I’ve been in Texas since Saturday evening. I stayed with my aunt in Keller (near Dallas) for the first few days. Today, I arrived in Austin for a conference and to meet up with some friends. The last stop on the tour will be Houston.
Being in Texas is a little weird. There are so many trees, there are flight delays due to weather, and my cousin’s (white) friends call him Gee-zus. Yes, that’s right. They don’t even want to pronounce Jesús in Spanish. Finally, I wonder, are there compact parking spaces at shopping centers?
I know these are little differences. I know someone who is not from California would find the place a little weird and different. And I wonder, would they find Chicanos in LA different?
La Pregunta: Do Chican@s differ by region? And if so, how?
Lotería Chicana 
Hey Cindy,
Glad to see you are in Tejas! Make sure you drive over to Dallas, and have some Tex Mex food at Ojedas. The big thing I noticed was the taco meat. in cali its called carne asada, and en TX its called fajitas. I still feel weird about ordering Tacos de carne asada at King Taco, btw whats the deal with King Taco not giving lemons with tacos?!
I don’t know, they watch Don Francisco a whole hour or two earlier….creepy.
In Nuevo Mexico, we are not a taco people. We like everything drenched in chile. And if it’s a sandwich or pizza, it better have green chile on it. When I lived in Tejas, I loved the breakfast tacos–you can get them anywhere! I still haven’t figured out what I like best in LA yet–maybe camarones en salsa chipotle. Also, the vibe is just different in each place–people are friendly in different ways. I think LA has taken the longest for me to adjust to because folks seem so much more tight-knit, which makes it hard for us transplants!
hell yeah chican@s differ by region!
I agree with “la rebelde” in New Mexico everything is drenched in chile. I have family out there and they are way different then us out here in Califas. My tio owns a Pizza Parlor out there…no taqueria! How many Chican@s do we know out here in Califas own Pizza places? They differ by regions.
yes. texas is a completely different world to me, i think of it as the country to cross before we get to mexico during road trips. i have never been to california but i can imagine it would be the same. we call the meat carne asada, you get limes with your tacos depending on the taqueria. we do in fact own several pizza parlors–and my family has speculated that pizza nova uses queso chihuahua in place of mozzarella. …is queso chihuahua a chicago thing?
Wait till you get to New York. People pronounce the name as “Hey Zuz”….
I’m not quite sure about the Chicano population over here, but i’m sure there are vast differences.
baseball fans wear black and orange and think blue is lame (weird, ain’t it?)
In El Paso, taquitos are tacos and flautas are taquitos. There is no Tapatio and they all wear boots without the fur. whut?!
In LA we wear Chucks, not Bally’s. That’s right.
Its been my experience, both online and in personal life, that Chicanos in LA are the most radical. Crazy communist sympathizers, strong nationalists, and on almost any other metric…the most radical seem to be concentrated around the LA area.
i have noticed differences between the ones in LA and the ones in the inland empire. and now to create unfair stereotypes based on my observations:
inland empire: politically apathetic. this might be because a lot of them are middle class, so what is there to mobilize and do something about? tons of chicanos in the inland empire… however, when i lived there, i had a hard time finding a day of the dead festival to go to… etc. in LA… i have a hard time deciding which one(s) to go to with my busy schedule!
los angelenos: a lot more militant and nationalistic sentiments in LA than in the inland empire! a lot more community and civic involvement and a lot more celebration of chicano culture and identity. and a hell of a lot more creative.