In suit against Solano County, East Bay Dragons, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Alameda County DAs new policy will reduce prison sentences through widespread elimination of sentencing enhancements, In suit against Solano County, East Bay Dragons motorcycle club allege racism was behind canceled fairgrounds event, Letters: Plethora of problems | Creating AL | Provenance of woke | Teen girls | Public bank. Soak in the retro soil & oil biker shots from the Chosen Few, and East Bay Dragons motorcycle clubs In 1959, the Chosen Few MC officially formed out in LA on the cusp of the chaotic 60s. The East Bay Dragons turned 60, and brought all the bikes out. Wilson has been a . In Truth Be Told, Spellman illustrates the juxtaposition of that kind of East Bay and North Bay life. Enough to shut down every resort. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) According to the lawsuit, the trouble for the planned August 2019 event started when a county employee learned that a member of the Dragons owned Its All Good Bakery in Oakland, located at 5622 Martin Luther King Way, the Black Panthers first headquarters. East Asia Super League's (EASL) founding mission is to create Asia's premier basketball league, while elevating the sport in the region. Everything from Shirts, Hoodies, Embroidered hats and more. If you came out here and talked to folks, no one is going to say anything negative about the East Bay Dragons, Reid said. Lodi Motorcycle Club. VR EXPERIENCE. The Dragons were originally formed as the Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes, a franchise team for the East Asia Super League, representing Greater China. Because the East Bay Dragons were founded as a car club, they adopted the square shaped patch which stood with the club even after they switched and became a motorcycle club. A hardtail Honda CB750 with a home-made springer front end and a crude, coffin-shaped tank, it was festooned with a hand-painted mural of a nude woman, resplendent in giant Afro and gold hoop earrings, picking . He also holds a AA degree in journalism from Contra Costa College (San Pablo). The weekend is known as the Halfway Run -- because of Fresnos location roughly halfway between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. View more on Amazon (link opens in a new tab). Joe Louis Levingston would later add East Bay to the name, creating the green dragon logo with red lettering set atop a gold backdrop. Levingston built the East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club on the values of community, family, and the tight bonds of brotherhood. This insidious belief of EBDs threat traveled all the way to Oakland and with the help of the Oakland Police Department, and at the conclusion of the 60th anniversary celebration, on September 2, 2019, the EBD were surrounded by Oakland Police Department officers due to racist motives as they were enjoying themselves at Level 13 in Oakland, the civil complaint says. The Dragons were founded in the 1950s as a car club, but switched over to motorcycles in 1959. I seen a lot of good men, I mean a whole bunch of them, get hooked on that s---" Levingston recalls. Though industrial jobs were plentiful, young black men could still quickly find themselves getting into trouble if they didnt stay busy, Harper said. More than 50 made the trip to Fresno, including Levingston. It was really powerful.. Now the club is suing to recoup those funds, which includes cash to pay for the planned list of featured rappers, singers, and comedian:Whodini, Too Short, Doug E Fresh, Richie Rich, Dru Down, Tony Tone Toni, and Mark Curry, according to the civil complaint. In addition to trouble with the Oakland Police Department, at that time the idea of sustaining a car club became difficult. Reach him at 925-779-7174. Letters: Plethora of problems | Creating AL | Provenance of woke | Teen girls | Public bank A year later, they switched to motorcycles, which were cheaper, more accessible and didnt draw as much attention from the police, Tobie Gene Levingston wrote. The East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club has gunned their Harleys through the meanest streets of Oakland, California, since the 1950s. Soul on Bikes: The East Bay Dragons MC and the Black Biker Set by Tobie Levingston, Keith Zimmerman, Kent Zimmerman and forward by Ralph "Sonny" Barger. At the time, West Oaklands Seventh Street corridor was still a bustling commercial strip, dotted with jazz clubs and black-owned businesses buzzing with customers from Oaklands Army base. Besides rap, his passions include motorcycles as well. They called themselves the East Bay Dragons and even stuck plates with their logo in the rear windows. Get Morning Report and other email newsletters, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA AUGUST 29: East Bay Dragons motorcycle club member Charles Darth Jones, left, chats with friends Kym Heedley, center, and DeeDee Dejan at the East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. Their founder, Tobie Gene Levingston, remained president until hisdeath last year. Privacy Policy | 50-year-old Bangor man was knocked down by a deer as he was riding his 2016 Harley-Davidson motorcycle went without help. By 1959, the East Bay Dragons had developed a reputation among Oakland Police Department for their numerous melees and brawls with local street gangs from East and West Oakland. As they tell it "The 60s was a hell of a time.With the Civil Rights Movement, The Viet Nam War, Flower Power . Long time friend Sonny Barger[4] suggested he switch the club from a car club to a motorcycle club because bikes were more discreet than cars, easier to maintain and cheaper to work on. There would be black bikers from all over the country that would drive all the way to the East Coast. the club, which this weekend celebrated its 60th year, has since become one of Oaklands most iconic cultural exports, one recognized around the world. Harper was dismayed, he said, until Tobie Gene Levingston showed up and told him to come by his garage where they would put it back together. OAKLAND Willie Harper still remembers the first time he saw the East Bay Dragons then an emerging motorcycle club roll through the streets of West Oakland. Toby Gene and Joe Louis Levingston both had jobs, as well as cars and houses and families, he said. The two bottom patches displayed on their cuts showing their territory are one rectangular patch with "Oakland" in red text over a yellow background above another rectangular patch with "California" in red text over a yellow background. