Suthbrother Checks In

Hey Chris,

I found this early '69 pen drawing I did in History class
at eighteen. I was always doing these instead of taking
notes.

As you can see, my knowledge was based on vague
impressions of what a chopper might look like as we
hadn't purchased ours yet. Btw, that's a binder
ring hole on the left.

I've been spending a lot of time reading your postings.
Bobber-Not a Bobber was great. Wondered
if the owners of those crappy looking fakers ever got
back to you with hate mail.

Later man,
Garster

Gary, My early drawings also suffered from lack of knowledge, I too drew push rods on the left side. It's still a nice "gesture" sketch. No haters yet. So far the comments and email has been supportive.
CK.

More Sutherland Brothers Photos

Once again some photos from my buddy Gary Sutherland. I'll let him do the talking.

Here we go...
We took these color shots in the Haight district in SF in the late 60s, can't recall exactly.

This chick seems to have had the first cell phone.

Lar just returned from Nam so it was probably early 69. Back then bikes were crude... even as late as 69. This was before Altamont. Notice the poorly rendered death head on the first color photo.


Gypsy Jokers and HA

Wild trike was motivated by a big block Olds.

The last color shot was taken at the Atlanta Pop Festival, July of 69... always wondered if this guy got lost... seems out of place for the redneck environs of Georgia. This was before the release of Easy Rider and we know how that film ended.

What's she smoking? Bare feet and hot pipes, a bad mix.

Btw, I found a notation on one of the knuck photos saying the total cash outlay was $1,997 total.

Suthbros, HA on Wheels and More

Gary Sutherland sent more photos. I'll let him tell the tale behind the photo below. Sprinkled within the story is their later knucklehead build photos.

Hey Chris,

Here's that photo of me and my bro taken in the parking lot of the Bakersfield Inn during the filming of 'Hells Angels on Wheels'.

On the set 1966. Teenie boppin wanna-bee Heaven. Gary's with top hat on the left, Brother Larry with biker vest , on the right.

This was late Sept-Oct of '66. There was a guy with a moving van full of Harleys which he rented out to the studios and Hollywood production companies. He had a bunch of hogs parked in the lot in front of the Bakersfield Inn motel.

1969 Suthbros later basket case project

He was a collector of nazi regalia which gave us an 'in'. We showed him some of the medals and patches Larry had sewn onto his levi vest. This peaked the guy's interest. Kind of a big guy with an east coast accent. We were a little intimidated because we were still in our mid teens and looked like teenie bopper wanna-bees. He let us horse around on the bikes and said if any of the bikers gave us any shit, he'd kick their asses.

P.S. off to the side it looked like they were constructing some sort of mannequin with outstretched arms that they place on a trashed-out bike. I never got the significance of that until I saw how the movie ended. Let me tell ya... it looked just as cheesy on screen as it did in real life.

Gary later wrote:

Larry had a silver WW2 Wiermact Nazi dagger sewn onto the vest. On the back he'd painted a winged skull with the name 'Grim Reapers'.

That evening we returned to the Inn where the bikers were congregated and drinking beer. I think they were getting ready to shoot the last scene. I heard one of the bikers laughingly comment on Larry's attire... "Hey check out that guy", they all laughed "Ha Ha Ha". I ran off and told Lar he better not wear it, or risk getting stomped... "Hey man, those Hell's Angels were laughing at your vest" He couldn't get it off fast enough.

We later got to know a lot of these guys. They were mostly locals. There was an old club house behind the Bakersfield Inn were the bikers would meet. Larry knew one of them and impressed the club president with his photography skills. They were actually going to recruit him as their club photographer. They were even going to let him wear their colors with "photographer" on the rocker under the club insignia.

Later came the "Gun" incident. One of the members, a guy named Gene Lemond, showed up one night and needed one of Larry's guns for protection. Lar tried to reclaim it and they all turned on him. "hey man, that's Gene's gun... and you ain't leaving this house with it". Well, that was that.

The sad part was, I kind of liked hanging out at that place. There was this huge Nazi ship flag hanging on their living room wall... the drapes were always drawn and that flag was very prominent. Also, they had the cleanest bikes I'd ever seen. Showbikes, lots of chrome with molded frames and cobwebbing. These guys were meticulous.

Here's a shot of me wearing the ubiquitous fur hat we were talking about.
Bring Back the Fur Hat!

I'd mentioned to Gary, how some of the LIFE magazine photos showed guys wearing those fur hats you used to see.

Sutherland Bros. HA Photos 1966

Hell's Angels Run Bakersfield, CA. from Gary S.

These were shot by Gary's brother Larry, a year later at the same location as the LIFE magazine photos that have been circulating the blogs.

Oh my God there's 9 of them! Can't a brother get a break? One dude wants to split while the other's calmly taken his time. Looks to be a different bar in this shot.

Iron Horsemen were back again with the Angels. The kid from the last shot has had enough. I hope it's just the age of the photo, as the 4 Aces looks a hell of a lot more run down in 66.

More of the same. After 66', I believe the Angels gave up on Bako.

More photos on the way from Gary so, stay tuned!

L. Marvin By G. Sutherland, Celebrity Biker of the Week

I always liked Chino more than Johnny

In the Sutherland Brothers Chopper 1970 post, I showed a sketch that Gary did when we both worked at Hughes. Here's an example from 2005, of what he can do when he spends a bit more time.

Gary says he'll be sending more old photos from 1966 of the HA in Bakersfield. Some were taken at the same location as the Life magazine (1965), shots that have been circulating the blogs lately.

Sutherland Brothers Chopper 1970

During my incarceration at Hughes Aircraft Co. I met my pal Gary, another illustrator in our Media Dept. While getting to know each other, he told me how he and his brother Larry had built a Knucklehead chopper from a basket case in 69.

Gary sport'in the look in 1970.


Gary sent me all these shots over 10 years ago.

Yeah, like lots of dudes, the movie Easyriders got them hopped up to do it but, they had been digging on the chopper scene for awhile. Being natives of Bakersfield CA, the Suth Bros. were exposed to outlaws on choppers who took over town on annual runs or while attending the US Fuel and Gas Championship Races at Famoso. In 1966 they went to town in the back of a Ford Ranchero on a mission to take pictures of the commotion.

Bakersfield, March 1966. Seems this outlaw didn't like his picture taken. He later flipped them off and held up a piece of broken concrete as a threat. Get a load of those springer forks!

One day at Hughes after talking about bikes, Gary started doodling during a staff meeting. After the meeting he dropped the sketch on my desk. Gary's a great artist and the drawing was done very quickly and from memory. Keep in mind that he hadn't drawn a chopper in over 25 years.

I hung on to the staff meeting drawing(1992). It shows how good Gary's memory was. I like that he wrote "Avon" on the front tire.

Gary says he'll dig up some more stuff to share.