Chang is an old timer from #Venice. He still resides on the Westside and can still throw a solid ass punch.
He said he was from the time when everybody took pride in their boxing skills because it wasn’t as common to be toting guns.
Chang is from the click named Winos Locos. As far as he knows, it’s one of, if not the oldest click in Venice. Before that point, it was more of a club thing; It was a lot looser.
I remember as a kid seeing the Winos plakasos here and there.
Chang told me about the night they came up with the name at his homie Mousie’s pad on Sunset. “It was a dark and stormy night,” he said in a scary voice.
Then he laughed and said, “no, but it was really drizzling though.”
Chang said some of the guys were in the yard practicing their boxing skills going chest only, no face shots. (What we call going “bodies” today)
Eventually, Mousie posed the question: “What are we gonna call ourselves?”
He said they threw out some names like “Revengers” or “Executioners,” but that didn’t fit right. Chang said he noticed Mousie would keep all their finished wine bottles under his bed. To the point where the bed looked like it was floating on wine bottles. The light bulb went off and the rest is history.
Chang told me a bunch of stories. About his brother surfing Venice and Santa Monica back in the day. About kicking it with Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was lifting at the beach before he was famous. Danny Trejo too.
If you’re interested in authentic Westside LA history. We got more unique, one-of-a-kind histories we will be sharing straight from the culture bearers of West Los.
Photos by @snaccmanjones
