OLD TOWN NATIONAL CITY
Official Varrio Initials: "OTNC"
Aka: “PVNC” Pueblo Viejo National City
Flag color: Baby (powder) Blue
Lid: Univ. of North Carolina
Hand Sign: (Pending Art)
Numerical Initials: XVXX and 1520
OLD TOWN NATIONAL CITY gets its name due to the fact that Ciudad Nacional is the second oldest City in the County, dating back to the late 1800s. Before the City was incorporated as NC, it formed part of the Older “Rancho de la NACION.” And even though the Varrio OTNC is much younger than the actual City, the name Old Town National City was already in popular use in the 1930s, a mere decade after the Mexican community (barrio) had settled in the area in good numbers.
OTNC is one of the biggest and oldest varrio’s of San Diego County and it is also considered to be the Oldest Varrio in NATIONAL CITY. Its reputation is well known all around and vatos from OTNC represent in most pintas. Some from OTNC ranks have even gone up the ladder all the way to the top, becoming full-fledged eMe members and even AFC associates.
NATIONAL CITY The Town is also home to one of the oldest and most renowned cruisin spots in the Southland. “HIGHLAND” Avenue, which at its peak in the 1980s was a mecca for cruisin’. The local SAN DIEGO/NATIONAL CITY crusin’ scene goes back to the 1940s when Pachucos rolled through the border towns in cutdown Chevrolets. Lowriders and cruisin grew in strength and numbers through the decades of the 50s and 60s, and reached a high point in the 1970s when cruisin to and from Chicano Park in Barrio Logan and down to N.C’s Highland Avenue was a must on weekends and occasions.
Old Town incorporates the National City part in its name and initials “always” and that’s because OTNC claims the City (Town) and not necessarily SOUTH BAY S.D. even though OTNC does ride in the South Bay car. But for the most part OTNC claims strictly “WEST SIDE NC.”
NATIONAL CITY, CHULA VISTA and IMPERIAL BEACH are their own cities and they’re not part of the City of San Diego, therefore OTNC does not claim “SOUTH SIDE S.D.” But OTNC is right dead smack in the middle/borderline between San Diego’s SOUTH BAY and San Diego's SOUTH EAST Side.
OTNC like all other legit Varrio’s from SOxCAL is part of the “SUR 13” camp.
OTNC also claims the biggest chunk of territory of all the National City Varrios. They claim the neighborhood from . . .
Borders: (But not restricted to)
(N) Division Street
(S) 18 Street, even as far as 24 Street
(W) I-5 Freeway
(E) Highland Avenue
Old Corazon del Barrio:
Between 4Th and 8Th Calles
With Coolidge, Roosevelt and Hoover Avenues.
What little remains of the Old Barrio is all in present times East of the I-5 Freeway. The rest fell under the freeway construction and another portion taken over by the Naval Station.
Cliques:
OTNC Varrio dates back to the 1940s and it is currently hitting on its sixth or seventh generation.
GTS GATOS
Another Veteranos Clique, but they do have some young recruits and are still represented.
MIDGETS a.k.a. ENANO BOYS "EBS"
OG HQ's at PALM and R Avenue.
Claim the area from 4TH Street, to
Palm Avenue, to Avenue R.
INSANES a.k.a. INSANE BOYS "IBS"
One of the most reputed and active cliques from OTNC in the 1990s and still going strong!
OG HQ's "E" Avenue Block
Claim the area around Avenue E, but in reality they’re all over the place.
ANTIGUOS a.k.a. OLDEN BOYS "OBS"
OG HQ's at HOOVER & 19Th "DEAD END"
Claim the Kimball Park neighborhood, and the turf west of 19 Street, plus the Hoover Avenue Dead End. OBS is said to the biggest and most active clique going hard in present times.
Both the Insanes and Oldens are the biggest cliques of OTNC but they seem to run separately as if each clique runs their own part of the neighborhood.
LATINOS a.k.a. LATINO BOYS
Mostly Brown Bro's HQ in Tj.
