On the road
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Earl Werner
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
May 2011 Asylum Mobilitarium
May 2011 Asylum Mobilitarium
I saw on Facebook recently from the Harley-Davidson Museum that a new book has been released by author, Rin Tanaka. I have a book that he wrote in 2005 titled, “My Freedamn! 3. The book was all about vintage jackets and t-shirts. It is kind of a coffee table book that chronicles motorcycle outer wear from basically the 1940’s to the 1970’s.
As most (some, well a few) PCH’ers know, Willie Hank is a big fan of vintage motorcycle duds. There used to be a place in Wichita Falls called “Ghost Clothes.” I visited the establishment in 2004 on the way to Sturgis. You would find old Indian, Harley-Davidson, Schott, and Sears Roebuck leather jackets, chaps, t-shirts, as well as rare HD AMF motorcycle clothing.
Sears-Roebuck? Really? According to the book, 1960’s Sears, and Montgomery-Ward motorcycle jackets, with the red velvet lining, go for big bucks. There is a cool couple and old friends of mine and many PCH’ers, Ron and Mary Barker, who own an authentic Sears-Roebuck jacket from the 60’s. Ron kind of grew out of it over the years so Mary wears it well now. I told her once that her jacket was worth a heck of a lot of money, and she still wears it proudly!
By the way, last time I checked, Ghost Clothes was unfortunately out of business. But you can still find authentic, vintage leather clothing on several websites. But be aware, motorcycling in Willie Hank’s opinion is about prayer and karma. In the karma realm, wearing another biker’s jacket with tears, scratches, pins, patches, bug splats and other grease and grime of the road, borders on bad karma.
If your brother, sister, father, mother or close friend hands down a favorite road worn piece of clothing, that’s cool, that’s motorcycle history, but don’t buy a jacket off E-Bay and pass it off as your own.
I said all that to say this. Rin Tanaka has come out with a new book on biker clothing. Harley-Davidson agreed in 2007-2008 to let Tanaka photograph many of the items in their vast archives of historic and vintage clothes from 1903 to the present.
It’s available from the Museum for $40.00. You have to call; they don’t have web based ordering system yet at the HD Museum.
I’m a fan of the “Car in the Barn,” series. Jay Leno has written the forwards in a couple of the books. There is “Cobra in the Barn,” “Corvette in the Barn,” and “Vincent in the Barn,” which is about finding old motorcycles in garages, back yards, and yes, barns!
In one of the stories, there are a couple of guys who flew to Russia because they had a lead on some old Harley-Davidson WLA bikes. They were picked up at the Moscow airport and driven 100 miles or so outside the city by a couple of guys they took for Russian Mafia. Scared out of their wits, they worried as they were driven to a secluded house.
Well, there was no barn so the guys thought, well this is it, and we’ll be robbed and dumped in a nearby ditch. They approached the house that was very, very dark. No barn or garage, suspicious looking Russian guys, no cell phone service, no silly Facebook (checking in) “Scary Russian farmhouse ,” our hero’s thought that their number was up.
As they were led downstairs at the farmhouse, sweating profusely, one of the Russians flipped on the light in what turned out to be the basement. To the Americans surprise, there were fifty or so WWII WLA’s that had been in the farmhouse basement for 65 years. Long story very short because of this limited space, the good guys have gone back several times and brought back many boatloads of historic Harley-Davidsons to restore.
Harley built 88k military bikes in WWII. The second best customer besides the U.S. was the former Soviet Union.
Willie Hank, Historian
Friday, April 8, 2011
May 2011 Shield magazine
May/June 2011 Dallas Police Shield
Last month we spoke about some of the colorful characters that make police work so interesting. I recently received an e-mail from retired officer David Lane #2214. I always enjoy hearing stories from officers, both retired and otherwise. Lane spoke of our friend Herby Navarro that Charlie Tull wrote me about some weeks ago.
Lane mentioned that around 1968-69, IACP recommendations were implemented, and as a result all 4x6 book in cards were pulled. It was found that three guys, including Herby, led the pack for Drunk and Disorderly arrests since 1946. The breakdown for the three was one had 1200 arrests, the other 900, and the third, about 700-800 arrests for being what we called Public Intoxication in my day. It’s not known where Herby ranked but he was up there obviously.
Was PI different from D&D? I welcome any input on the question.
In a tidbit that would probably get you days off today, and an entry into the Dallas Morning News archives, reporters showing up as you leave the gym to interview you, etc. some officers would allow Herby, when he was taken to jail, put the arresting officers “out to jail” on the police radio. As we discussed last month, the dispatchers knew Herby, and would many times answer, “10-4 Herby.” Yes, for the good old days!
Herby was one of those guys that you just couldn’t dislike. He was a character, but somewhat dealt with by the good officers of the time with a kind of humor that is part of a police officer’s makeup. I’m sure there are others of this status out there today. I really hope so.
I know that when we retired officers get together, it’s all about how glad we are that we made it to retirement. I’m also sure that in these retirees, there is the thought sometimes that we wished that we were back working again. Maybe it’s the longing to be young again. I don’t know. It’s all about the memories my friends.
Today’s officers should cherish these times. Someday, one of them may be writing this column!
I want to take a moment and mention Captain Eddie Walt’s book, “The Hall Street Shoot Out.” I haven’t spoken to Captain Walt and I hope that he doesn’t mind me mentioning his book.
Most young officers today only know Hall and Thomas as a place to get rent free apartments, good looking women, and that there are some pretty cool bars in the neighborhood. Hell, I’ve been to the Rockin’ Taco in the area recently on my bike! It’s really changed. But when I got on in 1977, it was still a rough and tumble area. One of the first calls I remember is with Bill Turnage and I rushing up some stairs in the old hotel at Hall and Thomas going to a disturbance. However, on the other hand there was Henderson’s Chicken’ Shack that I remember as having the best chicken I’ve ever tasted!
Captain Walt’s book brings out the true flavor of the neighborhood in the late 1960’s. Many of the officers mentioned in the book are a “who’s who” in the annals of the Dallas Police Department. One interesting item in the book is the fact that at one time, because officers were accidentally shooting off rounds when loading shotguns, officers were forbidden to load their shotguns except away from the station. Well, guys were usually sent to calls as soon as they got out of detail, so they forgot to stop somewhere safe, away from the station, and load their shotguns.
At the “Hall Street Shootout,” several officers grabbed their shotguns from under the seats of their squad cars, and found that the guns were empty! The rounds were bound together by rubber bands; they never got around to loading the shotguns. Later, this General Order was changed.
Captain Walt’s book should be required reading for every Dallas Police Officer. You can purchase it at the DPA, and the Headquarters building. Check it out!
W.H.Croom, II # 3973 retired
dmntia1995@aol.com
Friday, April 1, 2011
Dad
I could see that Dad wasn't feeling good when I visited him Wed. He was taken to the hospital yesterday morning with stomach pains, bladder infection, etc.
It's so sad to see ones Dad in this condition.
Hopefully with the meds,he will be back in shape by Monday.
It's so sad to see ones Dad in this condition.
Hopefully with the meds,he will be back in shape by Monday.
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