The photos are warm and grainy, some of them taken at an angle. They show four young men smiling — no, beaming. It’s 1991: The jackets are puffy, the shoes are high-top, and the hair is specific. In the photo, the men are somewhere in Beverly Hills, where, whether they realized it or not, they were manifesting a new future. Standing in front of the large glass windows of a luxury car showroom at night, butterfly doors opening up like angel wings in the background, the men in the photos feel like they’re on the precipice of something special. They’re fronting, they’re flexing, they’re bonding.

The people in the images are the elders of Image’s fashion director at large, Keyla Marquez, captured at time when they’d recently immigrated to L.A. from El Salvador. This was their ritual: After endless days working at restaurants, Marquez’s uncles, father and family friend would book it to Beverly Hills, where they’d post up in front of fancy car dealerships that sold Ferraris, Porsches and Rolls-Royces, and have photo shoots. In the moment, it was something to do, a reason to get out of the two-bedroom apartment they shared with three families, a way to take up space in this new city. It’s a photographic tradition that was familiar to photographer Thalía Gochez, whose own father came to the U.S. from El Salvador as a young teenager and also used to take pictures of himself in front of classic cars around L.A., inscribed with love notes to her mother on the back. For both sets of families, these photos were hard proof: that they were here, that they had made it.

Keyla Marquez’s uncles, father and family friend in 1991.

(Courtesy of Keyla Marquez)

Advertisement

This editorial is Marquez and Gochez’s re-creation of these relics left behind by the men in their family. It was brought to life with two of Marquez’s closest friends as models, whom she describes as her “babies”: artist and founder of Tlaloc Studios Ozzie Juarez, and film director-model-multidisciplinary artist Pablo Simental. The energy at the photo shoot was nothing short of familial, with Marquez, Gochez, Juarez and Simental all understanding the vision through a sort of shorthand. With the project, Marquez and Gochez honor this ritual as an art form, and cement it as a Latino immigrant tradition.

Keyla Marquez: My mom has photos laying everywhere. I opened a shoebox and on the top was [a] photo of my uncle. I was like, “¿Mami, qué es esto?” She was like, “Your dad and your uncles — because they used to all work at restaurants — after they would get done with work, on the weekends, they would go and cruise Beverly Hills and take photos in front of cars.” They would send those photos back to El Salvador and be like, “Look, this is what life in America is.” I [thought] it would be cool to do something inspired by this.

For this story, I really wanted to work with Thalía. … So much of her work is Latino, brown stories. I reached out to her and gave her the whole spiel via DM. I sent her a photo of my uncle. And then [Thalía] responded, and [was] like, “Yo, my dad used to do the exact same thing.” And then she shared a photo of her dad and was like, “My dad used to take photos in front of cars, and none of them were his and he would write things in the back of the photos, too.” Our families are so cute. Here we are, just fronting. It was meant to be.

Pablo (left) wears Louis Vuitton top, jacket, pants, Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses, Toga shoes. Ozzie (right) wears Louis Vuitton, personal jewelry, Locs sunglasses.

Advertisement

Thalía Gochez: I’ve always been a fan of Keyla’s work. And we both followed each other for a minute. When she DMd me, I was like, “Let me open this right away.” I was super excited when I heard the actual concept. A big part of my artistic practice is honoring lineage and honoring story through style. It’s always been important for me to go beyond fashion to create a story and highlight identity. This [project] is so aligned with what I always want to do and what I already do. Also a big inspiration for me not only is my culture and heritage, but my childhood and my upbringing. I’m constantly looking through archives, through family photographs.

My dad passed away when I was 15. He was a huge car guy. That’s how he put food on the table. He would sell really rare Porsche parts — we always had classic cars in the driveway. He was a one-man show. But before I was born, he would take a lot of photographs in front of cool cars, and it’s exactly what Keyla said, he would write things to my family back in El Salvador. It wouldn’t just be in front of cars, it would be in front of restaurants, fountains, this idea of luxury. This is such a rare shared experience. It’s a true sense of community — that word is hyperpopularized, but this right here, what we’re doing, is community-building. That’s what’s so important about art and what photography can actually do.

Thalía Gochez’s father in Los Angeles. (Courtesy of Thalía Gochez)

KM: I think it’s a ritual that a lot of immigrant families partake in. Even when we were shooting [this editorial], a lot of tourists were literally posing to take photos in front of the Louis Vuitton store. It’s still happening, it’s just a little more polished now. For my family, [it was] putting on their Sunday’s best and just going and taking photos in front of places selling the American dream. It’s their definition of luxury. Especially Beverly Hills — in El Salvador, you think it’s so elegant and so unattainable, that’s where all the rich people live. Then you go, and it’s not what you think it is, but you still want to sell this image and this idea, and it’s like, “What are the places that we can go and take photos of?” The stores and the car dealerships. I think it’s letting people know that “look, we crossed the border, and it was all worth it, because here’s this photo.”

