Hollister Riot - Event

Event

The SF Chronicle reported: "Armed with tear gas guns, the officers herded the cyclists into a block on San Benito Street, between Fifth and Sixth Streets, parked a dance band on a truck and ordered the musicians to play".

Throughout the 1930s, Hollister, California hosted an annual Fourth of July gypsy tour event. Gypsy tours were American Motorcyclist Association sanctioned racing events that took place all over America and were considered to be the best place for motorcyclists to converge. The annual event consisted of motorcycle races, social activities, and lots of partying. In Hollister, the event and the motorcyclists were very welcome. Especially because Hollister was a very small town, with only about 4,500 people, the rally became a major event in its yearly life as well as an important part of the town's economy. Due to World War II, the rally was canceled, but the event organized for 1947 was the revival of the Gypsy Tour in Hollister.

On July 3, 1947, the festivities in Hollister began. But as previously mentioned, the popularity of motorcycles grew dramatically and this rise in popularity caused one of the main problems of this event: massive attendance. Around 4,000 motorcyclists flooded Hollister, almost doubling the population of the small town. They came from all over California and the United States, even from as far away as Connecticut and Florida. Motorcycle groups in attendance included the Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington, the Boozefighters, the Market Street Commandos and the Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club. Approximately ten percent of attendees were women. The town was completely unprepared for the number of people that arrived. The large attendance was unexpected since not nearly as many people had come in previous years.

Initially, the motorcyclists were welcomed into the Hollister bars, as the influx of people was great for business. But soon, they started causing a problem in Hollister. The drunken motorcyclists were riding their bikes through the small streets of Hollister and consuming huge amounts of alcohol. They were fighting, damaging bars, throwing beer bottles out of windows, racing in the streets, and other drunken actions. Also, there was a severe housing problem. The bikers had to sleep on sidewalks, in parks, in haystacks and on people's lawns. By the evening of July 4th, "they were virtually out of control".

This was all too much for the seven-man police force of Hollister to handle. The police tried to stop the motorcyclists' activities by threatening to use tear gas and by arresting as many drunken men as they could. Also, the bars tried in vain to stop the men from drinking by refusing to sell beer and voluntarily closing two hours ahead of time.

Eyewitnesses were quoted as saying, "It's just one hell of a mess", but that " weren't doing anything bad, just riding up and down whooping and hollering; not really doing any harm at all."

The ruckus continued through July 5th and slowly died out at the end of the weekend as the rallies ended and the motorcyclists left town.

At the end of the Fourth of July weekend and the informal riot, Hollister was littered with thousands of beer bottles and other debris and there was some minor storefront damage. About 50 people were arrested, most with misdemeanors such as public intoxication, reckless driving, and disturbing the peace. There were around 60 reported injuries, of which 3 were serious, including a broken leg and skull fracture. Other than having to witness the chaos of the weekend, no Hollister residents suffered any harm at all. A City-Council member stated, "Luckily, there appears to be no serious damage. These trick riders did more harm to themselves than the town."