10 episodes
Party Crews: The Untold Story My Cultura Network
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- Society & Culture
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4.3 • 50 Ratings
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For many Latinx kids in the ‘00s, the party crew scene was a safe space to express themselves as they came of age in the grit and glitter of Los Angeles. A space to make friends, forget about your problems and dance the night away. But the scene wasn’t always physically safe. There were shootings and police raids. Many adults saw the scene as gang-adjacent and the media fueled negative stereotypes of kids who were out of control. One of the teens who got caught in that easy narrative was Emmery Muñoz, after she was murdered in 2006.
Host Janice Llamoca goes on a Y2K-filled journey back in time to her own party crew days to find out what this scene meant for teens like her and Emmery, and why – to this day – Emmery’s case remains unsolved. From iHeart, VICE, and LAist Studios in partnership with My Cultura Podcast Network
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Ep. 1 Emmery
Janice Llamoca was one of the hundreds of mostly Latinx kids that made up LA’s underground party crew scene in the 2000s. But as an adult, she thought she had left all that behind. Until one day when she learns of the unsolved case of Emmery Muñoz, a 14-year-old high school student whose body was found in a warehouse that authorities claimed was used for throwing parties. And Janice gets pulled back in.
Additional special thanks for this episode to Marlon Bishop, Nadia Reiman and Maria Garcia.
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Ep. 2 Welcome to the Party
Growing up in the San Gabriel Valley, Janice saw the party crew scene as a little slice of freedom, a place to let loose, and a break from her religious, immigrant household. But the scene was also complicated for her and holds painful memories.
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Ep. 3 The Investigation
Emmery was last seen on a Friday afternoon in January of 2006. In this episode, we delve into the investigation into Emmery’s unsolved murder. Emmery’s link to the party crew world was part of why her killing got a lot of media attention. But what evidence was there that her murder was tied to party crews? And why is her case still unsolved?
A warning that this episode gets graphic and talks in detail about a violent death.
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Ep. 4 Anatomy of a Party
We go behind-the-scenes in the making of a mid-2000s flier party with an entrepreneurial teen party crew promoter from South Central to understand how parties were major money makers, but more importantly how they were created by kids who wanted to be the architects of their own worlds. Consider this your official invite to a ~*flier party*~.
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Ep. 5 Cat & Mouse
A year after Emmery’s death, a now-notorious Los Angeles City Council member became interested in her unsolved case and led a rallying cry for LA to crack down on party crews. But the battle between the city and party crews wasn’t new. In this episode, we learn of LAPD’s strategies in the 2000s to police party crews and attempt a citywide crackdown. For the kids, dealing with the cops was just part of being in the scene.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Ep. 6 Searching for Digital Traces
Before TikTok, Instagram and even – MySpace, party crew teens found ways to create communities online. One of these early social media sites was called Techno4.us — where Janice and Emmery both had profiles once upon a time. In T4’s heyday, party crew kids all over LA and beyond would connect through colorful and chaotic digital profiles where teens were showing their lives uncensored and on their own terms.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Customer Reviews
Great podcast!
Great podcast but too many commercials. This was a great show to binge and also a fun investigative journalism.
Gray story but too many ads
An interesting look at something I had no idea about. Great storytelling but the ads are so excessive, I struggled to keep listening. I’m used to ads in podcasts but this is the first time I’ve gotten so thrown off by excessive and repetitive ads that made it hard to keep listening.
Lovely Storytelling
There’s a comment on here by Sweet-ish Caroline that completely misses the point of this podcast! The story teller is not only now realizing that the party crew scene was complex. She is bringing light to the reality of teens living in underserved communities — that they often are forced to find joy and safe spaces in less then ideal situations. The host is shinning the light on these teens’ resiliency and their ingenuity juxtaposing it to the harshness of their neighborhoods. These teens must make what they can with what they have. It is a coming of age story of two teens who were discovering their identities and trying to feel freedom in a complicated world. One teen’s journey was tragically cut short; another teen got to derive meaning from her experience. The host does a beautiful job of being empathic and thoughtful