Book Review In two new books, the artist weaves her archive of photos, ephemera, and flyers into the story of ’90s Chicanx youth culture, tracing both a personal and collective coming-of-age.

November 3, 2026 — 6 min read

Photos of Chicanx youth collected by Guadalupe Rosales over the years (all images courtesy Guadalupe Rosales, unless otherwise noted)

If someone had described Los Angeles youth culture in the late 1990s, they might have invoked towheaded surfers, Sunset Strip hair bands, Beverly Hills teens, and the graffiti-soaked clubs that harbored New Wave and punk. Thanks to Guadalupe Rosales, our view of that time is now much more expansive.

Since 2015, the Los Angeles artist has collected the stories of the city’s Chicanx and Latinx youth — in particular, women and girls — via a pair of wildly popular Instagram pages, @veteranas_and_rucas and @map_pointz , which have become a collective archive of pre-internet adolescent life in the ’80s and ’90s. Big hair. Lined lips.…