OTNC Varrio has been through out its history “a target” for placas and city gov to try and bust and break down. It has had a long history of police crackdowns culminating in the most recent injunctions placed on them of recent years to try and evict them from their birth grounds. But OTNC Raza persists and they ain’t going nowhere. If anything, all that PD & GOV has achieved is “spread” the Varrio around beyond its original terreno. Nowadays OTNC Homeboys are found all over the County and State, and although they may be far away from home, their love for their Varrio has no end.
OTNC will never end!
Aka: “PVNC” Pueblo Viejo National City
Flag color: Baby (powder) Blue
Lid: Univ. of North Carolina
Hand Sign: (Pending Art)
Numerical Initials: XVXX and 1520
OLD TOWN NATIONAL CITY gets its name due to the fact that Ciudad Nacional is the second oldest City in the County, dating back to the late 1800s. Before the City was incorporated as NC, it formed part of the Older “Rancho de la NACION.” And even though the Varrio OTNC is much younger than the actual City, the name Old Town National City was already in popular use in the 1930s, a mere decade after the Mexican community (barrio) had settled in the area in good numbers.
OTNC is one of the biggest and oldest varrio’s of San Diego County and it is also considered to be the Oldest Varrio in NATIONAL CITY. Its reputation is well known all around and vatos from OTNC represent in most pintas. Some from OTNC ranks have even gone up the ladder all the way to the top, becoming full-fledged eMe members and even AFC associates.
NATIONAL CITY The Town is also home to one of the oldest and most renowned cruisin spots in the Southland. “HIGHLAND” Avenue, which at its peak in the 1980s was a mecca for cruisin’. The local SAN DIEGO/NATIONAL CITY crusin’ scene goes back to the 1940s when Pachucos rolled through the border towns in cutdown Chevrolets. Lowriders and cruisin grew in strength and numbers through the decades of the 50s and 60s, and reached a high point in the 1970s when cruisin to and from Chicano Park in Barrio Logan and down to N.C’s Highland Avenue was a must on weekends and occasions.
Old Town incorporates the National City part in its name and initials “always” and that’s because OTNC claims the City (Town) and not necessarily SOUTH BAY S.D. even though OTNC does ride in the South Bay car. But for the most part OTNC claims strictly “WEST SIDE NC.”
NATIONAL CITY, CHULA VISTA and IMPERIAL BEACH are their own cities and they’re not part of the City of San Diego, therefore OTNC does not claim “SOUTH SIDE S.D.” But OTNC is right dead smack in the middle/borderline between San Diego’s SOUTH BAY and San Diego's SOUTH EAST Side.
OTNC like all other legit Varrio’s from SOxCAL is part of the “SUR 13” camp.
OTNC also claims the biggest chunk of territory of all the National City Varrios. They claim the neighborhood from . . .
Borders: (But not restricted to)
(N) Division Street
(S) 18 Street, even as far as 24 Street
(W) I-5 Freeway
(E) Highland Avenue
Old Corazon del Barrio:
Between 4Th and 8Th Calles
With Coolidge, Roosevelt and Hoover Avenues.
What little remains of the Old Barrio is all in present times East of the I-5 Freeway. The rest fell under the freeway construction and another portion taken over by the Naval Station.
Cliques:
OTNC Varrio dates back to the 1940s and it is currently hitting on its sixth or seventh generation.
GTS GATOS
Another Veteranos Clique, but they do have some young recruits and are still represented.
MIDGETS a.k.a. ENANO BOYS "EBS"
OG HQ's at PALM and R Avenue.
Claim the area from 4TH Street, to
Palm Avenue, to Avenue R.
INSANES a.k.a. INSANE BOYS "IBS"
One of the most reputed and active cliques from OTNC in the 1990s and still going strong!
OG HQ's "E" Avenue Block
Claim the area around Avenue E, but in reality they’re all over the place.
