The Hells Angels

Berdoo, the mother charter of the Hells Angels MC World, was started in 1948 in San Bernardino, CA and still exists to this day.  As an official men's club, with their love for beards, bikes and leather jackets, the original members met as the first legs of many of their rides from Fontana to Oakland at the Blackboard Cafe on Chester St in Bakersfield.  And to join you need only fulfill 6 requirements: 1. Be male, 2. be white, 3. have a valid driver's license, 4. have a working motorcycle (preferably Harley-Davidson), 5. not be a child molester, 6. not have applied to become a police officer or prison guard.  The HAMC through out the next 62 years will be known for drug peddlers, rabble rousers, and an overall motley crew.  They will cause many problems, like the Altamont free concert, and cause many deaths, such as the River Run Riots, but will stick together like a true brotherhood through it all.

Check out the rest here...

I wish they all could be California girls

The Life Archive has a series of pictures 10 pages long strictly titled California Girls.  Being that I love my California girls I thought it best to share a few with you.

Check out the rest here...

Men at Work

With this season of Mad Men over and the last episode ending with Sterling Cooper's loss of their office space and their unfortunately setup in a hotel suite my mind drifted to the once high status of the desk. In the 21st century the idea of a corner office has been lost. Where corner offices once stood, cubicles have taken it's place. And where glorious desks once sat, multiple desk-style units have take over the wall space. So, here is my tribute to the days of corner offices, grand desks and the lunchtime martini. Here are men at work.

Don Draper's former desk

Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson

Atlanta, GA Mayor William B. Hartsfield

New York, NY Mayor Robert Wagner

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy

RFK's Brother and 35th President of this United States of America John F. Kennedy

Some desks more unconventional than others, Ernest Hemingway

Check out the rest here...

LIFE Archives | Hunting in the Old Days

Yesterday the LIFE Archive was gracious enough to present us with some of the best pictures of "Hunting in the Old Days". Between picture of Papa Hemingway and Ike (Eisenhower) we are given a very American (at least those are the pictures I chose to feature) perspective of hunting when the Remington or the Winchester was a man's best friend.

Northern Austrailia, 1931

Theodore Roosevelt on African Safari, 1909

John Lachenmaier (left) with safari trophies, 1951

Ernest Hemingway on African Safari, 1937

Dogs and Hunters, 1946

Goose Hunt in Louisiana, 1955

Ike and Coke on quail hunt, 1961

Father and son, 1955

Check out the rest here...

Intriguing | The Tattoo

Tattoos and those who get them is a culture that is surrounded by much intrigue. For those who have them it is a lifestyle surrounded by the love for art and the permanence of something fantastic and for those who do not it is a point-of-view that they may never understand. Tattooing and the art thereof has a long history, dated before the counter-culture of the U.S. Navy and before the Polynesian islanders of the 1910's. In fact, tattooing has been around for more than 10,000 years, except in much different forms. The form that we have come to know so well gained its origins from the Polynesians and thus was discovered by explorers of the Eighteenth Century and picked up by the U.S. Navy during the first World War. Which gave way to some of the greatest and most exploited tattoo artists to ever walk the Earth.

Men outside a London tattoo parlor in 1931.

Of all the tattoo artists out there, and due to some fantastic exploiting, Don Ed Hardy would have to be the most famous of the bunch. Known for his incorporation of Japanese aesthetics into his art and for the Don Ed Hardy clothing line by Christian Audigier that defamed the name Ed Hardy. He was the apprentice and pupil (if you want to consider those two separate entities) of Sailor Jerry Collins, who in the tattoo business if the foremost American tattoo artist of his time. Having developed his own non-toxic pigment and using the same sterilization as hospitals he revolutionized the tattoo business and was a brilliant artist with an eye for details.

Not your everyday tattoo artist.

Sailor Jerry got his name after he joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 19 and never left the sea after that. He dedicated his life to sailing and having only been a tattoo artist for 12 years had plenty of time to do so. He openned up a tattoo shop during those years where he mentored the likes of Ed Hardy, Mike Malone (Rollo Banks), Cliff Raven and more.

The tattoo parlor has not changed, only the tattooist.

Much-inked American sailor having another tattoo done by a shipmate aboard the battleship USS New Jersey during WWII in 1944.

A 1963 Member of Vietnamese "Junk Force" with compulsary tattoo on chest, meaning " Kill Communists".

Now my only dilemma is that I want to get a tattoo, what exactly I could not say. An anchor on my shoulder, Los Angeles skyline on my shoulder blade, a flag of the U.S./Netherlands, or maybe even some words of some sort. But I am a Jew. It is as simple as that and having it be both against my religion and a sign of the holocaust as shown in the picture just below I also have serious problems with it. I have thought about getting "We Will Never Forget" on my arm in a similar place, but to put something there that they felt so strongly against on my own regard seems a little contradictory and careless. So, I dare to ask: What are your thoughts? What do you feel or believe about tattoos?

Check out the rest here...

One for The Road

Spend your weekend looking this cool.

Check out the rest here...

Today in History | Apollo 10 Return Landing

As the fourth manned mission to space Apollo 10 was conducted as test of the lunar module while in lunar orbit. A test? A 355 million dollar test? Now, we all wanted to be astronauts when we were younger and having just watched Armageddon makes being an astronaut seem badass, but to risk your life for a test which only gets you a total of 9.67 miles away from the lunar surface to send a lunar module called Snoopy seems a little...dare I say ridiculous. Yet, if it was not for this test we would have never had the landing of Apollo 11. But the important aspect and the reason for talking about the Apollo 10 mission at all is that today in 1969 the Apollo 10 mission safely landed back on Earth after testing all the components needed for a safe manned moon landing for eight straight days.

Eugene Cernan, Thomas Stafford, and John Young: The Apollo 10 Astronauts.

Apollo 10 takeoff

Snoopy seen here in descent to the lunar surface

Having gone through a complete dry run of the lunar landing of Snoopy, both on Earth and in Space, the Apollo 10 crew executed the run perfectly. They were the first complete veteran crew and knew what they were doing. The only hitch was that the lunar module was not equipped to land, so when it came down to it no one could have landed whether they wanted to or not. And the amazing pictures come from the fact that the mission was broadcasting live in color from Space.

Landing spot in the Sea of Tranquility

Charles Shultz special cartoon for NASA

Check out the rest here...

'52 Yale-Vassar Bike Race

After the jump is a series of pictures, in no specific order and with no descriptions of the absurdities that is the Yale-Vassar Bike Race. This bike race was an annual event started by the students as a mixer for the Ivy Leagues to get to know each other and hang out. If you ever thought Ivy League was all work and no play, think again.


















Any reason to ride a bike and dress up is a good reason for me. So, maybe a TWGA Bike Race is in order. Any opinions?
Check out the rest here...