The New Stations of the Cross T-Shirts are in

For those who have been waiting, sorry it took so long, but they are now available in my store. Once again it's a small batch and for now, only in size Large and XL. Click on the word store, or the t-shirt at the right column. SOLD OUT 

Space Shuttle LAnding

I like to keep it about motorcycles, but this was way too cool.

We really wanted to see the Space Shuttle landing close up, but wondered if it was possible without arriving super early and also to not get stuck in a huge crowd. This is L.A. after all.

I had heard that the shuttle would be using the south left runway, so I went on Google maps and found an area along Lennox Blvd. just east of the 405 freeway that lined up with it.  On Wednesday my wife and I scouted it out and it appeared very promising. We figured it was best to avoid Avation Blvd. near the Proud Bird restaurant since it and the lookout in El Segundo would be where most people would try to go.

We got to our location in only about 15 minutes and had no idea what to expect. Although a few others had discovered our spot, we had no trouble finding a parking spot. Most were using the area to park at and then walk down under the freeway to La Cienega Blvd. which we were told was a zoo. Later, when more activity started, many more people showed up and started to illegally park, but it still wasn't uncomfortably crowded.  

There really wasn't a firm landing time and it's exact flight plan wasn't told to the public. My wife's friend was in contact with her husband who was up by the Getty Center and was also following tweets. Then my wife was the first to notice the Shuttle several miles to the north heading east. People started getting excited.

We all figured there was at least an hour to go since we thought it still needed to fly over several landmarks. Minutes later, we were all shocked to see it coming in from the east.  I thought, WTF? We blew it! It was way earlier than the estimates plus it appeared to be using a north runway. 

When we saw this, I thought I blew it and were in the wrong flight path! We noticed the wheels weren't down and were really relived. It had to be a north runway fly over. Some didn't know and started to leave.

It turned out to be an LAX fly over. No one had mentioned that would occur so some folks left. Then once again, much sooner than expected, we were surprised when it showed up for what we thought was it's final approach and landing.    

Coming in from the southeast with a hard turn caught everybody off guard.

It was moving at a pretty good clip and it all seem over way too fast, but wait.... the landing gear wasn't down! We also noticed that planes that had landed earlier, came in at a much slower speed. Once again, some folks started to split too early.

                             
Note the gear is still up. Another fly by! How cool is that?

Again, a sort time later, it flew back gear down and ready to land. 

Third time's a charm.

As It turned out, it used south runway right, not left, but we were still fairly close.

  

It was exciting and actually kind of an emotional experience. To see people from all walks come together, be proud, and in awe. The Space Shuttles represented the best of the best for the USA. We really need something positive like this to help inspire and motivate the people of our country again. Later on the news, I heard it's impact on the children who saw it. I only hope that the politicians would take note.   

Linkert-san

Made in Japan

Golden Three Wheeled Memories

Mark Bourassa sent a couple more of his buddy Greg Thompson's trike. Enjoy.


To see the first post it was in, click here.

It ain't El Camino if it's not at El Camino, or...

...Bigger Ain't Always Better!

I was very disappointed when I received the mailer announcing the location change. Once I visited their website I found that they couldn't have it at El Camino College since the parking structure is being refitted for seismic reasons, but they won't be bringing it back! since they claim they turn away 30 to 50 vendors. Now, anybody who's been there knows, it's already big enough. Once you take in all the vendors, there's little time to check out the show, or visa versa.

The bigger problem I have with the change. Maybe I'm selfish since El Camino (in Torrance), is only about 4 miles from my home, but if you consider the weather differences, it's a bad move for all. September is one of the hottest times of year in Socal and that already made for warm temperatures for some years.

I compared the 5 day forecast highs of the two locations by their zip codes today. El Camino: Today 80°, Friday 84°. Iriwindale: Today 94°, Friday 100°. If this keeps up, I may blow it off and just go to the Long Beach Swap the next day, which my brother mentioned would have been a good temporary location since LB Veterans Stadium is not usually booked on Saturdays.

By the way, yes, things always change. The show hasn't really been at El Camino for 37 years, but actually since 1987. For weather and space, that change was for the better than when it was in the mall parking lots of La Mirada and La Habra. Another change. Unlike the current promoter states, it used to always be on the first Saturday in October.