TG: For my father, when I look at those photographs, there’s a spiritual aspect to it. He was kind of manifesting this life. He was like, “Oh, hey, look at this car. I don’t have it yet, but stay tuned.” And a lot of the cars he did [end up having]. It’s a very hard thing to leave your home country, come into a new space, and have this access to luxury. A lot of it, too, is empowering. Like, “Look, I came all the way over here. I’m in front of this amazing building, in front of this car, and I feel empowered, I feel this is mine in some way.” Even growing up, I remember going on car rides with my dad and my family through nice neighborhoods and looking at all the houses, even in Beverly Hills. Maybe he didn’t have that access to do that in his home country. But here, it’s within reach. It feels like a part of his story.

KM: I wonder what conversations they had hanging out there taking photos. Like, who brought the camera?! Who was just like, “Nos vamos ir a tomar fotos”? You see a softness in those photos that you usually don’t see in Latino men.

TG: It’s incredibly vulnerable too because, yeah, they’re manifesting, but it’s technically not theirs.

KM: My family worked a lot when they first moved here, day and night at Chinese food restaurants. They lived in a two-bedroom apartment — it was three families. At night, it was like, “Let’s go out and drive around and have a moment outside from our apartment where we don’t even have space.” They had to go out to have a moment to bond with the other men in the family. It was mostly just not having resources and using the sidewalk as a resource to hang out.

Pablo wears Balmain top, jacket, pants, Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses, Toga shoes.

Advertisement

Ozzie wears Gucci, personal jewelry, Tecova boots.

TG: There was definitely a lack of space to explore your imagination, so they created their own little spaces. Backtrack to when [my dad] was in his 20s, he was a huge storyteller. When he was trying to pick up my mom, he would take pictures of himself and write novels about it and send it to her. When I look back at his life, and how he moved, he was very much an artist. He would take the most beautiful portraits of my mother. I also wanted to ask who took these photos of him. Would he do a timer? He was a very solo man, so I need to know more. Maybe one day I’ll have that privilege of learning that.

KM: I come from a very religious family, where people just pray for you nonstop. [Seeing these photos], it was like our prayers had been answered. Crossing a border was really hard back then, and everyone in my family did it. [It was like] all those extreme, super dangerous things were not in vain. Every time [family members from El Salvador] come here, they’re like, “Take us to all the places that you sent us photos of.” [We take] the family to the Hollywood sign, [to] Rodeo. When I first started making good money, I took my mom to the Gucci store to buy some shoes. That’s a big deal for immigrant families. Never in a million years did my mom think she would be buying something from a store on Rodeo.

TG: I feel like we’re not normally allotted that opportunity. I think [my family’s perspective] was that they thought he was just rich.

KM: They all think we’re rich. Like, “They’re millionaires in America.”

TG: Obviously, [my dad] wasn’t [rich] in our perspective, but he was earning and had access to even just clothes, food, resources that they didn’t have access to. So in their eyes, he was this success.

KM: It’s important to let the world know how much value there is in these stories. When you bring in some of these brands that are not accessible to the world — some of the looks that I got are probably not even going to get made to be sold in stores, there’s so much exclusivity in that world — for me, it’s like bridging that gap. I can bring in that world because of the agency that I have in this world. And I can bring in my community and my friends, and bring in this memory from my family. Bringing all these things together and retelling this story, that’s such a superpower. I can’t wait to see how many people are going to be like, “My family used to do that, too.” I was in the car coming home [from the shoot] and I was just crying because I’m so grateful and blessed that I get to do this. An immense feeling of gratitude and love that I get to tell these stories.

TG: For me, it was important to honor my father. Honor what he used to do. A lot of the blessings I have today in my life are because of him, because he did dream, because he did create those spaces for himself. I am reaping the benefits from his labor, from his resilience, from his tenacity, from his ambition. He came to America at 14 years old with $10 in his pocket. And now, I’m able to support myself fully financially from my art and that’s such a privilege. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if he didn’t didn’t lay down the foundation. So a big part of this project for me was just to honor him and the rituals he used to do.

KM: That’s the goal with everything that I do: the ripple effect it causes. What is it going to inspire a younger me to do? I wish I had seen someone like me growing up.

Production Mere Studios
Models Ozzie Juarez, Pablo Simental
Grooming Carla Perez
Styling Assistant Deirdre Marcial
Pinstripe Art Diana Ramirez

Fresh off an Olympic bronze medal, basketball star Dearica Hamby has filed a federal lawsuit against the WNBA and her former team, the Las Vegas Aces.

The three-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Sixth Women of the Year winner is accusing the league and her former team of discriminating and retaliating against her while she was pregnant, culminating in her trade to the Los Angeles Sparks in January 2023.

