h. Unlike most motorcycle clubs, the East Bay Dragons do not have a "prospect" or "probation" period for prospective members. He was 86. via East Bay Dragons/Flickr. Many club members could only have access to the family car either during the weekends or late at night. From always feeding the community and supporting generations of East Oaklanders, to hosting my very first Budget Town Hall as Mayor and proudly escorting Hammer and me in Warriors victory parades, the East Bay Dragons have been a constant source of service and pride for Oakland, Schaaf said in part. And for an MC, especially one featuring all black men during a notorious time of civil unrest in America, the representation given to this East Bay community is an uncommon one. (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. The East Bay Dragons MC is an all-black, all-male, all-Harley Davidson riding motorcycle club founded in Oakland, California, in 1959 by Tobie Gene Levingston, who died in July 2020. That conflicted bond she has with her father and his crew makes this story component resonate. Bill Hayes, Jim Quattlebaum, Dave Nichols. 2,671 were here. The club is turning 60 years this weekend at the same and only location it was founded in East Oakland in 1959. . It was around 1960. They called themselves the East Bay Dragons and even stuck plates with their logo in the rear windows. According to the suit, all of this was a problem for the employee, who allegedly remarked that the Black Panthers were the greatest threat to the internal security of the country, and started working to cancel the Dragons event. The club was initially . It was around 1960. Wade debate of 1973. The bakerys website says its founder, Kim Cloud, is proud of that fact because his family benefited from the Panthers free breakfast program as kids. Sunday 12 PM - 3:30 PM. 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 Rock Machine gang has a lengthy history overseas but police said the group had only been active several months. This year marks the Dragons 55th year as a motorcycle club, and they enjoy elder statesman status among the black motorcycle set. He has worked as an online coordinator and, before that, a copy editor and page designer for Bay Area-based newspapers and magazines. Flower arrangements may be sent to Acts Full Gospel Church the morning of the service. And they ride only Harley-Davidsons. OAKLAND Tobie Gene Levingston, who founded the East Bay Dragons as the Bay Area's first all-Black motorcycle club and one of the nation's first, died Tuesday, July 7 of natural causes. President Joe Biden On Electric Vehicle Charging Stations. During the 1940s and 1950s, the center patch and logo patch of most motorcycle clubs were circular or oval in shape whereas for car clubs, they were square or rectangular shaped. The club is turning 60 years this weekend at the same and only location it was founded in East Oakland. The East Bay Dragons started out in Oakland in the 1950s and only allows African American members to join. The club was recognized in a city council proclamation on January 8, 2014: "The East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club, when dealing with a community often battling negativity and violence, have remained a symbol of positive community activism, and pride within Oakland and within the African American community.". By Nate Gartrell. There was just one problem: the cars. The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and seven members have failed to have the attempt to seize three of their clubhouses thrown out of court. In 2006 Alex Abramovich came across the name Trevor Latham in a high-school alumni note: "I moved to California, became a bouncer, and started a motorcycle club." He was 86. (South Bay Dragons is a fictional role playing Motorcycle Club in the world of GTA inspired by one of the oldest black based Motorcycle Clubs, the East Bay Dragons MC from Oakland California. Reach him at 925-779-7174. Along with the Chosen Few MC and Los Angeles Defiant Ones MC,[8] the East Bay Dragons are one of the oldest surviving predominantly black motorcycle clubs founded in California, (the LA Defiant Ones were founded two years earlier in 1957). He is a real estate agent with over 30 years of experience in Oakland. Enough to shut down every resort. The club is turning 60 years this weekend at the same and only location it was founded in East Oakland. The East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club of Oakland, California, started in the 1950s as a car club. Chosen Few Motorcycle Club- Photography by Gold Mustache Photography, Elliot M. Gold. Ordering Hours. Dealers at the time wouldnt sell Harleys to black customers, Levingston wrote, so they would buy them used. The East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club has gunned its Harleys through the meanest streets of Oakland, Calif., since the 1950s. Wilson has been a . 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 . So we played with that, visually. When we're at the family bar, it looks different than it does in Marin, where it's very crisp. Lodi Motorcycle Club. During the Christmas season, they sponsor a toy drive and deliver toys to Oakland children on their bikes, while dressing up as Santa Claus. Brown has been a member for 30 years and the club is turning 60 years this weekend at the same and only location it was founded in East Oakland. Learn more | [12], "2022 East Asia Super League format to include new GBA basketball team franchise with local players", "East Asia Super League Debuts Season 1 of Premier Home-and-Away Pan-Regional League in 2022", "East Asia Super League wants to bring professional basketball team to Hong Kong", "EASL looking to rise as world's third-biggest league", "EASL Greater China rep to see action in PBA", "Bay Area Dragons' Myles Powell, Liu Chuanxing look forward to playing in PBA", "PBA to welcome first foreign guest team in 22 years", "Hong Kong's Bay Area Dragons to join PBA as guest team", "Bay Area Dragons appoint NBL legend Goorjian as head coach", "Bay