Hollister
– Despite the city council’s decision to cancel this year’s
Independence Rally, at least one Hell’s Angel is planning to roar
into town on his Harley Road King this Fourth of July.
Hollister – Despite the city council’s decision to cancel this year’s Independence Rally, at least one Hell’s Angel is planning to roar into town on his Harley Road King this Fourth of July.
For months following the cancellation, infamous Hell’s Angel Sonny Barger wasn’t sure if he would come to the rally he has been attending since 1997. But on Thursday, Barger’s long-time attorney and business manager Fritz Clapp announced that the man who once put a gun to Keith Richard’s back has decided to come to Hollister this year.
“It’s a big rally and he’s going to be there to sell books and be a celebrity,” Clapp said. “And I don’t think he’ll be the only (Hell’s Angel) there.”
Barger, who started the Oakland Chapter of the Hell’s Angels in the 1950s, will be signing and selling his four books. Instead of setting up shop downtown on city streets, Barger is planning to hawk his wares from Corbin, the world’s top manufacturer of motorcycle seats, near the Hollister Airport.
Barger had been watching the city council’s decisions on the rally weekend for several months in order to make sure the event would be “sufficiently hospitable to visitors,” Clapp said. The decision was made, and Barger will again make the two-day motorcycle ride from his Arizona home to Hollister.
Clapp is predicting about 30,000 people will attend this year’s rally, but not even city officials know how many bikers will actually come to roar their choppers up and down Hollister’s main drag.
“I don’t think people came to Hollister because it was an ‘official event,'” Clapp said. “They came because it was an event. And we think a certain number of people will come this year just to see the chaos of an unofficial event.”
Although the federal government once called him “the most powerful and well-known outlaw motorcyclist in the country,” Barger lives a much tamer life than he did in his youth. The episodes that made him infamous, like the time he stomped gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson for failing to provide the Angels with a promised keg of beer, are now subjects for his books.
He’s married and rides horses when he’s not riding his Harley. Barger has never caused problems at any of the last eight Independence Rallies he has attended in Hollister. He remained calm at last year’s rally, even when members of the rival Mongols Motorcycle Club paraded – with police escort – past the Hell’s Angels vendor booth on Sixth Street.
“Sonny has always been a force of reason for the club,” Clapp said.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
