Hollister is a small California town, about midway between San
Jose and Bakersfield. The post – World War II population was about
500 citizens. The police force had only seven officers. Most of the
time that was more than was actually needed because nothing much ever
happened there. The 4th of July, 1947 would change that. A
mass of motorcycling enthusiasts descended onto Hollister and a
little hell broke loose. It was a seminal event for American bikers
and their relationship with the press.
In the 1930s, recreational motorcycling was on the rise. The
appeal of the automobile had started to wear off for some and the
motorized bike began looking like an exciting alternative. The
American Motorcycle Association had formed in 1924 and grew as an
organization dedicated to advocating for the rights of motorcyclists
and organizing events to bring such like minded people together. In
the 1930s they began holding Gypsy Tours, the name for a motorcycle
rally in Hollister. The events were low key with small but
enthusiastic turnouts. When World War II started, the AMA ceased
their Gypsy Tours temporarily. In 1947 they decided to restart the
event. The war had just ended and they thought July 4th
would be a great day for patriotic war veterans and non-veterans
alike to get together for a fun Independence Day celebration
involving bike racing and partying.
Many veterans from the war returned home, edgy and anxious. The
transition from a combat – oriented lifestyle to the tranquility of
peacetime America was not an easy adjustment to make. Some
ex-soldiers grew bored and restless; no danger meant no excitement.
Some suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, a psychological
condition that was not fully understood at the time; they had few
outlets for their aggression. Some of these ex-soldiers found the
needed stimulation in riding motorcycles. They began forming small
tribes of motorcycle clubs. High speed highway riding, drinking,
fucking, and brawling fueled the adrenaline rush they craved and a
saloon culture, reminiscent of the Old West arose.
The citizens of Hollister were looking forward to the Gypsy Tour
rally. Nothing much ever happened there and the postwar euphoria was
strong. However, they were not expecting so many motorcyclists to
show up. Over 4000 riders, 90 percent of which were men, swarmed the
streets of Hollister. Some had come from as far away as Florida for
the event. Among the crowd were clubs with names like the Galloping
Goose Motorcycle Club, the Boozefighters, and the Pissed Off Bastards
of Bloomington. The AMA had not anticipated such a crowd, as they had
underestimated how popular motorcycles had become. Since the past
rallies had been such small affairs, the people of Hollister were
taken by surprise.
They did welcome the bike riders with open arms though. The
rally was good for business and they were not used to much
excitement. The motorcycle races started as planned but as the day
went by, many bikers began going to the bars. They drank more than
the bar owners had expected. By late afternoon, there were drunk
motorcyclists all over town. They began racing in the streets. Some
of the rowdier ones starting throwing bottles and getting into
fights. By nightfall, a couple bars had broken windows, tables and
chairs. The streets were littered with broken glass and trash.
Boisterous drunks were making noise and the bartenders agreed it
would be best to close their doors early and go to bed.
The small town did not have enough room in their motels to put the
visitors up for the night, so many slept on the sidewalks, peoples’
lawns, and in the doorways of closed stores and restaurants.
The next day, the motorcycle races were again held as planned.
The bar owners, fearful of a repeat of the previous day’s chaos,
refused to sell any more beer to the motorcyclists. Not liking this,
the tougher and more aggressive men broke into the bars and raided
the beer supply and some decided not to pay. Overall though, aside
from a few punch-ups and more racing in the streets, nothing much was
different. The seven-man police force threatened to use tear gas to
calm things down but the threat did not work so they hauled a few of
the more obnoxious bikers off to jail.
By July 5th, things began to quiet down as the
officially scheduled races ended and the bikers began to leave town.
Life returned to normal. About sixty injuries were reported at the
local hospital, the most serious being a fractured skull and a broken
leg. Throughout the rally, there was some vandalism and fights, a lot
of noise and fast riding down the town’s main street. Residents
were later asked about the event; while some of the more older and
conservative citizens grumbled about the louness and confusion, a lot
of people said not much really happened. Aside from roaring motors
and loud voices, nothing dangerous had really happened.
The AMA’s Gypsy Tour rally of 1947 would probably have been
forgotten if the national media had not been there to report on it.
Witnesses claim that one night some people were seen piling up beer
bottles by the sidewalk; someone parked a big Harley Davidson in the
middle of it then persuaded a drunk to sit on it while a
photojournalist named Barney Peterson took his picture. The image
made it into Life magazine. Other newspapers around the
country began printing apocalyptic-sounding stories about barbarian
hordes of psychotic bikers who raped and plundered Hollister until
nothing was left standing. The sensationalized story-lines probably
had more to do with selling papers than accurately reporting on the
reality of the event.
The media coverage horrified some and inspired others. In
response to the raucous event, the AMA supposedly said that 99
percent of all motorcyclists are good people and it is only one
percent who are bad. Many bikers embraced this label of one percent;
as the number of motorcycle clubs began to grow, many of them would
start wearing a 1% patch on their colors to show they identify
themselves as outlaw bikers.
The Hollister Riot inspired film maker Laszlo Benedek to direct
The Wild One starring Marlon Brando in 1953. When a man asks
Brando’s character, “Just what is it you are rebelling against
anyway?” he replies with, “Whaddaya got?” The image of the
outlaw biker took hold in the public imagination and the media
responded by publishing horrific stories of biker gang rapes, gang
wars, and involvement in all manner of criminal activity.
Journalistic books, pulp novels, and grindhouse exploitation movies
about them began to appear, most of which were not enthusiastically
embraced by the real bikers counterculture itself. A symbiotic
feedback loop was created where bikers made themselves look more and
more dangerous and threatening, the media reported on it, and the
bikers reacted with indignation at the negative publicity they were
getting.
Nobody can know what would be different now if the media hod not
reported on the Hollister Riot. However, two months later, another
rally was held by the AMA in Riverside with similar results; nowadays
nobody knows about it because it received no media attention. The AMA
continued holding Gypsy Tour rallies in Hollister during the
subsequent years. They have been met with little complaint or
controversy. The riot of 1947 was, in hindsight, an insignificant
affair that the media blew out of proportion, creating a
Frankenstein-effect where outlaw bikers have been frightening some
sectors of the population. Sometimes that fear is legitimate and
sometimes it is not.
Reference
Wolf, Daniel R. The Rebels: A Brotherhood of Outlaw Bikers.
University of Toronto Press, 2000.
