Doomed to Fail - Ep 228: Pull a comb through your coal black hair - Zoot Suit Riots

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

Hey Pachuco! It's 1943, and we're in Downtown Los Angeles! LA's population has just grown exponentially - partly with people from Mexico brought into the US specifically to address the labor shortage after all the Japanese Americans were taken into internment camps (not good!) - and partly because the US needs every young man to join the war and there are tens of thousands of 18-20 year old servicemen from a deeply segeragated American South in town. Tensions are high! The fashion among young Mexican men is the Zoot Suit - oversized jackets, big pants, and lots of flair. It makes them easy targets for racially targeted vigilante groups of servicemen to let off some steam. No white men were arrested; about 600 Mexican (and a handful of other non-white people) were arrested. Surprisingly, nobody died!  Join our Founders Club on Patreon to get ad-free episodes for life! patreon.com/DoomedtoFailPodWe would love to hear from you! Please follow along! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doomedtofailpod/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doomedtofailpod  Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/@doomedtofailpod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@doomed.to.fail.pod Email: [e-mail] 

It's a matter of the people of the state of California versus Hortonthal James Simpson, case number B.A. 019. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. There we go. We are recording, Taylor. Hi. How are you? Good. I'm not.

I'm very, very, very high stress. But I do my, we did have friends over for Thanksgiving. And they brought me flowers, which was super nice. And they had a eucalyptus, like, branch in it. And the flowers are all. dead with the eucalyptus I have in my office. It just smells so fucking good in here. It's just wonderful. So I'm very grateful for that. That's a great little gift. And it probably doesn't die, does it? It's like getting, like, I have it in water, but I think even when it dries,

it still smells for a while, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It just smells so good. It's so nice. So I just feel like a little bit calm here in my office, a little calm. I'm not very calm, but I'm like a little calm. Yeah, I can, my stuff hasn't been as crazy as yours, but the hall. So I just got back from Dallas and then the like two hours after I got back my cousin came in town to visit because he was in San Antonio so then I was hosting him which was great but like again when people are around you got to like do stuff like there isn't like a ton of going back and do your own routine so it's like 20 day or 10 days in Dallas two weeks followed by this and after those recordings where I'm actually had my first like just breath after so much family I'm not like you I'm not like surrounded by people 24 seven so it's the The muscle doesn't exist for me the way it does for you. That's so funny. I feel like during, um, putting on perfume, too. I'm just like making this.

You have some say, oh, I have some liquid sage. I might do later. Um, like, during COVID, when we were like, all like very, very remote, you know, I knew a lot of people who were single and they were like, yeah, you know, when I get offline, I'm just like by myself. And I'm like, you're by yourself? Like, I'm like, I want to be myself so badly. I don't know what to do.

Do you still want to be by yourself? I mean, it's been, you haven't been by yourself in so long. I know. I mean, like, I did, like, with my, some of my friends, they host, like, a women's retreat every year. And we did a couple days in Arizona in October. And that was super fun. So it was like, I had three nights in hotel by myself and, like, met with my girlfriends during the day. But, like, at this coming up week, I have a work trip. And I'll have five nights in hotel room by myself. Shut up. I'm bringing three suitcases because I'm driving in and have a 24 kiss to Diet Coke in my trunk. Like, I'm ready. that's awesome that's awesome the hotel the hotel on work conferences like that is the respite like that is you have to get that whole situation figured out and as comfortable as possible so you're able to be on when you're out during day and night exactly exactly I'm hoping and planning like naps and then like changing into something else and then going to like a cocktail party every night so it'll be fun I just I have stress dreams about it but it'll be fine I'm charming you know what it is

Taylor you know what it is I think it's I think here's what I had to like come to gross with myself it's the fact that you have that followed by the holiday plans where i think what it's doing to your nerves it's just like it's like there is no line of sight towards just like normal life and i think that's what is because i same thing happened to me when i my utah trip followed by the england trip followed by mexico i guess whatever it was i just told myself listen it's going to be one and a half months of just no line of sight towards normalcy and you just got to accept it yep that's 100% where I'm in and then every time this year then I'm like oh then the whole fucking year starts over again and we start like new sports

and new this and then it's cookies and then it's the summer like what's just to do yeah uh I mean I'm glad to be alive it just is never ending that's a nice little capstone to like the scream you just let out um I'm glad to be alive yes I'm glad you're alive as well Um, well, do you want to intro us? Yes, hello. Welcome to Doom to Fail. We bring historical disasters and failures, interesting stories. And I'm Taylor, joined by Fars.

