h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's a seemingly simple question but the answer evades me. Who formed the original Hell's Angels. I have heard it was Sonny Barger and I've heard it was a guy called Preetum Bobo!? Any answers/suggestions?

Surely someone must be able to answer this.

I guess we don't have a lot of burly leather jacketed meth distributors on h2g2.

I always thought it was Sonny Barger?sp?


GW - Leader of the 7th Bolton Chapter of Hell's Grannies

I started typing this, then realized it was becoming its own mini-article. I'll probably have to move it to my own thread/section and have it reviewed. I didn't realize I'd learned so much about the Angels - I had a relative that was never a Hell's Angel, but did try to be one at one point, and has ridden with them in the past. From what little he'd ever talked to me about those experiences and with some searching on the 'net to refresh my memory, I decided to write all of this:

The Hell's Angels weren't, in fact, originally a motorcycle club - they were a WWII fighter-bomber squadron led by a man named Arvid Olsen. Olsen was a WWII pilot and part of a group called The Flying Tigers, that in 1941 had volunteered to fight for China against Japan (the USA hadn't yet entered WWII quite yet). Olsen may or may not have been responsible for actually naming his squadron "The Hell's Angels," but he DID have the name painted on the sides of his squadron's airplanes very prominently. Eventually, Olsen returned to his home in Southern California, along with several other officers and enlisted men from the squadron. It has been noted that a trend runs amongst fighter pilots (even to this day): a passion for dangerous and fast vehicles. In 1945, the motorcycle, especially those made by the Harley-Davidson company in Milwaukee, was a great means of dangerous, fast, and free-feeling transportation across the sprawling, fair-weathered, and (in 1945) wide open highways and byways of the American Southwest. Olsen and a lot of his old wartime buddies and fellow veterans bought motorcycles and started riding together. Olsen named the group after his old WWII squadron, the Hell's Angels, and they even wore part of their original flying uniforms when they rode (leather caps, goggles, scarves, jackets, etc.). Interestingly enough, as the club became more organized, Olsen himself never fully became a member, though he rode with them occasionally. The garb of the Hell's Angels were mostly the same as what they'd worn in their WWII fighter-bombers, since leather adapted rather easily for providing some minimal protection against the hazards of the road.

The Hell's Angels were simply another motorcycle club until an incident on July 4, 1947. That day, the Hell's Angels and a lot of other motorcycle clubs were in Hollister, California for a rally sponsored by the American Motorcycle Association - for reasons unclear, a riot broke out and the Hell's Angels did a lot of damage - okay, they basically destroyed the entire town. The National Guard was not called in, contrary to stories I've heard people tell over the years, but the State Police were there in force, and had their jobs cut out for them restoring order. This was sensationalized in a movie called "The Wild One" starring Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin, which came out about 7 years later (1954). Since that movie, the Harley-Davidson, and in particular the Hell's Angels and their trademark leather garb, have become synonymous with a rebellious, tough, and even criminal lifestyle. Perhaps the most infamous incident involving the Hell's Angels occurred during a large, free concert at Altamont Speedway, California, in 1969. That incident could fill up its own article, so I'll just summarize quickly. The general facts of the events there are (1) Hell's Angels were employed as security at the event, (2) Hell's Angels were drinking, smoking marijuana, and downing LSD as much as, if not more than, the general audience members, and (3) Hell's Angels beat a man to death who was armed with a gun and a knife and had gotten near the stage during the Rolling Stones' set. Numerous other fights broke out quite frequently during that concert, too. There have been numerous other incidents, movies, and events that have only contributed to the image and reputation of the notorious Hell's Angels - most of it probably deservedly. Suffice it to say that the Hell's Angels aren't exactly a nice group of guys, and they know it, they make sure we know it, and they like it that way.

Just one more thing to help ease my own sensibilities and in defense my close relative and serious biker: not all Harley-Davidson riders are Hell's Angels by any stretch of the imagination. Just four months ago, I even met a half-dozen Dutch guys riding rented Harleys from Dallas to Las Vegas. They'd stopped off to spend the night in my hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and wanted to sample some of the local high desert brewing. They were anything BUT Hell's Angels, being rather decent guys to hang out and have a pint with. Being an engineer, I was called upon frequently to translate fluid ounces into mL for them that evening. I wish I remembered the Dutch phrases I learned that night ... I'm sure some of them were something like, "HOW many liters is this beer again?" and "it must be the altitude - uh oh, where's the bathroom?"

Sonny Barger helped found the Oakland, California chapter of the Hell's Angels - his book is really popular and tells a lot about what life was like in the orginzation, particularly around the time of Altamont (1969) and some other notable ... erm ... happenings in the turbulent decade that was the 60s.

I've never heard of "Preetum Bobol" ... but then, I'm not a Hell's Angel. I'm actually more or less a that happens to love motorcycles.

