URBAN IS COOL, SO HOMIES ARE HOT
By Robert Taylor, Knight Ridder Newspapers

David Gonzales' empire was born in a gumball machine. Five years ago, his Homie characters — urban caricatures with names such as Smiley, Spooky and Chula — turned up in clear plastic spheres in grocery store vending machines across the country. Since then, more than 100 million have been sold for 50 cents apiece, with a penny going back to Gonzales.

The 43-year-old artist-turned-mass-merchandiser keeps a vending machine close at hand in his Emeryville, Calif., studio. "This is where it all started," Gonzales says. "The Homies just ripped through the machines."

He is quiet, serious, and seems a little dazed by the success of the characters he began drawing when he was a kid.

"I hope people recognize us as an artist-driven, grass-roots business, not a big company trying to tap into the Latino market," Gonzales explains. "It wasn't meant to be a big business. I just followed where it led me."

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