For more info or complaints: ClassicCycleEvents.com

This Month's Header

September pretty much means 'back to school' plus I wanted to do something related to trikes, so this old drawing seemed right. I'm sure it was done when I should have been doing homework.

This pencil drawing is from around 1967-68 (Junior High), and is amongst the oldest drawings I still have. I didn't have any Harley references, so stuff like engine details were mostly based on a friend's drawings I'd seen at school. That explains why the push rods and carb are on the left side.

This drawing also relates to a post I had done about Roth's Candy Wagon that I'd like to revisit.

South Bay Riders Late 70's

More photos courtesy of Kerry Crist.

Gary from the Dairy. His bike looks a bit like a cross between White Bear (paint style), and Earing Mike's chopper (dual seats & anodizing). Dick Allen springer, chrome rear fender, Sportster headlight, open primary, flip up gas cap, and Bruce Parrish paint, all common features among many South Bay Bikes.

Gary, Tim, Little Bob, and Big Roy on the 405. More on Big Roy's trike to come.

R.I.P. Neil

It's a sad state of affairs when the first astronaut to walk on the moon dies of old age before we pick up where we left off with the Apollo missions.

Born Free 4 Engine Art

No blab, just eye candy. Some photos aren't of the best quality, but they'll have to do.

South Bay Originals II

As Frank Zappa once said "you want some more? ...well here's some more!"Joe Hurst sent these photos via Angel Marc's FaceBook page. Ownership of these bikes are based on his recollections.

It doesn't get better than this. Filthy Frank and his trike on the Hermosa Beach strand. It just screams of the era and illustrates how drag racing and hot rods were influencing the chopper scene. That's the oil tank on the back bone and the gas tank up on the forks. This is the kind of stuff that got me hopped up as a kid. I remember seeing a trike with beer keg seats running around town back then. This might have been it.
Joe thought this was Angel Marc's bike, but Marc now (updated 1/13/15), informs me it belong to his Brother Bob Kurek. If you were a Hun, one day you faced a choice, become an Angel, or be nothing. Joe believed that Randy Smith was responsible for these photographs and the last set of South Bay Originals posted. Marc says most of the photos were taken by free lance photographer Bill Miller who was like an unofficial club photographer.

Speaking of South Bay Originals...

...the Mermaid Restaurant at the foot of the pier in Hermosa Beach closed on July 29th. It will reopen under new management until the new owners get approval to build a hotel which could take 2 years. That means the whole block including the Poop Deck will then get torn down. The Mermaid has been there for 62 years. The step daughter of the deceased original owner Quentin “Boots” Thelen said, the family had to sell since they can't pay the 49% estate taxes on the land (from Good Stuff to the Mermaid), valued at $24.5 million. It's kind of strange since "Boots" had passed away on the same day July 29th, 5 years ago.

This is the last face of old Hermosa and it should have been designated a historical site. I hate to see it go.

Born-Free 4-4 Some From the Field.

Starting with a Flathead. Bones Legacy brought out several wild bikes. Why they all have to have extreme showboat features is beyond me? I suppose it works for a show setting since there was always a crowd around them, but lots of lookers doesn't always translate into positive attention. At this length there maybe leverage issues but I wonder why you never see folks running a milder version of these springer rockers, for say a couple of inches or so of added height?


This 45 would be much nicer if you removed some of the gee wiz stuff. Yeah, I said it. I'm sorry I didn't get shots of their Pan VL.


Again, nice craftsmanship but those pipes... really?!!!


Interesting Sporty. Hard tails and this kind of height aren't usually seen together. Wish I'd taken a better look at it. Is that a rear head spun around and mounted up front?


Last year's give away bike. It's getting ridden.


Slims latest personal bike. I don't think I've seen a chopped Mach III since the Seventies. It's got to be fast as hell.


Was this ridden in? Strange choice of wheels and tires. What's up with that fender?


Ending with a Flathead. Something a little more restrained, Drew's UL.

WHAT SORT OF MAN READS MC ART?

