Comments on: Botanitas: Halloween Edition 2008

By: Urbanista

Urbanista — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:21:49 +0000

I know that we’re a bit off topic, but I had an experience in México with the so-called húngaros. I lived in a small town (pop. approx. 1200) and I remembered the one time when an húngaro tried to take my bike away. I pedaled as fast as Indurain and got home and hid my bike for the whole week that the húngaros were in town. I remembered that my peers would see the húngaros drive into town and we would right away hide our bikes and toys–there were a few stupid…er…gullible women that were scammed off their jewelry.

Recently, when I used to work in the advertising department of the newspaper, I would service some fortune-teller accounts for a co-worker. It turned out that 70% were what I used to call húngaros, and the rest seemed to be peruvian and bolivian. Just open La Opinión, El Clasificado and El Aviso and you may run into them.

By: don quixote

don quixote — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:59:26 +0000

Chimatli, thanks for the interest and anytime you want to ask me about New Mexico roots let me know as I live a lot of the time in New Mexico and have deep roots and interests there.

Funny thing I just remembered, as a little kid it seemed like most of the people in LH had roots in NM and Colo. on a daily basis I would notice the cars coming into LH with those old silver NM lic plates, all dusty from crossing the desert and they would all have those canvas water bags hanging in front of the car radiators.
One time I asked my Abuela why everyone in Lincoln Hts was from NM and Colo and she laughed and said, “Jito Lindo, they all come to LH because they’re our relatives and they end up living with me, why do think there’s always a dozen or so people sharing my tiny chante.
Quisiera llorar, quisiera morir de sentimiento!

By: chimatli

chimatli — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:28:04 +0000

DQ, wow, I didn’t realize there was such a large Roma/Gypsy presence in LH! I do remember a family of fortune tellers who lived behind the Arco on Griffin. The mother had a hard time keeping her five beautiful daughters out of trouble, they were always hanging out with local guys at the burger place next door. The mom told me she was from New York but everyone in LH knew they were the “Gypsies.” I think they moved to Chinatown in the late 90s. Anyways, I’d love to interview you one day for my Roma related project called “Dos Lunares” http://www.doslunares.org. My research mostly focuses on Gitanos from Spain but I’m also very interested in the groups that live here in Los Angeles.
As for the Hungaros in Mexico, did you know that a lot of our Chicano slang, calo, comes from Gitano Calo? This is one avenue of research I’d love to devote more time to. Presently, I only have hearsay to confirm my theories and no official documentation. There is a guy in San Antonio who is researching Pachuco culture and he’s helped me a bit with making the connections. Words like “gacho” “vato” “chavo” are all slang words that come from Gitano Calo and some of those words came originally from India (the homeland of Gypsies). I have to admit though, it’s all little political as many Chicanos want to disregard any culture tainted by Spain. However, it’s important to understand that the Spanish refined their conquesting skills on groups like the Gitanos living in Spain. In fact during the 1700s in Spain, dressing or talking Gitano was banned and punishable by death. The same went for the Moors and Jews. That’s why many of these groups moved here to this side of the Atlantic to escape the oppression in Spain. Sorry, I could go on and on…
The story about your grandmother is very touching and surprisingly familiar to me. This past January, my grandmother passed away and was buried next to my grandfather and her mother at Evergreen. We also had mariachis and all sang “Un Pun~o de Tierra” to send her off.
I will look for your cousin’s book, sounds good!
Oh yeah, I also need to ask you about your New Mexico roots one day too. I’ve been doing lots of genealogical research on my New Mexico family, lots of interesting stuff out there!

