Bikers. Say the word, and mothers hide their small children, law enforcement officers fondle their
nightsticks and mace, and the government launches secret investigations into the daily lives of
these obviously deranged people who choose to ride loud flashy motorcycles, and wear leather
in worship of the steer-hide industry.
Bikers.
Don’t they burn babies and eat dogs? Or is it the other way around? Never could get that straight………….but hey, I’m a biker. What do I know?!
Sunday, May 15th, 40 to 50 leather clad children of the wind descended the hill into Capitola by the Sea,
and after feeding all the meters in attendance, gathered in front of Zelda’s Restaurant, where I made a
short speech to keep all the potential mayhem to a minimum, and then with our attorney by our sides, made our entrance to this charming cultural icon of Capitola Village.
After most of us made it inside, I espied the Manager, Ed, and approached him, asking if we were welcome. Ed was professional, and courteous, but informed us that yes, indeed, we were welcome
(who wouldn’t welcome 50 potential customers on a blustery chance of rain day?)….however, would we
be so kind as to either remove our vest and insignia, or turn them inside out?
I informed Ed that no, we were not willing to do that, citing our 1st amendment rights of Freedom of Speech, and reminding him that it is against the law in California to discriminate against a class of
people (in this case bikers with insignia on their backs), and couldn’t he see that this was a bad policy?
And wouldn’t he like to take a chance on us and serve us maybe just for the day? I promised him every person there would buy, at the minimum a soft drink. Ed hesitated for a moment, I could see the potential dollar signs flashing in his eyes, but he still said he couldn’t allow us to wear our “colors” or “patches” as we call them, because they were associated with outlaw biker gangs. Our attorney (Joey Lester, and A.I. M. Attorney for Biker’s rights) attempted to further inform the erstwhile manager that
there were NO biker gangs here, only clubs. We even showed him the small patches many of us
wear that say: “MOTORCYLE CLUBS ARE NOT STREET GANGS”. We asked him to notice that there were
many different clubs there including the Hells Angels, Ghost Mountain Riders, Boozefighters, Top Hatters, Jus Brothers, The Norsemen, The Watch, The Patriots, The Coastal Crusaders, God’s Warriors, The Valley Vixens (a gal’s club), and many more. I asked him to notice that we were all there together to have a nice day at his establishment. We weren’t fighting with each other, and all we wanted was to be treated the same as any other folks. Why were we being singled out as somehow “not worthy” to dine in his restaurant?
Well….at this point poor ol’ Ed was getting a little nervous about the situation. Finally he said:
“Look guys n’ gals, I’d like to let you in, but I’m just the manager, and this policy is the owner’s policy,
and I really don’t want to lose my job over this………….”
It was a that this point my Lawyer and I decided we didn’t want to jeopardize this man’s tenure at
Zelda’s, so I spoke up to the riders, and said: “Let’s go, this place can’t serve us. They want us to take our patches off.” This of course, was met with some grumbling from our merry little band, and surprisingly,
with some “Boos” from regular patrons already there. But we dutifully left, and headed for the “FogBank”, next door, another place we’d heard had a “no-patch” policy. We had no problem there, and
then went to Margaritaville, also next door, where we had a great time, and were treated cordially.
I guess I should mention here, that we all came to Capitola that day as part of the “Monterey Bay Confederation of Clubs”, a biker’s rights organization, dedicated to fighting unfair legislation, and
promoting greater understanding of our lifestyle, and hopefully changing popular misconceptions about bikers and motorcycle CLUBS in general. Our Confederation is made up of 47 different clubs in the Monterey Bay and San Jose/Hollister area. We meet once every 2 months, and are very active in educating the public as to just who we are. We are one of 7 confederations in California, and one of the hundreds now spreading across the United States. We are NOT street gangs, and highly resent being lumped in with them. Street gang members don’t wear their insignia on their backs for all the world to see, they hide and skulk, and do drive-by shootings. That’s not us. Unfortunatly, Law Enforcement sometimes looks at us as “gang members”, and finds it’s easy to find us, and cite us, and harass us, and intimidate us, rather then spend the grant money they get to fight street gangs, they may choose to spend it on unnecessary road side stops, or as just happened here in Santa Cruz on April 10th this year, a “Zero Tolerance” exercise under the control of the “Santa Cruz County Gang Enforcement Task Force” which targeted only bikers attending a local Hells Angel’s Easter basket run.
All for the public’s protection of course……protecting the public from us? Or protecting us from each other?? Not clear on that…………..! Easier, I suppose, then having to do the real work of stopping street gang activities.
But I digress.
All the bikers that took part Sunday in our little exercise of our 1st and 14th amendment rights, had a great day, and enjoyed the warmth and friendliness of Capitola Village, even though we weren’t wanted at Zelda’s.
I hope to change that policy some day.
Until then, I hope john Q. Public will take some time to maybe look at your friendly neighborhood bike clubs as maybe something more than a leather-clad collection of misfits, and try to understand, that now-a-days, we’ve become organized, and vigilant, and we will fight for not just our rights, as narrowly defined within our biker culture, but also for everyone’s rights.
Many people don’t realize that bikers are at the forefront of keeping our rights to assemble, and keeping our rights to privacy, and by extension YOUR rights to assemble, and have free speech, and privacy. We are Americans, and proud to be. Many of us are Veterans, and have found a home in the lifestyle of the motorcycling world, where we are together as brothers and sisters of the wind……alive and well, and representing FREEDOM in AMERICA!
