"Lock up your daughters ! The Huns are on a roll ! Your town maybe next" was the word in 1947 as presented by Life Magazine article about a Californian town terrorized by gangs of motorcycle thugs.

The photograph was a nice stage setting for a heavyset, large beer gut, patch holder with the Harley neatly placed on broken bottles and the smug grin he wore on his face.  No doubt pissed as a fart and had no idea that such a photograph would become the turning point of a new era for Harley-Davidson.  The damage was done: from that point on, motorcycles would forever be associated with danger, rebellion, and violence. And as the loudest and heaviest bikes on the market, the Harley-Davidsons were considered the baddest of them all.   I am sure the Motor Company had not envisioned such a tainted reputation to go with their motorcycles and that such a reputable magazine like any media, sensationalized the actual event at Hollister, July 4th 1947.  It was actually a veteran San Francisco Chronicle photographer named Barney Peterson and reporter C. J. Doughty that had flown into Hollister to photograph the brawl. I guess by the time they got there, the action was well over so they adopted a nice theatrical scene to get the picture they needed out the front of 'Johnny's Bar and Grille on San Benito Street.  I am sure it was a hot piece of photography at the time but they certainly didn't put much thought into obtaining the exclusive and it's implication for the future.  I guess  these two well meaning freelancers made history of a different kind.....but it wasn't the first time Life ran with presented half truths, namely the 'Marine flag-raising on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi event to name another

Up to that point the Harley was a tour bike,  track racing  and hill climbing

"Only a very small percentage had assumed a darker image. Embittered and disillusioned by the American dream during the Depression, gangs formed up, mainly in the grungy industrial districts of Southern California, to ride and drink together, subsisting on menial jobs and dealing in stolen motorcycle parts. Because Harley-Davidson was the most abundant and popular motorcycle, it was obvious that it would be the brand of choice, both as a possession and a source of stolen income."  Commonly known as the 'Chopped up Harley'.

"The war had been cruel and the many Veterans returning from the war, were to embrace the motorcycle not only as a recreational diversion but as a weapon  against the established order, a raucous, fire-breathing barbarian of a contraption, the exhaust rattle of which was not unlike that of a .50-caliber machine gun.  Un muffled motorcycles became a trend of restless young men flung into the ennui of the post-war world".

I suppose it can't go without mentioning the motorcycle club that would rise into the realms of international legend.  Many just cringe at the mere mention of this MC and with the enigma of being the baddest, hardest riding, most rigidly disciplined, and ruthless of them all, at least in the minds of the general public that is.  Once an Angel, always a Hells Angel.  The main preference of motorcycle for this MC was deemed an exclusive motorcycle, the Harley-Davidson.

The fearful name was believed to have derived from a B-17 squadron  - the 358th - of the 303rd USAF Bomber Group based in the English Midlands during World War 2.  I would have to check with one of the Chiefs to clarify that piece of information as to the origins of the name for the  HAMC but thats what I found in the History books so don't shoot the messenger. There is no doubt as to their colors being centered around the profile of a helmeted skull trailing a large feathered wing, displayed with fanatic reverence on an embroidered patch surrounded by the words 'Hells Angels M. C. (motorcycle club), along with the name of their chapter.  The exact origins of biker club colours is unclear, although they probably date to pre-World War 2 and their use by more benign motorcycle organizations.  By the late 1950's, colours were in universal use by the clubs.   Other M.C. were formed whom became rivals to the Hells Angels but all the clubs, regardless of their location or size, formed their tightly knit organizations around a single talisman: a lusty, rackety brute of a motorcycle more often than not bearing the Harley-Davidson label.

 It was the American Motorcycle Association that denounced the Angels and their ilk as 'one percenters', an outlandish minority of thugs and outsiders who bore no resemblance to the real world of motorcycling.   This put down actually delighted the known outlaws, who saw it as affirmation of their presence and began wearing patches denoting themselves as, "One Percenters", the ultimate imprimatur of the hard-core badass biker was born into legend as well.  

People are so quick to judge and a name, or the essence of that name does not mean that an individual  is who that person actually is.  We join clubs and organizations because they may have a philosophy that we believe in, or simply it is of our own choosing despite what the general public think.  You don't hear us complaining of the organization they belong too or for what they stand for.

I put this to the test one day within a well meaning non profit organization that I was a member of and blow me down their true colors come out to play when they realized that Corporate power dressing was not the same person when wearing a leather jacket, faded blue jeans, boots and covered in tattoos ready to take the minutes of the Board Meeting.....

 Now who was being judgmental ?  I suppose it meant that I was not of quality  "good stock" any longer to be trusted with my  pen after almost two years, although I imagine it was my colors I wore or the patch I wore on the back of my leather jacket and yet it  is the same patch worn by a special soul that fought in Vietnam for his country.  Now who is Society judging?

Guess it is easier to resign and let them save face from further embarrassment and I am sure all future candidates will have to be checked for tattoos or leather jackets hiding in their wardrobes !  I guess they didn't know me after all and I am sure blunt talking was nothing to be feared! 

The Hells Angels certainly NEVER spun off gruesomely homicidal mutations like the Weathermen, Manson family etc... No Angel burned down an ROTC building or blew up a university laboratory  or machine-gunned a bank guard in the name of hazy people's revolution, did they!.  The Motorcycle clubs were essentially isolated, tightly knit cults whose battles were turf wars and who only ventured into the public domain when the media chose to spotlight them.   One thing Society in general forgets the most is that the majority of these people are not just Outlaws, Renegades or Bad-ass Bikers but are parents just like them !!!

It was during this period that the name 'HOG' was adopted to label and personalize the Harley-Davidson.  Like any nickname, it stuck much to the disgust of avid Harley riders. They got over it and in time they would heartily embrace such a nickname for their Harleys also and thus another legend was born.

 "Wild One" & "Rebel without a Cause", were fumbling attempts by Hollywood to describe a restlessness and isolation among the nation's youth that was being played out with infinitely more passion and intensity amongst the fledgling motorcycle clubs in grubby saloons and flophouses across the land. 

So how did all this effect the Motor Company, Harley-Davidson?

It was business as usual and it didn't matter whether the Harley-Davidson's bosses liked it or not, that their motorcycles were being marginalized as the favored machine of lowlifes and outlaws?   They were of course now enjoying what seemed to be an open field in the heavyweight motorcycle business.  Business was bloody good and still is so you don't hear them complaining who is buying their motorcycles.

It doesn't matter if you wear black, a patch or just ride and own a Harley for the sheer enjoyment of such a fine machine because Society is never going to forget the association of the Harley as belonging to those that ride them just like the legend paved the way in 1947........tell someone that cares!  A Harley is a Harley and a biker is a biker......if I had to explain, you wouldn't understand.