A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from July 23, 2008
Valluco

“Valluco” means someone (usually of Mexican heritage) from the Rio Grande Valley. “Valluco” is a blend of the words “valley” and “pachuco” (a form of “pocho,” meaning a Mexican-American).
   
In the 2000s, many prison gang members in Texas identified themselves as “Vallucos.”
   
 
Wikipedia: Rio Grande Valley
The Rio Grande Valley is an area located in the southernmost tip of Texas. It lies along the northern bank of the Rio Grande, which separates Mexico from the United States.
 
The Rio Grande Valley is not a valley, but a delta or floodplain. Early settlers from Mexico felt that the term “Valley” sounded more inviting to tourists and northern investors than did “Delta.” The Rio Grande Valley is also called “El Valle”, the Spanish translation of “the valley”, by those who live there. Another affectionate term that the residents of the Rio Grande Valley use to refer to the area is the “RGV.”
 
The region is made up of four counties: Starr County, Hidalgo County, Willacy County, and Cameron County. As of January 1, 2007, the Texas State Data Center estimated the population of the Rio Grande Valley at 1,139,581. Over 80% of the residents of the Valley are Hispanic or Latino.
 
The largest city is Brownsville (Cameron County), followed by McAllen (Hidalgo County). Other major cities include Harlingen, Mission, Edinburg, and Pharr.
 
Wikipedia: List of Chicano Caló words and expressions
valluco 
Rio Grande Valley, South Texas  
 
Urban Dictionary
1. valluco
This is a gangster or drugdealer from the rio grande valley. It comes from the word valley and the word pachuco from the pachucismo or cholismo of east L.A. area. But used in south texas to proclaim you are from the valley and live crazy.
Que onda valluco!
yo soy valluco.

by Apolonio Oct 8, 2004
 
2. Valluco
One who lives in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. the word derives from “Valley” and expresses machismo and toughness.
go out and do it valluco style.
by Texican17 Sep 10, 2006
 
Wikipedia: Pachuco
Pachucos were Mexican American youths who developed their own subculture during the 1930s and 1940s in the Southwestern United States. They wore distinctive clothes (such as Zoot Suits) and spoke their own dialect (Caló). Due to their double-marginalization stemming from their youth and ethnicity, there has always been a close association and cultural cross-pollination between the Pachuco subculture and the gang subculture. For this reason, many members of the predominant (Anglo) culture assumed that anyone dressed in pachuco was a gang member.
 
Origin
The Pachuco style originated in El Paso, Texas and moved North, specifically following the line of migration of Mexican railroad workers (“traqueros”) into Los Angeles, where it developed further.
 
The Mexican Nobel laureate Octavio Paz writes in the essay, “The Pachuco and Other Extremes” that the Pachuco phenomenon paralleled the zazou subculture in World War II-era Paris in style of clothing, music favored (jazz, swing, and jump blues), and attitudes, although there was no known link between the two subcultures.
 
The word “pachuco” originated as the local Mexican Spanish slang term for a resident of the city of El Paso, probably early in the 20th century. Even today, El Paso is still called “El Chuco” or “El Pasiente” by some. According to another theory, the word “pachuco” is a derivation of Pachuca, the name of the city in the Mexican state of Hidalgo where Mickey Garcia, thought by some to be the originator of the Zoot Suit, befriended a local of the town known as “El Hueso”. El Hueso was an elderly man known only to have a tattoo on his right shoulder. It is unknown what the tattoo says but few have claimed that it bears two names. One name begins with a J and the other with a B. Mickey Garcia brought his style from Pachuca, Mexico to San Diego. Another theory says that the word derives from pocho, a derogatory term for a Mexican born in the United States who has lost touch with the Mexican culture. The word is also said to mean “punk” or “troublemaker.”
 
The Mexican comedian and film actor Germán Valdés, better-known by his artistic name “Tin-Tan,” introduced Pachuco dress and slang to the Mexican population through his Golden age-era films. The influence of Valdés is responsible for the assimilation of several Caló terms into Mexican slang.
 
The pachuco subculture declined in the 1960s, evolving into the Chicano style. This style preserved some of the pachuco slang while adding a strong political element characteristic of the late 1960s in American life.
 
In the early 1970s, a recession and the increasingly violent nature of gang life resulted in an abandonment of anything that suggested dandyism. Accordingly, Mexican-American gangs adopted a uniform of T-shirts and khakis derived from prison uniforms, and the pachuco style died out. However, the zoot suit remains a popular choice of formal wear for urban and rural Latino youths in heavily ethnic neighborhoods. It is typically worn at a prom, or in some cases, at informal Latino university commencement ceremonies.
 
Pachucos called their slang caló (sometimes called “pachuquismo”), a unique argot that drew on the original Spanish Gypsy Caló, Mexican Spanish, the New Mexican dialect of Spanish, and American English, employing words and phrases creatively applied. To a large extent, caló went mainstream and is the last surviving vestige of the Pachuco, often used in the lexicon of some urban Latinos in the United States to this day.
 
Google Groups: soc.culture.mexican.american
Newsgroups: soc.culture.mexican.american
From: “David Glaser”


Date: 1999/02/23
Subject: Re: help, please!!!
 
Well, an Expatriate Valluco will attempt an answer.
 
I find that the strength of the Tex-Mex culture is directly proportional to the distance from the Rio Grande Valley.  That is, it is unity in the Valley.
 
So, what is the Tex-Mex culture.  Well, it ain’t american and it ain’t mexican it is some mixture of the two.  It can be very alien to anglos from the north but is not so alien to mexicans.
 
What are the characteristics of the Tex-Mex culture?  Well, it means that factory managers have to somehow deal with mexican style paternalism and american style individualism simultaneously.
 
The families of the anglos that are sent down to manage the factories have to learn how to appreciate Tejano music because that is all that one finds on the radio.  When they go to weddings, quince añeras, etc. they have to learn new ways of dancing. Or if they go to a funeral, there is a party afterwards.
 
Know Gangs
scuflores
03-29-2007, 08:38 AM
Valluco
Valluco is slang meaning anyone from the valley. combining two words Valley and Pachuco. The Valluco “gang” color is brown. Prisoners from the valley stuck together in prison thus becoming a tango. TS members started recuiting from these ranks. Valluco’s want to become a FAMA but do not have the leadership. In other words everyone wants to be chief and no one wants to be the Indian. Tattoos include the obvious ‘Valluco”, a “V”, Two palm trees(100% Valluco), one palm Tree (50% Valluco), A sunrise with seagulls shaped in a “v”. Let me know if you need examples of these tattoos I have many photos.

Posted by Barry Popik
Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Wednesday, July 23, 2008 • Permalink


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