# Any Hells Angels in your area? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 25, 2017, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270 "2017-12-25T15:22:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/1 "2017-12-25T15:22:44Z")
This week’s new column is all about the Hells Angels: [What’s the connection between outlaw bikers and ball-peen hammers?](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/8845/whats-the-connection-between-outlaw-bikers-and-ball-peen-hammers/) I thought the Hells Angels were mostly an anachronism, a figment of an earlier generation … where I am if you see bikers, mostly it’s off duty law enforcement riding together for fun and/or civic projects. I don’t doubt there’s Hells Angels everywhere but they appear to be keeping a low profile here, if anything. (The last time I saw Hells Angels colors was when I worked a motorcycle event at Road Atlanta a gazillion years ago – nowadays I don’t think you can get into the racetrack wearing club colors, Hall County polices the track pretty thoroughly and the track has their own security.) Any of you see 'em where you live? Do we have any riding Dopers? Oh man, I just wondered, if Dopers wore colors, what would they look like? Now I’m imagining people going down the highway with “IT’S TAKING LONGER THAN WE THOUGHT” on their backs. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/2 "2017-12-25T15:34:33Z")
I have an official Cecil SDMB pickelhaube and monocle. I think it’s made of strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff but I’m not sure, it might be a different dragon, not Cecil. Happy cold and flu season everyone. (Is that PC to say?) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/3 "2017-12-25T16:40:44Z")
I went to see a Led Zeppelin cover band in Oak Forest, Il. 20 years ago and there was one standing at the front door. First time I’d seen one in my area. They have a club house in Harvey, Il. They even have a website, I’ll break up the link a little bit. http:// www. hellsangelschicago. com/ ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/4 "2017-12-25T16:46:29Z")
YES. Bug Tussle (we shall call it) has two major cycle shops/dealerships, & seems to be on a “migration route” from the Northern States to Florida. They never burn/mess with the Locals. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/5 "2017-12-25T16:47:11Z")
(Took too long typing to edit the first post.) Another time I was sitting in a bar in Tinley Pk. Il. and a person sat next to me. I could see a pink hat out of the corner of my eye. I could also see the Hell’s Angels logo tattood on his hand by the web of the thumb/index finger. I nonchalantly galnced over to exchange a polite greeting, and stole a closer look at his hat. Pink ballcap with the Hell’s Angels logo. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/6 "2017-12-25T17:34:31Z")
[This story](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/biker-gangs-in-canada-1.775978) from 2009 talks about biker gangs in Canada. It seems that Hells Angels did not show up in Ontario until 2000. At which point they exploded due to absorbing/ merging with lots of the local biker gangs. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/7 "2017-12-25T18:26:06Z")
Saw a guy out at Costco. Could have been Fred from Accounting, neatly coiffed, trimmed and tidy beard. Wearing a full dress Hell’s Angels jacket, with all correct regalia, exactly as I saw it in '68, except crisp and recently dry cleaned. I said nothing, just gaped in awe. Didn’t even register what city it was supposed to represent. (All the real ones came from San Berdoo anyway…) ---
**Author:** ![llazzllo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a698b9/32.png) [@llazzllo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llazzllo)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/8 "2017-12-26T02:38:08Z")
I once asked my older brother this very question, ‘Why do bikers prefer ball-peen hammers to claw hammers?’ As he explained it: “If you hit someone with the claw end of a hammer, it has a tendency to get stuck. A ball-peen hammer doesn’t.” I don’t know if it’s true, but you can’t deny the logic of it… ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/9 "2017-12-26T03:11:59Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Any of you see 'em where you live? Nope. from what I’ve read, the Highwaymen have this area covered. > [@](#): > > Do we have any riding Dopers? si. > [@](#): > > Oh man, I just wondered, if Dopers wore colors, what would they look like? Now I’m imagining people going down the highway with “IT’S TAKING LONGER THAN WE THOUGHT” on their backs. I’m not in an M/C, and I know it’s a bad idea to fly colors even if they’re fictional. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/10 "2017-12-26T03:52:14Z")
My area (Milwaukee, but also including the rest of Wisconsin and Illinois) has the Outlaws. But googling to see if there were Hells Angels around here, the first link shows an on going court case involving nearly a dozen Hells Angles members out of California. So it does seem that they’re still a thing. > **[Grand jury indicts 11 members of Hells Angels](https://www.tmj4.com/news/national/grand-jury-indicts-11-members-of-hells-angels)** > > Eleven members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang have been accused of a range of crimes related to murder, assault, maiming, racketeering conspiracy and witness intimidation, according to an indictment that was unsealed Monday. (warning, auto playing news video) Also, I believe the Hells Angels are still active in the Twin Cities. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/11 "2017-12-26T11:56:38Z")
No Hell’s Angels groups are chartered here in Korea and I haven’t seen any outlaw bikers personally. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/12 "2017-12-26T12:10:14Z")