“Defendant’s decision to trade [Hamby] was motivated by [Hamby’s] announcement that she was pregnant after signing her contract extension,” reads the 18-page complaint, filed in U.S. district court in Nevada on Monday.

Hamby’s lawyers allege that being traded caused Hamby harm, including “lost promotional and/or endorsement opportunities, relocation to a more unfavorable tax environment, and the denial of a chance to participate for a back-to-back WNBA championship.”

They are asking for compensatory and punitive damages, “to be determined at trial.”

The Aces did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did the WNBA, but a spokesperson for the league has told multiple media outlets that officials are “reviewing the complaint.”

Aces coach Becky Hammon has denied Hamby’s allegations in the past, saying in May 2023 that the trade “came down to math and business.”

“We made the decision to move Hamby because we could get three bodies in for her one contract,” Hammon told reporters. “[Her pregnancy] was never an issue, and it was never the reason she was traded. It just wasn’t.”

The WNBA launched a formal investigation into Hamby’s discrimination claims in early 2023 — around the time that her second child was born — and concluded that the Aces had violated league rules “regarding impermissible player benefits.”

It consequently rescinded the Aces’ 2025 first-round draft pick, and also suspended Hammon for two games without pay “for violating league and team Respect in the Workplace policies.”

But this month’s lawsuit argues that the WNBA’s response didn’t go far enough to correct the violation of Hamby’s rights or provide her with any meaningful redress. Her lawyers say the WNBA “had the power to, but did not, rescind the trade.”

“The [WNBA] did not impose adequate punishment or consequences on the [Las Vegas Aces] for the discriminatory treatment experienced by [Hamby] nor for her unlawful trade to the Los Angeles Sparks such that it would deter any future similar conduct,” the complaint says.

Hamby gave birth to her son, Legend, in March 2023 and reported to training camp for the Sparks the following month. The lawsuit says she did not miss any required time with the team as a result of her pregnancy, and went on to play in all 40 of their regular season games. At the end of the season, the Aces won their second consecutive championship, without her.

Hamby filed a discrimination claim against the WNBA and the Aces with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the fall of 2023, and the federal agency ruled in May 2024 that she had the right to sue.

Hamby’s attorneys — with the national firm HKM Employment Attorneys — said in a statement that the Aces had “exiled” Hamby for becoming pregnant and “the WNBA responded with a light tap on the wrist.”

“Every potential mother in the league is now on notice that childbirth could change their career prospects overnight,” they added. “That can’t be right in one of the most prosperous and dynamic women’s professional sports leagues in America.”

‘You’re trading me because I’m pregnant?’

Hamby has played in the WNBA since 2015, starting with the San Antonio Stars — who began operating as the Las Vegas Aces in 2018. She helped lead the Aces to their first-ever WNBA championship in the fall of 2022.

According to the lawsuit, Hamby signed a two-year contract extension with the team in the spring of 2022, which would have carried her through the 2024 playing season.

To seal the deal, the lawsuit says, the team offered Hamby additional “benefits and inducements” like an agreement to cover private school tuition costs for her daughter and allow her to occupy team-provided housing.

Less than a month after Hamby signed the contract extension, she discovered she was pregnant again. She told Hammon and other Aces staff during the summer, and publicly announced her pregnancy at their championship victory parade that fall.

Dearica Hamby poses with her daughter Amaya during a 2022 WNBA championship ring ceremony before the Aces’ game against the Los Angeles Sparks in May 2023.

Steve Marcus/Getty Images

hide caption

Advertisement

toggle caption

Steve Marcus/Getty Images

Hamby’s lawyers say that once her pregnancy was public, she “experienced notable changes in the way she was treated by Las Vegas Aces staff.”

She couldn’t get a clear answer on when her daughter’s tuition would be paid, and was informed that she had to vacate team-provided housing, according to the suit.

The lawsuit also recounts a January 2023 phone call between Hammon and Hamby in which the coach allegedly questioned her commitment to the team, falsely accused her of signing her contract extension while pregnant and suggested she wasn’t taking her off-season workouts seriously. The lawsuit says Hamby, then seven months pregnant, was “working out regularly as permitted by her medical doctors.”

Hammon allegedly told Hamby that no one expected her to get pregnant again, “implying that by signing the contract extension, Hamby implicitly agreed she would not get pregnant during the two-year extension period.”

Hamby’s lawyers say she twice asked, “You’re trading me because I’m pregnant?” Hammon allegedly responded, “What do you want me to do?”

According to the lawsuit, Hammon told Hamby the next day that her “time with the Aces is up,” and that she could “pick a place like Los Angeles or Atlanta.” Within a week, the team publicly announced that Hamby had been traded to the Los Angeles Sparks.

