The Chicago Weekly
Written by: Elise Biggers
Hecho En Chicago: Two guys from the Back of the Yards bring Latino culture to a tee.
Tucked into Western Avenue among a sea of shoddy snowplow jobs in Chicago’s Little Italy, a yellow-gold awning jets from an edifice on the 1000 block as though its presence were summoned to make up for the sun’s negligence during winter’s early evenings. Emerging from the threshold, No Manches’ Jesús Iñiguez, decked in a smile and a “Kiss me, I’m Mexican” T-shirt, offers what anyone would love to hear while traipsing along the sidewalks in slippery rubber soles: the heat from his café (Cedahlia’s) and something warm to drink. In light of the cold, his shirt’s proposition suddenly becomes all too tempting.
Sitting behind Iñiguez is his partner and childhood best friend Rolando Santoyo. His T-shirt, slightly more subtle, reads “As seen on immigration” in the style of one of those “As seen on TV” product-pitches in Walgreens. Though both are quite candid in their apparel and their company name ( No Manches means “don’t stain” by raw translation, but its idiomatic use describes something as funny or out of the ordinary), the duo from Back of the Yards, a postindustrial neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest side, is strictly business. Fronting the company motto “Enjoy cultura,” No Manches really sticks to its guns in its endeavor to sell culture—not just T-shirts. Read the rest of the story. |
