Smile Now, Cry Later

Riding out emotional extremes

Chicano culture has always had a major influence on me throughout my tattoo career. My very first tattoo was a black and gray rose with Texas and a wing spread across my ribs. The shading was modeled after a Texas tattoo that was done by Lil’ Chris, who is a member of a prominent Chicano tattoo family, the Lunas, in Dallas, TX. He is famous for his production flash, black and grey tattoos, and wood cutouts. I began tattooing in 2012 at Lucky’s in Dallas, TX which was located in Deep Ellum off of Main Street in the old Pair-O-Dice tattoo shop that was once owned by Richard Stell. Lucky’s was the Chicano tattoo shop to go to when Deep Ellum had a tattoo boom in the early 2000s. Lucky’s gave some of the best black and grey artists in Texas their roots. These early times in my tattoo career were some of the most memorable for me and have shaped the way I approach tattooing to this day. There I learned the fundamentals in lettering, finer lines, black and gray realism, smooth shading, and how to make a customized tattoo that catered to the person getting it and the story that they had to tell. We would spend our nights riding lowrider bikes through downtown, shooting dice, talking to the neighborhood people who would pop in, sending tattoo designs to friends in the pen, writing graffiti, and roasting each other. This month I want to highlight the significant role that Chicanos have played in American tattooing by discussing one of the most timeless tattoo designs, and one that anyone can connect to Smile Now, Cry Later.

The Smile Now, Cry Later tattoo design consists of two masks, one expressing comedy, and the other tragedy and is classically paired with “Smile Now, Cry Later” lettering. The history of Mexican Americans and the story of Freddie Negrete, the grandfather of photo realism tattooing and a child of Chicano culture, tells us how this design came together. El Paso, Texas borders Juarez, Mexico and has always been a crossing ground for Mexican immigrants. In the 20s and 30s the city became known as “El Pachuco,” outlaws and smugglers were common there and became known as “pachucos.” They had their own subculture, working in the underground they were feared by many but took pride in who they were. They decorated their bodies in tattoos that represented their spiritual beliefs which usually was a mix between Catholicism and Native spirituality. They would also rebel through the way they dressed by wearing things like earrings which were controversial at the time. The pachucos followed the migration of Mexican railroad workers from Texas to the west coast where they ended up in Los Angeles. There the pachucos were rejected both by white people as well as Mexican immigrants. The pachucos represented a rebellion against the “American” norm and ethnic pride but other immigrants feared that their rebellious behavior would bring more hostility towards other Mexican immigrants. Before the Great Depression the United States had a worker’s shortage which caused the US to send propaganda to Mexico advertising California as the “Golden State,” where work was promised. Jobs in Mexico at the time were few and far between which caused Mexican immigrants to have a strong work ethic, employers liked this and hired thousands of immigrants for manual labor jobs. The East LA barrios had the highest population of Mexican immigrants in the US at the time and were constantly threatened by developers and got a lot of pushback from white America after the labor shortage ended. The rebellious side of the pachuco culture would go on to develop more in LA with the additions of different slang, zoot suits, and having common hangouts at parties and pool halls. The progression of this outsider culture was in direct rebellion to how Mexican immigrants were treated at the time, they were excluded from certain public areas, there was a constant threat of violence, and they were regularly harassed by the police. The Pachucos began to form gangs to protect their barrios from racial discrimination and abuse. They were willing to fight to keep them safe and eventually the animosity towards them would grow causing the violent zoot suit riots in the 40s. Tattooing for the Pachucos began to develop through handpoked tattoos, things like the "Pachuco cross” and three dots representing “ La Vida Loca” became a badge of honor. The women in these gangs were known as “Pachucas” and also had their own distinctive style wearing heavy makeup, handpoked tattoos, and mini skirts with short men’s jackets. This unity of pachucos would come to an end when the Los Angeles freeway system was built, dividing the East LA community causing the formations of two main gangs in LA, the Lomas and Sangras. Freddy Negrete, an LA native, was born into this culture and from his life experiences he would go on to bring the Chicano influence and style into the forefront of what American tattooing is today.

