22. The Rally That Got it Started
Bad boy cool biker fashion began with a 1947 American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) sanctioned rally in Hollister, California. It started off innocent enough, but soon morphed into an out-of-control biker riot that ravaged the town, and gave rise to the iconic biker outlaw image. The incident’s roots go back to the 1930s when the small town of Hollister began to host an annual Fourth of July motorcycle rally known as a Gypsy Tour. Such tours were innocent affairs that typically revolved around social activities, motorcycle races, and parties.
Gypsy tours were canceled during WWII, but in 1947, Hollister let it be known that its annual motorcycle rally was back on. Unfortunately, the good people of Hollister had not reckoned with the dramatic increase in motorcycle popularity or the changed demographics of motorcycle enthusiasts. The small town was about to host thousands more bikers than it had expected. Many of them differed greatly from the wholesome motorcyclists with whom the townspeople had dealt in the pre-war years, in that they were younger and rowdier. As seen below, the result was chaos.
