The unabashed greed fest called the Hollister Rally is now scheduled to return July 5 and 6, 2013. This will be the twelfth time Hollister has celebrated the anniversary of the so-called Hollister Riot since the semi-centennial in 1997.
The Hollister event was invented to exploit all those Rich Urban Bikers with wads of cash to waste back in the heady days of the Clinton Administration – before the mortgage crisis, credit crisis, stock market crash, Iraq War, Afghanistan War, the Global War on Terror or even the formation of the one percenter task force in Los Angeles by the ATF. The event was cancelled in 2006, came back in 2007 and 2008 and was reborn last Monday night at a Hollister City Council meeting.
According to dozens and dozens of published reports, the event will be held “in association with” an events planning corporation called World Wide Dynamics Incorporated. According to the same dozens and dozens of reports, World Wide Dynamics “has a role” in both the Laconia and Sturgis rallies. Sturgis also has a city “Rally and Events Department.” The Laconia Motorcycle Week Association is generally credited with planning the annual New Hampshire event. Hollister does not have a City Department of Riot Nostalgia although maybe it should.
Last Time
The Hollister Rally was cancelled in November 2008 when the last promoter, a company called Horse Power Promotions, refused to advance the City of Hollister $360,000 to pay for “security.” Horse Power Promotions had lost $100,000 on the rally the year before.
Hollister police wanted an extra $120,000 a day in 2009 to do their jobs. At the time of the last cancellation City Manager Clint Quilter warned that if the police didn’t get paid they would not police the event. “Cutting back on law enforcement costs,” Quilter said, “could potentially result in police officers being manned around the downtown perimeter until the event’s completion when they would deal with the aftermath.” You know, like the guards had a perimeter around the Maximum Security Prison of Manhattan in the old science fiction movie Escape From New York.
Nobody has yet calculated how much the city will make in sales taxes after local merchants quadruple the price of everything for the weekend.
The Way We Were
The Hollister Rally is an homage to an Independence Day weekend motorcycle rally held there in 1947. As many as 2,000 bikers rolled into town on a Thursday night and stayed until Sunday. They camped in city parks and raced up and down Hollister’s San Benito Street. Three bikers were seriously injured in crashes. On Friday afternoon, Hollister’s seven-man police department was reinforced by a reported 40 California Highway Patrol Officers. Saturday, the San Francisco Chronicle sent in a couple of old school journalists – a reporter named C. I. Dourghty Jr. and a photographer named Barney Peterson to report from the trenches.
Dourghty’s colorful dispatch became the basis for the myth of the Hollister Riot. Dourghty reported an “outburst of terrorism” that included the “wrecking of bars, bottle barrages into the streets from upper story windows and roofs and high speed racing of motorcycles though the streets.” According to Dourghty, things got so bad that the Highway Patrol “herded the cyclists into a block on San Benito Street, between Fifth and Sixth Streets, parked a dance band on a truck and ordered the musicians to play.” Dourghty probably did not actually witness any of this.
Peterson, meanwhile used a still drunken biker named Eddie Davenport sitting on his motorcycle surrounded by empty beer bottles to illustrate Dourghty’s words. The staged photo never ran in the Chronicle but it did appear in the July 21, 1947, edition of Life magazine over a caption that read, “Cyclist’s Holiday: He and his friends terrorize a town.”
That photo became the inspiration for a short story by Frank Rooney called “Cyclists Raid.” In turn, that story inspired a movie starring Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin called The Wild One: About a pack of bikers called the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club who stop in a small town for a breather and a beer. Shortly before the Black Rebels move on their leader, a character named Johnnie Strabler, is framed for manslaughter.
And, the rest is history.
January 11th, 2013 at 11:10 pm
It seems now days everything is an excuse for “law enforcement” (formerly known peace officers) to make some money. Every crime news story has some pig whining about how with more funding things could have been different, or how the latest threat-of-the-week should require a new dedicated set of resources, etc. I see this crap in my small town where they charged a veterans group several thousand for “security” to hold a bike/car show and hosted a big BBQ for all the pork in attendance to belly up to the overtime trough. The pigs outnumbered the bikers! Crap… and here I thought I was mellowed out for the evening. My BP probably just shot right back up.
January 12th, 2013 at 7:20 am
Well, whatever weekend they have that turd planned for should be a good time for our kith and kin to avoid all the Eric Von Zippers and go to Bass Lake or Big Bear, or my favorite: Slab City.
January 12th, 2013 at 7:51 am
Daytona, Laconia, Sturgis, Hollister, Disneyland, I wouldn’t piss on any of ‘em. Haven’t been to Sturgis since the 70′s. If I want to see my lawyer or my dentist, I’ll make an appointment at their office.