And we are going to be covering an interesting Taylor story today. We are. Hey, you know what day it is? Uh, Sunday. I know, but of the year, of the year. No. It's December 7th. It's Pearl Harbor.

Yeah, okay. Isn't that exciting? Why is that, why is that exciting? It's Pearl Harbor Day. Oh, wait, stay, was the day that... September 7th, 1941. Yeah. The day that would live in infamy.

Yep. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's all, it's always, it's always exciting when it's Pearl Harbor Day. Um, and, um, I have a World War II story that I hadn't really heard, um, in a, in really ever. So, um, I have a World War II story to tell you. Um, I got to this story because, um, Florence, who is 11, was watching the mask.

When's the last time you saw the mask? Was it recently? It's been a very long time. Although one thing on my Instagram feed that popped up was Cameron Diaz's audition for the mask. And I was like, wow, I was so young. She was, yeah. I mean, she's still very pretty. But, like, I was like, I was very small.

I had to be like seven years old when I came out. I know. She looks, she's super young in it. Everyone is. Florence also lost her mind when she found out that Jim Carrey was also. with a Grinch. She was like, no way, that's the same guy. She goes, he's one of my favorite actors. I was like, I know. Wait until you discover Ace Ventura. I know. I feel like we can maybe do that in a little bit. We also, she likes, um, obviously he's in like all the sonic movies

too, and he's funny in that. Yeah. Doing like a straggledging carry thing. Anyway, Florence watching the mask, which is great. And they sing the song, Hey, Pachuco. Do you ever that part of the mask? No. I haven't seen it in a very long time. There's a part where he's like in an alley and he like summons an entire. entire band and they sing like a big song and they go, the only words in the song are, hey, Pachuco. And they all back, hey, Pachuco. And there's also a song called the ZootSuit Riot by Cherry Popin' Datties. Have you heard that song? They brought the same thing. In the ZootSuit Riot song, they say, ZootSuit Riot, throw back a bottle of beer, ZootSuit Riot, pull comb through cold black hair

because both those songs are based on a real thing that happened in 1943, which are the Zoot riots in downtown Los Angeles. I did a nervous. And I'm going to downtown Los Angeles. So it's all coming together for me. So let me tell you. Yeah. Do you know what a suit suit is? Yeah.

They're like oversized but well-tailored, highly stylized suits. Yes. Like a jacket is big, but like it fits you. And like long, almost to your knees. And then the pants are like big pants and like tapered at the, bottom. Yes. So I put together a comprehensive list of people that look good in a Zoot Zoot and it's final. So I'll let you know. Number one, African American jazz singers in the 1940s. They're the ones who started the trend. They look good in them. I did not know that.

I thought it was the Latin community that did that. Number two, Mexican Americans who got the Zoot from the jazz community in the 1940s. They also look good. Number three, Jim Carrey's character in the mask when he is the mask not when he's a regular guy but when he is the mask he looks good in it and then number four is Michael Jordan probably and that's it

I don't think Michael Jordan wears zoot suits I think he just has insane proportions I think so too but I think he's like a little bit of like the 90s suit was like a smidge of a zoot suit like maybe maybe if you look up like bodybuilders and suits they all look like they're wearing

suit suits but I think it's because their body are just, like, weirdly abortioned. I feel like there's some, there's some picture I saw recently that was, like, the NBA draft top guys from, like, 1994, and, like, just the amount of fabric in the suits was insane when they were wearing, you know what I mean? It was just, like, these huge suits, that's hilarious. So, um, that's it. Don't wear a zoot suit, unless you're one of those four people or two groups people.

I don't know if anybody is eagerly attempting to you. I don't think so. I just wanted to, like, preemptively. talk them out of it. Okay. In case anybody got any ideas. So it's 1943 and things are tense in America because of World War II and we are in California. It is June of 1943, everybody is stressed out and scared and like tensions are like super

high and let me tell you why and what happens. So June 1943 are the Zoot Zoot Riots. in February 1942 FGR with executive order 9066 that was the

internment of Japanese Americans So with that order Japanese Americans went into internment camps because they were seen as a security threat

all those things but then they don't have enough people to work on the fields and to do agricultural things and like to work

the jobs that the Japanese people had been working when they were allowed to live like regular Americans which they were So because of that, there was a program called the Bracero program where Mexican citizens were brought into the United States to work under contracts.

So there's a huge influx of Mexicans into America during this time, specifically because the labor shortage, because Japanese Americans are all taken away. I did not know any of this. Yeah. So there's more Mexicans in Los Angeles than ever before. And like there were obviously like California was a part of Mexico and, you know, all of those things. So there were always Mexican people here. Southern California is like, you know, full of missions and like all kinds of like, you know, Mexican history. But there's just like extra boost of them in like 1940 to, 1943 because of this program.

