Homies were first published as a cartoon strip in Low Rider magazine when he was 17 and drove his lowered ’74 Chevy Caprice around the Bay Area. Gonzales has been drawing Homies since he was in high school in Richmond, Calif. The toys fill two gum ball machines outside the Vallarta Supermarket in Canoga Park, with one display depicting the figurines standing on a darkened street corner in front of a brick wall adorned with drawings of dice and sports cars. Sold as key chains or stand-up dolls, Homies come in six characters-Droopy, Smiley, Sapo, Mr. He said orders continue to pour in, not only from heavily Latino-populated states of Texas, New Mexico, Florida and New York, but also from Utah, North Carolina, Georgia and Iowa. “It’s their culture in a little figurine.” They think they’re great,” said Brian Kovens, owner of the Maryland-based company, which he said is a leader in the gum ball machine industry. “If little kids get them, they’ll want to play with them and then they’ll want to be like that.”Ī&A Company/Parkway Machine Corp., which manufactures Homies in Taiwan factories in a deal with Gonzales, said the toys are a big hit in Latino neighborhoods. “It’s not really a positive influence on little kids,” said Eliana, a student at Vintage Magnet School in North Hills, who wants to be a pediatrician. Sitting across from him, and offering a different perspective, was Eliana Cortes, 11, of Sylmar. “They’re cool! They’re gangsters,” said 9-year-old Gino Johnson, a sweet-faced third-grader at Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, who was interviewed at the Pacoima Boys and Girls Club on Thursday. “I believe in creative freedom, but I also believe in social responsibility,” Hernandez said in disgust as she examined the toys. They perpetuate stereotypes,” said Helen Hernandez, president and founder of the Imagen Foundation, which honors groups that portray Latinos in a positive light in film, television and advertising. “It’s art imitating life.”īut other activists said they found the toys to be offensive. He said he has seen similar caricatures over the years and considers them a legitimate portrayal of disaffected Mexican American youth who feel neglected and rejected by the dominant culture. and the San Fernando-based social service agency Pueblo y Salud. “It’s a form of art and I respect it as such,” said Xavier Flores, head of the area Mexican American Political Assn. Some in the community agree that many of the images are nothing more than silly, harmless or nostalgic portrayals of characters that have existed for decades.
The Homies draw mixed reactions from Los Angeles area Latino community leaders, raising issues of dignity, stereotyping and the right to artistic expression. As the nation again struggles with the issue of limiting children’s exposure to violence in movies, music, video games and television, local authorities say Homies should be removed from stores. A lot of them are my friends.”īut Los Angeles Police Department officers and prosecutors said the figurines are clearly designed to be gang members, and that they glamorize that violent culture. “That’s a big part of our culture: young, lowrider Chicano kids wearing baggy clothes,” said David Gonzales, 39, who draws the characters out of his Northern California home. More than 1 million have been sold since they hit the market four months ago, a distributor says. The creator of the 1 3/4-inch-tall cartoonish toys, which are sold in gum ball machines, said Homies are caricatures of real people from Mexican American barrios, like the one near San Jose where he grew up. Visit a market in many Latino neighborhoods across the country and you might come across Homies-tiny Chicano figurines wearing baggy clothes, white T-shirts, bandannas and knit caps.
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