohandle this kind of attack.
Okay, a state committee whichconcluded that race was the
central factor, duh, and then amayor's committee.
What?
Speaker 2 (34:42):
A mayor.
What does a mayor's committeeall entail?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Just people in the mayoral office created a
committee and denied that it wasa race problem completely.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Again, they're just trying to save their own ass.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yes, they didn't want to admit that it was a race
riot.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
They blamed it on delinquent kids and downplayed
the military's role when clearlyit just escalated really fast
when they were involved, sotheir role was quite large but
while la was trying to sweep itall under the rug, yeah, there
was another story unfolding thesleepy lagoon murder, murder,
yep and um, we're talking about,like, the defense committee
(35:21):
which was formed back in 1942.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
It was still fighting to clear the names of the 38th
street guys who were wronglyconvicted right they actually
had a lot of activists andcelebrities on their side orson
wells, oh really, and ritahayworth, oh wow the actress
yeah, I know who she is yeah, sothey, they were advocates for
these mexican, american youth.
Oh wow, nice and in 1944 theyfinally won their appeal oh cool
(35:48):
the court agreed that theoriginal trial was biased and
overturned all the convictions.
That's wild.
Hank lavis and the others werefinally released from san
quentin that's fantastic, didthose?
Speaker 2 (36:01):
what happened to the girls that were wards of the
state then?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I, I think they were there until, like, they were 18
or something.
Oh, I think I wrote it downlater and I don't remember, I
think, because I wrote this liketwo weeks ago, sure, but it was
a huge victory, right?
Right, these ordinary citizens,activists, showed what a small
group of people can actually doin the big realm of things,
(36:27):
right?
So Hank Lavis had spent abouttwo years in prison before he
was released, but unfortunatelythat wasn't the end of his
brushes with the law.
Of course was released, butunfortunately that wasn't the
end of his brushes with the law.
Of course hank lavis got rightback to work after his release
and started seeing his oldgirlfriend again okay um, but he
was pretty bitter and it wasn'tlong before he was back in bars
, in the bar, back behind barsthere it is uh, for selling
(36:49):
drugs um right, which he didlike a 10 to 12 year stretch.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Yeah, I mean, I can understand why it'd be pretty
bitter, though.
Yeah, but that doesn't mean,you should go sell trucks.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
But later on Hank finally did get a little bit
more settled.
He opened a restaurant ohreally it was called Hank's on
Whittier Boulevard in East LA.
Okay, and it's where his familyworked.
So, he had some girlfriendsover the years, but he never got
married.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Is it still open today?
Speaker 1 (37:15):
I didn't look.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
On July 6, 1971, Hank left a bar in East LA to call
home from a payphone.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Telling his family that he'd be there soon.
He went back inside and notlong after he actually died of a
heart attack.
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Yeah, he was 48.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Pretty young.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Yeah, oh, wow, yeah, he was 48, pretty young, yeah,
yeah, so towards the end of herlife, on january 5th 1991,
lorena and sinis yes the onewith the knowledge about jose
diaz's killer, yeah she finallyconfessed about what really
happened at sleepy lagoon okayher daughter said that Lorena
kept quiet all that time becauseher brother, louis, was mixed
(37:58):
up in the murder.
Lorena wasn't a snitch and shewas trying to protect her
brother.
Sure, she said that Louis wasat the party before the 38th
Street gang showed up and he gottossed out for starting trouble
.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Later that night, when Jose Diaz and a couple of
other guys left the party, louieand his buddies, looking for
revenge, jumped them.
A fight broke out.
Diaz got stabbed and was leftfor dead Sure.
And then, right after that,hank Leavis and his crew showed
up.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
So that's why they got put in court, yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
So Louie and Sinus was picked up in the whole like
dragnet of everything followingthe Sleepy Lagoon murder, but he
was let go by the police.
Oh wow, years later he didcommit suicide while holding up
a Los Angeles branch of the Bankof America in 1972.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
To this day, jose Diaz's murder is still
considered unsolved.
Yeah, okay, To this day, joseDiaz's murder is still
Considered Considered unsolved.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
But that is the story of the Zoot Suit riots and the
death of Jose Diaz.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
So is that where the Cherry Poppin' Daddies got their
song from yes, it is yes.
Nice.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
It is.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
They gonna throw back a bottle of beer.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
It's actually a pretty catchy song.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
I love that song I remember when it I mean I've
listened to it the majority ofmy life, so yeah.
I enjoy it very much.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Good.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Take us to beer beer.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
What did you think of the story?
Speaker 2 (39:28):
I liked it.
It's different, kind of notsomething you normally would
would normally learn about,basically, so not something you
normally would would normallylearn about, basically.
So yeah, yeah, I mean, I'd be,to be honest, the only thing I
knew about the zoot suit riotswas the song by the cherry
poppin daddies, so I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
The outfit is super cool.
I actually really like theoutfits yeah, you're gonna get
one.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
No, get a purple, one , oh oh, can they be pinstripes
too, because that's cool oh, canit be purple with like
different, like a darker shadeof purple as the pinstripes.
Now we're talking contrast um,but no, I, I had no idea that
was even a thing, basically.
(40:16):
But yeah, no, that wasinteresting and way to go,
police to basically shit the bedon that.
So you know, yeah, we're justgoing to let them do their thing
, then we'll arrest the onesthat got attacked.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Fucking idiots.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
So I'm going to do something that you don't know is
coming.
