Kyle rode his bike home today.......

Well, Kyle finally was able to ride his '00 Sporty out of here today. What started out a couple months ago as "just a hardtail...." on Kyle's part soon turned into more mods as he saw it progress along. Originally, he wanted the Led Sled's hardtail, a sissy bar, and a Red Tail Leather solo seat. Then he decided on a full frisco'd tank, 2" shorter front legs (we used 2" under tubes), Lick's ultra-narrow 12" apes, Goodson Little Breather, full braided brake lines, and wanted his old long drag pipes modified to follow the frame legs, with turnout tips.......

Originally, Kyle wanted to keep his final belt drive, but both pulleys were worn cock-eyed, and the new longer belt would always track into the worn area on the trans sprocket, eventually shredding the side of the belt. We decided to go with a chain conversion. I used an '82-'85 Sporty rear sprocket, and opened up the center hole to fit his '00 wheel. Then I took a '91-'92 front chain sprocket, and about 45 min. crossing and re-crossing H-D part numbers, and some carefull measurements, discovered that the early Softail 5sp chain drive front sprocket seal and spacer would fit his Sporty case, and line up his chain sprockets perfectly!

We gutted about half his wiring harnass out, moved his coil between his cylinders on the L/H side, and left him just enough stuff to get by on. Kyle's coming back for a complete rewire in late Fall, along with an internal throttle, bare-bones hand controls, and a 16" spoked rear wheel. He may even go for a Labriola foot clutch. Until then, he plans on putting as many miles on his bike he can before the snow flies. I can't blame him!

I used Kyle's stock '00 Sporty gas tank. I dropped the tunnel, raised the filler neck (it's an Acme Choppers solid brass vented cap unit), relocated his petcock to the lower LT. corner, and used four rubber isolated platform mounts under his tank for the mounting - you have to look for the mounts to see them. I don't remember who did the paintwork right now, but they did an excellent job!

Here's the sissy bar I made out of 1/2" cold rolled, and you can see the detail on the turn-outs on the ends of the pipes. You can see how ultra narrow those Lick's bars are, they have that really nice "butterfly wing" shape to them. They look killer on a 39mm front end.

I was able to tuck Kyle's OEM 4 piston caliper inbetween the frame rails ala a Softail by simply adding a 1/4" thick tab on the lower frame tube, registering into the old adjuster slot on the caliper body. Nice, clean, simple mounting of a stock component. Why buy a new custom caliper?

The tail light/license plate mount is one I've been making for clients since '04. Basically, it's a 1/2" cold roll bar that I bend to fit the plate and their choice of tail light. It plugs into two sockets on the frame rails w/hidden bolts, and is removable. If you look on my website, you'll see several variations of this mount on my builds, including Part-timer Steve's bike. They're super-rugged, believe me.

The tail light is one I found a couple years ago. It's a 30 element, dual function LED lamp, and it measures 3 3/4" long x 2 1/4" in dia. This lamp is BRIGHT! I found this when Part-timer Steve wanted the Heartland teardrop tail lamp for his chopper, and nearly had a heart attack at the price. This unit is about a 1/4 of the price of those, and is brighter. A couple summers ago, when we were riding thru Utah late at night, with no moon, I could see Steve's tail light about a 1/4 mi. up in front of me clear as could be.

If you're interested in the license plate mount, or the tail lamp, let me know. The lamps are $65.00, and the license mounts themselves are $150.00 in bare steel, less the LED lamp, and illuminated license plate frame ( I can get the LED frames for you, too) + S&H. I can accomodate your choice of most any tail light you'd like to use.
sales@shamrockfabrication.com

A few posts back, I showed you the R/H side of Rocky's CFL, and the mid controls I was fabricating, using a set of roached-out JayBrake forwards for parts. I wanted to wait until I had the whole setup functioning, but Rick Labriola (of L.A. Jocky Shift fame) is splining a shift lever rod for me, and I haven't gotten it yet. Rick's in the process of moving from one shop location to another, and his foot clutches and relocation takes precedent, and I understand.

The goal was to use as many parts from the JayBrake components as I could, and fab the rest. It worked out great on the R/H side, but I couldn't use any of the L/H side's forward components, because JayBrake has a oddball sized shift lever shaft and lever, so........

