The Infamous Dolphin Mall (Miami, Aventura: price, malls, rated)

[diddiyo]

Urban Dictionary: chonga

Chonga
A girl of Hispanic origin, usually between the ages of 12 and 19, but sometimes as young as 8. Primarily found in Miami (most famously, in Hialeah), the chonga is known for her cheap form of dress, a combination of the so-called gangstalook and that of a prostitute, but can vary between the two. She wears ridiculously large hoop earrings large enough to be bracelets, which are usually gold and have their name written in them, and diamond studs high up on her ears. They may also wear thick, gold bangle bracelets in stacks on their arms. Depending on how ghetto she thinks she is, she may wear oversized men's t-shirts with tight, usually white Brazilian pants, with a colored thong worn underneath that shows through (on purpose). The chonga's shoe of choice is usually either the traditional black Reeboks, white Nike Air Force Ones, completely black Converse high tops, velvet black ankle boots, or the most popular, Chinese beaded slippers in the same matching color ad their top, and worn with ankle socks. Most recently, Chongas have begun listening to reggaeton, but also enjoy rap, R&B, and the radio stations that play these genres of music. They can also be heard frequently calling these stations to make "shout-outs" to their babydaddy. Chongas have a very distinct form of speech, a cross between poorly imitated black slang and a thick Spanish accent, which emphasizes on the vowels. Some chongas even speak entirely in Spanglish.

[vpcats]

Originally Posted by gymbuff

If you were to go to Dolphin Mall's website, you can find a list of all the stores and their web pages. I have just clicked on several of these links, not nearly half of them. It is safe to say most, if not all of them, are in English. Yes a few are bilingual, but I have not seen a Spanish only one.

I understood "pages" to mean a page as in an overhead announcement? Who knows.

[Mcsmith0210]

Ya- a page- an in store page.

[vpcats]

Originally Posted by diddiyo

Urban Dictionary: chonga

You know if I had a daughter and she looked like that, I'd beat the crappola out of her so fast.

But I can't honestly say that I see this look at Dolphin Mall and if I do, I'd be damned if I could tell where they're from.

[vpcats]

Originally Posted by Rock Newman

My brother in law is Cuban American , is a cop and a good guy ... why would you not believe his claim that these "Chongas" are Cuban .. he has no reason to make that up . I had a neighbor in Weston who was a teacher in the Miami Dade School System ( Miami Coral Park High ) and besides the brutal one hour commute from Weston to Westchester she usually complained about the "Chonga" Cuban teenage girls in the school and how ghetto they were she was a Cuban American originally from New Jersey ... not sure why she would make that up either ?

OK Mr. Rock. Whatever you want. I must not be up to date with the popular styles these days.

[buzz_cii]

Didn't Valley Girls initially take a lot of heat back in the 80's? Next thing you know, every girl across the USA wanted to be just like a Valley Girl. If I recall... I, like, totally, oh my gawd... think I dated a few back in High school. Did it ever end? Brittany?

So, I did a little internet searching on Chongas and I came across the Chongalicious video. It's totally, oh my gawd, Valley Girl redux Latino style. It was interesting to watch about 13 or 14 times, but then it wore out a little. Now, I wish I could figure out how to get that song out of my head. Later found out one of the girls is not even latino. That's cool. Like Bill Gates once said about IBM, "Ride the bear."

With that being said, I have to admit the word Chonga rolls of the tongue much more pleasantly than Valley Girl.

[itsajourney]

I grew up in Illinois and I would take Woodfield Mall over Dolphin Mall anyday--although admittedly, I haven't been to Woodfield Mall in years, but it's got class...Obviously, as a Mom with 4 kids from teens thru 20's---I'm not going to the mall for the same thing you all are....

[miamiblue]

Originally Posted by buzz_cii

Didn't Valley Girls initially take a lot of heat back in the 80's? Next thing you know, every girl across the USA wanted to be just like a Valley Girl. If I recall... I, like, totally, oh my gawd... think I dated a few back in High school. Did it ever end? Brittany?

So, I did a little internet searching on Chongas and I came across the Chongalicious video. It's totally, oh my gawd, Valley Girl redux Latino style. It was interesting to watch about 13 or 14 times, but then it wore out a little. Now, I wish I could figure out how to get that song out of my head. Later found out one of the girls is not even latino. That's cool. Like Bill Gates once said about IBM, "Ride the bear."

With that being said, I have to admit the word Chonga rolls of the tongue much more pleasantly than Valley Girl.

Funny you mention the Chongalicious video. I heard from a friend in Miami that it was made by two Krop High students. They even have an entry in Wikipedia: Chongalicious - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Having experienced the early chonga phenomenon first-hand while attending Killian High in Miami in the '90s, I thought the video was hilarious and accurate. I was also careful not to burn myself out on it - two viewings (to catch all the great lyrics) was all I need to get my comic relief.

And while I only went to Dolphin Mall one time when it first opened, it did seem to have a disproportionately large amount of chongas there (especially compared to Sawgrass, Dadeland, etc.). I think this is because, at least at that time, there were a lot of stores that catered to the chonga style - cheapy, no-name stores with a lot of junky clothes. I don't know if the store mix has changed since then, but that is one of the reasons I never went back.

[rogerbacon]

Originally Posted by diddiyo

Urban Dictionary: chonga
Quote:
Chonga
A girl of Hispanic origin, usually between the ages of 12 and 19, but sometimes as young as 8. Primarily found in Miami (most famously, in Hialeah), the chonga is known for her cheap form of dress, a combination of the so-called gangstalook and that of a prostitute, but can vary between the two. She wears ridiculously large hoop earrings large enough to be bracelets, which are usually gold and have their name written in them, and diamond studs high up on her ears. They may also wear thick, gold bangle bracelets in stacks on their arms. Depending on how ghetto she thinks she is, she may wear oversized men's t-shirts with tight, usually white Brazilian pants, with a colored thong worn underneath that shows through (on purpose). The chonga's shoe of choice is usually either the traditional black Reeboks, white Nike Air Force Ones, completely black Converse high tops, velvet black ankle boots, or the most popular, Chinese beaded slippers in the same matching color ad their top, and worn with ankle socks. Most recently, Chongas have begun listening to reggaeton, but also enjoy rap, R&B, and the radio stations that play these genres of music. They can also be heard frequently calling these stations to make "shout-outs" to their babydaddy. Chongas have a very distinct form of speech, a cross between poorly imitated black slang and a thick Spanish accent, which emphasizes on the vowels. Some chongas even speak entirely in Spanglish.

It sounds like an entry in an exterminator's handbook somewhere between cockroach and rats.

I've seen these things in Dolphin Mall. They are so hideous that you can't help but stare... which, I guess is what they want.

[Marlin331]

On the chonga scale for malls (green means good - less chongas , red/purple means lots of chongas):

Merrick Park
Sunset Place
Dadeland
Aventura Mall
Dolphin Mall
International Mall
Westland Mall