Photos from Mt. Eden, California c. 1928

The top photo (more gray toned) is a restored version of the original (sepia tones at bottom). Here the Uncle Raymond, Uncle Delf, Uncle Math, and an unidentified man stand in the fields in Mt. Eden. Note the shadow of the photographer. When I asked Uncle about him he responded, “I knew this guy. He had a camera.” Sometime later we saw an old Brownie camera in a store window. Uncle grew excited, “My friend, his camera was like this.” Sadly, I’ve never learned the photographer’s name.

Standing near the farmer’s home in Mt. Eden

Wearing expensive and highly fashionable clothing became the symbol of having achieved manhood in the face of a society that looked down their noses and addressed Manongs as “Boy.” Note the progression of fashion and body language in the photo above. Allow your eyes to rest for a moment on the recently arrived Uncle Raymond in the middle with his hands shyly stuffed into the pockets of his well worn his pants. Now move to the gentleman at the right dressed rather conservatively in well ironed spring whites and Panama hat, his hand resting reassuringly on Uncle Raymond’s shoulder. Finally, take a moment to study the gentleman at the left with “machismo” in his posture and a hat foreshadowing the “zoot suit” style of the 1930’s and 40’s. This photo certainly makes a case for the old adage “Clothes make the man.”

The zoot-suit was a refusal: a subcultural gesture that refused to concede to the manners of subservience.

~Stuart Cosgrove[i]

While whites addressed men of color as "boy," zoot-suiters addressed each other as "man." This term, of course, has been appropriated into common slang, and its historical reasons forgotten.

~ Kenny Tanemura[ii]

Standing in front of the farmer’s perfectly manicured lawn. Note that this slightly later photo shows all three men in crisp summer whites and displaying postures of strength and assuredness.

ENDNOTES
[i] Cosgrove, Stuart. “ The Zoot-Suit and Style Warfare” History Workshop Journal. Vol. 18 (Autumn 1984) pp. 77-91. by permission of Oxford University Press.
[ii] Tanemura, Kenny. “Creating Masculinity” AsianWeek, November 24, 2006