Rocky originally bought this used 3" BDL setup on Ebay. I cut a 5/16" plate to fit between his pulleys, and then I figured out the position and height of the footpeg mount to match his R/H side. From there, I was able to figure out the position of his shifter shaft tube. The shifter shaft tube runs thru the motor plate similar to the FXR/Dyna. When I get the shifter shaft from Rick, I'll be able to fab up the linkage, show you how the shifter will actually function.

Once I got everything TIG'd up on his plate, it was easy to transfer the measurements for their location to the pattern I had previously made for his outer belt guard. With everything marked out, Part-timer Steve cut the outer guard out of 5/16" 6061 aluminum plate, and I dolled it up with my usual "speedball" hole pattern. The outer guard is mounted with two of the old BDL stand-offs, they worked perfect.

You can see the shifter shaft tube location in relation to the footpeg a little better here. We'll use an OEM FL shift lever. The whole mid control assembly is held to the motor plate itself with four 3/8" countersunk allen bolts, threaded directly into the motor plate. Again, you see the fancy-schmancy Joker Machine BMX-style footrest, and the shift lever will get the matching Joker peg. All in all, a pretty simple setup.

"So, tell me Rich.....how are you going to get that outer belt guard plate off now, if the belt or anything on the primary needs servicing?"

I'm glad you asked me that...... I extended the clevis block back into the tubing a couple inches for support, then I drilled the tubing and the clevis block together, and used a drift pin (see the red arrow) to secure the clevis block. When the belt needs to be serviced, you can knock the pin out, and remove the whole footpeg/clevis to take off the outer belt guard. Pretty simple solution.

It might be just me, but........

I was cruising around on the 'net, and I saw this press release for "Z-calz" . They're these decals (for $29.99 for a set of 70), or magnetic plaques ($39.99 for an equal assortment) that you stick on the drawers of your tool box, so you can find your tools.

I'm thinking if you can't remember what drawer you put what tool in, so you can retrieve it, you quite possibly shouldn't be working on anything mechanical to begin with.

I think a better choice of spending $39.99 would be to head down to The Vitamin Cottage at the mall, buy a bottle of ginko baloba, take a couple, then walk down a little further to Sears, and buy more tools with what's left over.

That is, if you can remember where the mall is..........

So, last Friday evening......

......I'm working late, and I rolled Tommy's chopper off the rack at about 9:00pm. While Tommy and I were getting ready to call it a night, the phone rings around 9:30pm. Dan's on the other end of the line. I hardtailed Dan's Sporty, and posted some photos here on the blog a little while ago, and I also used his frame in my IronWorks how-to tech article on the subject.

Anyways, Dan says he met this guy from Japan, and he spun the nut off his front belt drive pulley. Dan's called around, and he either can't get ahold of anybody, or nobody has the tools to get it back on right. He wants to bring this guy over, and could I fix his bike for him. Well, I'm up, and so I say sure, I can't leave a guy stranded.

About a 1/2 hr. later, Dan and this guy roll up. This guy is packed for the road, and he's riding this rigid Shovel, with like this 22over springer on it, no front brake, and Invader wheels. Dan introduces him as "Masao". We roll it on the rack, and it barely fits on there. I clean off his motor shaft threads, and his pulley nut, dab on some red Loctite, and with the jamb bar in place, it takes me about 15 min.in total to get the nut torqued all to spec, and fixed up.

While I'm fixing Masao's bike, we're making chit-chat, and it turns out we know several mutual friends. The more I speak with him, the more familiar he looks. When I was finished, I went inside and got out my Hardcore Chopper magazines, and sure enough, that's where I had seen him before. Masao Suzuki owns MC Peckers, a chopper shop in Japan. He builds bikes, and the springer and the "Invaders" on his bike he's riding are part of his parts line he manufactures. What a small world anymore, huh?

Here's a picture of Masao from Hardcore Choppers Vol.21. It was in an article intitled "The Long Fork Philosophy". Masao had 3 bikes built by himself and his shop MC Peckers, featured in the article.

Masao told me he started off from L.A., rode up to Sturgis, then down to Texas, here to Colorado, and is on his way back to L.A., to ship his bike from there back to Japan. Shortly after he gets back to Japan, he's going to ship his bike over to Tibet, and ride around over there for awhile. Wow!