So a, the Mexican Americans who were targeted in the zootsuit riots were called Pachucos from the song earlier. But Pachuco just means like flashy. rude person person who wears a zoot suit it's like a nickname you know it's like John Liguizamo basically yes

John Luguzamo it is like 20s and 30s in Romeo and Julia John Lugizamo yes okay yes whenever I

whenever I the only thing I think of when I think of that of him in that movie is when he goes peace I hate the word as I hate hell all Montague's and thee

It's the line from Drummond Juliet, I know, but I love it. Anyway, yes, that's exactly the vibe we're going for. So the trend came from African-American jazz people who are wearing those cool suits is a way to like, you know, when things are bad, it is a way to, fashion is often a way to express yourself. You know, like you can make your clothes more colorful. You can, you know, put on an extra accessories, like things like that that like can make things seem less bad because things are bad as 1940s America. you know right um so it's a way to kind of stand out kind of like a mini gangster masculine kind of

thing to be able to like wear this like flashy suit and it's part to make people nervous you know like they're like what are they what are they doing what are they conspiring why they'll dress the same you know like everything like at my local bowling alley it says no gang symbols no motorcycle cuts and i'm like is that happening at the bowling alley like i just don't think so your area would not shock me if there's motorcycle gangs. But like, are they hurting each other? Like, is it

like a problem? Is it a real problem? Would you want to be in a bar with a bunch of Hells Angels? I mean, like, I don't know. I just don't feel like, I just don't feel like it's a big of a problem as people think it is. I actually saw a clip recently for the mayor of Baltimore. Someone asked him if someone wearing blue was a crip. And the mayor was like, that's the stupidest fucking question I've ever

heard of my life. Like you're allowed to wear blue. What does wrong with you. So anyway, people are nervous. They're seeing all these like young Mexican dudes and they're young, like late teens, early 20s Mexican dudes kind of like roaming the streets together after work in their cool suit suits, you know. So in 1942, there's a murder in L.A. a young man named Jose Guardo Diaz was found dying near a reservoir in Commerce, California on August 2nd, 1942. So that's like, L.A. also is like cut with a river and reservoirs. And like, So if you'd ever been there, like the L.A. River is like literally just like a con, it's the thing in Greece where they have the like the car race is just like that except when it rains. It actually can turn to a raging river. We should talk about how they've ruined the actual L.A. river sometimes. Which also, it never, I've never seen that thing filled with water as long as I live there. I've seen it. I've seen it. Because I used to drive over it to Glendale when I worked in Glendale. And there was a couple times where it was a raging fucking river because it was raining so hard. Yeah. But. But.

But Jose is found dying and he dies some days later. The story is that he was at a party and some other guys. So everyone in the story is Mexican. A bunch of other guys came in. They were mad about something else. They're just like infighting people, whatever, they're fighting each other. And they got in a fight. It's unclear exactly how Jose died.

He had blunt force trauma to his head. He could have been attacked or it could have been a car accident. They could have fallen out of a vehicle as it was driving. So many different things could have happened. But there's no evidence for anyone who actually. actually like who actually what person could have done it or like exactly what happened is just as they found this guy he was dying and then he died so they rounded up 600 young Mexican men because they must be like a Mexican on Mexican crime and LAPD yeah LAPD and they arrested

22 men there was no bail they went like directly to jail and after the trial which was really quick 12 of them were sent to San Quentin for second degree murder and the rest were sent to the L.A. county jail. So they're all, they were all found guilty in one way or another. And then by 1944, they all got out on an appeal because the case was bullshit. So like it, they only were, they were in jail for two years, like for the actual crime. And then afterwards, there was like really no evidence that they couldn't figure out who actually did it. And they don't even know what actually happened and then all for no. But that like helped heighten the tensions in, in LA. So we have an LA that is full of a whole bunch of Mexican people who are new

because of this bill because we need more people to work in different jobs in in America. And we have a shit ton of servicemen because it's World War II. And they are stationed at like bases around LA on ships at the port in LA, like all around. And there's like 50,000 of them that on the weekends come into the city because they're off you know so it's like an influx of all of these men in and they're riled up because they're like scared shitless because they're all like 18 to 21 mostly they come from a lot of them come from like these really really rural places and like segregated south places they're coming in with a bunch of like assumptions they're scared they're babies you know all of the things um and

