Daniel Hernandez

(image and customized surgical mask by Uriel Urban)

Daniel Hernandez might be addicted to Mexico City. Three years after writing a feature story on "el D.F." for the L.A. Weekly, the 28-year-old journalist – who previously wrote for the Los Angeles Times – couldn't resist going back. Now he's writing a book for Scribner about youth subcultures in the Mexican capital. Since his arrival, the self-described pocho has blogged about everything from emo riots to swine flu.

We swapped emails with Daniel and talked about pochos, hipsters and huitlacoche.

Why México? There are plenty of Mexicans in Los Angeles.

Ha! Yes this is true. But those are L.A. Mexicans. Part of the same family but a different breed. I think since I was very little I was always fascinated with the idea of getting to know the place where the idea of “Mexican” was created. Plus, less dumb laws and restrictions, everything is cheaper, the tacos are amazing, and the people are more friendly and just know more about the world than the average American.
 
How good are people in México at spotting pochos? Do you blend in?

They spot us from a mile away, I think because a lot of people here have been to the U.S. to work and came back. Usually it’s because of the way we talk Spanish, but a couple times it’s happened to me where they just look at you and can tell your from gringolandia, even if you’re brown. One night I was walking home and a drunk guy came up to me to ask for directions to a bar near my house. Not in Spanish but in English, and not just regular English, cholo English. Like, ‘Ey, ese, do you know where this place is, ese?’
 
Whose hipsters are more hardcore?

Mexican hipsters just have no boundaries. Parties don’t end at 2 in the morning they end at 2 the next afternoon. You know Mexicans love the fiesta, but when you combine that with a city as big and vibrant as New York, with so much going on, and all the everyday dangers, well, you’re just asking for trouble.
 
How's the food?

Very Mexican! You can get things here that you can’t get anywhere else and everything is super fresh and cheap because of all the mercados everywhere. The Aztec foods that still survive are interesting, like tlayudas, tlacoyos, huitlacoche (also known as corn smut) atole, and yes, chocolate. At the same time sometimes I miss Califonia Mexican food, and all the varieties we get back home with Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino food. (San Diego is real Filipino.)
 
Did you grow a moustache before or after you arrived in México?

As a proud pocho, I started growing whiskers when I was 12 or 13 and have rarely been without them ever since.
 
How's that surgical mask working out?

Apparently they don’t automatically prevent the spread of the swine flu. Most people are using them out of manners. Right now you don’t want to seem rude without a mask, shooting your germs everywhere. Because things are so freaky and depressing with the swine flu outbreak, people are using their masks as their creative outlet, decorating them in pretty cool ways.

What's the biggest adjustment you've had to make from L.A. to D.F.?

It's adjustment that I actually like: Walking! Being able to walk everywhere, or take the clean and efficient subway, or hop into an affordable cab, just not needing a car to live your everyday life. It’s so liberating. L.A. needs to step it up with the public transit. It’s going to be up to our generation of pochos to make sure L.A. catches up with D.F. in that respect.