OFF THE WIRE
Matthew Van Dongen
Hamilton Spectator
Hells Angels Club House at the corner of Beach Rd. and Gage Ave. N. .
Kaz Novak/The Hamilton Spectator
The Hells Angels really want you to know they’ve found a new home.
It’s already hard to miss the notorious biker club’s new digs at Gage Street North and Beach Road.
The big, decades-old sign that once welcomed patrons to the venerable Gage Tavern now shows off the distinctive death head logo of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.
A gate topped with barbed wire blocks the entrance to the former pub’s parking lot. The alley entrance on Beach Road also boasts a novel no-parking sign that warns off anyone but “angels.”
But if you miss all of those clues, club members are also making a point of meeting the neighbours.
“We’re introducing ourselves . . . . We’re letting people know we’re here,” said club member James “Bubba” Sherwood, in an interview outside the gated property Monday.
“We tried the other approach, by hiding in an industrial area and minding our own business, but they (police) didn’t seem to like that. They took that place away from us.”
“That place” was 269 Lottridge St., a thick-walled bunker of a building that served as the club’s last Steeltown hangout until 2009, when police raided and seized the building as part of a mammoth city-wide operation. The OPP-led operation seized guns, $215,000 worth of street drugs, vehicles, a home and three commercial sites as part of Project Manchester.
The Lottridge Street clubhouse was seized under proceeds of crime legislation, but the building has actually been seized twice. The first time was from pre-Angels biker club Satan’s Choice.
Sherwood thinks this time, the club will keep its hands on the new building, which he said is rented from an “acquaintance” who tried and failed to run the old tavern as a revamped bar and grill called Fat Boys.
“We’re not doing anything illegal,” Sherwood said, later adding “this is strictly a social place for us and our friends to meet, have a few beers and talk about bikes.”
In case you’re wondering, the security cameras and sealed up windows were “pre-existing,” according to Sherwood.
The barbed wire gates? Well, they’re new.
“But every building around here has fences, security cameras, bars on the window,” Sherwood argued. “That’s just the type of neighbourhood you’re in.”
Some of his new neighbours disagree, even if they didn’t feel safe giving their names Monday.
“This is a family neighbourhood. There are a lot of little kids — like my grandkids,” said Nancy Sayer, who lives around the corner from the new clubhouse.
Sayer was reluctant to say too much about her new neighbours, but admitted she’s worried.
“I haven’t met any of them, but you don’t usually hear a lot of good news associated with the Hells Angels,” she said from her yard, which is littered with kids’ tricycles and sports equipment.
Joyce Rattray hasn’t met any club members, despite their door-to-door plans.
“I don’t know anything about them. Their intentions might be good,” said Rattray, who lives in the neighbourhood. “But the stigma associated with a biker club is something we don’t need. End of story. This is a family neighbourhood, with a lot of low-income people who have struggles enough of their own without this to worry about.”
The city passed a “fortification bylaw” last year — dubbed the “motorcycle gang headquarters bylaw” by one councillor — designed to stop private homeowners from outfitting their buildings with things such as bulletproof shutters and steel.
John Lane, the city’s building inspections manager, said he’s received no complaints about the new clubhouse, or any other building, under the new bylaw.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1003722--hells-angels-reach-out-to-neighbours-in-hamilton?bn=1
It’s already hard to miss the notorious biker club’s new digs at Gage Street North and Beach Road.
The big, decades-old sign that once welcomed patrons to the venerable Gage Tavern now shows off the distinctive death head logo of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.
A gate topped with barbed wire blocks the entrance to the former pub’s parking lot. The alley entrance on Beach Road also boasts a novel no-parking sign that warns off anyone but “angels.”
But if you miss all of those clues, club members are also making a point of meeting the neighbours.
“We’re introducing ourselves . . . . We’re letting people know we’re here,” said club member James “Bubba” Sherwood, in an interview outside the gated property Monday.
“We tried the other approach, by hiding in an industrial area and minding our own business, but they (police) didn’t seem to like that. They took that place away from us.”
“That place” was 269 Lottridge St., a thick-walled bunker of a building that served as the club’s last Steeltown hangout until 2009, when police raided and seized the building as part of a mammoth city-wide operation. The OPP-led operation seized guns, $215,000 worth of street drugs, vehicles, a home and three commercial sites as part of Project Manchester.
The Lottridge Street clubhouse was seized under proceeds of crime legislation, but the building has actually been seized twice. The first time was from pre-Angels biker club Satan’s Choice.
Sherwood thinks this time, the club will keep its hands on the new building, which he said is rented from an “acquaintance” who tried and failed to run the old tavern as a revamped bar and grill called Fat Boys.
“We’re not doing anything illegal,” Sherwood said, later adding “this is strictly a social place for us and our friends to meet, have a few beers and talk about bikes.”
In case you’re wondering, the security cameras and sealed up windows were “pre-existing,” according to Sherwood.
The barbed wire gates? Well, they’re new.
“But every building around here has fences, security cameras, bars on the window,” Sherwood argued. “That’s just the type of neighbourhood you’re in.”
Some of his new neighbours disagree, even if they didn’t feel safe giving their names Monday.
“This is a family neighbourhood. There are a lot of little kids — like my grandkids,” said Nancy Sayer, who lives around the corner from the new clubhouse.
Sayer was reluctant to say too much about her new neighbours, but admitted she’s worried.
“I haven’t met any of them, but you don’t usually hear a lot of good news associated with the Hells Angels,” she said from her yard, which is littered with kids’ tricycles and sports equipment.
Joyce Rattray hasn’t met any club members, despite their door-to-door plans.
“I don’t know anything about them. Their intentions might be good,” said Rattray, who lives in the neighbourhood. “But the stigma associated with a biker club is something we don’t need. End of story. This is a family neighbourhood, with a lot of low-income people who have struggles enough of their own without this to worry about.”
The city passed a “fortification bylaw” last year — dubbed the “motorcycle gang headquarters bylaw” by one councillor — designed to stop private homeowners from outfitting their buildings with things such as bulletproof shutters and steel.
John Lane, the city’s building inspections manager, said he’s received no complaints about the new clubhouse, or any other building, under the new bylaw.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1003722--hells-angels-reach-out-to-neighbours-in-hamilton?bn=1