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group), OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA AUGUST 29: East Bay Dragons motorcycle club member Ernest Big E13 Brown is photographed in a motorcycles mirror at the East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. Levingston and the Dragons made the switch from cars to bikes in 1959. By Nate Gartrell. [7][8][9] In May 2022, former NBL coach and incumbent Australia Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian was announced as the team's first head coach. Mr. The East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club of Oakland, California, started in the 1950s as a car club. See Copyrights. In fact, everyone in the club had a job and skills they could bring to the table. The East Bay Dragons MC started in 1959 to become an African -American motorcycle club riding. Hong Kong was made as the home venue of the Phoenixes. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! The East Bay Dragons were founded by Tobie Gene Levingston in 1959. [10], The Bay Area Dragons reached the 202223 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, becoming the fourth guest team to reach the last stage of a PBA competition. While Rosa Parks took her historic bus ride, before Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton and the Black Panthers stood bravely for equal rights, the East Bay Dragons MC risked life and limb during the days when it was a revolutionary act for a black man . Aaron Pruner is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles. The club is turning 60 years this weekend at the same and only location it was founded in East Oakland in 1959. The East Bay Dragons. MotorBooks International, 15 Feb 2009, The Harley-Davidson Reader. Select Organic Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs Option to Add to Your Cart (4) 10 oz. They really interact with the young kids out here in East Oakland and with families.. A consultant by day, he helps manage the clubs finances. Hong Kong was made as the home venue of the Phoenixes. [2], Levingston founded the car club shortly after arriving to Oakland from Louisiana in 1955 with the intent of providing an outlet to keep his younger brother and friends off the rough and tumble streets of Oakland. Not that the police get the message. VALLEJO, CA The East Bay Dragons, the first all-Black motorcycle club to exist in the Bay Area, has filed a federal lawsuit against Solano County alleging that a county employee concocted a reason to cancel a planned club event at the fairgrounds after hearing that one of its members had associations with the Black Panthers. Kurt Sutter has stated that the inspiration for the fictional motorcycle club The Grim Bastards, portrayed by an authentic Black American MC called 1DOWNMC; featured in the television show Sons of Anarchy was loosely based on the East Bay Dragons and their relationship with the Hells Angels that surpassed racial barriers during the 1960s and 1970s. Flower arrangements may be sent to Acts Full Gospel Church the morning of the service. Bikers at the Halfway Run all give their own reasons for riding motorcycles. Chosen Few Motorcycle Club- Photography by Gold Mustache Photography, Elliot M. Gold. The team was established under the agreement of the Hong Kong . Wade debate of 1973. We welcome all levels of players including beginners to experts. East Bay Dr. The clubs name and hometown are in bright red stitching: "East Bay Dragons OAKLAND CALIFORNIA. So they were like all these tough biker guys and everything else, with all these kids around and it was a big Bay Area event and they were kind of the backdrop of my childhood.". Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Justice UPDATE: The former national president of the Pagans was sentenced Thursday to a plea-bargained 33 months in federal prison for having a gun while returning home through New Jersey from a party in Pennsylvania. Its the traffic, its the people youre riding with.. Reid said the Dragons have held events at the Oakland Zoo and never faced complaints except about the noise of their motorcycles. Full Episodes. The Dragons are an all-male, all-black club. The fairgrounds CFO, Mike Ioakimedes, said he has not yet reviewed the suit with his attorney and declined to comment. . A lot, to be honest. He is survived by his wife Ernestine, his three brothers Jonas, Joe Louis and Vic, and his three daughters Billie Simmons, Debrah Giles and Angela Killingsworth. New episodes of Truth Be Told drop every Friday on Apple TV+. Chosen Few Motorcycle Club- Photography by Gold Mustache Photography, Elliot M. Gold. They wore black, grease-stained Levis and vests with their signature patch: a green dragon against a gold background. Crime and Public Safety | EXCLUSIVE: Rockmond Dunbar, the director-producer of the feature film Pastor Brown, has optioned Tobie Gene Levingston's autobiographical book Soul On Bikes: The East Bay Dragons MC And The . For Jones, playing the biker and bar owner not only provided him a fully developed character to sink his teeth into something he refers to as "a dream role" the subject matter helped him tap into his own New Jersey upbringing. Reid said the Dragons have held events at the Oakland Zoo and never faced complaints except about the noise of their motorcycles. RELATED:Oakland from 1900 to now: See how the city has changed, "I remember them fondly as a little girl because they used to have this black family day picnic every year up in Nolan Park, and that was huge," Spellman explained. The Black Panthers earliest headquarters was just a few blocks from the Dragons clubhouse. The East Bay Dragons have a record of service to the community and have supported many local charitable organizations, including riding for breast cancer, AIDS awareness and violence awareness. East Bay Dragons motorcycle club member Jack "The Mack" Wilson poses for a photo at the East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. Bob Stokstad Photo. 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