ANTIGUOS a.k.a. OLDEN BOYS "OBS"
OG HQ's at HOOVER & 19Th "DEAD END"
Claim the Kimball Park neighborhood, and the turf west of 19 Street, plus the Hoover Avenue Dead End. OBS is said to the biggest and most active clique going hard in present times.
Both the Insanes and Oldens are the biggest cliques of OTNC but they seem to run separately as if each clique runs their own part of the neighborhood.
LATINOS a.k.a. LATINO BOYS
Mostly Brown Bro's HQ in Tj.
OTNC Varrio has been through out its history “a target” for placas and city gov to try and bust and break down. It has had a long history of police crackdowns culminating in the most recent injunctions placed on them of recent years to try and evict them from their birth grounds. But OTNC Raza persists and they ain’t going nowhere. If anything, all that PD & GOV has achieved is “spread” the Varrio around beyond its original terreno. Nowadays OTNC Homeboys are found all over the County and State, and although they may be far away from home, their love for their Varrio has no end.
OTNC will never end!
posted by Lonewolf at 11:18 PM
11 Comments:
“Showing Love to the Hood”
A Community Without Gang Intervention
By Raymond R. Beltran
At ages seventeen and eighteen, cousins Carlos and Tony are already veteran gang members in Old Town National City, or more commonly known as OTNC.
They were jumped in during their early teenage years, somewhere around fourteen. But both will testify that initiation was inevitable since before their preteen years and that, for them, the lure of joining didn’t exist. It was more of a right of passage in a childhood already riddled with violence.
Today, they’re trying to make the best out of two lives, labeled by a criminal history. Tony works at a tire shop. He enjoys his trade. And Carlos is in school, and trying to get his life together for his new son, all while subject to the restrictions of National City’s gang injunction.
________________________________________
“I felt like I was by myself, and they took me in ... put clothes on my back and fed me,” says 17 year old Carlos about his initial years in the gang life.
________________________________________
But are they still from OTNC? For these two, there’s no alternative.
“You know how they say it’s never too late? Well, I skipped all those years being locked up,” Tony says. “Like regular students … it’s too late to go back and do that. You already got your friends, your gang. I can’t just go back and make new friends.”
Growing up, Tony’s friends were not only ten years older than him; they were heavy drinkers and gang bangers themselves. He didn’t have a father to turn to and his mother was a drug addict. If there was ever a poster boy for at-risk youth, it was Tony at nine years old, the age he began to recognize drugs, alcohol and street violence.
He and his two brothers, one older, one younger, raised themselves he remembers. Shootings were a part of growing up. In fact, Tony got on his knees during this interview to explain the day when he knelt down to hold his dying uncle, shot by rivals.
By the time he was an eighth grader, he was running the streets and at school, he was working on getting expelled.
“I got kicked out of school in eighth grade for bringing a pound to school, for selling weed,” he says with a tone of practicality. “From there on, I got expelled from the district and went to summit in 2002. But … I just got more homies.”
More homies and more crime led him to his first time incarceration in 2003, possession of stolen property. He was sent to Juvenile Ranch Facility at Rancho del Campo, a facility that focuses on chemical dependency. It sprung somewhat of a comfort in recidivism. He returned five more times before he was sent to Camp Barrett Youth Correctional Center for stabbing someone while at a local corner store on Christmas day 2004.
“If you do a crime, no one’s pressing you,” he says. “But to the hood, it’s showing love.”
Showing love, he says, is the way members prove their loyalty to their “other family,” a vital common denominator in a group that seems to have no chain of command or rules to abide by. Taking care of one’s family at home during an incarceration is another sign of loyalty, Tony says.
The stabbing that led him to Camp Barrett, he says, he didn’t commit. He was showing love by taking the downfall. And asked how OTNC’s activity compares to other barrios in San Diego, like Shell Town and Logan Heights, he simply says, “insane.”
Seventeen year old Carlos lifted up his pants to show his six inch tattoos on his upper legs, an Old English style “OT” on his right and “NC” on his left.