A hands on man. The sort of man who's in touch with his machine. The kind of guy who knows where to find MotorCycle entertainment that's totally in tune with his own interests and tastes.
Foreground photo of Loose Bruce adjusting Earring Mike's chopper courtesy of Kerry Crist.

More Earring Mike

In the Blue Velvet post, I mentioned that Kerry Crist had sent me some old photos from the South Bay scene. First off, more of Earring Mike and his Sano Shovel.

This profile shot shows off how the bike sits. That's one beautiful springer.


What a Jewel! It bears repeating just how nice the details and metal work is on this machine.


This is truly Engine Art. The big chromed out SU carb is beautiful. I find it interesting how the early cam cover looks high tech when anodized gold. I really like this (the original version), of the winged gas tank. Paint by Bruce Parrish.


A bit of frame stretch can really keep a bike low. From left to right, Gary from the Dairy, Mike, and Big Roy.

Click Here to see all Earring Mike Posts.

This Month's Header

You probably couldn't tell how much I like Flatheads based on the lack of postings on them, so I'm dedicating this month to the Flathead Harley. There is just some 'thing' about them.

The Header's art is from this Bic pen drawing, sketched while day dreaming in class. A sharp eye will pick up some similarities with Joe Hurst's White Bear. I love the look of these engines. I've probably doodled more 45's than any other bike.

South Bay Originals

Joe Hurst told me some of the old South Bay group has been sharing photos on FaceBook and sent me these from Angel Marc. They are from before he was involved in the south bay chopper scene and are probably from around 1966. They were shot at the foot of the Hermosa Beach Pier. I don't know the photographer. (update photos by Bill Miller). I think they rate up there with those by Bill Ray or Irving Penn.

Dishpan Dave. He was a local builder at the time. This bike is classic.


Steve Drale sporting a semi coy flip off . He's the guy along side Joe pulling wheelies in those now famous photos. Dishpan Dave also built this scooter. The Anderson pegs mounted highway style are an interesting detail. For those that may not know, Panheads were once AKA Dishpans.

Born Free 4 Part III -Blue Velvet- A South Bay Survior

So I'm headed towards the Ride In Bikes and an older guy says, You're Chris, of MCart, right?" After acknowledging, he continued, "I'm Kerry, I really like the blog, especially reading all the old South Bay stuff." He then explained how he use to hang with Bruce Parrish and Earing Mike in the South Bay back in the late 70's. Then he mentions how his bike was featured in Easyriders (Dec.'89), and that he rode it in today. I told him, "there's a really good chance I'll know it, since I bought a lot of issues of Easyriders around that time.... lets go take a look".

The second I saw Kerry's pan, I knew it and totally remembered the feature.

Later, I went through all my old issues, but was puzzled to not find Dec. '89. Then remembered it had to be in my scrap file. A few years ago too many magazines were pilling up, so I threw out all the old ER's that didn't have enough cool stuff in them to keep.

I figured I would save a lot of room by cutting out anything from those issues that was worth saving and keep it in a reference file. Well, Kerry's Panhead and David Mann's art was probably the only things that made the cut from that issue.

The 2 page spread from Easyriders. There's no way I was going to forget this bike. Especially when you compare it to the kind of bikes that were starting to get featured. Blue Velvet was the name ER came up with, not Kerry.



When I saw Kerry's bike at Born Free, this is the image that flashed through my head. I like the shorter mufflers, tall risers with drag bars, and (since I'm old school), the front drum brake.


Since his bike was in the magazine, it qualified to be in their bike show that year and placed 2nd in it's class. Kerry's looking very late 80's in his B-2 Bomber shirt.


Kerry has owned his pan since '76. Here they be in '78. Sporty tank and up sweeps look good too. Risers were made from Schwinn bicycles until a set of Flanders were found. By the 80's most guys were going back to fat bob tanks and it seems Kerry did as well.


Kerry (center) reunites with a couple of his long time buds, Trav Goldworthy and Paul Laquier. Both of these guys were crew members on Bob George's stream liners in the 70's.

Since Born Free 4, Kerry has kindly sent some very cool photos from the 'old daze' and you can be sure I'll be posting some soon.