When the Hell's Angels Came to Town

When the Hell’s Angels Came to Town

It was Labor Day, 1965, and Word was Out;
The Angels Were Coming to Ocean City

The SandPaper/Ocean City, Friday, September 15, 1995

“The farther the Angels roam from their own turf, the more likely they are to cause panic.” – Hunter S. Thompson

By Bill Kelly

The day the Hell’s Angels didn’t come to Ocean City was even more spectacular than the day that they actually did.

Three decades ago their arrival was greatly anticipated by many and dreaded by others, especially city officials and the undermanned summer police force.

A run was on and the Hell’s Angels were on the way to Ocean City on Labor Day Weekend, 1965.

Lyndon Johnson was president, the war in Vietnam was raging, protesters sang songs, “Mr. Tambourine Man” was the number one song on the radio and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels were the main attraction at Tony Marts. It was the ‘60s.

Former Ocean City Mayor Thomas Waldman remembers it well. Although the storm of ’62 was the most significant thing that occurred during his tenure in office, which ran four terms from 1959 to 1978, it’s hard to forget going eyeball to eyeball with the leader of the most feared gang of criminals to cross the state line.

The Ocean City encounter was like a scene out of “The Wild One,” starring Marlon Brando, which was based on a real incident that took place at Hollister, California in 1947, when a wild motorcycle gang took over a small town.

“There really were two entirely different and unrelated incidents,” recalls Waldman, who is now retired in Ocean City. “The Hells Angels did come to town, but the two incidents were not really connected, and that’s a different story.”

When the Hells Angels did come to town – sometime in the late summer of ’64 or early spring of ’65, they were met at the causeway by a police officer in a patrol car.

“What happened was a black police officer ordered them to pull over and they ignored him,” said Waldman. Probably the first black police officer on the Ocean City, New Jersey police force.

As they cruised down 9th Street into town they were met by a police roadblock at West Avenue where they were corralled into a vacant lot at what is now McDonald’s.

“They would only talk to the mayor,” said Waldman, who was summoned out of his 8th street travel agency office, and went over to talk with their leader, who a the time was probably Ralph “Sonny” Barger, the baddest Hell’s Angel.

“Barger’s word goes unquestioned,” writer Hunter S. Thompson, father of gonzo journalism, wrote of the gang leader. “The Maximum Leader, is a 6-foot, 170 pound warehouseman from East Oakland, the coolest head in the lot, and a tough, quick-thinking dealer when any action starts. By turn he is a fanatic, a philosopher, a brawler, a shrewd compromiser and final arbitrator.”

He met Mayor Waldman, a suit and tie travel agent and leader of Ocean City.

“We talked, and I introduced them to the black officer,” remembers Waldman, “but they were very racist and weren’t going to take any orders from him. I told them he was only doing his job and trying to earn a living for his family. They were very polite, and eventually we all shook hands in the end. But we didn’t go out and have cocktails together.”

“Whenever you have a transient population like we do, you will have exposure to all types, including these violent motorcycle gangs. But you can’t condone it, and you can’t ignore it,” the former mayor said.

It was with that incident still fresh in their minds, when word on the street was that the Hells Angels were coming to Ocean City for their annual Labor Day run.

“The State Police had gotten word that Ocean City was one of two places this violent motorcycle club were going to try to take over,” Waldman said. He isn’t even sure it was the Hells Angels, and it may have been the Pagans or Warlocks, other clubs that have given the local authorities trouble in the past.

If there was even a shred of truth to the rumor, Ocean City authorities had reason to be concerned.

The attorney general of California filed the following report on a “run” that occurred in that state.

“On July Fourth, 1965, the Oakland Hell’s Angels made a “run” to Willits, California. An advance group of 30 entered the city the previous day and by the afternoon of the Fourth there were some 120 motorcyclists and their female companions congregating at a local bar. Periodic fighting between the motorcyclists and the local citizens broke out with beer bottles, belts made from motorcycle chains, and metal beer can openers being used as weapons…Assistance was obtained from the California Highway Patrol….and the group was instructed by the chief of police to move out of town to the city limits.”

Journalist Hunter S. Thompson described another Labor Day encounter with the Angles this way when he rode with them for a few months in the early ‘60s.

“California, early Labor Day weekend…with the ocean fog still in the streets, outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levi’s roll out from damp garages, all-night diners and cast-off one-night pads….”