“I’m still in,” he says, in a boyish smile. “I felt like I was by myself, and they took me in when I was on the streets, put clothes on my back and fed me.”
Carlos and Tony seemed to have experienced the same childhood. Carlos’s father was deported when he was barely a child and he was raised by his aunt. He spent a lot of time homeless, shacking up with different ‘veteranos,’ or elders, “earning his stripes” he says.
He’s been a recidivist throughout his teenage years, mostly for probation violation, but the initial arrest was for assault with a deadly weapon when he was fourteen. He beat someone with a baseball bat, retaliation for having been jumped earlier that same day.
Statistically, “violence by perceived gang members declined by 73% between 1993 and 2003,” according to Washington DC’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, and according to the San Diego Gang Crimes Overview 2005-2006, robbery, shootings, and attempted murder have declined citywide.
But these statistics do not speak to the number of youth who are steadily initiated into ‘la vida loca,’ the crazy life.
There’s currently 85 gang sets countywide, according to the San Diego Police Department, with 3,606 members documented. Males exponentially outnumber females, and only five percent of all documented are juveniles that are initiated at age fourteen.
OTNC is rumored to have anywhere from three to five hundred members, with several cliques that fall under OTNC, like sister corporations. Carlos and Tony agree that at least one person is jumped in every week. At times, members who are incarcerated return to the streets and find a group of brothers they don’t even know yet.
“There’s always going to be new fools,” Carlos says. “Once a baby’s born in the hood, there’s always going to be somebody new.”
Tony says initiation is not something that’s pressured or bullied where he’s from. They won’t just take anybody. He says there are gangs that vastly outnumber others in San Diego, because “they just jump in anybody,” the weak, “punks,” and even new immigrants.
Eva Vargas is a resident of South Crest, more commonly known as Shell Town. She’s raising her fourteen year old grandson, Ricky. But lately, raising a fatherless teenage boy has become a fragile situation. His father is incarcerated, and he’s already at a traditionally defiant age. That, she says, means easy pickings for any group.
“I don’t want him to experience anything that’s going to hurt his heart,” she says. “Killing and violence, it does something to you … Little by little, it diminishes you as a human being and takes away from who you are and who you want to be.”
________________________________________
Shell Town resident, Eva Vargas
________________________________________
Ricky is her ear on the street though, and recently, she learned that a thirteen year old boy was beaten up by three young men at the local park. Police have stopped to question Ricky on the streets more often and last November, a seventeen year old boy was shot only blocks away from her home.
“It has its nice times, then it has its eruptions,” Vargas says about Shell Town.
But literally, it’s the writing on the walls, gang tags or graffiti, which tell Vargas that an eruption is brewing in her community.
San Diego Police Department statistics show that Shell Town experienced up to thirteen gang related crimes between 2005 and 2006, a far cry from areas like Logan Heights, Linda Vista and Mira Mesa that experienced up to twenty-five.
Her grandson has been to four different schools in the last few years, and she says that he’s been introduced to several counselors who didn’t help him with issues stemming from family instability, which Vargas says is the root of the issue.
Time is of the essence for her solution, because in the past year, Ricky’s been more apt to walk the streets alone, and his mother, Vargas’s daughter, has been fending off veteran gang members from engaging her son. Not too long ago, he confessed to sneaking a screw driver to school after an altercation with two other boys.
She feels her only hope is to send him to live with relatives in Mira Mesa.
“I know they have their problems too (Mira Mesa), but at least it will be a change. I have to do something,” she says.
Vargas attended a meeting in mid February at St. Jude’s Church in Shell Town with the city’s new Gang Prevention and Intervention Commission.
“The gang issues are nothing like they were fifteen or twenty years ago,” said Henry Rodriguez, a priest in the community. “My main point is, look at some of the things that have been done in the past.”
Gangs in the mid 80s and early 90s cost the lives of many in his church he says. At that time, the community began Neighborhood Policing, a program where officers would conduct monthly meetings about the issue. Residents were made community officers who kept in close contact with police patrols. Many were in favor of the program and, surprisingly, say racial profiling hadn’t been a factor.
