Cheech Marin has Rotarians in stitches - and in awe of his many accomplishments

YAKIMA – Cheech Marin was unsure if he wanted to contribute his massive collection of Chicano art for a new museum. He wouldn’t be loaning it; he would be donating it. He needed a sign.

Marin was walking through the potential home of the museum with the Riverside, California, mayor when he asked how big the space was. The building was 66,420 square feet, she told him.

“Four-twenty! That’s the sign! OK I’m doing this!” Marin said to raucous laughter during the Yakima Downtown Rotary Club meeting Thursday. Clearly, many in the audience got the cannabis culture slang reference to consuming marijuana.

“I couldn’t have made a better decision in my life,” he added.

The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture celebrated its two-year anniversary in June. It’s a public-private partnership involving the Riverside Art Museum, the city and Marin, one of the world’s foremost collectors of and advocates for Chicano art.

Marin spoke about his lifelong love of art, the power of art to unite and how humor has impacted his life, personally and professionally. The meeting at the Yakima Valley College Conference Center drew a crowd eager to hear about Marin’s roles as an actor, director, writer, musician, art collector and humanitarian.

And, of course, as one of the guys in the hilariously outrageous counterculture comedy duo Cheech and Chong with his longtime friend, Tommy Chong. They followed their several successful comedy albums with eight movies, including the memorable 1978 smash hit, “Up in Smoke.”

The pair split, then reunited in 2008 after 25 years to perform together again and still do as their schedules allow. They also own Cheech and Chong’s Cannabis Co. The company’s mission is “to provider global access to high-quality products and authentic experiences carefully crafted to foster a community for life.”

Why the nickname Cheech?

After being introduced by Rodrigo Rentería-Valencia of Central Washington University, Marin sat down with Rentería-Valencia on a small stage. Marin wore a black T-shirt with a stylized skull, a colorful sweater and black pants. October is Hispanic Heritage Month, and Marin’s visit to the region was supported by the university, the Central Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and OIC of Washington.

He was born Richard Anthony Marin in South Central Los Angeles. Marin got his nickname from an uncle who saw him as a newborn and said he looked just like a chicharrone – the Spanish word for a fried pork rind, he explained.

“That became my name in the family, because everybody in my family had a nickname,” he said. “To this day, everybody still calls me Cheech.”

What Rentería-Valencia loves about that, he said, “is that when you break cheecharones, it makes a lot of noise.” Marin added, “Yes it does.”

“You have made a lot of noise,” Rentería-Valencia said. “But good noise. Noise that transforms; noise that challenges.”

Marin spent the first part of his childhood in South Central Los Angeles, living in a neighborhood that was primarily Black, he said. His family later moved to a mostly white neighborhood in Granada Hills, California. Like many kids, he just wanted to fit in wherever he was.

“How do I fit in with both of those and how do I describe myself? I settled for funny,” Marin said. “Really, that got me out of a lot of jams. … I didn’t use humor to make fun of them; I used humor to make fun of the situation. I come from a very funny family.”

He was close with a small group of cousins, one of whom received the first doctorate in Chicano studies from Harvard University. “We were a tight group. I learned from them that there were no fences in front of me,” Marin said.

Marin began learning about art as a kid by reading every library book he could get on the subject. That’s when his love of art began. His Catholic upbringing also fueled his curiosity about art, he said.

“When you go to Mass as a little kid and, how long is this thing going to take? I can’t stand the smoke anymore,” Marin said to more laughter. “So you look around and look at the ceiling and there’s guys in sheets walking around in the clouds and why are they barbecuing a guy in the corner? So right away I’m intrigued.”

Contrary to “my kind-of public image, I was an altar boy; I was a choir boy,” he said. The Optimist Club ran an oratorical contest he won and Marin was in a Boy Scout troop, he said. Marin is still a member of those kinds of community organizations.

His father was a police officer and a big fan of his son’s work. “He loved it because he had free records to give out to all the juvenile delinquents,” Marin said.

Marin said he identifies as Chicano. “What does it mean to you, Chicano?” Rentería-Valencia asked.

“It was originally an insult from Mexicans to other Mexicans living in this country. … They were something else, they were something smaller, something less,” Marin said. “Depending on where you lived in relation to the border, and how old you were, it became less of an insult as time went on and more of an identification.

“My father … always called himself a Chicano, because that described him. And when I found out the meaning of Chicano … I was searching for what I was. When I first head the term Chicano and it was explained to me, that’s what I am,” Marin said.

The power of art

Rentería-Valencia praised Marin for elevating Chicano art. Marin is proud of the museum and enjoys showing it off to others – including fellow art collector Bill Gates.

Gates visited the museum and stayed all day, Marin recalled. He paused at one artwork, “Exile Off Main Street” by Benito Huerta, which interprets the contrasting artistic views of Picasso and Kandinsky, set against velvet. Picasso said “art is everything” and one part of the large artwork is a Chicano interpretation of a Picasso painting; Kandinsky said art is nothing, Marin noted. That portion is a big sheet of lead, he said.

“I’m telling him the story about the painting. … The most incredible fact of this painting is that the Picasso part is painted on velvet. He’s listening … and he reaches out like that,” Marin said after mentioning the rules against touching the artwork.

“OK, well you’re Bill Gates, man. Anything goes wrong, you’ve got the money. So touch away, Bill,” he added.

Using Chicano art as an example, Marin showed how much the world has changed. He’s advocating for more museums of Chicano art across the country. Chicago has a large Chicano population, which is something he learned during a visit.

The first time Marin was in Chicago, he wanted something to eat between shows and spotted a Mexican restaurant. He was skeptical at first, but it was “the real stuff,” he said. “It wasn’t Taco Bell, man.

“This was an eye-opener. So now we’re making artistic inroads in Chicago. We’re trying to bring them into the fold. Midwestern Chicanos.”

Art celebrates and unites cultures, Marin said. “You have faith that everybody is going to get along, and art is one of the ways to do it,” he said.

Before opening the floor for questions from Rotarians and their guests, Rentería-Valencia asked his own. “I have a really burning question here. … What is a Cheeche’lada?”

Marin said it’s a new product from Cheech and Chong’s Cannabis Co. and is their version of a Michelada. A Michelada is a classic Mexican cocktail made with beer, Clamato juice “and a bunch of other stuff. You drink it when you’re hung over,” he said.

A Cheeche’lada is “everything like before, but the beer is nonalcoholic and the active ingrefdient is THC,” Marin added.

“And it’s gooooooood. I’m talking about good.”

Reach Tammy Ayer at tayer@yakimaherald.com.