Photos: Los Changuitos Feos, Tucson's first youth mariachi group

Tucson's first youth mariachi group, Los Changuitos Feos, has been a mainstay of the Tucson music scene since 1964.

In 1964, a group of Tucson boys gathered in the basement of the old All Saints Catholic Church on South Sixth Avenue to be part of a new youth group. Most were in high school but a couple of them were younger. They signed up, with their parents’ enthusiastic endorsement, to form a mariachi ensemble.

The group of seven boys was christened Los Changuitos Feos, the Ugly Little Monkeys. – Ernesto Portillo Jr.