History is written on signs pointing back to a place you can never find – the reason why. Riding from Fresno to Monterey, still zoned-out from Yosemite I caught a glimpse of a wood sign so faded I almost missed it. The arrow was pointing backwards.
<— Hollister 3 miles
Adventure waits for no one so I turned the Harley around and went looking for Hollister. Did I find it? You decide.
A Gypsy Tour and the Myth of the Outlaw Biker
Hollister is a small farm and ranch town in the Central Coast of California. Because of a bizarre Fourth of July celebration in 1947, Hollister is also hallowed ground for motorcyclists all over the world. Thousands came from all over to what was billed as a “Gypsy Tour” by the American Motorcycle Association. The night began with drunken burnouts and wheelies by The Boozefighters Motorcycle Club of South Central LA, led by founder, Wino Willie. The night ended at dawn in a vaporizing mist with a Life Magazine photo that shocked the nation. Memories of that night inspire re-enactments annually to this day. An award-winning short story appeared in Harper’s in 1951. Two years later, The Wild One was released in theaters and became an instant cult classic. You can never predict the outcome of a drunken brawl.
Outlaw bikers like Sonny Barger (Oakland Hell’s Angels), Don Chambers from San Leon, Texas (The Bandidos) and Wino Willie’s Boozefighters all had one thing in common – they were ex-soldiers. War can bind men together for life. Soldiers who had trouble returning to civilian life found a home in biker clubs where brotherhood and strict rules of engagement approximated the intensity of war that civilian life could not offer.
A Drunk and His Photographer
That night in Hollister would’ve been forgotten by history if not for the infamous photo in Life Magazine depicting a wild-eyed drunk on a motorcycle surrounded by empties on San Benito Street. Follow the backward signs and it turns out the photo was staged by a photographer who pulled a drunk from a bar, posed him on a motorcycle, surrounded it with empties, and snapped the picture that made Hollister famous. The photo sparked a national panic and created an image in the minds of Americans about motorcycles and the people who ride them. The event became known as “The Hollister Riot.” Every young man in the country was drawn to the story. After Hollister, the motorcycle business experienced explosive growth for decades. How many industries can say they owe a debt of gratitude to a drunk and his photographer?
But was the photo staged? Eyewitnesses said yes. City leaders and frightened business owners used those eyewitness accounts to counter the national headline,
‘Outlaw Bikers Take Over Town!’
Strangely, nobody wanted to believe the eyewitnesses. Is myth the stronger tale? 70 years later, the hotels, bars, and restaurants in Hollister owe more to the power of myth than they realize.
It’s Hard to Kill a Good Story
But was it really myth? If you follow another backward sign floating around out there you come upon an old interview with Wino Willie where he bragged of plying Hollister’s wheel-chair-bound town drunk with wine then tying the chair with him in it to the bumper of a car and slinging him around town. When he fell out of his wheelchair Willie threw him on the hood of the car and drove ’til he noticed the man had stopped breathing. Fearing he might be dead, Wino Willie dumped the guy on a backstreet, covered him with newspapers, tossed the wheel chair, and left. The next morning Wino Willie woke to discover his cell mate was the very much alive town drunk he’d given up for dead a few hours earlier.
“It’s hard to kill a drunk,” said Willie which generated uproarious laughter at Johnny’s Bar later that day and for all time, I suspect.
The irony of a man named Wino waking up in a drunk tank next to a real wino was exceeded eventually by Hollister’s elevation to mythic hero, a man, who for his own drunken amusement, nearly killed one if its own citizens. Wino Willie wasn’t even charged with drunken disorderliness much less reckless endangerment — a crime to which he confessed freely right from the start and tirelessly thereafter. The Town Drunk from this tale? No one remembers his name.
When “The Hollister Riot” became good for business on San Benito Street, city fathers began reworking history to downplay the immense property damage caused by drunk bikers during annual reenactments. Bikers worked history upfront to get their mayhem mythologized. History is always being worked. It’s the tale that never ends.
The Tao of History
The Boozefighters weren’t outlaw bikers then or now. Wino Willie was a gunner in the open belly of a war plane in WWII before he was a Boozefighter. At times, Willie could become a little unhinged. But… more is owed to history’s unhinged than could ever be repaid. Wino Willie died a legend in 1997 at the age of 76, in the quiet wine country town of Santa Rosa. Some say he resides in an urn at the back of Johnny’s Bar on San Benito Street in Hollister. Every time you dig into the history of that night – Wino Willie, the photo in Life, The Wild One, outlaw bikers, and legends, you find something that alters the story. History never sleeps.
