”
It’s good to be home!
”
one man shouted at Johnny’s Bar and Grill Saturday, as he
embraced several people sitting around a table outside the renowned
saloon.
“It’s good to be home!” one man shouted at Johnny’s Bar and Grill Saturday, as he embraced several people sitting around a table outside the renowned saloon.
The history and tradition of the bar, which has reached icon status in the biker world, consistently brings patrons back every year during the Hollister Independence Day Rally.
“This is where it all started – where the Hollister motorcycle tradition started,” said Modesto resident Curtis Smith. “It’s a good crowd, nice people, and you know the stars have been here before.”
Every day of the rally, Smith spends about four hours hob-nobbing with old friends, new friends and the thousands of other patrons who frequent the bar.
While a cold can of Bud never left his hand, he insisted the purpose of spending time at Johnny’s wasn’t just about getting drunk.
“I come here to have fun – it’s a great atmosphere,” Smith said. “Good food and lots of pretty women.”
During the rally, Johnny’s opened at 7 a.m. each day and served breakfast for early-bird partiers and lunch from noon until 5 p.m. Stocking the bar with 10 times the amount of alcohol as in a normal weekend ensured the bar would turn a profit about 10 times more than normal as well, said owner Charisse Tyson.
Tyson also estimated that this year’s rally generated more people than last year’s.
“It started earlier and it will go later because the Fourth is on a Sunday and people don’t have to work on Monday,” she said. “I think (Marlon Brando passing away) might have had some effect – it was weird for that to happen.”
Brando’s life-size image graces the front of the bar as a tribute to the late actor’s character, Johnny, in the 1953 film “The Wild One.”
After Brando died on Thursday, Tyson had the company that printed the bar’s commemorative rally T-shirts overnight a special set that had a picture of Brando with “In Memory of,” and his birth and death dates on it, which sold out immediately, she said.
“I don’t know how many they shipped, but they went,” she said. “A lot of people are taking pictures next to the Marlon Brando picture out front, too.”
San Jose resident Wendy Manning was enjoying her fourth visit to the rally and always comes to Johnny’s for the low-key, local ambiance, she said.
“You get to know people who live here, so when you come back you have friends in Hollister,” Manning said. “Everybody’s friendly and I like the biker thing – especially now (since Marlon Brando passed away).”
Even with the hectic pace and constant stream of people, bouncer Jason “Moose” Montgomery didn’t have any problems with fights or unruly patrons, he said.
Montgomery worked 12-hour shifts, along with seven other bouncers who controlled the throngs of people.
“Everything’s been running smooth,” he said. “Most of these people are just weekend warriors – lawyers and doctors that ride in here and have a good time… It’s all different makes and models of people, and everybody’s welcome as long as you mind your P’s and Q’s.”
