S.F. Club Celebrates 50th Anniversary With Week-Long Rally
By Julian Guthrie, San Francisco Chronicle
Hundreds of Hells Angels roared into San Francisco on Thursday for a weeklong biker bash billed as a low-key celebration of custom hogs and brotherly love.
The host is the Hells Angels’ San Francisco chapter, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The club is the second-oldest in the world, after the San Bernardino chapter founded in 1948.
Bikers from around the globe are expected to take part in the festivities, which include the club’s annual “USA Run,” a guttural group ride through town. Celebrity biker Sonny Barger, the founder of the Oakland chapter who now lives in Arizona, plans to make an appearance over the weekend, according to Barger’s attorney.
Before the official party began, however, San Francisco police were investigating a shooting they said was linked to the international motorcycle club.
Two Hells Angels were being sought by police in connection with the early morning shooting of a man outside a Tenderloin strip club.
Police said the shooting occurred around 2:40 a.m. outside the New Century Theater on Larkin Street. Two men wearing Hells Angels leather jackets reportedly shot a man who pushed over their Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The man was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he remains in critical condition, police said. The suspects remained at large.
At the Hells Angels’ San Francisco clubhouse, situated on a dead-end street in the Bayview, a longtime member who asked not to be named said he’d learned of the shooting by watching the news. He and other members declined to comment on the allegation, saying they plan to keep the focus of the celebration on the club’s 50th anniversary.
At midday Thursday, members stood in the club’s doorway and sat on barstools and couches. Some headed to the parking lot to talk V-twin engines and trailing front forks and show off their better halves: tricked-out Fat Boys, Dyna Glides, Sportsters and Road Kings. License plates spanned the country.
The heavily tattooed club members, some with goggle tan lines, were decked out in black leather emblazoned with red letters on a white background and the club’s trademark death head logo.
Members said politely but firmly that the media are not invited to any of the weekend events. They said they are wary of the press because of what they see as the consistently inaccurate portrayal of the motorcycle club as an outlaw gang.
The fabled club has a rich and dark history.
“The Hells Angels started in the 1950s with a lot of World War II veterans,” said Tom Perkins, owner of the Dudley Perkins Harley-Davidson dealership in San Francisco. “Most of these guys are working-class guys. Every group, whether basketball, NASCAR, wrestling or you name it, has its unique cast of characters.”
As varied as the characters may be, the Hells Angels have one bike of choice: the Harley-Davidson.
Perkins, who owns two Harleys -- a 2003 Fat Boy and a 1982 Shovel Head that he calls “my baby” -- said the draw of the club is the bike.
“Harley-Davidson is not the most sophisticated, not the most modern, but it’s got the most heart and soul. If you like American iron, you go with Harley.”
Randy Burke, president of Road Shows Inc., which hosts a dozen motorcycle festivals around the country each year, said he has had only positive dealings with the Hells Angels.
“I deal with them on a business level,” Burke said from Milwaukee, the headquarters of Harley-Davidson Inc. “They are just like dealing with any businesspeople from any corporation. They are always very professional.”
Many law enforcement officials would have a different take, due to the group’s violent criminal history.
A year ago, two dozen Hells Angels from the Bay Area were indicted by the FBI on crimes stemming from guns, explosives, drug dealing, assaults and extortion. The group also has reportedly been engaged in a turf war with rival gangs, notably the Mongols, who have a strong base in San Jose.
In April 2002, three bikers were killed and a dozen injured in a Hells Angels-Mongols brawl at a Harrah’s casino in Laughlin, Nev., during an annual motorcycle rally.
San Francisco police said they expect the event to be peaceful and have no plans for extra security.