they would see things like they'd see these Mexican dudes in their zoots talking to white women and they'd get pissed you know or they'd be like oh like this Mexican women seduced me and stole my money you know when you're like you're probably just drunk you know what I mean and like stuff like that so there's a lot of shit talking and fighting on both sides because they're like you know we're we're different we don't understand each other we're trying to socialize in these same places and it's just like not working and the media is saying that there's all of this Mexican youth gang terror happening and there's all this zootsuit crime happening around the city

kind of like escalating the way that like the white servicemen are feeling about the Mexicans who are there. There is like there is crime on both sides like there are obviously cases of like the servicemen coming into the city and getting drunk and getting robbed by the Zoot guys like that's definitely happening but it's not like it's not like this huge like youth gang terror crime wave that the L.A. Times is saying it is, you know? You can actually literally just take race out of it and say a bunch of 18 to 20 year olds who look different are populating the same area. Like the fact that we think an 18 year old boy is a man, even a 20 year old boy is a man. Like it is, yeah, like those people's brains are only

thinking about one thing. Yeah, like they live with their mom until like yesterday, you know. And then now, now they think that they're cool because they have their little Navy uniform and like, yeah, but it is cool. And you're probably going to die. So like we should feel like, I'm sorry. You know, it's not good. And so, and so, so that's happening. Tension, tension, tension. We're in LA.

So on May 30th, 1943, this is like the first day of the riots. Here's what happens. So a group of white sailors. and soldiers and like military men, they see a bunch of Mexican Americans in downtown L.A. I'm assuming this is like when downtown L.A. was relatively fine. Like, it seems like the 40s was in its time, you know? Yeah, Skidbro wasn't that big of a thing back then.

Really, we talked about it before where the laws that banned mental institutions is what led to Skibro being what it was, but that wasn't until the 80s. So that's like okay. And a lot of like the architecture, I think, downtown LA that is nice. It feels like 1940s like our deco. Yeah, it's when the Cecil went up. Yeah. So I think it's like it's a pull of hope

and promise. The downtown LA of now is not but it used to be. So they get into a fight two groups, to these two groups of kids and a US sailor named Joe Dacey Coleman

he got into, got in the middle of the fight somehow and he gets knocked unconscious. And then the sailors were kind of beaten back um they say they were some of them say they were ambushed no one really knows like was it a woman there they're not sure but what we do know is that joe daisy coleman was injured um they got him to um like back to the navy hospital and he was fine um so but it started this idea that like the zootsuit guys gang guys are coming to attack us specifically and it's starting to happen, you know, because, like, because these two, like, small groups got into

this fight and someone actually got, like, hurt. So people are starting to, like, spread this rumor that, like, things are getting more aggressive, that the Mexicans are going to start attacking people, like, all those things. So the riots really start a couple of days later on June 3rd through 5th, 1943. So 50 sailors from the Chavez Ravine Naval Armory decide to go hunting for suit suitors to avenge the attack on Coleman on June 3rd. So they have like like a 1940s street gang without the snapping. Think like West Side Story dancing because they have like pipes and like baseball bats and they're just like going out like ready to like anybody who's wearing a suit suit specifically they want to fight. I will say this is a little bit cuter than

our modern times when everybody just pulls out a gun and starts shooting you. I do very much imagine them singing, but I don't feel like they would want that, but you know what I mean. They probably weren't in sync. They probably weren't, but like, you know. So also, also everyone in the story in my mind is like 5-4. I don't know why. Of course. Of course. They were all short, yeah. But I'm like, all these like, you know, if you, if you were a Navy guy wearing like a Navy sailor suit from 1943, you're like 5-5 at best. Um, it's a picture everybody little. But so they go out and they're like, we're going to go out and hunt. find these guys. They went to a Mexican neighborhood and starting to like see if they could

find anybody. They couldn't find anybody to fight, you know, when you're like, I'm going to fight someone. People are like, what? Like, no one like wanted to fight them. And they ended up at a theater in downtown LA called the Coleman. No, no, the Coleman was the guy, the Carmen Theater. So there was a movie showing in this movie theater and they turned on the lights and they were like, we want to fight everybody in a zootsuit suit. So the first actual people who were hurt, no one's died in these riots. In the end, 150 people, like, are injured, but luckily no one died. Oh, so all these guys probably had, like, 14 schnopses or something. Like, you know, like, they probably had, like, some low alcohol beer, but they're from

Ohio, so they've never had a beer before. And, yeah. Yes, yes. They're definitely, they're definitely drunk. Right. This is a drunk plan. That's the whole thing. 100%. It's a drug plan. Yes. So they, the first victims are two boys, 12 and 13, who happened to be in the theater. And they were, my research said they were wearing minor versions of the Zoot suit. That's so cute. Poor little, poor little Pachucos. I bet they were just so freaking cute. Like, trying to, like, do their hair with, like, their mom's cooking oil. You know what I mean? I can just, like, imagine how freaking cute they were. But they took their zoot suits off

of them and they, like, peeve on them and, like, burn them, like, a lot of, a lot during the story, which is so sad. So they ripped off these cute, cutie patooties, I can only assume, four feet tall at best, these two 12-year-olds. in their suit suits, and beat them up, which is terrible. Then they went down, they just continued to go through downtown to look for more people. And then they eventually, people were like, involved in the Navy. We were like, we should start arresting these guys who were kind of out of control. And then the Navy intervened and said, no, we're not going to log any arrest.

