Mooneyes X-mas Party and The David Mann Chopper Festival
Photos and Story: T-Bone
This is going to be a long weekend. One that I look forward to every year.
It was pre-dawn on Saturday. The Mercifuls were leaving Long Beach at 5am with a threat of rain to head out to the Mooneyes X-Mas Party and Drags. The party was a bit weak as only the die-hards were going to make this round. I had the Antelope meat thawing for the traditional “Reindeer Sliders” on Hawaiian rolls. We rolled into Irwindale Event Center to find a bit of a line. We muscled through, under some tape and got yelled at for making our own way around things. Of course, we did this in front of the only guy who gave a shit and made us park behind the row of food vendors. Not a bad spot actually, close to the stage and center of the action. What action there was. And the action soon followed in Jack’s trunk. You may have heard we are doing a pictorial in the 6th issue of Blacktop Magazine of “The Girls In Jack’s Trunk”. Jack Petitt upholstered the trunk of his 1957 Pontiac Star Chief. Since then, the ladies just love to get inside and curl up with the rolls and pleats. And, we just have to shoot them. Oh Darn.
Did I say there was a threat of rain? As dawn came up, we see the clouds were still pretty high. We can see the hills in the north and watched as the deck lowered. All of a sudden it got really cold, and then a couple of sprinkles and by 11am it was coming down pretty good. I was sure to see everyone pack up and leave, but only a few actually left. The show was about half full compared to last year, and in the afternoon the weather turned out pretty good. We made our way from under the canopy to check out the remaining cars. The show concluded with the famous Pinup Contest hosted by Mitzi and Company. There were eleven frozen beauties lined up on stage to keep us in the crowd warm. Around 3pm we decided to start packing up and head on out. It was nice to roll with the brothers on the way out. I followed Bill Torres’ ’58 Fairlane who followed Jack with our buddy Stubby riding along.
Then Came Sunday
Billy and I always hit the David Mann Chopperfest at the Ventura County Fairgrounds between the beach and the Amtrak line. Not so early today. The weather proved to be dry, however cold for a Southern California December, forcast to be 57 degrees. This while the rest of the country was going through some pretty incredible snowstorms. We layered up and headed for the beach at 8am.
Right when we got there, we met up with Steve Schapiro who was crazy about this ’26 Harley that had some incredible history. And we met the owner of Riff Raff Cycles who had a bitchen “Autism Army” bike that he takes to schools and events to let autistic kids sit on the bike and get photos and such. I dig stuff like that! The David Mann Chopperfest celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. A unique show that presents art, bikes, vendors, swapmeet and even roller derby! David Mann, the centerfold artist in Easyriders magazine for over 2 decades would be proud.
We met up with more friends, Bomonster was walking around getting inspiration, Joel and Mary Klass had their booth of vintage leathers, helmets and other goodies. Radioactive Bob asked if I would shoot his model Mickey on a chopper he painted in the show. We drew quite the crowd as Mickey posed on the bike. Shiney came up and asked if she would pose on his Triumph and his buddies bikes lined up next to each other. Look for a pictorial soon. In-fact I met Shiney at the Pinup contest at Mooneyes just the day before.
As you can tell, this was the kind of weekend we like here at Blacktop Magazine. Bitchen bikes, cool cars and great people. Next up will be the Easyriders show in early January then the Grand National Roadster Show later in the month. See you out there.