Aha! "Preetam Bobo" is the name I should have been looking for, and I finally found it - he was an associate of Sonny Barger's, a member of the Oakland Hell's Angels club, and written about by Hunter S. Thompson. Bobo is also not the founder of the Hell's Angels, but probably helped found the Oakland chapter.

Hey, not all HA are bad!

In the UK, a chapter of the HA run an annual bike rally at Avon Park racecourse, nr Stratford. Last time I went, we had a whale of a time, no trouble all weekend, and the atmosphere was incredible!

And every HA I met there was friendly, polite and helpful! I even got into the members only enclosure!

I went to the Hell's Angels' web site. They claim that Olsen was only an associate of the Hell's Angels, and he never attempted to join. They claim that he is the only person associated with the founding of the club that had a link to a military organization called Hell's Angles. He was a squadron commander with the 3rd Pursuit Squadron of the American Volunteer Group (AVG).

The AVG was made up of mercenary pilots who fought with the Chinese before America's entry into WWII. They were popularly known as the Flying Tigers.

I'll post a link to it on my Conversational Links page [http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A568226].

They're an outlaw biker gang. It's a criminal organization.

Well, that's all pretty much what I said, innit? Seems like they agree with me, more or less. FWIW, I got the info from The History Channel - watched way too much of it while laid up with a bad back recently. Obviously a muddy history at best, the actual formation of the groups and gangs themselves weren't Olsen's work. The question I was attempting to answer was who gave them their name and founded the original motorcycle club prior to its turning into a criminal haven, which I think is still Olsen (though, as I said, he never was a real member). You can start a group, name it, and hang out with it a little bit and watch it change into something completely different and still be its founder. Odd, though, that they feel that he was the only veteran involved in the old club, maybe the HA dates its creation differently due to its present nature. I don't think the HA has much love for the military and vise versa. Like you said, they're a criminal organization - in this country anyway.

The HA have been accused of being an organised crime sydicate type thing, and though i admit they have have more than their share of rogue elements they are not organised as a criminal outfit or front, as far as i'm aware the organisation is legal in the US it certainly is in the UK. They do a lot of good charity work over here. Then again, i've heard that somewhere before...

Their major source of funding in the United States is trafficking in methamphetamine. All outlaw bikers are extremely dangerous.

They're also pretty disgusting. I've seen people burned alive. I've seen children with their heads split open by enraged father with a hammer. I've seen some of the worst dregs of humanity. The one image that I wish I could shake is a story I heard about an Hell's Angel.

Incidentally, someone was saying something about most bikers are decent folks. Outlaw bikers are rare among the biker culture. Outlaws call themselves 1%ers, because that's how few of them there are. I'd guess the percentage is lower than that now that motorcycles are so popular.

In the UK there are a distinct group called "The Outlaws" also, not Angels in either sence. A lot of bikers in this end of the movement are involved in drug culture, particularly speed, but this is an activity of the members rather than the organisation. There are some decent Angels, and there are a lot of decent bikers, but Biker law is a somewhat primal thing so getting involved with the Angels as a group is possibly not the wisest move without learning a little more about them. Hunter S. Thompson's "Hell's ANgels" is a good glimse at the Oakland chapter in the '60's.

Two Bit - you're a 'pig' (as they say) Do you know if the ANgels are an illegal organisation in the US?

(And the 1% is open to be worn by anyone, denoting that one is an 'outsider' in the Camus-esque sense, rather than 'outlaw' in the judicial sense.

You know i´ve only met 1 real HA, he was the father of a girl i knew when i was about 8 - im 21 now - and he was stabed to death on his door step by another HA. They had the funeral in the church just next to my house and it was quite amazing really, 200 or so HA all in black leather following this cofin.

neway back to nice HA in the uk, my dad used to own/run a pub/disco with some friends in the 70´s and there regular customers were all HA. Hes always said that they were all really nice people, although they did tend to enjoy a good fight on a weekend.

Once when my dad passed out - due to a rather serious, but now cured medical condition - in the middle of the disco floor, it took several people a long time to convince the HA there that noone had knocked my father out, and that they could stop threatening the none HA people in the pub, as they carried out there ínvestigations´ into who had laid my father out

There are several outlaw biker gangs. As I recall, the three big ones are the Outlaws, the Banditos, and the Hells Angels.

There's not really such thing as an illegal organization in the United States, at least none that I know of. The Freedom of Association is very big here. There are organizations that are criminal in nature, and the government can pursue the members or the organization through things like RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) laws or some street gang laws.

The Southern Poverty Law Centre sued one group of the KKK at one point by suing them.

Most bikers are great folks. I had a roommate in the Army who was a biker. When I say a biker, I mean very much into the biker culture. Nice guy. Still, I wouldn't have anything to do with a Hell's Angel.