Like, no one was arrested for anything. No consequences. They just, like, guys, you've got to go home. And they went home. The LAPD through the whole entire thing, like, didn't really do. anything. Like one LAPD officer said later quote, you can say that the cops had a

hands-off policy during the riots. We represented public opinion. Many of us were in the first world war and we're not going to pick on these kids in the service. You know, so they're like... Also, LAPD's reputation 50 years later was incredibly racist. I can't imagine what it was in the 1940s. Yeah, when everyone is racist. When everybody is racist. Yeah. No, totally. So the LAPD really didn't do much.

What they were usually, the only people who really who were arrested were the Mexicans as they were like started to fight back. So someone would get like beaten to the ground and not be able to stand up and then they get arrested because they couldn't run. You know, like those are the people that ended up being arrested. They would rise. They would, the cops would round up suspects for vagrancy or rioting. One night they arrested like 200 minorities, like youths, many of them weren't even wearing zoot suits. and then, you know, twice as many servicemen are doing the exact same thing. Right.

And they're not arrested, you know? So the next couple days, it kept going. So every night, these guys would leave their barracks and come out and look for people wearing suit suits. And they would charter fleets of cabs around L.A. Like, we're going to be on the lookout for guys and suits and we're going to get them, you know? You know what I kind of imagine here is, like, there is something to, um, your adrenaline system knowing you're about to go to war. Yeah.

You don't know when, but you know that there's this horrible thing that's about to happen. Yeah. And there's a, I can see a need to have to, like, dissipate that and, like, feel like you're going to be tough enough going into the thing you're going into. Like, I don't know, this, because it sounds like,

again, it just sounds like the scheming of a bunch of dumb 18, teen year olds, but also they're probably like scared shitless and are like trying to not seem scared shitless. They're going to look like badasses by going to pick him a bunch of people that didn't deserve it. Absolutely. And I think,

I think that like I'm, you know, I'm as a white person. I am the first person to be like, is these fucking white dudes fault, you know? But like, also like their children about to go to war and everyone's racist and

they're scared shitless, you know? Like all things are changing. They needed therapy. They didn't need to like riot. They needed to like talk. to someone you know but i mean but as we know they came home and they also did not get their therapy and here we are so like you know that's it wasn't great for them at all yeah you're totally right like

everyone everyone is scared in the story even the baddies you know even the guys are like they're scared um so you know they are obviously but obviously like you know anyone wearing a suit suit anyone Mexican like they're going to to to try to assault those people which is very very racist like clearly clearly like based on race um sometimes they would you know a couple African-Americans and the Filipino-Americans were hurt as well, but it was mostly Mexicans. And then also on the side are a bunch of white civilian people egging on the service people, like the military guys. So they're like, yeah, like, what are all? Like, literally watching it like a picnic.

Like they're watching people have this riot and they're like egging on these guys that have this. So there's a whole bunch of stuff. They would go into houses. They would just like hunt for people. They were all around like East L.A., Boyle Heights. just trying to find guys they were like looking for specific gangs

which like wasn't really a thing you know they were just like trying like it's like a group of your friends you know but like 10 dudes together is a gang

is a gang I mean like I think that like like the word gangster is like a 20 1920s name but like street gangs though street gangs is different like what you're talking about I mean yes because of West Side story

is like though but I don't know it's as best as I can get for you yeah know either um i would assume there had be something but it knows yeah um so they're you know it's escalating and it's been a whole bunch of days so they um by june 6 and 7th this is really where it's like the actual like worse of it um but it's like several thousand soldiers civilians people just like beating the shit out of anyone that they can find um and it's like just continues to get

worse. So now people from the military all over have like heard about it and they're coming in from Vegas or coming in from San Diego because they want to join. And again, I think you're right to like do something. You know, you got to like fight out that tension. Yeah. Um, so now anyone wearing any young man who is not white, especially if they're wearing a suit suit, they're going to get the shit beat out of them. Um, there was like one Russian kid who was beat up because he was trying to protect his Mexican friends, you know, like, one 12-year-old boy, like, he has a quote being like, why are they fighting us, you know, like, they don't understand. Like, we're supposed to be at this war and, like, we're fighting each other here. So by June 7th, over 200 Mexicans have been jailed. Almost no, no civilians or servicemen have been jailed, like, really ever. the paper and like the media is like these are the riots it's because that the Mexicans started it of course and all these things