Oh, do you want to share anidiom with me?
Speaker 2 (40:43):
he's not prepared yes , yes, I do you can get one for
me hold, please, all right.
So the idiom I have, um iscoming down the pike.
You've heard that one before,right?
Speaker 1 (41:01):
yeah, I've actually used that recently and somebody
was like what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (41:04):
yeah, I think this one came from you, oh okay, I
was like.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
I literally like wrote it in an email to someone,
right?
Speaker 2 (41:12):
and I believe that's why, yeah, you said, oh, we
should do that one, because Ijust used it, or something like
yeah you want to know a littlemore about it.
So the phrase coming down thepike originates from the term
turnpike.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
You know which that is, which refers to a type of
road where a toll is paid topass through, and a pike is
simply a shortened version ofthat, essentially meaning coming
down the road and signifyingsomething approaching or
expected in the near future.
So, but it's uh, it meanssomething is on the horizon or
about to happen, like kind oflike what I said before.
(41:46):
Um, but it's kind of like theydon't really know exactly where
it the it originated from, kindof thing.
Um, but basically the mostcommon and except accepted
explanation is that pike refersto the term pike, like I said,
and that these roads were oftenprivately owned and required a
(42:06):
toll and so on.
Um, but then coming down theroad the phrase coming down the
pike so it's kind of combined itwould then have originally
meant something literallyapproaching or appearing on the
road.
So it's basically just you knowwhat's coming ahead of you,
yeah, kind of thing.
So, um, there's some differentlike theories on where it
(42:29):
originated from.
Um, I believe it's american.
It came from originally america, basically, um, yeah, coming
down the pike is mainly justsomething is coming down in the
future and near futureopportunities, whatever the fuck
you want to call it like that.
(42:49):
But um cause, you had said thatone recently and then and
people think it's pipe P I P?
Speaker 1 (42:56):
E coming down the pipe.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
I, when I was a kid, I always thought, I mean, I
always thought people weresaying I'm like what do you mean
, pike?
Yeah, it's because it soundslike it should be coming down a
pipe.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Which I can get the confusion on it, but it's
technically coming down the pike.
Yes, um, since you gave me thatone, I'll do another quick one,
because this came from yourhusband which is limelight.
Basically, before electricity,theaters would use heated
calcium oxide, which is known asquicklime, to illuminate stages
(43:31):
.
This is where the phrase in thelimelight comes from that's
awesome yeah.
It.
Basically it came from the 19thcentury, basically, um, but the
uh I I kind of found adifferent couple of different
things.
The one I gave you is the onehe sent me, um, but it says the
invention of limelight in theearly 1800s, a type of stage
(43:53):
lighting, like it said, wasdeveloped using calcium oxide,
also known as quick lime, andthat's what.
When it was heated to a hightemperature, it gave a bright
white light okay because theydidn't have a say, have
electricity they needed to lightup the stage.
Yeah, it's crazy yeah, um, itsays limelight was first used in
(44:13):
theaters in the 1830s.
It provided a much brighter andmore focused light than the gas
lights that they used werecommonly used at the time, so
allowed for more dramatic andeffective stage lighting.
Because obviously back then,without electricity, they just
literally had gas lamps.
Those gave off light but not aton of it yeah so it was still
(44:34):
really dim and this made it, soyou can see yeah everything on
the stage.
So there's a a rush song.
The band rush, who I'm a prettybig fan of, um called limelight
.
It's a really good song yeahbut uh, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
So you'll see like now is it lime, l y or l I?
Speaker 2 (44:54):
l, I m e okay, yeah, um, but yeah, so it's been
around for a while and, uh, itbasically like if you're in the
limelight it's just referring tois like you're on you're on the
spotlight you're on the stage,yeah, spotlights on you, kind of
thing.
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, so I thought, since I didone that came from you, I
should do one from your husband.
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Yeah, so thanks, nathan, but yeah, so well, what
do you think about your uhcountry boy brewing beer?
Uh, it's pretty good and I'llanother one.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Um no, I mean it's, it's just a regular american
pale, ale it's pretty easy going.
Only five and a half percent,so not too shabby though yeah,
my uh, cougar bait.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
The american blonde ale is 4.9 percent.
Um, I really liked it.
I'm I actually finished mine ohgood, I know that's.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I mean that's, that's a rarity for you.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
It is yeah yeah, but you know you allowed me to like
take a breath at the end and Icould actually finish it while
you were talking.
Speaker 2 (45:58):
I'm glad I could help .
Yes, but well, yeah, so it'snice that we're able to bring
some beers back so we could trysomething a little different,
because that's what we like todo, and not always.
I know we go to our Modelo'sand our Summer Shandy's a lot,
but it's nice to get somedifferent type of beers out
there.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Try them and see what we like.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Yeah Well.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
I suppose All right, buffoons, that's it for today's
episode.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Buckle up, because we've got another historical
adventure waiting for you.
Next time Feeling hungry formore buffoonery, or maybe you
have a burning question or awild historical theory for us to
explore.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
Hit us up on social media.
We're History Buffoons Podcaston YouTube X, instagram and
Facebook.
You can also email us athistorybuffoonspodcast at
gmailcom.
We are Bradley and Kate.
Music by Corey Akers.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn
those notifications on to stayin the loop.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to
rate and review us.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Remember, the buffoonery never stops.
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