“It was helping because residents were taking charge,” Rodriguez says. “They were more of an active role in their community.”
Though gang injunctions seem to be the most favored tactic of police and the city, many residents, like Vargas, say that gangs are only a symptom of a larger issue.
Like Vargas, experts as well as counselors from local youth facilities say what’s missing are more recreational activities, like sports and art, which help fill a void in the lives of at-risk youth. Mentoring programs have been highly underestimated say a number of academic and non-profit sources.
At St. Jude’s, the city’s new gang commission agreed to support the State of California’s Safe Passage Program in schools and to recommend a neighborhood council to get involved. The commission’s task is to advise the mayor about what intervention programs are most successful in order to seek out more funding for them.
“Not to say their not doing the right thing, but [their data] will be put in a folder and put away,” Vargas says about the commission’s efforts. “It’s because the people at the top won’t involve themselves. They don’t want to spend money, and it’s too complicated … Neighborhood Policing was good, but do you see it? No.”
At the meeting, Vargas pleaded in tears for someone to lead her in the right direction. She doesn’t want to see her grandson leave, but immediate results are crucial. She left St. Jude’s with a handful of new phone numbers and no questions answered.
Many in the neighborhood feel the same way. Carlos looks at city officials with skeptical eyes.
“I think they’re trying to put us in a circle to just kill each other, lock us up,” he says. “That’s the city government.”
Carlos, who plans on moving to Temecula once he graduates, says he hopes his son doesn’t walk his same path, but his family history may determine otherwise.
He’s the third generation of OTNC gang membership and he’s seen a slew of tactics used to suppress gang activity, but so far, nothing he’s seen has been done to intervene at the age of gang initiation, which is sometimes as young as eight or nine.
NC ain't that bad. I would live in NC anyday especially over hoods like Logan Heights, Sherman Heights, Shelltown, Southcrest, Mountain Veiw, and Otay.
NC just has a bad rap because of the late 80's.
Showing that OLDEN LOVE!!!
V"OT"WS"NC" for life.
Man..that injunction put the hurt on tha City!
OTNC ain't what it used to be!
OTSD13 ONLY!!!!!!PRESIDIO PARKE!
Hey to the homie that keeps hitting up OTSDX3...can you school us on your hood. I don't know anything about OTSDX3. Like when it came up...
I never saw an OTSDX3 hitup until 1997-but I heard OTSDX3 goes way farther back than that.
U guys beef with all the other West Siders?
Here some mad props to tha tru G's in DAGO!
All these sets have the downest G's and they put in the mad work:
South Bay:
OTAY 13
OTNC
DEL SOL
IMPERIAL
NC ACRE BOYS
NC BLOCK BOYS
SIDRO
Southeast:
SHELLTOWN 38
SHELLTOWN GAMMA
SHERMAN 20
SHERMAN 27
LOGAN 30
LOGAN RED STEPS
VARRIO MARKET
LOMITA VILLAGE 70'S
East Side:
ESD 13
CITY HEIGHTS JUNIORS
West Side:
LINDA VISTA 13
North County:
ESCO VARRIO DIABLOS
VARRIO POSOLE
CENTER STREET LOCOS
VARRIO SAN MACOS GHOST TOWN
East County:
OFF THA MAP!
A lot of people say OTNC is the oldest gang in Dago...but I heard of OTAY (OTAY BARRIO), Sidro (BARRIO SAN YSIDRO), and POSOLE (POSOLE TOWN) being around as gangs since the 20's/30's.
OTAY vs SIDRO dates back to the 20's/30's!
