Video Interviews (click to play)

A brief description of 1950s New York youth gang culture and a comparison with what was portrayed in both the 1957 stage play and 1961 movie versions of "West Side Story." Interview was conduced with historian Kwame Welsh and will be included in the upcoming documentary on the history of the 1959 Road Show Tour of "West Side Story," and the real life youth gang incidents that captured national attention during the summer of 1959.

The author of "Mockingbird: A Puerto Rican Warrior On The Streets Of New York," Boabdil Vazquetelles describes The Egyptian Kings, a notorious real-life 1950s-era New York youth gang. Mr. Vazquetelles also relates how their arrest and conviction for the July 30, 1957 murder of a handicapped 15-year-old (who according to Mr. Vazquetelles, was a gang member himself), saved him from having to join the gang life.

It's often said that "every" teen of the 1950s was a fan of Dick Clark's "American Bandstand." That view is so pervasive, that it was even a plot point in the 1978 film version of "Grease." But is that really accurate? The author of "Mockingbird: A Puerto Rican Warrior On The Streets of New York," Boabdil , "Mockingbird: A Puerto Rican Warrior On The Streets of New York," Boabdil Vazquetelles, who's cousin was both a street corner doo wop singer and a member of a 1950s New York "bopping" youth gang, shows us that the reality was a bit more complicated.

This informal interview with historian and youth gang researcher Kwame Welsh discusses the origins of The Dragons, one of the more notorious 1950s-era youth gangs of New York.

Bay Area poet laureate Patrick Coonen gives a description of San Francisco 1950s youth gang subcultures.

Historian Kwame Welsh tracks down the history of the "zip gun," the improvised firearm made notorious by 1950s youth gangs.