Motorcycle Santa
MOTORCYCLE SANTA
The image of motorcyclists, particularly those of the chopper persuasion, has been well defined by countless movies, all of which have depicted motorcyclists as hulking mouth breathers with a bent toward raping and pillage.
Last December a group (not a mob) of motorcyclists, mostly those of the chopper persuasion, gathered in Pasadena, California to donate thousands of toys to the Salvation Army to be used as Christmas gifts for underprivileged children.
The image and the action don’t fit together.
Estimates of the number of motorcyclists involved ranged from 10,000 to 20,000. Parked end to end, the line of motorcycles would be 15 to 30 miles long. Parading from Griffith Park to Pasadena City Hall, 17 miles away, the first motorcyclists arrived at Pasadena before the riders in the middle of the parade started their engines.
Groups of 10,000 to 20,000 people aren’t uncommon, there are frequently groups of spectators that size for sporting events or entertainment. But these weren’t spectators, they were participants. What other event in this country has ever attracted 20,000 participants and didn’t offer any tangible rewards? The Revolutionary War, perhaps?
The Toy Run, sponsored by the Modified Motorcycle Association has been going on for several years now, getting bigger each year. Because last year’s event had grown to nearly 10,000 participants, the organizers staged a similar event the previous weekend 300 miles north of the Pasadena Toy Run, the idea being to break' the event down to several regional runs. The northern Toy Run was a great rousing success, but it didn’t slow down riders from all over California converging on Pasadena on a bright, clear Sunday morning.
As usual, stuffed animals were the most popular toys donated by the motorcyclists, some particularly large animals being seen on a few choppers. Piled up in front of Pasadena City Hall, the toys formed a small mountain.
Of course the image of motorcyclists was being changed by the television and newspaper coverage generated by the event.
After the run, in a downtown restaurant, an elderly Pasadena woman asked a waitress, “Is there a motorcycle rally going on?”
“No,” the waitress replied, “It’s a Salvation Army toys-for-tots event.”