Masao wanted to pay me for the time it took, and I told him to forget it. I told him it was all about the "wheel", and how it all comes around again, and he smiled and understood. He shook my hand, and then he and Dan were off to find him a place to stay for the night.

Safe journeys, Masao Suzuki. We'll meet up again, I'm sure.

My buddy Butch, and the Harley giveaway....

I happened to be looking at the rideicon/Icon Moto Blog, and I ran across this. Icon got it from a blog in France, Ze Last Chance Garage. It's an ad that ran in most of the 1979 Peterson Publishing titles, like Hot Rod and Car Craft, and a bunch of the straight cycle publications. Harley-Davidson came up with the idea to give away a brand new Corvette and Sportster - both custom painted to match.

All you had to do to win them was to guess the combined value of both vehicles, including the custom paint and accessories that were added. It just so happens that the painter who did the killer kandy rootbeer over black pearl base on both giveaway vehicles back then is a long-time friend of mine, Butch Brinza. Also, in the early '80's, this color combo was even offered in the H-D line as an available custom color after the contest.

Even in '79, as stated in the H-D giveaway ad, Butch's reputation in the custom paint and pinstripe world was huge. Butch started out on his own in '58, and since that time has had more cars and motorcycles inside magazines, and on covers than you could count. Butch has been lifelong friends with the likes of Von Dutch, Larry Watson, Ed Roth, Jon Kosmoski, and Junior Conway, just to name a few. As a matter of fact, it was Junior Conway who told me he thought Butch was the best custom painter in the world.

Butch's work has graced Oakland Roadster Show winners, ISCA Champions, Bonneville racers, Indy Cars, and everything inbetween. Butch has done work on Hollywood star's cars, restorations for the greatest automotive museums out there, as well as friend Gary Gabelich's Blue Flame LSR car that set the Land Speed record of 630.388 MPH on Oct. 23, 1970 - that stood for 13 years (his KPH record stood for 27 years). Butch also painted both of friend Wink Eller's LSR bikes - Red October, and Blue Monday.

Butch's pinstriping and lettering can also be seen gracing the restored "#1" 1903 Harley-Davidson, in the Harley Museum in Milwaukee, WI., among other bikes there.

Here's Butch (2nd from the left), Willie G., and the winners of the contest at the press conference/vehicle keys presentation. Butch told me that he was underneath this car in the shop, when he got this call on a Friday afternoon, and Willie G. is on the line. Willie G. told him to get down to Juneau Ave. because they're awarding the car and bike to the winners, and he absolutely had to be in the press photos.

Butch said he cleaned up as best he could, and drove over there. They tossed a clean H-D Tshirt and jacket at him, and told him to put them on, and stand behind the winners for the publicity shots. Notice how they positioned Butch so they didn't shoot him from the waist down - his pants were really grubby. Too bad somebody didn't tell him to comb his hair, haha! Butch says he can't remember the names of the winners, or even if they ever told him, it was such a rush deal that afternoon.

Butch in the '60's, in typical pinstriper fashion, doing some last minute striping in the middle of a show, probably at one of the ISCA sanctioned one's. Check out the chopped Deuce shell, and the '36 Ford spare tire ring front fenders.

Back then, as was the case with Larry Watson and others, it wasn't uncommon for Butch to have 10-20 cars and bikes he painted and pinstriped on the floor of one show. And, Butch competed with Jon Kosmoski of House Of Kolor fame at almost every ISCA show back then for the "Best Paint" awards at the big shows in Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, etc. - one time Butch would take it, next time it would be Kosmoski's turn. Butch said "In a situation like that, you either become best friends, or you hate each other's guts. Fortunately, Jon and I became great friends, and are to this day".

Butch is the recipient of the ISCA "Lifetime Achievement Award", and is in the ISCA Hall Of Fame.

Grouchy ol' Butch and I attending the Rat Fink Reunion, when it was still held in the parking lot of Mooneyes, in Santa Fe Springs, CA, in 1999.

Butch at home in Goleta, CA, in March of 2000, a few years before the move to Payson, AZ. You can see some of Butch's fine art works displayed on the walls, including a beautiful etched glass panel suspended from the ceiling he did for his wife Liz.

I've ridden quite a few miles with Butch, including Sturgis, and trips to Harley's 85th, 90th, and 95th Anniversary Parties in Milwaukee (we both skipped the 100th). I gotta make the time to head down to Payson, and look he and Liz up. It's been too long. Think I'll call him, because he still does't like the internet.

