The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (known simply as the Hells Angels) is a worldwide motorcycle club whose club members are typically white men who ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The club was established on March 17, 1948 by World War II veteran Otto Friedli in Fontana, California. The name came from the World War II aviator bomber crews who were immortalized in the 1929 Howard Hughes film Hells Angels. The original Hells Angels insignia, copied from the insignia worn by the World War II 85th Fighter Squadron, was replaced with a coat of arms with a skull wearing a crash helmet sprouting angel wings. The Hells Angels utilize a patch system that identifies a member’s chapter, rank and significant actions. These patches are traditionally worn on either leather or denim jackets and vests. Membership excludes known pedophiles and anyone who has ever applied for a job as a policeman or prison guard. There is a long vetting process that can take up to four years before an initiate becomes a lifetime member.
The San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels[1] was established in 1953 by Rocky Graves from the San Bernadino Chapter. Their clubhouse was located in a vacant repair television repair shop on Folsom Street in SoMa[2]. Members distinguished themselves from other chapters with the red and white “Frisco” label painted on the sides of their bikes.
When in the late 1960s thousands of American youth descended upon Haight-Ashbury, the Frisco Chapter became enmeshed with the hippie movement. The Hells Angels were politically conservative and patriotic while the hippies were liberal and anti-military, but both groups shared a distrust of the police and a love of drugs and rock-and-roll. The Hells Angels moved their clubhouse from SoMa to a Queen Anne Victorian house at 715 Ashbury, across the street from The Grateful Dead. Hells Angels members developed friendships with Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Jerry Garcia[3], Janis Joplin[4] and Hunter S Thompson, who lived and rode with the Hells Angels for over a year before writing his book Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. The book detailed many of the Hells Angels national criminal activities and, feeling betrayed, Hells Angels members hunted Thompson down and severely beat him.
The Frisco Chapter considered themselves the caretakers of Haight-Ashbury, often providing free security at the free music concerts held at Golden Gate Park[5]. The Diggers[6] enlisted their help with the distribution of food and clothing. Had it not been for Thompson’s book, San Franciscans would have continued to view the Hells Angels as a group of motorcycle enthusiasts: free-spirits bound by brotherhood and loyalty.
There is a story about “Chocolate” George Hendricks, a Hells Angel who, upon seeing a candlelight march going down Haight Street, turned his bike around and led the march before being arrested by police for disrupting the peace. Hippies descended on the police station where Hendricks was being held, chanting “We want George!” He was 34 years old when his bike collided with a car on Haight Street and he died from his injuries. A memorial for him took place on August 29, 1967 at Lindsey Meadow in Golden Gate Park, where the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin and Big Brother & the Holding Company played before 1,000 mourners.
The Hells Angels and the hippie movement parted ways in 1969 after a free rock concert at Altamont just outside the San Francisco Bay Area resulted in the death of a concert goer. The Rolling Stones had hired the Hells Angels to provide security, and organizers had not planned for the 300,000 people who showed up. Things got rough as the Hells Angels tried to contain the melee. When 18-year-old Meredith Hunter brandished a gun, one of the Hells Angels fatally stabbed him. He pled self defense and was acquitted, but it was the end of the San Francisco hippie movement and their association with the Hells Angels. The Frisco Chapter moved their clubhouse from Haight-Ashbury to a building on Tennessee in Dogpatch where it remains today.
The Department of Justice, the State Department and the State Department of Homeland Security deem the Hells Angels a criminal organization; in fact, there is currently a federal policy prohibiting foreign members of the Hells Angels from entering the United States. They have been accused of drug dealing, trafficking in stolen goods, gun running, extortion and prostitution. The California chapters have been alleged to play a significant role in the manufacture and distribution of meth. Worldwide membership is around 3,000, with 467 chapters located in 59 countries. It remains the largest motorcycle club in the world.
[1] Visit them at www.friscohellsangels.com
[2] South of Market: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4109
[3] Jerry Garcia: story coming August 9th
[4] Janis Joplin: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5072
[5] Golden Gate Park: story coming April 4th
[6] The Diggers: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4518