so finally it's like out of control and it's June 8th it's been like almost a week and it's so widespread and the publicity is really bad which is finally when they start to like be like okay we can't have this happening here in our city like people are going to like feel like it's unsafe so they finally put out a order or whatever that all starts servicemen have to go home they have to go to their barracks and stay there which they should have done a while ago you know because they're like driving around beating people up they finally have to do that and so everybody has to go back to their boats back to their places or whatever um they have people come back they get some folks that kind of like coming through downtown and like finding

the military guys who were like stuck in bars and like whatever and being like go home go home go home this is over um so a navy memo from june 8th which is like our last day said quote there were hundreds of servicemen prowling downtown L.A. on the prowl for Mexicans. Groups from 10 to 150 strong were roaming and would scatter when shore patrol approached. Someone would come and be like, you guys have to go home and they'd run, you know? Because they're just like

probably have like a black eye and a baseball bat. And they're just like really like that. It was obvious what they were trying to do or were in the process of doing. So finally on June 8th, it's when the LAPD is like, okay, they have what they call all of their reserve. cops in so that people can go in and they can finally be like hey let's stop stop this like stop doing things um by june 8th like there were very few guys in zoots suits out on the street anyway they were like

either the suit suit had been taken off of them and destroyed or they were like bob had I wear that outside i'm going to get beat up right so like of course there aren't as many people out there to do it so um june 9th the mayor met with the navy and they were like okay we have to keep the guys like in their um you know in their barracks for a little bit longer um i wrote in all caps this is fucking silly but on june ninth the la city council passed an emergency resolution banning the wearing of zoots suits on city streets like that was the problem that's wild like oh if we're beating up guys with suit suits and it's definitely the zoot suits that's the problem yeah so if we just like don't wear those well they probably i would assume there's some underlying intent behind that they

probably try to designate them as like a criminal gang and the affiliation was the suit itself that's why you can't wear your motorcycle cut at the yucca valley bowling alley which i kind of i don't feel like it's an issue currently but like i don't know i've watched some sense of anarchy but i've seen zero gangs but whatever the point is if you wear a suit suit in public now you get punished by a ten dollar fine or 30 days in jail you mean today No, but that was like after. Back then, okay. That cannot no longer be a rule, but I don't know.

Don't test it unless you're Michael Jordan or Jim carrying the mask. So we'll never know. We'll never know. Yeah, unfortunately. So by mid-June, things are okay. Things get better. The military is like, oh, it's a couple of people who were like, you know, thoughtless and, you know, did some stuff that was wrong. But it was like hundreds and thousands of people.

It wasn't like a couple people. On June 15th, they were allowed back into LA and trying to get people to be like, stop doing this, like start being nicer to each other. We can't, we cannot have these like row moving gangs of military men beating people up. It's bad. It's a bad look. The governor had a special committee to like investigate and see what happens. And basically, like, the Navy was like, you know, they were looking for like some excitement. They needed something to do, you know.

You're like, yeah, but you shouldn't be a roving gang of, like, racist, beating people up to people, you know. Eventually, you know, no one really got, no one got court-martialed, no one got in trouble, you know, for it. It just kind of, like, happened. The media was the whole time was just like, oh, you know, it was goons and zootsuits that started this. We needed to clean up gang-based crime anyway. And, like, there wasn't zero crime, you know, but it wasn't like, well, also, like, it's not your job to do. that right right you know what I mean like if there's crime in the city then like the city should take care of it it's not like the military men on base's job to do care of it so all of that

um the um the mayor who uh at the time of l a insisted that there was no racial discrimination involved people were like okay well it's like 100 not true and then so weird like what are you even talking about um and then our dear eleanor roosevelt who we love In her column, My Day, we just talked about. So if you are just, if you're just joining us, Eleanor Roosevelt, who is wonderful, wrote a column called My Day, where every day she would write a column of what she was doing, like basically to, like, humanize herself and like be there for the American people during the war. She's amazing.