Lompico Lyle, Founder: Ghost Mountain Riders MC (Motorcycle CLUB)
Chairman: Monterey Bay Confederation of Clubs
nightsticks and mace, and the government launches secret investigations into the daily lives of
these obviously deranged people who choose to ride loud flashy motorcycles, and wear leather
in worship of the steer-hide industry.
Bikers.
Don’t they burn babies and eat dogs? Or is it the other way around? Never could get that straight………….but hey, I’m a biker. What do I know?!
Sunday, May 15th, 40 to 50 leather clad children of the wind descended the hill into Capitola by the Sea,
and after feeding all the meters in attendance, gathered in front of Zelda’s Restaurant, where I made a
short speech to keep all the potential mayhem to a minimum, and then with our attorney by our sides, made our entrance to this charming cultural icon of Capitola Village.
After most of us made it inside, I espied the Manager, Ed, and approached him, asking if we were welcome. Ed was professional, and courteous, but informed us that yes, indeed, we were welcome
(who wouldn’t welcome 50 potential customers on a blustery chance of rain day?)….however, would we
be so kind as to either remove our vest and insignia, or turn them inside out?
I informed Ed that no, we were not willing to do that, citing our 1st amendment rights of Freedom of Speech, and reminding him that it is against the law in California to discriminate against a class of
people (in this case bikers with insignia on their backs), and couldn’t he see that this was a bad policy?
And wouldn’t he like to take a chance on us and serve us maybe just for the day? I promised him every person there would buy, at the minimum a soft drink. Ed hesitated for a moment, I could see the potential dollar signs flashing in his eyes, but he still said he couldn’t allow us to wear our “colors” or “patches” as we call them, because they were associated with outlaw biker gangs. Our attorney (Joey Lester, and A.I. M. Attorney for Biker’s rights) attempted to further inform the erstwhile manager that
there were NO biker gangs here, only clubs. We even showed him the small patches many of us
wear that say: “MOTORCYLE CLUBS ARE NOT STREET GANGS”. We asked him to notice that there were
many different clubs there including the Hells Angels, Ghost Mountain Riders, Boozefighters, Top Hatters, Jus Brothers, The Norsemen, The Watch, The Patriots, The Coastal Crusaders, God’s Warriors, The Valley Vixens (a gal’s club), and many more. I asked him to notice that we were all there together to have a nice day at his establishment. We weren’t fighting with each other, and all we wanted was to be treated the same as any other folks. Why were we being singled out as somehow “not worthy” to dine in his restaurant?
Well….at this point poor ol’ Ed was getting a little nervous about the situation. Finally he said:
“Look guys n’ gals, I’d like to let you in, but I’m just the manager, and this policy is the owner’s policy,
and I really don’t want to lose my job over this………….”
It was a that this point my Lawyer and I decided we didn’t want to jeopardize this man’s tenure at
Zelda’s, so I spoke up to the riders, and said: “Let’s go, this place can’t serve us. They want us to take our patches off.” This of course, was met with some grumbling from our merry little band, and surprisingly,
with some “Boos” from regular patrons already there. But we dutifully left, and headed for the “FogBank”, next door, another place we’d heard had a “no-patch” policy. We had no problem there, and
then went to Margaritaville, also next door, where we had a great time, and were treated cordially.
I guess I should mention here, that we all came to Capitola that day as part of the “Monterey Bay Confederation of Clubs”, a biker’s rights organization, dedicated to fighting unfair legislation, and
promoting greater understanding of our lifestyle, and hopefully changing popular misconceptions about bikers and motorcycle CLUBS in general. Our Confederation is made up of 47 different clubs in the Monterey Bay and San Jose/Hollister area. We meet once every 2 months, and are very active in educating the public as to just who we are. We are one of 7 confederations in California, and one of the hundreds now spreading across the United States. We are NOT street gangs, and highly resent being lumped in with them. Street gang members don’t wear their insignia on their backs for all the world to see, they hide and skulk, and do drive-by shootings. That’s not us. Unfortunatly, Law Enforcement sometimes looks at us as “gang members”, and finds it’s easy to find us, and cite us, and harass us, and intimidate us, rather then spend the grant money they get to fight street gangs, they may choose to spend it on unnecessary road side stops, or as just happened here in Santa Cruz on April 10th this year, a “Zero Tolerance” exercise under the control of the “Santa Cruz County Gang Enforcement Task Force” which targeted only bikers attending a local Hells Angel’s Easter basket run.
All for the public’s protection of course……protecting the public from us? Or protecting us from each other?? Not clear on that…………..! Easier, I suppose, then having to do the real work of stopping street gang activities.
But I digress.
All the bikers that took part Sunday in our little exercise of our 1st and 14th amendment rights, had a great day, and enjoyed the warmth and friendliness of Capitola Village, even though we weren’t wanted at Zelda’s.
I hope to change that policy some day.
Until then, I hope john Q. Public will take some time to maybe look at your friendly neighborhood bike clubs as maybe something more than a leather-clad collection of misfits, and try to understand, that now-a-days, we’ve become organized, and vigilant, and we will fight for not just our rights, as narrowly defined within our biker culture, but also for everyone’s rights.
Many people don’t realize that bikers are at the forefront of keeping our rights to assemble, and keeping our rights to privacy, and by extension YOUR rights to assemble, and have free speech, and privacy. We are Americans, and proud to be. Many of us are Veterans, and have found a home in the lifestyle of the motorcycling world, where we are together as brothers and sisters of the wind……alive and well, and representing FREEDOM in AMERICA!
Lompico Lyle, Founder: Ghost Mountain Riders MC (Motorcycle CLUB)
Chairman: Monterey Bay Confederation of Clubs