By JUSTIN M. NORTON
Associated Press Writer
Estimates put Rally crowd at about a third of what it was in
previous years
Thousands of bikers roared into the town made famous by Marlon
Brando’s 1953 film
”
The Wild One
”
last Saturday, defying a city council decision to cancel one of
the country’s most celebrated motorcycle rallies.
Estimates put Rally crowd at about a third of what it was in previous years
By JUSTIN M. NORTON
Associated Press Writer
Thousands of bikers roared into the town made famous by Marlon Brando’s 1953 film “The Wild One” last Saturday, defying a city council decision to cancel one of the country’s most celebrated motorcycle rallies.
The bikers cruised Hollister’s streets on personalized choppers, racing bikes and tricked-out Harley Davidsons. Despite the heat, they were decked out in leather pants and jackets. One man rode with his goggle-sporting dog in a sidecar.
Dozens of police officers, many from other cities, patrolled the streets. Bars were packed before noon.
“We’re the taxpayers. We’re not hoodlums,” said Jack Stout, 51, of Gilroy, who has logged more than 40,000 miles on his 2003 Harley Davidson Superglide and plans to come annually even if the event isn’t officially sanctioned.
The Hollister Independence Rally has been a summer destination for bikers for decades, much like the Sturgis rally in South Dakota. But earlier this year the Hollister City Council voted to cancel the 4th of July weekend event, saying it was too expensive and too dangerous.
Bikers showed up anyway, though in much smaller numbers. Hollister police Capt. Bob Brooks estimated about 5,000 people attended Saturday – normally the most popular day of the rally – compared to 15,000 to 20,000 in previous years.
“They’ll never stop it. It’s been going since the 40s,” said Tony Morris, 53, who rode in on his Harley Davidson Road King from the San Francisco area. He’s been making the annual pilgrimage to Hollister since the 1960s and considers it tradition.
Hollister is normally a quiet city that’s home to boutiques and mom-and-pop restaurants such as the Hard Times Cafe. But this weekend it was packed with bikers riding custom cycles, many worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Monica Johnson, one of the council members who voted against the rally, said officials knew when they canceled the event in February that bikers would come anyway, so they devised a contingency plan. The city spent $150,000 on extra police patrols this year, compared to the $700,000 it would’ve spent if it sanctioned the event.
“It wasn’t about, ‘we don’t want them to be here at all.’ It was about, ‘the city couldn’t afford to have a rally,'” Johnson said.
The city has attracted motorcyclists since 1947, when Life magazine published an article on a Hollister biker brawl.
“You get all walks of life here,” said biker Sylvia Deluna, 50, who lives in Hollister and petitioned the city council to allow the rally.
Business owners were angered by the city’s decision. Many hung signs in the window welcoming bikers and offering specials on bottled water, pizza and beer. Vendors set up large tents, where they sold tri-tip steak sandwiches, leather vests and even tee-shirts that said “Hollister: Canceled, 1947-2006.”
“I think it was a big mistake for the town,” said Serena Chapman, 32, general manager of The Vault restaurant. “I think the town will lose a lot of revenue. If they had managed it smartly, it would have been a good event.”
Chapman said she was thrilled to see bikers streaming in and predicted it would be a good weekend for business.
“I knew that would happen,” Chapman said. “It’s a show of force. You can cancel it, but we’re still coming.”
Bikers were organizing a petition drive to make the rally a city-sanctioned event again, saying it was too much of a tradition and too lucrative to cast off. Councilwoman Johnson said she and other officials would consider the idea for next year.
“We want the public to see exactly what the biker community thinks of this town and how nonviolent (the rally) is,” said Marlon Moss, executive director of the Hollister Rally Commission, who has attended the event for almost three decades.
Moss said the rally should be legitimate because independent-minded bikers would continue to show up out of tradition.
“Even though there’s not an event,” he said, “the biker community knows the history and they show up.”