Lone Wolf is right about NC ANCHOR BOYS. They were around in NC BEFORE OTNC came up. They came up in the early 40's. OTNC Night Owls came up in the late 40's/ early 50's. The Night Owls claimed "OLD TOWN" NC, because their barrio remained in an undeveloped old part of National City (west of NC BLVD from 8th to 24th), while newer houses were being put up east of National City BLVD the late 40's and early 50's. That's why the street sighs past National City BLVD says E(ast) before the street name that far west into NC. Back then...that was the east side! OTNC Gatos (50's/60's) are said to be the generation after the Night Owls. I guess there are still homies from OTNC that have kept GTS going throughout the years via new recruits.
Anchor Boys were supposed to have died off in the 50's...after OTNC took off. Don't know if they were allied though...but my uncle told me that Anchor Boys and Otay used to beef in the 1940's.
When the media/NCPD reports that OTNC has been around since WWII...I think they mean gangs in NC have been around since WWII (NC Anchor Boys). I'm sure all of you are well aware of how much the media...and PD tend to screw up the real deal when it come to our hoods. I read a PD report by Sanders himself, whicj stated that the RED STEPS were a click of the LOGAN 30TH STREET gang!
Lone wolf,
I was reading your chronology for National City and was surprised to see my old kilka left off the list. we were the National City homeboys, HBOYS, HBS, Nacional. We encompassed the area from OTNC in the West all the way to Rachel Street east south to 33rd and north to division. We had members from OTNC, ESNC, LANOITAN SHADOWS and Barrio NACIONAL from the area around kimnall park. We hung out at Las Palmas also known as " ele pe" and Kimball park as well as ROCA PARK in chula vista. We did not allow anyone else to join the clika as we were doing it all dirty and didn't want the kids to get in on it and so they had to start thier own clikas which is where the (Enanos)EBS, (Acre boys)ABS, (Block Boys)BBS,(Olden Boys) OBS, and even shell town Gamma GBS got thier names.At the time there were some people from the bolen park dukes, vickeystown and 18th street that moved in and tried to start thier barrios in Nacional. We held a meeting around 1977 at Las Palmas and outlawed all other barrios unless they had the letters Ene Ce in them. I remember fighting this guy named cobra that was trying to lay it down for 18th street and after he lost to me, one on one, they were done .Nobody else stepped forward from any of the other clikas and We united the barrio under one clika HBOYS and held it together till a HBOY killed someone and then we all started to go to jail and realized the mess we created. By 1982 under intense police pressure and due to our own self destructive tendencies, all HBoys were in jail, strung out on dope or had moved away. It was immediately after that highland ave was shut down and NCPD get up the pressure to keep the biggest and best cruise spot to ever hit san diego closed. I always felt bad aboout that part of our pendejadas but ni modo we were pendejos and fucked it all up for everyone else. But one thing I can attest to is that whomever got the wrong end of the stick with us had it coming and only got it after much patience on our part. We understood highland was an open spot for all to cruise but to disrespect the barrio the homes and the people there was a no-no and was not tolerated by our generation and so that was how highland was shut down.Putasos,filerasos y cuetazos como se dio recibieron.
The inention was to care for the barrio and its residents, We never stole from our barrio or destroyed anything except maybe some park walls here and there. But respect was a big thing for us. We policed ourselves and watched out for the other younger guys from the clikas. I remember fighting more than once after seeing someone from the other clikas getting jumped or fucked with from someone else. We also had parties with ESD, Shell Town, Lomita, Chula Vista,San Marcos, Esco viejo,Spring Valley,Sidro, just about anyone we could and usually it was peaceful.
OTNC is one of SD's hardest and more respected hoods. Also Logan and Otay, OTNC is well known and respected in the pin and well known in the streets. The hood can be shady at times but thats how it goes.. Its a City thang
National City HomeBoys is an older clika. Thats fool Magazine or whatever from NC HBS been making a fool out of himself, serio that fool be making HomeBoys look bad. That fat fuck needs a big chekeada.
Gots to give up to big mismo from the town putting in mad work from the streets of national city and up and down the state penitantary a real true active gang member from otnc....
i am not a choLa;; but my ex was from deL soL i remember him teLLing me "some nalgero pecas" chased him a crow bar LoLz i thought that was funny xD
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