Today Hollister seems determined to keep the annual 4th of July re-enactment alive. It draws tens of thousands of bikers from all over the world. People talk about Hollister in England, Italy, even New Zealand. I’ve seen Mayan teens wearing commemorative Hollister T-shirts in remote Pueblos of the Yucatán. Hotels, restaurants, and bars have a financial interest in keeping the mayhem alive but local government can no longer afford the cost of security and the town goes nearly bankrupt every year. Yet the event still goes on.
Hollister is a quiet town with tree-lined streets where people are mostly concerned with crop yields and cattle. Late model SUVs and shiny muscle cars cruise the streets and except for my Harley, there’s not a motorcycle in sight. But for one night every year the people of Hollister take a walk with The Wild One, and no one knows the reason why.
Hollister, California – September 16th 2013
Author notes:
The Boozefighters Motorcycle Club was founded by Wino Willie in East LA after WWII and is still in existence … it promotes worthy causes and is as much a charitable organization as a motorcycle club
Stanley Kramer’s movie, “The Wild One” scrambles people and facts about the Hollister Riot but captures the ambiguous character of the American Biker through Marlon Brando’s skillful method-acting
Frank Rooney’s short story, “Cyclists’ Raid” was based on the Hollister Riot and published in the January 1951 issue of Harper’s
What became the “Hollister Riot” that night in 1947, started out as an American Motorcycle Association (AMA) sanctioned “Gypsy Tour” rally for July 3rd – 6th
Hollister hosted annual Gypsy Tour rallies throughout the 1930s which were interrupted by WWII
The “Hollister Riot” in 1947 was a revival of the pre-War Gypsy Tour rallies from the 1930s
The AMA released a statement at the time disavowing the Hollister Riot, attributing it to “the one per cent deviant” tarnishing the image of motorcycling …”one percenters” was used derisively thereafter by the AMA to refer to outlaw bikers … the AMA today disavows their original statement, saying they can find no record of it … there is no better indication of how important the “outlaw biker” image has become than the marketing campaigns of motorcycle industry today
The young man standing in the background of the infamous Life photo was one of the eyewitnesses to the staging by the San Francisco Chronicle photographer and he recounted the whole thing in great detail in later interviews that no one ever read or believed
Wino Willie died in 1997 while preparing to ride to Hollister to lead the 4th of July re-enactment parade for the 50th anniversary of “The Hollister Riot”
Willie got the name “Wino Willie” as a 7 year old breaking into wineries to drink wine…even as a child Willie was a little unhinged
Hollister really does have tree-lined streets without a motorcycle in sight
Steel Wheels 
A stirring account. You so aptly define the Quantum History. An infinite number of interpretations of historical events. Every observation of the event changes it. Praise the Lord for he KNOWS the TRUTH.
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… investigating “The Wild One” movie turns up the same endless number of story lines around the Hollister incident it was based on, strange connections to shooting locations in the neighboring area, character development, and “messaging.” Stanley Kramer, the producer also created what is often called the greatest movie ever, “High Noon” but the Kramer magnus opus is “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” A comedy that tells you everything there is to know about human nature…and so much more. The contrast with “The Wild One” isn’t as great as you might think. Both movies end on a sweet and funny upbeat note.
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To understand the attraction of mounting a two wheeled vehicle and revel in the feel of the wind rushing through your being is to understand the rapture of the Indians when the conquistadors left behind their horses. No longer limited by their own two legs they also enjoyed that same sensation. I will never forget the sight of a young Indian boy and girl on a pony flying across the New Mexico plateau their hair almost straight out behind them. We were on our way down a rough rutted road leading into the ruins at Chaco Canyon. The solitary enjoyment of this kind of ride ultimately is defamed when some strange urge takes over and the riders feel compelled to follow a leader and gather at the top of a canyon and wait for the pioneers or US soldiers to fall into their trap, or congregate on some highway and defy logic by riding on one wheel or smash in the windows of an SUV, or take over a small town and terrorize the citizens. As was once said by someone “it is a mad, mad, mad” world.
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Es Verdad.
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