Famous Hollister Bike Rally Returns After Five Year Absence: Big Success

My small, rural town of Hollister, California is most famous for the great biker rally of 1947.  Well actually, it became known as the Hollister Riot.  Biker gangs filled the downtown area over the July 4th weekend of 1947, getting drunk, racing their bikes, making noise and breaking things.  According to some, the bikers didn't harm, rape or rob anyone, and didn't destroy any private property.  The whole thing was blown out of proportion, they say, by the San Francisco Chronicle looking for headlines.  A famous photo in the Chronicle shows one drunken biker sitting on his motorcycle surrounded by a sea of empty beer bottles.  The scene was staged, the bottles gathered, a cycle borrowed, and a drunk shanghaied to play the biker.

Maybe so, but Hollywood decided it would make a great movie:  biker gangs take over small California town, terrorize the populace, and create havoc!  So in 1953 they made a film about it, called "The Wild One," starring a young Marlon Brando as the chief protagonist and rebel.  (One lady character asks him "What are you rebelling against?" The Brando character replies, "What've you got?")

Bikers in Downtown Hollister

In any case, the July 4th Hollister Biker Rally became an official event, and for many years bikers (mostly on Harley Davidsons) have flocked to our small town every July 4th to party, party, party, fully welcomed by the town.  Bring money.  Then one year the Hollister City Council added up the revenues, costs and expenses and learned they were losing around $100,000 per rally.  So the rally ceased, at least until private promoters could be located to fund the event.  This year they did that.

The Hollister Biker Rally took place over July 5th and 6th this year, and the town filled with thousands of brilliantly painted and decorated Harley Davidson motorcycles.  There were booths, street vendors, food vendors, bands and even a couple of prostitutes, all watched over by an army of local cops from surrounding towns and counties.

This was the most successful biker rally that I have seen here.  People really enjoyed themselves, and I think the addition of many different bands (of the musical variety) was a major factor in that.  Twenty different bands took turns playing at three different locations, providing a variety of music.  My favorite was the eight piece latin-based band in the Civic Auditorium, a band seemingly modeled after Santana.  They are called "the Chicano Allstars" and played Santana favorites, latin jazz, and some Sam and Dave soul tunes.

Of course, there was lots of flesh on display, an unofficial contest of biker ladies on who can show the most cleavage without getting arrested.  Aye Chihuahua, I'm a leg man but found myself almost persuaded to convert.  This may require further study while Mrs. Chomper is looking the other way.

The Wild One Lives: the Hollister Biker Rally

The Hollister, California biker rally takes place this weekend, and the rumble of thousands of Harleys can be heard in the streets. Bikers come from all over to attend the Hollister biker rally, some traveling hundreds of miles.

The biker rally in Hollister started in 1947 in what is now referred to as "the incident." Thousands of bikers descended on the town for the 4th of July celebrations, got roaring drunk, covered the town about three feet deep in empty beer bottles, beat each other up, beat townsfolk up, belched a lot, slept on people's lawns, rode their bikes into restaurants and broke the furniture, and made general nuisances of themselves. The police were outnumbered and finally had to bring in police forces from neighboring towns to push the bikers out, like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube.

"The Incident" led to a short story about bad bikers, which led to the movie "The Wild One," starring Marlon Brando. The movie was released in 1954 and starred Brando and Lee Marvin as a rival motorcycle gang leader. Here's how a biker website, Custom Motorcyles, describes the incident:

History of the 1947 'Battle for Hollister'
The town's mythical status as a July 4 refuge for the 'one-percenters,' outcasts, and outlaw biker misfits began on July 4th, 1947, when some 4,000 bikers, led by the 'Boozefighters Motorcycle Club' and the 'Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington,' descended on the town for a three-day drunk-fest, during the AMA sponsored 'Gypsy Tour' race held outside of town.

At the request of the Hollister police department's seven deputies, the California State Highway Patrol imposed martial law. Over a three day period, approximately sixty people were injured in the malay.

Of the 1947 incident, Life Magazine described the event as a "cyclist's holiday," but the subtext of the article showed a darker side, telling of outlaw bikers "racing their vehicles down the main street and through traffic lights," as they "rode into restaurants and businesses, breaking furniture and mirrors."

In the article, the only explanation for the rowdy behavior came from one of the participants, stating: "we like to show off."

'One-Percenters'
A San Francisco Chronicle reporter photographed the iconic (but allegedly staged) shot of a drunken biker teetering on his Harley Knucklehead bobber, surrounded by broken beer bottles. In response this indelible negative imagery, the AMA responded with the explanation that the mayhem was not committed by the 99% of mainstream cyclists" who are law-abiding citizens, but by the last "one percent."

Hollister and 'The Wild One'
The town's mythical status as a July 4 refuge for the 'one-percenters,' outcasts, and outlaw biker misfits was codified in the 1954 Marlon Brando, Lee Marvin movie 'The Wild One.'

One of the scenes I liked best in the movie has a pretty girl asking the Marlon Brando character "What are you rebelling against?" He replies, "What've you got?"

Nowadays the bikers are a lot more polite. The city welcomes them. You see signs for "Biker Breakfasts" put up by restaurants and "Welcome Bikers" signs in the roads approaching town. Motorcycle manufacturers bring in their latest models for display; streets are closed downtown to all but foot traffic and motorcycles; booths are erected everywhere to sell food, bike gear, accessories and clothing. The streets are lined with thousands of Harleys, their gas tanks painted in bright colors and impressive art. Biker chicks walk around in plunging necklines. You can even buy hand-rolled cigars, rolled while you wait. Hey, these last two items always pique my interest.

More important, the bikers are largely a patriotic lot. Bikes with American flags or POW-MIA stickers are common.

This year the city decided to hold the rally on the weekend following July 4th, to save money on overtime pay for the police. What started out as a drunken brawl 61 years ago has become a commercial street fair. And it ain't half bad.