Erik Estrada, circa 1977: A Hero To Latinos And Bicurious Boys Alike

A DVD review in The New York Times credits the first season of highway cop-based series CHiPs with giving us the gift of lusty Latino crime-fighter Ponch and his acting counterpart Erik Estrada, “who in 1977 was as exotic as he was likable.” (We cringe at the thought.) The article dutifully points out that, given the era, Estrada became for young viewers all over the only Hispanic action hero on American TV–among other things, it seems:

His every quirk — from a diet of chocolate Ding Dongs to the beagle eyes that defused the temper of his by-the-book sergeant — was designed to seduce the young viewers (boys mostly, at least at first) who were susceptible to its easy charms.

But the latent homo-erotic cues don’t end there. Even the fictitious dwellings of both Ponch and his decidedly crackah partner Officer Jon Baker go under the pseudo-psychoanalytical scope:

Compare that [Jon's "brown and orange one-bedroom unit"] with Ponch’s messy abode, a mobile home stocked with a gumball machine, guitar and dumbbells. This hideout was a kid’s idea of bachelor paradise [...] The prominent N.R.A. poster in Ponch’s RV marked an attention to macho detail neutered in Jon’s fussy plaid-pillowed condo.

Does it set off anybody else’s pedophile alarm that a gumball machine is the decorative centerpiece for a character ‘designed to seduce’ young viewers? We sure hope it does.

Those Eyes. That Grin. Those Ding Dongs. [NYTimes]
Image [ClassicHunkOfAMan.com]
Earlier, Erik Estrada Continues to Shame His People, the Police