From my old Homage blog - the brush box that Von Dutch gave Butch a long time ago. If you look between the paint splatters on the lid, you can make out Von Dutch's Goodie Box, in Dutch's typical lettering. Butch still has this box.

It seems Dutch was upset with Butch carrying his striping and lettering brushes around in a bundle, with a rubber band around them. Dutch thought that was a sacrilige to treat his brushes this way, so he gave Butch this box to store them in. Well, Dutch actually threw the box at him.......

I'm also fortunate to have photos that Butch had taken with Von Dutch about 4 weeks before Dutch died. Brucker called Butch, and told him Dutch didn't have a lot of time left, and if Butch wanted to see him, he needed to come up pretty soon. Butch said when he got to the Brucker Ranch in Santa Paula, Dutch didn't recognize him, but when he started talking, he knew who he was right away. Butch said Dutch would drift in and out while he was there, and agreed to have some photos taken of the two. They are for the most part in front of Dutch's orange/black VW Thing, parked next to Dutch's workshop at the Brucker's place. Dutch looks to be pretty bad off in those photos, and Butch looks pretty sad as well.

Butch had me promise I'd never post those photos anywhere on the internet, copy them for anybody, or use them in any articles I wrote. I've kept that promise to him thru the years. You'll just have to see them if you ever stop by my place.

Greasy Kulture #16

Greasy Kulture #16 should have hit you subscribers by now, and is available online for purchase at the GK website.

The cover says it all - coverage on Meatball's "Hell On Wheels" event, Born Free II, and from France - Linkert Attacks. Plus, all the great feature bikes you've come to expect between the covers of GK every issue, and #16 is right there again with 9 very cool rides!

Oh yeah, I have a good column on Harley's frame furnace brazing in the mix, too.

Order online now, or better yet, SUBSCRIBE! You know you want to........
http://www.greasykulture.com/buy/back-issues/

Top 40 Motorcycle Blog Award........

Applied Machete was picked as one of the "Top 40" motorcycle blogs for 2010, by Online Schools.

You can see a list of the Top 40 Motorcycle blog picks, and the criteria they used to decide the winners here:

http://www.onlineschools.org/top_motorcycles/#Applied_Machete

Thank you very much!

1039 Ardmore Ave. followup.....

I just got back from Sturgis, and of course, one of the first "catch up" things I had to do was to sift thru all the Emails I got while I was gone. Not bad, I only had 60 or so to go thru. Among the offers to make my tits bigger, and my penis longer/fatter, I had these additional bits of information sent to me on the Psychedelic Love Temple. Read along, and learn some more..........

I really need to thank Jahluv for finding this for us, and the other information here he's passed on. Jahluv was parusing this book - Black Gold, The Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix, when he ran across this entry you'll see below. Basically, it's a notation on a filming/music performance that Hendrix filmed inside the Temple. It also says that some of this footage shot has been used in several Hendrix documentarys. Now that you know what the inside of the Temple looks like, has anybody actually seen any of this footage, or where it can be located, or seen online? I've never seen it, so pass on any info to me if you have.

Obviously, for Hendrix to want to shoot this inside the Temple, it must have been a pretty well-known location in all the right hip circles then, and not only to the hippies and the bikers. It also must have been a real trip to have seen Hendrix and The Experience playing in the "concert" area of the Temple, I can only imagine! Most importantly, the archive entry gives us a positive location and address for the Psychedelic Love Temple - it being 1039 SOUTH Ardmore AVENUE......

The archive entry from Black Gold, mentioning the Valentino Mansion, 1039 S. Ardmore Ave, Hendrix, and the demolition of the Temple.

This really surprised me, that in the past, when it was known as the Ardmore Mansion, it was once owned by Rudolph Valentino. This had to have been his first mansion, because he also owned a 2nd mansion later on in the Whitley Heights section of L.A., which was demolished (along with the original Hollywood High, and many other historically significant houses and buildings that people tried to save) when the Hollywood Freeway was originally built, and later, in 1925, built his most famous Falcon Lair at the mouth of Benedict Canyon - also demolished in '06 for an entirely new mansion.