By: don quixote

don quixote — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:24:47 +0000

Thank you Chimatli, to hear that what I wrote created an emotion or was helpful to you is what makes writing and communicating all worth while.
If you study the Gypsy or Roma people then you probably know that many Gypsy people have called the Eastside of LA home for many years. There were many Gypsy families that lived in Lincoln Hts. and I went to school with Gypsy kids who everyone always took for Mexican Americans because many were dark skinned and kind of resembled us in personality too. These families lived mainly in the old neighborhood around the railroad tracks between N.Main and Mission Rd near Daly St.
The Gypsy kids would come and go at school because they travelled a lot. I still have friends today that are products of intermarriage between Mexican American and Gypsy’s and it’s an interesting mixture.
Mexicano friends of mine tell me that years ago the Gypsy’s were very common in the small hillbilly towns of Mexico where they would come into these small towns (many without electricity) set up movie equipment and show movies on a projector for a fee.
The Mexicano’s would refer to the Gypsy’s as “Hungaro’s” which I think is a descriptive word for Hungarians.
And since you inquired Chimatli, yes I like almost every Chicano family that has been in LA for some time have many many relatives and friends buried at Calvary/Evergreen cemeteries. My Great Grandmother and Grandmother are buried side by side as they were that close in life too. My Grandfather who died in an auto accident as a young man is also buried there.
Interesting side note, my Cousin who is a professor at Sac State was writing a book about my Grandmother (a great ethnology on Mexican American women titled “The Search for Naunny’s Grave”, Prof. Nick Trujillo), and had to research our Grandfather.
He checked the archive’s at the LA Times and found the news item from the 1930’s that read; CJ Trujillo, a “Mexican” died in a one car wreck on Alvarado St.
My Grandfather was born in the USA but died as a “Mexican” in those days.
I know this is long winded but just one more thing on the old Calvary cemetery.
When we buried my Abuela it was early January and we had Mariachi’s playing at her grave and there was a huge crowd attending because she was so loved.
It was a beautiful clear day and as the service ended my brother who is an artist and photographer suddenly pointed out to me “Hey look at all the Christmas decorations here it’s a scene out of a Fellini movie”
I then noticed the hundreds or maybe thousands of little Christmas trees and decorations throughout the cemetery. Beautiful!

By: chimatli

chimatli — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:13:05 +0000

@rolo, love your theory about ghosts. it all makes sense now!
@al, your description of cholo ghosts in netherworld deserves graphic representation!
@soledad, yes i think it was called metro!
@random, i’ve wondered the same thing regarding evergreen. i bet if you go on sunday, you’ll find lots of families and roaming mariachis/conjuntos looking to play for grave sitting families.
@dq, you don’t know how important your story regarding the gypsies is to me! i’m actually an informal, amateur gypsy scholar. i’ve been studying gypsy (or as they prefered to be called: roma) music and culture for many years. both of my grandparents are buried at evergreen and my mom always pointed to a large crypt and said, “that is where the gypsies are buried.” i never believed her (i figured she got the details wrong) but now your story corroborates hers. the crypt has the name “adams” on it and i recently met another gypsy with the same last name. i didn’t want to ask “is your family buried at evergreen?” thank you so much for this wonderful story! oh yeah, there are no “real” gypsy “kings”. they say these things sometimes as a front to gadjos (non-gypsies).

By: don quixote

don quixote — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:48:52 +0000

Random Hero asks;

“I wanna know why noting has ever happened at the Evergreen cemetery ? It would be bad ass to celebrate something there.”

Random Hero, lots of stuff happens at Evergreen cemetery including celebrations.
Evergreen cemetery and the LA Catholic Archdiocese used to be a customer of my roofing business and one time while there doing some waterproofing work I noticed all these Gypsy’s present around a new grave. They were all dressed in traditional Gypsy clothing and there was a large colorful canopy over the grave-site and lots of food and bottles of beer, hard liquor, and sleeping bags and blankets.
Being curious I asked the caretaker what was up, he told me that Evergreen cemetery was a favorite burial place of the Gypsy people and that the King or some other Gypsy royalty had just been buried the day before.
He said that the Gypsy tradition was that they spent the first night around the grave partying with the newly deceased and that the cemetery made arrangements for the Gypsy’s to sleep in the cemetery as tradition demanded.
What a trip huh?

By: Al Desmadre

Al Desmadre — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:56:16 +0000

“I’ve always wanted to know, are there cholo ghosts?”….

Yes there are. And they cruise around in the Netherworld. They hit up other ghosts with the “Where are you from?” line. If the other ghost replies with the hand sign of “Los Cuernos”, then the Cholo ghost knows that he has found “A Homie.”

By: Al Desmadre

Al Desmadre — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:26:59 +0000

I read that there’s also a DOTD celebration in McArthur Park this weekend with Mama’s tamales serving up some special goodies.

By: soledadenmasa

soledadenmasa — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:00:34 +0000

Chimatli,
Do you mean the L.A. Times’ “Metro” section? I miss the Metro section.

By: random hero

random hero — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:45:55 +0000

I wanna know why noting has ever happened at the Evergreen cemetery ? It would be bad ass to celebrate something there.