“The Menace is loose, the Hell’s Angels, the hundred-carat headline, running fast and loud on the early morning freeway, low in the saddle, nobody smiles, jamming crazy through traffic and 90 miles an hour down the center stripe, missing by incuse….like Genghis Khan on an iron horse…flat out through the eye of a beer can…tense for action, long hair in the wind, beards and bandannas flapping, earrings, armpits, chain whips, swastikas and stripped-down Harleys flashing chrome as traffic moves over, nervous, to let the formation pass like a burst of dirty thunder.”

A similar experience was expected by Ocean City authorities.

Waldman said there were lengthy meetings with the State Police and representatives from other communities, “and they said we were targeted because we had cracked down on a motorcycle gang in the past and this was to be in retaliation.”

The New Jersey State Police Intelligence Unit was receiving reports from police in other states and they were tracking the bikers as they headed towards the Jersey Shore.

Waldman said the local police worked very closely with the State Police to come up with a strategy and tactics that would save the city from the dreaded bikers.

“In those days we had a very large influx of day trippers and college kids,” recalls Waldman, “and the fear was that these college kids, being young, restless and out for a good time, would misinterpret the actions of the motorcycle gang, who were very violent types, and the college kids would end up in the middle and get hurt. You can’t tell them to stay away.”

The Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger newspaper reported, “There were widespread rumors that young rowdies were planning a hot weekend fling here and they were geared to meet them.”

“It was to (then Governor Richard J.) Hughes to whom we turned,” Waldman explained, when rumors reached city hall of impending rowdyism by hundreds of out of town youths over the Labor Day weekend.

“Governor Hughes was quick to see the problem we faced if our small summer police force were outnumbered by gangs,” said Waldman. Hughes put the National Guard on alert New Jersey State Police Superintendent Col. David B. Kelly assigned a task force to town that included his top intelligence officer, a drunkmeter expert and a large contingent that included the entire student body of the State Police Academy, who arrived by bus.

“We put all our people on 24-hour duty,” recalls Waldman, “and we worked closely with the State Police. They told us what to do and we did it. They did a very fine job, and kept them out.”

Benjamin Dungan was the acting Ocean City police chief at the time who coordinated the local police action with the State Police. When the gang arrived, they planned on raising the drawbridge into tow, but they didn’t have to because the bikers never showed, and sent no regrets.

“Business Good (Not Bustling) on Holiday Weekend,” the Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger headline read, “Rumble Rumor Blamed” and “Big Blowoff Averted on College Beach.”

But there was a minor riot on Monday, Labor Day, when it was apparent that the Hell’s Angels weren’t coming after all. According to the news reports, “People packed the beach solid, guitars were strummed, songs were sung and boys and girls were basking in the sun.”

The trouble, according to Waldman, was stirred up by a TV news team out of Philadelphia that was anticipating the arrival of the Hell’s Angels.

“That’s one of the reasons I look at news reporters with a jaundiced eye,” said Waldman, “because they tried to stage something for the cameras.”

The young, rookie reporters for KYW-TV that summer are said to have been Tom Snyder, David Brenner and Gary Shenfield. Covering the Jersey Shore was their seasonal assignment that summer and they had already raised the wrath of locals y calling attention to the underage drinking, the bar scene in Somers Point and for breaking into Somers Point City Hall to get the goods on Judge Ed Helfant, who was later killed in a mob hit.

After telling their bosses back in Philly that the Hell’s Angels were coming to town, and facing the prospect of coming up empty, Snyder and Brenner allegedly egged on the large contingent of college kids until a minor riot did orrur.

“There was an incident on the Boardwalk,” said Waldman, “but it was this TV crew from Philly that provoked a lot of it to get film footage.”

The Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger later reported, “There was minor trouble on the 9th Street Beach, where people converged on the pavilion, the police broke up a hootenanny and a fight ensued….Monday night things got out of hand. A city aide was punched in the eye and the ring leaders were apprehended after a chase by automobile through city streets. Four youths were arrested for various disorderly conduct charges. But mostly things were orderly.”

By Tuesday morning things were back to normal. The State Police contingent pulled out and the Hell’s Angeles never came back.

Ah, the ‘60s.

“Those were good days, but they’re gone,” said Waldman. “Ocean City was what it was, but it’s changed, though sometimes not for the better.”