Eighty years ago this month, Los Angeles was engulfed in the lawlessness and violence that became known as the Zoot Suit Riots. The name is misleading because it suggests that the zoot suiters — the young Mexican, Black and Filipino men and boys who wore the flamboyant outfits — were the perpetrators. In fact, they were the victims.
The attacks by servicemen and white Angelenos on zoot suiters, derided as “gamin dandies” in The Times, were driven by prejudice and the anti-immigrant attitudes of the era. The roots of the unrest can be traced to events that occurred more than a year earlier — the murder of a young man and the incarceration of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor.
Here’s how the violence started, and where it spread.
Feb. 19, 1942: Santa Anita Assembly Center
Arcadia | L.A. History
Two months after the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order allowing the government to forcibly move anyone of Japanese ancestry, including American citizens, into incarceration camps.
The Santa Anita racetrack is used as an “assembly center” to hold Japanese Americans. Above, as military policeman watches, a boy in San Francisco sits atop luggage packed for the trip to one of 12 assembly centers in California.
Roosevelt’s order reflected the heightened xenophobia of the time, particularly on the West Coast, where many Japanese Americans lived. More than 120,000 people of Japanese descent were incarcerated in the camps.
April 8, 1942: Burton’s Smart Clothes
Los Angeles | L.A. History
The War Production Board sets limits on wool and other fabrics for war rationing.
One of the most popular clothing trends among youths at the time was the zoot suit, which required a lot of material to assemble. The suit was distinguished by a long, drapy coat, billowy pants and a large hat, often topped with a feather. Many people viewed those who wore zoot suits during the war as “un-American,” even if they owned the suits before rationing. In L.A., they were particularly popular among Mexican American, Filipino and Black young men.
Burton’s Smart Clothes in downtown L.A. was one of the stores that sold customized zoot suits.