Hamby says she was punished after she spoke out

Hamby responded to the trade announcement with a public social media post expressing her gratitude and excitement, but also admitting that she was “heartbroken.”

“Being traded is a part of the business. Being lied to, bullied, manipulated and discriminated against is not,” she wrote, before outlining some of the back and forth over her pregnancy. “The unprofessional and unethical way that I have been treated has been traumatizing. To be treated this way by an organization, BY WOMEN who are mothers, who have claimed to ‘be in these shoes,’ who preach family, chemistry and women’s empowerment is disappointing and leaves me sick to my stomach.”

Shortly after, the executive director of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association emailed the WNBA’s general counsel on Hamby’s behalf, requesting they open an investigation, which they did.

Dearica Hamby of the Los Angeles Sparks attempts a shot during a May 2024 game in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

hide caption

Advertisement

toggle caption

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

The lawsuit alleges that the Aces “engaged in a number of retaliatory acts” against Hamby after she went public with her complaints.

Some of the examples listed including telling players and staff to cease communication with Hamby, refusing to extend her an invitation to attend the White House ceremony celebrating their first championship win, and directing video personnel at a 2023 playoff game not to show Hamby’s daughter on screen despite the fact that she was “a fan favorite.”

The lawsuit says Hamby’s trade resulted in additional tax burdens, loss of sponsorship opportunities, reputational harm and other financial losses, in addition to emotional distress and anxiety.

Terri Carmichael Jackson, the executive director of the player’s union, reiterated in a statement this week that the 2020 collective bargaining agreement granted parents protections that ensured pregnancy wouldn’t mean the end of their career. Those include paying players their full salary while on maternity leave and providing an annual child care stipend of $5,000.

“Obviously, these protections did not change the nature of this business,” she added. “Any team can trade any player for any legitimate reason or no reason at all. But that reason can never be on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, parental status or pregnancy status.”

Despite its continued lack of profitability since going public, Rivian is doing a lot of good things. For example, the EV maker rescues trucks stuck in a rut and uses shared owner data to let other owners know where the crummy chargers are. The latest add to its no-one-asked-but-we’re-going-to-do-something-nice-anyway list is repositioning vehicle charge ports so they’re more compatible with Tesla Supercharger stations.

Nearly every automaker that sells an EV has announced it will be adopting the Tesla-developed North American Charging System (NACS) charger connecter by 2025. It’s quite a flip from the currently standard Combined Charging System (CCS), which is also the dominant global connector that Tesla itself uses for its cars overseas. But outside of the Supercharger network, the U.S. EV charging infrastructure just plain sucks. 

To fend off increasing customer dissatisfaction and slowing sales growth, automakers probably feel a quick fix is adapting to the existing vast, fast, and surprisingly reliable NACS-based Supercharger network rather than waiting for a snail’s pace federally-backed infrastructure to catch up. The problem is there is no standard on where vehicle charge ports should be. There never has been. 

Tesla, for its part, has all of its charge ports in the left rear of the vehicle. Like other automakers making the NACS switch, Rivian offers an adapter for its soon-to-be-retired CCS-pronged plug. In 2025, R1 models will have direct NACS compatibility, followed by the R2 in 2026. That’s not the only change coming. Rivian has also moved the charging ports.

Green Car Reports says that during a recent showing of the upcoming R2 and R3X models at the Rivian Space in Pasadena, California, the plug-in location was now the left rear. When the vehicles first debuted, those ports were located on the right rear. Official Rivian images specifically highlight this, all of which still appear on its website. Rivian has previously said that the right rear is ideal for curbside charging as well as plugging into its own charging network.

Although a nice gesture, the update isn’t without detractors. For one thing, the new port position doesn’t help owners who trailer, tow, or use equipment racks. And it’s a valid complaint considering the R1T and R1S have their charge ports in the left front of the vehicle. Public stations with pull-through chargers exist but are scarce. Keep in mind, too, that not only are tow-friendly vehicles like trucks and SUVs going electric, but so are RVs. 

According to Gridserve, a majority of EVs have charge ports located in the rear. The chicken-dinner winner is the right side, which claims 37% of the EVs, while the left accounts for 28%. Although these figures are based on U.K. EV sales, they do show a lack of consensus among EV automakers. Sometimes, even internally, there’s no agreement. Kia EVs, for example, have charge ports located in the right rear, left front, and middle front. But this madness could be methodical and based on everything from where the vehicle electronics are, to the market where it’s sold, to even how the vehicle is used (like, ahem, towing).

I’m not sure we can call this a nascent industry at this point, but, damn, does the EV market still have a lot of growing pains to work through. Plus, the industry needs to focus not just on the 42-mile-daily-average suburbanite commuters but also the business travelers, road trippers, haulers, weekend warriors…you know, everyone if the goal is an EV-only future. Because, honestly, disconnecting a trailer just to connect to a charging station is a bish.