'Pachuco Day' in Juárez honors border culture, legacy of actor Germán 'Tin-Tan' Valdes

The Juárez city council has declared Sept. 19 as "Día del Pachuco," or Pachuco Day, in honor of the late star of the Mexican silver screen Germán "Tin-Tan" Valdes, who embodied the pachuco style that he picked up in the border city.

Pachuco Day will commemorate the 50th memorial anniversary of Valdes, who died of pancreatic cancer in 1973 at the age of 57.

Valdes and pachucos are a rich and colorful part of the history and culture of the Juárez Borderland, city representatives said in a news release.

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The Municipal Cultural Institute of Juárez is organizing a festival in honor of Tin-Tan, Sept. 22-24.

Germán Valdes was born in Mexico City but grew up in Juárez along with his younger brothers, who also became Mexican pop culture icons: Manuel "El Loco" Valdés, a comedy legend for more than seven decades, and Ramón Valdés, known as "Don Ramón" in the generation-spanning comedy TV series "El Chavo del Ocho."

Germán Valdes was discovered at age 15 while working as an attendant sweeping floors at Juárez radio station XEJ. He would mimic radio announcers for fun and soon was promoted to radio announcer due to his quick wit and larger-than-life personality.

He would embark on a film career starting in the early 1940s, becoming "Tin-Tan," a pachuco with a unique style of slapstick, satire and dance, making him one of the most recognizable figures of the golden age of Mexican cinema.

Pachuco origins on the Juárez, El Paso border

Pachuquismo originated in the 1930s or early 1940s as a Mexican-American counterculture with baggy zoot suits and Spanglish slang known as Caló formed with a border mix of Spanish and English. The zoot suit is said to have been influenced by the clothing of urban Black "hep cats."

One theory has that "El Chuco," a nickname for the city of El Paso, is tied to "pachuco," which some say comes from the phrase "pa' Chuco," (short for "para El Chuco") or what some Mexicans would answer when they were bound for "El Chuco."

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Another theory is that "pa' El Chuco" emerged from the words "shoe co.," referring to a sign for a shoe company in El Paso.

In the 1940s, pachucos were racially stereotyped as juvenile delinquents and gang members, including in the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles in 1943. Pachucos were the predecessors of the cholo subculture of the 1960s.

Pachuco groups in Juárez and El Paso are now generally considered not gangs but cultural expressions of a firme style dating back 80 years.

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Pachuco street dance groups regularly perform in downtown Juárez, where a golden, life-size statue of Tin-Tan sits in the Plaza de Armas in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral.

Films, art and music are showcased at the art gallery Sala de Arte Germán Valdés Tin Tan off Mariscal street near the Paso Del Norte Bridge in downtown Juárez.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 'Pachuco Day' in Juárez celebrates border culture, actor 'Tin-Tan'