And in her column, she said, you know, this quote goes deeper than just the suits. You know, she's like, it's a racial, it's a racial protest. Like, it is because of race in people in L.A. were really upset about that like the people in charge were because they were like can't believe you should have that about this race riot we just had you're like hmm I also can't believe it one of many of LA it's like that's what it's so interesting when I think of LA this I mean I've lived there for something you think of like Hollywood wildfires in race riots like it's like it's like the math live is the top

three things We laugh or we would cry. But that's it. No one died, luckily. The zoot suit actually, this is, I don't know, kind of sad because I kind of like it. It went out of fashion, you know, because of like the discrimination and like all those things. But also because they had to ration fabric for the war. You know, I think about that a lot recently.

I was thinking about like, imagine the government was like, we need your pots and pans to build bombs. Everybody did it. They did that. It's not wild? Like, I just can't, or they're like, oh, like, you're, like, I was at the, I took my in-laws and my kids to the, we have like a airplane museum in Palm Springs and it's awesome. You can, like, get into planes. You can see, I sent you a picture. Yeah.

It's not like that awesome, like, stealth jet fighter and, like, it's so cool. But they had, like, a wedding gown made out of a parachute because people would, like, repurpose parachutes after they were longer used to be able to make their clothes because that's where the fabric came from in the first place, you know? That's wild. imagine like being out of those things I feel like we can't contemplate that in like today's America but like not like oh I can't afford butter but like there is no butter you know something like that so that was part of the reason

that it kind of like came out of out of fashion but but yeah it was like a just like a really like and I've also imagined it was like hot because it was June you know and like it happened at night like in the dark so I just like a picture this like kind of misty dark June everyone's scared no one knows what's going to happen you know you're you know

it's the smack dab middle of of World War II and we're sending kids over there and Mexico sent a bunch of kids here to you know work jobs here and I don't know it sucks everyone's scared I'm glad no one died yeah I would imagine there's a lot of really good movies about this because the art deco scenery

like that's what I think is like the most interesting part to me is like if you try to imagine what this look like I mean, it had to look so cool, like Art Deco, L.A. in the 40s with suits, Zoot suits, and I don't know, military gear on. Like, I don't, it just. There's a, there's one, and I have not, I did not see it, but I should, called Zoot Suit, starring Edward James almost, from 1981. So I do want, I should watch that. Have you, did you ever watch the, oh, it looks like the movie.

has the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial which was a murder we talked about in the beginning and the riots so it covers the whole thing so I probably should have watched this but you can watch it but do you ever watch 30 Rock? No. There's one part where they someone like they have so many fun one liners and one of them mentioned that they have a friend who's an

Edward James Almost impersonator named Edward James Almost I always think about that one I hear his name because it's the funniest idea I've ever heard like so good but I think that's like the only one interesting yeah there's so much material though just the fabrics and the art and the buildings and yeah like an LA confidential vibe but like from like the Mexican side yes exactly like China sounds great because it is like set in this timeline mm-hmm like if you're if you're in downtown LA ever if you look like 10 feet above the ground it's very beautiful you know if you look at like the current sore fronts and the ground you'll be like this is disgusting But if you look up, you'll see, like, oh, these buildings are really gorgeous.

Or if you're there after the sun's been baking and you smell, God, just downtown is the whole thing. I was going to tell you, tell her when you're there, remember, I know you know this already, but again, remember, if anybody's like, oh, we can just walk somewhere. Like, they don't want to go somewhere. Never do it. Like, zoom out. Make sure you're not walking through skid row. A thousand percent. I actually chat chipped.

I was like, what places can I go to that are safe to walk? too and like you know and it like gave me some options and some of them it like literally wrote in parentheses like it's okay i take an uber to this place if you're wearing heels which is like very nice if judy bt didn't know me that well yes um but no totally i don't i don't want to like leave my little nice hotel bubble which is terrible but you know we've we were there for so long we know we know check on our cecil hotel episode for how much we had down to in l a yes you can't even imagine yeah Anyway, that's it.

I thought it was fun. I love those two songs about the suit, right? God, do you remember everybody's doing swing in the 90s? Oh, yeah. My girlfriend, Indica, and I went to a swing class at, like, the college for some reason, and we both wore, like, she had great shoes. So I had these, like, great, like, wooden heels on,

and I had this, like, flowy skirt, and, like, we both looked awesome. You know, and then we get there, and, of course, there's, like, all those assholes to take it really seriously, so they're all wearing, like, jeans and, like, you know, ban on their hair and they're really mad at us. Indica's a great dancer. She's, like, a technically skilled ballerina.

And I'm like, hey, boo-vous. And it was hilarious, and we never went back because everyone was so mad at us. I wanted to learn certain dancing. Like, I took a bachata class here in Austin. And it's like salsa. It's like a different version of salsa. Like, I went, it was in this, like, actual studio for teaching and all that.

and everybody was like it wasn't fun it was it was so like everybody was there for a reason and it was like to practice their skills serious yeah and i was like i don't want to do this before yeah this this kind of sucks that's fair i think you have to do like a um a with like your friends you know like i don't want anybody who's trying to like went dancing with the stars i just want to like i would love to go to a wedding and like know how to dance well you know i just like dance with my husband like more in high school I don't know what else to do. Yeah, me either. I'd like to know more.