Phoenix area, oh yeah. I saw one on the freeway a couple years ago. There was a house that had wild parties a few blocks away from us. Usually bikers. Once I remember seeing two Angels idling and talking in front of my neighbor’s driveway. The neighbor came home from work and honked at them. My eyes got real big. They just shrugged and moved on. Ha! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/13 "2017-12-26T12:32:32Z")
I’m about thirty minutes away from one of their major headquarters in Ventura. ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/14 "2017-12-26T17:13:18Z")
They’re quite common all over the interior of British Columbia. They’re probably my favorite group to do business with. As long as you show respect, I’ve always seen them return the favor. The local chapter also does a lot to keep meth out of town because it cuts into their coke profits, and I’m totally OK with that. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/15 "2017-12-26T17:17:22Z")
Only on Memorial Day weekend. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/16 "2017-12-26T22:58:40Z")
They’re around and thriving on the Lower East Side of New York City, where they’ve had a HQ since 1969. I’ve been on that block many times and there are always at least 8-10 bikes parked outside. > **[Lesson From East Village Shooting: Don't Disturb Hells Angels' Parked...](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/lesson-from-east-village-shooting-dont-disturb-hells-angels-parked-motorcycles/2042482/)** > > It’s conventional wisdom on a block in Manhattan’s East Village that the Hells Angels bikers at a notorious local headquarters there aren’t necessarily horrible neighbors — but just don’t do anything to disturb the bikes parked outside. And they’re a strong presence during Motorcycle Week in New Hampshire [https://freekeene.com/2016/06/19/laconia-shuts-down-bike-week-music-festival/](https://freekeene.com/2016/06/19/laconia-shuts-down-bike-week-music-festival/) Here’s their website: [https://hells-angels.com/world/usa/](https://hells-angels.com/world/usa/) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/17 "2017-12-27T05:31:02Z")
Ours are more Pagans/Outlaws/etc than the HA although more over the eastern NY border that changes. Short ball-peens make pretty good informal weapons with a certain level of plausible deniability. The 1% clubs are odd ducks. Some officers and members may be in for criminal purposes but the majority of patch-holding members seem to have always been in more from the family/closeness/brotherhood than anything else. I have ridden around with some lesser clubs but never considered prospecting or anything. If you do it right, if your head is in the right place, you will go to the mat for your least favorite bro as much as you most favorite and my brain just isn’t wired that way. I don’t see big differences between today and 40 years back other than the level of violence being higher but we can say that about all of society. Approach with not so much caution as awareness. You are not “one of them” (even if you are a blood relative of a patched member) no matter how much time you spend around them any more than you can be part of any paramilitary fraternal organization without joining. The difference is most groups won’t put you down on the ground, prop your legs over the curb, and shatter them. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/18 "2017-12-27T20:17:45Z")
I’m near Seattle and I see Bandidos on the freeway frequently, Hells Angels once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/19 "2017-12-28T00:00:24Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Any of you see 'em where you live? In the late 20th, when I lived in Oakland, and the day’s business found me on East 14th Street, I often walked by the Oakland chapter’s clubhouse; naturally, there’d often be a few gentlemen of the Red and White milling around or riding past. Oakland is practically the birthplace of the club, the Holy of Holies, and I’m sure there will be some Angel presence there until California falls in the ocean. They mostly looked like older working-class white guys to me, albeit somewhat hairier and more inked-up, and wearing their colors, of course. Over the years I’ve been to various events – shows, parties and like that–where there were some individual HAs in attendance. They don’t generally look for trouble when they’re out among the citizenry; every now and then one might encounter a prospect who thought he had something to prove, but none of the trouble I’ve seen happen was instigated by Hell’s Angels. Oh yeah, I almost forgot – in the summer of 1984, when the violent and racist faction of local skinheads became problematic in the Haight, the word got out that the Angels were unhappy with the situation and about to become involved – that settled the boot boys down real quick. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270/20 "2017-12-28T01:44:11Z")
> [@DLuxN8R-13](#): > > Oh yeah, I almost forgot – in the summer of 1984, when the violent and racist faction of local skinheads became problematic in the Haight, the word got out that the Angels were unhappy with the situation and about to become involved – that settled the boot boys down real quick. hmmm, I sorta remember that. Gary Floyd of the Dicks knew a lot of bikers including HA around that time. Occasionally they would come to a Dicks show. 16 year old skinheads were definitely intimidated. I went to high school in Folsom CA, also the home of Represa CA aka Folsom Prison. It was not unusual to see HA traveling through to visit folks in prison, or when someone got out. When a leader got out, there would often be 50-100 HA in a formation with police escort to pick them up and get 'em out of town. I wouldn’t call the Angles noble and living by a code as understood by civilians. They didn’t necessarily go looking for trouble but sometimes they did. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-hells-angels-in-your-area/805270.md?page=2)