The Stonewashed Gangs Of LA

It is hard to overstate my love for stonewashed jeans. Ever since my days as a youth in Chino, I knew my love affair with this distressed style of denim pants was going to be enduring. My first pair of Levi’s 501s, when I was just a wee lad of 6 years old, were heavily stonewashed with a mixture of granite and opal stones.

My family was not well to do, so any time I heard of a new demolition going down in town, or an estate sale, or anything that might help me beget some good rocks for little or no cost, I was on it! But running as a lone wolf eventually grew tiresome, and I then I decided no man is complete without a fierce stonewashed Gang!

I really wanted to gift my fellow southern Californian’s with the glory of stonewashed jeans . In order to do that, I needed to organize, associate, empower and execute! Needless to say, the entrepreneurial bone was bred early in me! (I now run 17 different non-profits ranging from Pornographic Actress Health Awareness [PAHA] to fighting HIV in New Orleans during Mardi Gras [FHIVINODMG]).

By age 10 I had successfully organized my first street gang, the Stonewashed Seventeen. We didn’t start fights, rob, or cause trouble. We simply ran the streets of Chino giving away our amazing formula for the perfect pair of stonewashed jeans. We just wanted to see stonewashed jeans receive the press, glory and love they deserved after being ousted so heavily by those inglorious Bellbottoms in the 70s. Ick!

By 1984, Chino residents were flourishing in all 4 seasons in their new stonewashed jeans . Thanks to our hard work on the streets, every one in the area learned how to make their very own stonewashed garments. We didn’t stop at just jeans. We proceeded to stonewash any garment in our wake, until Def Leppard finally brought an end to the incredible coolness of stonewashing by the time they met their fate in the early 90s.

Many of my current friends are appalled when I tell them of my days with the Stonewashed Seventeen. But once I take the time to explain the incredible humanitarian and fashionable mission that was at our very core, they come to realize Gangs aren’t all violence, rape and murder. Some just want to make sure the people in their ‘hood are dressed to impress!

Stonewashed jeans defined my generation!