Art by Lyndell Dean Wolff

In 1965, Bill Ray (a staff photographer for LIFE magazine) spent several weeks with the San Bernardino chapter of the HAMC. Bill and his camera accompanied the club on a ride to Bakersfield Ca, this was a scheduled Run with other motorcycle clubs attending. Although Life magazine did not publish his editorial, the pictures were eventually published in his book “Hells Angels of San Berdoo”. After a long-distinguished career as a photojournalist, Bill Ray died in 2020 at the age of 83. The club’s rendezvous at the “Blackboard” honky-tonk, was well documented by Bill’s photo essay and used by me for inspiration. Bakersfield was well known for its signature sound of country music giving rise to Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. The “Blackboard” employed young Buck Owens and his buddies as the house band.

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“Outside the Blackboard cafè” 1965

Photo Bill Ray