Also, I found out that Harry Houdini's Mom lived on S. Ardmore Ave, a couple blocks North of the Ardmore Mansion/Temple at the same time period as Valentio did. Also, Jahluv said his Grandma lived up until '68 on S. Normandie, just 8 blocks from the Temple, and she said that the neighborhood back then was integrated, but the majority population was still white. I'm thinking that "El Jake" was getting into the "Baron's Punch" when he wrote his story for Choppers Magazine, and said it was close to the center of the Black Area of L.A. See, you can't always believe what you read as fact.

An article, dated Jan. 24, 1967 that Jahluv found snooping around in the L. A. Times database, on a trip to the Long Beach Library. I've highlighted the bust at the Temple in the red block. Read the whole article, it's kinda humorous...

I also recieved an Email from a "scottg", who said that his Mom was sure the Temple was the place she spent time at in the '60's. His Mom grew up in the W. L.A./Beverly Hills area, and knew quite a few of the MC clubs/members from the Hollywood area. She said that the Temple at that time was owned by a guy who went by "The Duke Of Earl"/"Little Earl". He was going to pass on my blog to her, and see if she'd like to send along more info to me. I haven't heard anything from his Mom yet, but we'll see......

I also got an Email from Harpoon, who said that The Psychedelic Love Temple is his favorite Roth/Mann painting, and he almost went to the Brucker Auction at the Peterson Automotive Museum in May of '06 to bid on it. He was sad he didn't, because it went for the least amount of money of all the paintings. Actually, all those original Roth/Mann paintings went for a song at that auction, I think that the highest one went for around 6g's.

Harpoon wants to "hunt down" the Temple's site next trip I make out to L.A. He also related to me that Droopy and he had spoken about the Temple at El Camino last year. Droopy (what a surprise!) said he had been to the Temple back then, and used to (again, what a surprise!) party for days on end there.

A map from Google, showing the present day location of 1039 S. Ardmore Ave. L.A, CA. I had found this location on previous Google serches, but wasn't sure if this was indeed the right address/area where the Temple originally stood. It was.

The Temple was located in what is now the Wilshire Center/Koreatown area of L.A. The major boundry streets are Olympic Blvd. to the N., W. Pico Blvd. to the S., S. Normandie Ave. to the E., and Western Ave. to the W., if you'd like to check it out yourself sometime.

Here's what's there today - 1039 S. Ardmore Ave.

If the Temple was razed in early '70 as the Hendrix Black Gold archive entry states, it must have been a vacant lot for almost 15 years. The real estate development company who built this duplex didn't do so until '86-'88.

In my previous post, I stated that the Temple sat on a piece of property that was elevated above Ardmore Ave. In the Above photo, you can see exactly how high that was. It looks like they dug back into the property's elevation for the parking area, and built the duplex on the back end of the plot. Look how high it is from the blacktop, to the bottom of the duplexes! If that's the case, the Temple was larger in size, and higher in elevation than it appears in photos, and the property it sat on was a pretty good chunk of land in and of itself.

This property is also listed as 1039 S. Ardmore Ave. by the development company who bought the property that The Temple sat on. It's a 54 unit condo that they built (also in the '80's), after the duplex. I can't find out if this building sits on what was part of the original Ardmore Mansion grounds, or not. It may have been adjoining properties that they acquired and razed, as this building extends from the Mansion property, to the end of the block.

In his Emails, Jahluv expressed the same thoughts that I have wondered about all these years as well. If The Temple has had such a famous and storied history, dating back to the late 1800's, why aren't there more photos of its exterior in existence? Surely there have to be photos taken by the "underground press" of the 60's out there, and surely there have to be photos from Valentino's occupation of the mansion. But, as you can see, they appear to be as rare as hen's teeth. I'm not giving up on this one, so as before, any and all information/photos is most appreciated - especially from somebody who "was there". Send them on to:

irishrich@shamrockfabrication.com

and, I'll post it here.

1039 Ardmore Ave.

This is a photo of the original David Mann acrylic on paper Psychedelic Love Temple. Note that the bike is yellow, but the Roth print has an orange bike instead. Also, even though Roth's name is prominent on all of Mann's poster prints, David would always "sneak in" his name somewhere in every painting. In this case, his name is across the front of the rider's jacket, right above his left hand. Sometimes Mann's name was in a really obscure place, you have to look hard sometimes....