Yeah. Like, that's basically it. So if you want to host that class, let us know. You will attend. When you're here in February, we'll sign up. Oh, my God, that'd be really fun to take it to dance class. It'd be hilarious. We'd just have some, we'd just go there.

We'd have a few cocktails and go there and have a good time. And then they get mad at us and it's going to be fun. I know. I was like, it would be so mad at us. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Not a safe space. You have to get a zoo suit

Yeah I think I could pull it off I think I'm I don't know I'll consider adding you adding you to my list if I see it But I'll have to let you know

Thank you Thank you Well do we have any list Or mail I do have a bunch By the way You can email us Doom to Fellpot at gmail.com

Or you can Instagram us and just say hello We pronounced The name of Terence Watanabe incorrectly in our show about

what is it it is Watanabe I think you said Watanabe Watanabe But it's Watanabe

Each syllable I just go off of aliens Watami Wayland you know But my cousin Lindsay who speaks

Japanese and is our Japan expert sent me an email It is She said Watanabe Each syllable has a

full vowel. Same as the last name as Ken Watanabe, the actor. Interesting. Okay. I was really hoping that Terrence himself listened and wrote in, but okay, this is good too. No, I would have called you. Yes. But she hasn't. But she also, she's excited, excited because she also got a lot of shit from Oriental trading when she was a kid. Oh, nice. As us white people did, I guess. Yes. So that's from Lindsay. And then our friend Kiara sent in an email with a suggestion. Thank you. It's so awesome. And then Nadine. our other friend

messaged in just to remind everyone that therapy is good because I think one episode you were like man fuck I don't do therapy and I just wanted to double down

and like take care of your mental health okay can I do a qualifying statement here yes I'm a firm believer that if you sit and dwell on things

you are creating permanent foundations for those in your mind is not what therapy is okay but if you if you we're going to disagree on this but it's okay if that's been your experience with therapy I guess yeah well no my experience therapy like I thought that I thought it was good but not in the way that it is kind of put together because the incentive structures are such that you should never get better and they nobody wants you to actually get better because

the economic incentives are such that you continue going so there is no and conclusion to it. That's true. Our couple therapists said, I think you guys are fine. Okay, you know what? I'm painting with a broad brush. I'm painting with a broad brush. Because my experience with it was I was like, this guy is going to lift 150 bucks off me. Every two weeks. Of course. Until I die. Yes. And people do

go forever, but it's like, it's like exercising. Because you're exercising your mental health. Okay, well, I'm very pro-therapy. If you don't feel good, talk to someone. Take some pills. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, of course.

Like, if you were, had experienced things, you need to get down at your head. Sometimes family and friends are on a safe place. Obviously, that is your, my only point is, like, when every single person is, like, I think the analogy I used was, like, didn't get a pony when they turn 16, and now they have to go to therapy because they're traumatized. Like, it's like, okay, like, at some point somebody, you have to have a back. Like, you got to be able to stand on your own two feet eventually. Yes, sure, sure.

And your therapist would help you do that. That's their job. But I get that maybe sometimes that wouldn't happen. I also think the Iranian mind is impervious to therapy. I think there is something to that. It could be a cultural thing too. We're like, we're so used to compartmentalizing all of our lives and thoughts and everything that is just like... I see that a therapist would tell you not to do that and that would make you uncomfortable.

Yeah, it's like, what do you know? exactly there we go cool well thank you thank you everyone please send us an email send me email this week

because I'm stressed out so tell me how you're stressed out and we'll get through these fucking holidays together amen thank you Taylor thank you dupelphal pod at gm.com

dundifel pod and all the socials I'm not doing great at posting to our socials but I'm like it's right life is crazy we have passes yeah so it's out there but please tell your friends tell people we'd love to hear from more folks and yeah that's all i have drinking this whiskey in a can from traitor jo's is pretty good this is a whiskey mule

bourbon whiskey in this beautiful uh whiskey in a can is also another version of therapy um there you go it's gonna help me through this evening so i don't murder anyone also shout out to my husband for being very nice to me when i'm like very close to killing everybody in my house thank you i appreciate his calmness and being very positive about me as a person. It's just like very needed or I would lose my mind. Thank you for sparing all this one. Cool, I'm going to go ahead and cut it off.

Thank you, Taylor.