HOLLISTER — With tensions high and security tight, thousands of motorcyclists thundered into the rural community of Hollister on Friday, swamping downtown and turning it into a throbbing carnival of chrome, wheels and leather.
Grizzled bikers in chaps sat astride gleaming Harleys, gunning the engines, rattling windows and screeching tires.
Merchants hawked such items as Harley-Davidson shot glasses and Louisiana alligator heads, while men lined up to be photographed with young women in sheer pink negligees.
Sprinkled among the estimated 80,000 bikers attending this weekend's 55th annual Hollister Independence Rally were more than 100 local, state and federal law enforcement agents backed by four aircraft ready to pounce, should violence flare between the rival Hells Angels and Mongol motorcycle clubs. As of Friday evening, they had arrested only one, accused of drunkenness.
"When you get this many people together with alcohol there is the potential for trouble," said Hollister Police Chief Bill Pierpoint. "But I personally think they want this to succeed and will police themselves."
Perhaps, but no one is taking any chances here in the town that inspired the movie "The Wild One" and is called "the birthplace of the American biker."
This is the largest motorcycle rally since April 27, when two Mongols and a Hells Angel were killed and 16 others were injured in a clash between the two clubs at the River Run in Laughlin, Nev. Another Hells Angel was slain later on a highway outside of town. One suspect has been arrested.
The turf war forced the cancellation of two planned motorcycle events in Ventura County in May.
The fallout spawned rumors that spread through Hollister this week. The largely Latino Mongols weren't coming, they said, or they were coming in disguise. Others said the Mongols were going to take over Johnny's bar, a historic saloon and epicenter of the rally. It's also a few yards from where the Hells Angels were hawking pins and T-shirts.
The bar owner, Cherise Tyson, noticed the Hells Angels weren't in their normal corner perch at Johnny's the night before. She called in some bikers who emphasize their Christianity. "We said a prayer to protect us," she said.
Charles T. Mathews, lawyer for the Mongols, said they were indeed coming to Hollister.