I'm sure by now, everybody is familiar with the Ed Roth/David Mann painting The Psychedelic Love Temple. I thought you'd all like to know a little background history on the inspiration for Mann's painting, and see a picture of the actual "Temple".........

....and here it is, The "Psychedelic Love Temple", 1039 Ardmore Ave. Los Angeles, CA.

This is the only image that I know of that shows the Temple, and I pulled the movie still from the 1967 Roger Coreman/American Intl. LSD exploitation movie The Trip, written by Jack Nicholson, and starring Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, and Susan Strasberg as the main characters. Supposedly, the Temple was used as a backdrop for several other movies of the time, but I can't recall seeing it any other time on film. The Temple appears in the first 5 minutes of the movie, and there were also scenes shot in and around the Temple front exterior area and interior. As a sidenote here, Nicholson originally wrote the screenplay for The Trip with himself in mind for the lead part. It was at Coreman's insistance that Fonda be cast in the lead, and Nicholson finally agreed with that to sell his screenplay.

Here's what I've been able to find out about the history of the Temple. The Temple was built in 1881, at the end of the California Gold Rush. It was known early on as the Ardmore Mansion, then sometime in its history was home to a spiritualist for 33 years, and known as the San Souci Culture Temple then. In the early to late '60's it was still listed in the L.A. phonebook as the Ardmore Arms, so it must have been converted over to apartments at some time. It's during the early '60's when it was finally abandoned.

I remember skipping out of High School at lunch time in '67, for the rest of the afternoon, to go Downtown to see The Trip on the big movie screen. It's an OK '60's timepiece movie, and you can find it on Amazon.com . It also has a good soundtrack done by The Electric Flag, credited in the movie as The American Music Band, who's members included Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Miles, and Nick Gravenites.

A photo from the Choppers article, showing the big LOVE/sEx letters painted in the middle of Ardmore Ave., in front of the house.

Almost a year after seeing The Trip, the April '68 issue of Roth's Choppers Magazine came in the mail, and in it was an article written by "El Jake" (possibly Jake Jacobs?) entitled "Turn On With The Walls". As I went thru the story and accompanying photos, I realized that the "Psychedelic Love Temple" he was talking about was the same place that I had seen in The Trip. I further realized the movie, the article, and the subject of one of David Mann's more recent paintings for Roth's posters were all one one in the same.

Here's a shot I pulled from the movie, of the same LOVE/sEx lettering on the pavement. From this shot, the camera pans from the street up the hill to the front of the house. Notice the movie prop bikes parked in front of the Temple are Suzukis and Hondas, not outlaw choppers.


Now, I'm going to put together both some information from the Choppers article, and some other pieces of the story I've found. It seems that the Barons M/C for some reason left San Diego sometime in '65, and migrated up to L.A. Thru word of mouth, they found out about the Temple, which at that time was abandoned, and already a centerpiece in the "acid tests" going on in L.A. then - LSD being legal at the time. It was also known as a hippie "crash pad" of sorts as well. The Choppers article also pointed out that the Temple was located "...near the center of Los Angeles' black section".

The Barons (later known as the Barons Of The EARTH MC), led by a guy named Rowland, decided to move into the Temple in '65, and managed to run electrical power, and soon after, water into the abandoned building. How they accomplished this is any body's guess. Now, the Barons as far as I can tell, weren't a 1%er outfit, but more "hippie bikers" with a little harder edge. Once the utilities were in place, it became even more of a party central than before. The Temple became a commune of sorts, with everybody from wandering hippies, to artists and musicians, to both local and national MC's all dropping in all hours of the day and night.

Outside of the core residents (the Barons) people stayed for a few days, or a few months. Rowland always had local bands set up in the central round "great room" playing rock & roll almost every night. One of the bands who played there regularly, known as United Gas, then Christopher (their first album Christopher, for Metromedia Records, had the group's album cover shot inside the Temple) recalled that on any given night ".....hundreds of motorcycles would be parked at the curbs" for the partys. The band also recalled the "Baron's Punch" that was always available. It was made from Kool-Ade in a large container, with everybody who attended tossing in whatever various hallucinogens they happened to have with them. From there, the other guests were free to drink from the "punch bowl" as little or as much as they wanted. Sounded like you had to have a pretty good head to handle that mixture. The band also said that the bottom of the container "....looked like mud" at the end of the night, from the resedue of all the caps and tabs that had been tossed in.