Just my lil .02, but I think these corporate “biker events” should be shunned. If the interest in gettting together is there, do it old-school, pick a place, and show up. If the pigs want to “crack-down” on thousands of scooter tramps, well, good luck with that.
FTF / FTP
TOSIAR
Five to One
January 12th, 2013 at 10:24 am
The Hollister Rally, for all intents and purposes, is more like a Cop Ticket Gauntlet. Hollister officials might enact a no weapon ordinance just for the rally. IOW, you could be cited or arrested even if it’s just a pocket knife so don’t bother carrying ‘em – put ‘em away.
If I still lived in the SF Bay Area, would ride north to Humboldt County for the weekend. Getting away from it all, not contributing my meager funds to those greedy law enforcement parasites at a commercialized biker rally, is what works for me. YMMV
January 12th, 2013 at 12:20 pm
When I first heard of this,my thoughts were, Hell yea go back to the 1st big party, then reality set in,
Since Ive never been to Hollister I guess I,ll probably never go.
January 12th, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Hollister is a shit hole……..and the pigs are completely out of their minds there.
January 12th, 2013 at 1:13 pm
It isn’t the same at Slab City, http://blog.pe.com/multicultural-beat/2012/11/01/leonard-knight-returns-to-salvation-mountain/
but Hell Yeah – that’s got my vote.
January 12th, 2013 at 9:47 pm
Last time I went to Hollister they could have assigned each rider (not biker) their own personal officer of the law. Fuckem all.
uncle don
January 15th, 2013 at 6:48 am
the rallies serve a purpose for all MC’s. it’s good to get out there, and let people know you are around, shake some hands, meet some new people. But after, a few overpriced beers at the bar, and a few handshakes, I’ve always rolled back to our private area. I try not to stay out in gen pop too much.
There was a huge rally in Georgia that was called Angel City, that one was a good one. 200 Acres on private property. The bacon stayed out for the most part, and the security there was always cool. But crap like bike week at wherever, where you have 50,000 crammed on to a public street with no where to go, and the pork is there taking notes on exhaust and ape hangers, is just not worth it to me.
January 15th, 2013 at 8:40 am
Haven’t been to the Great Canadian Bike Rally but it sounds like any hope of it being successful are being fucked by the Queens Cowboys (Mounties). Even the general public was pissed about this, not just bikers.
http://www.greatcanadianbikerally.com/
JMacK
January 15th, 2013 at 8:50 am
I’m a relatively new biker who didn’t get to experience the rallies before they turned into baited fields for LEO. Thinking about doing Daytona this year though.
January 15th, 2013 at 11:46 am
There are things to do around the major rallies that can be fun, but the off the beaten path locations are much better in my dumbass opinion.
Angel City used to be fun, and there was never problem one between any of the clubs that showed up. And you’ve have clubs from GA, FL, and AL too.
The June Bug Boogie was a good time until a group from outside the area started coming in and starting shit for no good reason. Then cops used it as an excuse to buy Swat gear and bust heads.
I enjoy the Blue Ridge Bike Fest.
One year when I was at loose ends for Thanksgiving I rode west and ended up at Slab City. Met Leonard. He introduced me to 5 or 6 bikers who were visiting an elderly guy who was disabled and alone for the week. I was having problems with a voltage regulator and they contacted a brother in Orange-fucking-County who sent me a regulator and then refused payment. I met some of their brothers a few years later in Nevada and ended up meeting the guy from OC who refused payment then again. They didn’t know me from Adam but they treated me like I was a long lost child or relative.
One thing most other folks can’t comprehend is that whether I’ve been sober or wasted drunk, gainfully employed or rockbottom broke, a University instructor or a knockabout motorcycle mechanic, I’ve never been treated with anything other than respect and friendship, so long as I gave the same.
January 15th, 2013 at 12:34 pm
Big V, respect is worth it’s weight in gold as far as I am concerned.
January 16th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
@ BigV
I couldn’t have said it better myself!
January 16th, 2013 at 10:38 pm
@ Big V
Re; Angel City. There were sometimes issues dealt with at the rally, but they were dealt with out of the public view. Not their business, so why involve them.
Around our area, folks from out of town are dealt with on an individual basis. Few months back a scooter tramp was passing thru and broke down. Local bike shop let him camp in his shop yard, while waitin on parts. I happened by the shop, and met the dude. He was “wide eyed” after seeing my patch, and wanted to know if a couple shirts he had would be Ok to wear in this area? They were stealership shirts, but he was worried there might be some offense taken. None was, and he was invited to our “open house” the next night.
He offered respect, and was given some in return. As granddaddy said a long time ago, “respect is earned, not given”.