Zoot Suit Riots

The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of racial attacks in 1943 during World War II that broke out in Los Angeles, California, during a period when many migrants arrived for the defense effort and newly assigned servicemen flooded the city. United States sailors and marines attacked Mexican youths, recognizable by the zoot suits they favored, as being unpatriotic. American military personnel and Mexicans were the main parties in the riots; servicemen attacked some African American and Filipino/Filipino American youths as well, who also took up the zoot suits. The Zoot Suit Riots were related to fears and hostilities aroused by the coverage of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial, following the killing of a young Latino man in a barrio near Los Angeles. The riot appeared to trigger similar attacks that year against Latinos in Chicago, San Diego, Oakland, Evansville, Philadelphia, and New York City.

History

The zoot suit riots began in Los Angeles, California during a period of rising tensions between American servicemen stationed in Southern California and Mexican-American youths in the city, which had a large ethnic Mexican-American population. Many had ancestors who had been in the area prior to California being annexed by the United States. By the time of the riot, the United States military had already forced the evacuation of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans, two-thirds of them native-born, from the west coast to inland internment camps.

Zoot Suit Riot (song)

"Zoot Suit Riot" is a song by the American ska-swing band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, written by vocalist and frontman Steve Perry for the band's 1997 compilation album of the same name on Mojo Records.

First issued as a single in October 1997, "Zoot Suit Riot" slowly gained radio momentum with the commercial growth of the late 1990s swing revival before ultimately hitting its peak in the summer of 1998, reaching #41 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #15 on the Modern Rock chart, while a surrealist music video became one of MTV's most played of the year, earning the Daddies a nomination for "Best New Artist in a Video" at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards.

To date, "Zoot Suit Riot" remains the only single of the Daddies' career to place on the Billboard charts.

Overview

Background

By the end of 1996, the formerly underground swing revival began drawing mainstream recognition following the success of bands including the Squirrel Nut Zippers and the hit film Swingers. As a result, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, who were then at that time largely associated with the West Coast ska punk scene, began attracting a separate and sizable following for the prominent swing influences in their music. As means of having something new to sell on their next tour while the band was writing their next studio album, the Daddies quickly put together a compilation album of only the swing tracks from their first three albums, recording four new songs—including "Zoot Suit Riot"—to round out a full-length record. The album, titled Zoot Suit Riot: The Swingin' Hits of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, was released independently on Space Age Bachelor Pad Records in March 1997.

Zoot Suit Riot (album)

Zoot Suit Riot: The Swingin' Hits of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies is a compilation album and fourth album overall by American ska-swing band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, released on March 18, 1997 on Space Age Bachelor Pad Records. The album is a collection of all of the swing-styled songs culled from the Daddies' first three ska punk-oriented albums, plus four bonus tracks recorded exclusively for this release.

After a successful independent release in early 1997, Zoot Suit Riot was re-issued and nationally distributed by major label subsidiary Mojo Records following the Daddies' subsequent signing to the label. By early 1998, regular radio airplay of the album's eponymous single helped propel Zoot Suit Riot to the top of Billboard's Top Heatseekers, eventually becoming the first "new swing" album to enter the Billboard Top 40 and serving as the catalyst for the short-lived swing revival of the late 1990s. While both the Daddies' and the swing revival's mainstream popularity would wane by the end of 1998, at its peak, Zoot Suit Riot reached number 17 on the Billboard 200, selling over two million copies in the United States and achieving gold record sales in several other countries.

Zoot suit

A zoot suit (occasionally spelled zuit suit) is a men's suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. This style of clothing became popular among the African-American, Chicano, Filipino American, and Italian American communities during the 1940s. In Britain the "Edwardian-look" suits with velvet lapels worn by Teddy Boys is said to be a one of the derivatives of the zoot suit.

History

The zoot suit was originally associated with Afro-American musicians and their sub-culture. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word zoot probably comes from a reduplication of suit. The creation and naming of the zoot suit have been variously attributed to Harold C. Fox, a Chicago clothier and big-band trumpeter; Charles Klein and Vito Bagnato of New York; Louis Lettes, a Memphis tailor; and Nathan (Toddy) Elkus, a Detroit retailer. Anti-Mexican youth riots in Los Angeles during World War II are known as the Zoot Suit Riots. In time, zoot suits were prohibited for the duration of the war, ostensibly because they used too much cloth.

Zoot Suit (film)

Zoot Suit is a 1981 film adaptation of the Broadway play Zoot Suit. Both the play and film were written and directed by Luis Valdez. The film stars Daniel Valdez, Edward James Olmos — both reprising their roles from the stage production —, and Tyne Daly. Many members of the cast of the Broadway production also appeared in the film. Like the play, the film features music from Daniel Valdez and Lalo Guerrero, the "father of Chicano music."

Plot

In Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez weaves a story involving the real-life events of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial — when a group of young Mexican-Americans were charged with murder — and the Zoot Suit Riots. In the play, Henry Reyna (inspired by real-life defendant Hank Leyvas) is a pachuco gangster and his gang, who were unfairly prosecuted, are thrown in jail for a murder they did not commit. The play is set in the barrios of Los Angeles in the early 1940s against the backdrop of the Zoot Suit Riots and World War II. As in the play, Edward James Olmos portrays El Pachuco, an idealized Zoot Suiter, who functions as narrator throughout the story and serves as Henry's conscience.

Zoot Suit (disambiguation)

A zoot suit is a style of clothing first popular in the 1930s and 1940s.

Zoot suit may also refer to:

See also