This photo also comes from the Choppers article. It shows Baron Rowland, the head of the Barons MC, and the Temple, standing in the "great room" - the big, round, central area of the Temple you see in photo #2 .

There are a lot of holes in the story that I haven't been able to fill in, and there is one thing that I've always wondered about - how the hell were the Barons and their "guests" able to live there, and pull this whole thing off for 3-4 years??? How were they able to go almost non-stop like they did without running afoul of the Police, the City of Los Angeles, the Building Code Dept., the utility companies, and the neighborhood itself (it being soon after the famous Watts riots of '65)? From personal experience back then with the LAPD and the LACO Sheriffs, I can't understand why they didn't raid the place constantly. Both Dept.'s intolerance and subsequent treatment of anybody that was a minority, a hippie, biker, or anybody else they determined not to be an "upstanding citizen" is legendary. They in no uncertain terms delt out their own brand of law enforcement. But, from what I understand about "squatter's rights", unless the actual landowner objects to the presence of people on his property, there isn't much the local law enforcement can do to evict the tenants.

I haven't been able to find out any info after late '68 as to what eventually happened to the Temple, or its residents.When I got to L.A. in '70, I asked around about the Temple, but nobody seemed to know about it anymore, which isn't surprising. By that time the whole counterculture scene in L.A. was on its last legs, and fading fast, mostly due to Police crackdowns and the infusion of heroin,speed, and coke that was replacing the hallucinogens and reefer of the past. The Flower Power Days had long since wilted. Unless I run across somebody who was actually there, I'll probably never know. I guess that's what legends and tales are made of, and I guess that's why I'm writing this for you today.

Here's the same room in another movie still I pulled. The area of the room that Rowland is standing in, in the previous picture is just to the left of this scene. Here Bruce Dern is introducing Peter Fonda to Dennis Hopper (the "guru" of the hippie pad), and their LSD connection. Hopper is in the movie all of 5 minutes. LSD became illegal in Ca. on Oct. 6, 1966.

Now, the Million $ question: Where in L.A. is/was the Temple actually located? You would think that by typing in the address into Google Maps or the like, and going to the "street view" feature, it would pop right up. Not so. It seems every enclave in the L.A. area has an "1039 Ardmore Ave." or a "1039 Ardmore St." - both North and South. Usually when a street is called out by its name, it's usually a "north" street. I've seen some locations in L.A. on Google maps, but the neighborhoods don't look anything in the "street view" like they did in The Trip, or the Roth article, nor are they in the area described in the article.

From the Choppers article, we know it was located "...near the center of Los Angeles' black section", which from the time period I would assume meant some place near Watts. And, if you look at the cryptic Dave Mann's Love Temple painting, and guess that the crossed Freeways he's painted in the lower rt. part of the painting are the 110, and the 10, then with where he's put the signpost for "1039 Ardmore" touching down in L.A., with the searchlights representing Hollywood to the NW, that's about right for it's location. But, I can't find any Ardmore Ave. in that area at all. The closest I came was a N. Ardmore Ave. that ended a couple blocks short of the address at Santa Fe, by the L.A. River.

If anybody has any more real information on the Temple's history, or was there back then in '65-'69, or knows where 1039 Ardmore Ave. actually is, or what's there now at that address, let me know:

irishrich@shamrockfabrication.com
and I'll do a followup and post it here for everyone to see. Somebody out there has got to know more about this.

I'm always surprised at who reads this blog........

....and I always dig getting an Email like this from somebody who does:

" Rich,
I saw the write up you did on Rooster's bike. That same article in Choppers magazine influenced me too. At the time I had been building rigid Harleys for 10 years and trying to get the *right* look.Rooster nailed it."

"I sent an attachment of the 93" Shovel I built the following year. Complete with Big Don spun aluminum oil tank like Roosters.
Today, I'm in the process of building another similar bike. This time I will use an S&S retro Shovel alt/generator style motor. Wet primary and 6 speed Baker trans.
FYI, I own Head Quarters, manufacturer of performance equipment for Harleys. Been in this business for 41 years."
Doug Coffey

Thank you Doug, for taking time out of your busy day to send me this. I truly appreciate it!