San Antonio food truck park El Camino draws criticism for anti-‘Edgar’ post

A popular San Antonio dining and drinking establishment is facing online criticism after making an online post announcing a joke ban “Edgar” haircuts, a bowl-shaped style popular with some young Latinos.

In a Saturday Instagram post, food truck park El Camino posted an image of a young Hispanic man wearing just such a haircut with a red line drawn across his face. “No Edgars,” the image declares.

“Should we enforce a no chili bowl policy?” El Camino’s account wrote in the caption.

The post prompted some in the comments section to blast Ricky Ortiz — the owner of El Camino along with bars and dining spots Besame, Ay Que Chula and the recently opened Perfect Tender — as racist.

“Imagine discriminating [against] your customers,” Instagram user @allsold0ut wrote. “Lol, you live in ‘Edgar’ city. This is a new form of racism.”

However, Ortiz — who identified himself as a first-generation Mexican American — told the Current he isn’t a racist. Instead, he’s said he’s fed up with gangster antics in San Antonio.

“People accusing me of racism are speaking from a place of ignorance,” Ortiz said. “They don’t want to acknowledge or admit that the majority of the kids that are getting these haircuts want to be in a culture influenced by gang affiliation and things like that.”

Ortiz said he should know since he used to wear the hairstyle as a teen. He was involved in “hood rat shit” at the time, he added.

The business owner maintains he’s turned his life around and was inspired to make the Instagram post following late April’s Fiesta Market Square shooting, which claimed the lives of two gunmen and left four others injured.

One of the shooters, 18-year-old Mikey Valdez, had an Edgar haircut, Ortiz told the Current.

“Market Square is what carnival used to be,” Ortiz wrote in an April 28 Facebook post responding to the shooting. “Fiesta commission needs to fence the whole thing off, charge a cover, and have a no Edgar policy. A good chunk of the people in this city are absolute [trash can emoji]. Make it unaffordable for them to even attend.”

Screenshots of both Ortiz’s and El Camino’s posts have since gone viral and come under heavy criticism on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.

“A no edgar policy is crazy you’re basically banning every Mexican teenager,” X user @xanathgum wrote in response to the screenshots.

Meanwhile, X user @amenjenn argued the Edgar haircut is “deeply rooted in the history of Texas/Mexico culture.”
X user @amenjenn said the Edgar may have originated with the Jumano Indians of Texas and Northern Mexico, whose men sported similar haircuts from 1500 to 1700. Following the Spanish conquest of the New World, the Jumanos mostly assimilated into Mexican culture, as noted in a 2021 MySA report. However, the jury is still out as to whether that’s where the style originated.

Despite his Instagram post, Ortiz told the Current people sporting the “silly haircut” are still welcome at his establishments — as long as they behave themselves.

“I see Edgar as more of a state of mind — a maturity level more than just a haircut,” Ortiz said. “Edgar is more the personality of the people with face tattoos, guns committing these crimes. You know what I mean?”

Whatever the case, it doesn’t appear the Edgar hairstyle is going anywhere anytime soon. Indeed, a video montage of young men sporting the distinctive ‘do in Alamo City locales has gone viral on social media.

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This article appears in May 1-14, 2024.