Both of Freddy Negrete’s parents were Pachucos and early on in his childhood they both ended up in prison. As a child he stayed with his sister in a Mormon foster home with an abusive mother. After landing himself in juvenile hall Freddy was introduced to the cholo culture. This culture was specific to LA and was the next generation of the pachuco culture. The cholo style was different, cholos were more heavily tattooed, wore khaki pants, white t-shirts, polished shoes, and held a straight posture with their toes pointed out. Tattoos started progressing in the 60s and cholos began getting things like Charra girls, Virgins de Guadalupe, and Aztec warriors. These tattoos were mostly handpoked and people started calling it “prison style.” Only black ink was used because that’s what was available in prison and it was applied using a needle and thread or later on a needle melted to a toothbrush. Freddy started practicing this style of tattooing as soon as he got out of the detention center and became obsessed with tattooing and the cholo lifestyle. He decided to join Sangra and began tattooing his friends in the gang while leading a full on outsider lifestyle which ended up landing him in different detention centers on separate occasions. Art is a form of currency in prison and because of this Negrete began honing in on his artistic abilities and was able to practice tattooing. He would eventually move from handpoking to using a rotary tattoo machine which were traditionally made in prison with some type of small motor, usually from a radio. While he was serving time in one of the facilities he was allowed access to the print shop where he was able to mass produce his tattoo designs, making stationary and giving them to other inmates who would send them to their friends and families. Through this he distributed thousands of his designs throughout LA area and other parts of the country, one of which became especially popular, Smile Now, Cry Later.

On one of his days spent in the print shop Freddy was flipping through magazines when he came across an ad for an acting workshop. The ad had both a smiling comedy mask and a frowning tragedy mask on it which draws it’s roots in Greek theatre, representing two extremes of the human psyche and the Greek muses Thalia and Melpomene. When Freddy saw this the image instantly reminded him of a song. Another big part of cholo culture was listening to “oldies but goodies.” Sunny and the Sunliners, a Chicano Group out of San Antonio, Texas, came out with the song “Smile Now, Cry Later,” which inspired his design. Neighborhoods at the time usually had a theme song associated with them which Freddy would often write out in script. He paired this idea with the masks to make the image. This was his breakthrough design and caused other tattooers to imitate his style from then on. I believe the reason this design became so popular is because it speaks to anyone can on a personal level. It is a design that is easily interpreted in many different ways and speaks to the ups and downs that people struggle with on a daily basis. People in prison see it as something to live by, things are hard on the inside but to survive you have to keep your head up until you can honor your pain on the outside. Others saw it as a representation of the cholo lifestyle, living the fun fast life until out of no where you have to face consequences like prison or death. In the song, Sunny Ozuna sings about how his friends tell him he will never be able to be with the woman he loves so he has to “smile for his friends, and cry later.” Over time the meaning has evolved. I enjoyed looking into people’s present day interpretations like “live life to the fullest and worry about consequences later” or “fall in love now and worry about the heartbreak later.” The adaptability of this image has made it a timeless tattoo design. After Freddy got out of prison he pioneered professional street shop tattooing for Chicanos by teaming up with other tattooers like Good Time Charlie, Jack Rudy, Mark Mahoney, and Ed Hardy. Freddy’s style was unique to the outside world and while working together Ed Hardy acknowledged that by coining his style “black and grey realism.” Freddy teamed up with his friend Jack Rudy who together, through friendly competition, would popularize fine line tattooing. To Freddy and other chicanos the American traditional bold line didn’t always allow for the detail to tell their stories and cultural history so the fine line allowed him to provide the detail. Freddy valued the idea of customizing the tattoo to the client and making tattoos with deeper meaning. That sentiment is now held for many tattooers across the country.

How Chicano tattooing has developed over time is a direct reaction to what Mexican immigrants have gone through in America. Through rebellion, pride, determination, and strength they were able to create something beautiful that has had a major effect on tattooing around the world. Smile Now, Cry Later reflects all of these aspects and is a deep expression of the Chicano approach to life through the hardship they’ve had to endure. For me personally Chicanos have taught me to appreciate helping people tell their personal stories through their skin, to know the purpose and importance of the finer line, to value the technical side of tattooing, and to use customization when designing tattoos. This history has also come to influence the entire wave of fine line and handpoked tattooing that we see today. Americana tattooing would not be what it is today without the influence of Freddy Negrete, Chicanos, and Mexican immigrants. Their contributions have greatly expanded the possibilities of tattooing and we have them to thank for that.

I highly recommend reading Freddy Negrete’s book “Smile Now, Cry Later” for a more in depth history about the evolution of Chicano tattooing.

Special thanks to Fernando Nino, Spank, Sunny Lovan, Ramsie Segura, Hector Carmolinga, Juan Carlos Carvajal, Giz, Lil’ Chris, and Boog for inspiration, helping me out along the way, and everything they’ve taught me.