Area goes for kill vs San Miguel Beer", "Ginebra pulls off Game 7 rout of Bay Area before biggest PBA crowd ever", "Cholo Villanueva tapped as Bay Area Dragons deputy coach", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bay_Area_Dragons&oldid=1142250832, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 09:53. These drill teams performed group routines consisting of stunts and challenging maneuvers weaving in and out of cones and between other motorcyclists. The team was established under the agreement of the Hong Kong . It is considered a one-percenter motorcycle club with close ties to the Hells Angels. So I started a car club to work on old cars and get their mind occupied working on cars.. Would dismantling Interstate 980 repair damage to Black neighborhoods? He says bikes were cheaper, and they didnt get hassled by cops as much on two wheels. The East Bay Dragons are an incredible organization, Reid said. "So I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area, and I just kind of thought, well, what do I know?" And Harper has been a member of the club since. Click To See Our Other Locations Below: Location Address; 1: Double Dragon Chinese Restaurant: East Bay Street (close to Paradise Island Bridge) 2: Combining the best clubs, from the best leagues, with best-in-class production values, EASL . Malone has been a member for 30 years and the club is turning 60 this weekend at the same and only location it was founded in East Oakland. The bottom patches displaying their territory are rectangular, not curved. The club was originally started as a car club byTobie Gene Levingston, who wrote a bookSoul on Bikes: The East Bay Dragons MC and the Black Biker Set along with Keith and Kent Zimmerman. Both the Phoenixes and the P. League+ champions of Taiwan were designated by the EASL as Greater China's representatives.. I love the East Bay Dragons Mr. After following the recommendation of Barger, The East Bay Dragons officially became a motorcycle club in 1959. Bikers at the Halfway Run all give their own reasons for riding motorcycles. Toby Gene and Joe Louis Levingston both had jobs, as well as cars and houses and families, he said. packs - $55.00 (16) 10 oz. At the groups clubhouse in Oakland, pictures of old dances, parties and motorcycle runs cover the walls. If you came out here and talked to folks, no one is going to say anything negative about the East Bay Dragons, Reid said. Joe Louis Levingston would later add East Bay to the name, creating the green dragon logo with red lettering set atop a gold backdrop. VALLEJO 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 . It worked, and the club began attracting other kids from the neighborhood. In Spring of 1967, East Bay Dragons member Joe Louis opened up Papa Joes Soul Food a few short blocks from the clubhouse. 10 Richie Rich. The Dragons were founded in the 1950s as a car club, but switched over to motorcycles in 1959. Its why Nelson knows the club will endure for another 60 years. History. To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy. The club moved in and out of garages and warehouses before buying a hall in the 8700 block of then-East 14th Street in 1977. packs - $99.00 The motel is just off Highway 99, and the low din of car traffic from the road is regularly punctuated by roaring motorcycles. That includes dozens of African-American groups, like Oaklands East Bay Dragons. The club regularly participates in charity rides, holds block parties and donates supplies to schools. !huge lineup of merchandise. For Double Dragon Chinese Restaurant, East Bay Street, it is only a 15 min walk over the bridge from Atlantis. Californias black clubs descend on Fresno each October, convening to celebrate motorcycles. [16], Since its inception and official establishing as a motorcycle club, the East Bay Dragons have no desire to establish multiple chapters in or outside of California, have only one chapter, and have remained at the same clubhouse in East Oakland where they have been based for over 45 years. Members of the East Bay Dragons, a motorcycle club, gather in front of the clubhouse in Oakland on Saturday, April 2, 2005. They nevertheless built up a positive reputation in the . 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. But the Dragons endured through six decades not because of some outlaw image, said Joe Louis, aka Pappa Joe, Levingston, a founding member and brother to Tobie Gene Levingston, the clubs creator. As they tell it "The 60s was a hell of a time.With the Civil Rights Movement, The Viet Nam War, Flower Power . 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. Levingston and the Dragons made the switch from cars to bikes in 1959. Parnells father Leander Shreve Scoville, played by This Is Us star Ron Cephas Jones, is a former Black Panther who has put all his energy into family both his biological one as well as his thriving biker community which, according to Spellman, is directly inspired by the East Bay Dragons. The Dragons were originally formed as the Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes, a franchise team for the East Asia Super League, representing Greater China. In a series of social-media posts Wednesday night, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf praised Levingstons legacy. It's been worn so much that it's threadbare and worn away in places . That reputation made Levingstons club a pillar of cycling culture, regularly paid tribute to in fictionalized references, and by celebrities like former Tonight Show host Jay Leno, who shared a video clip of a recent clubhouse visit last week for his Jay Lenos Garage CNBC show. The bakerys website says its founder, Kim Clark, is proud of that fact because his family benefited from the Panthers free breakfast program as kids. Write a review about a product or service associated with this EAST BAY DRAGONS MC OAKLAND CALIFORNIA trademark. Tobie Gene Levingston, founder and president of the East Bay Dragons motorcycle club, is seen in a February 2004 book signing for his classic memoir "Soul on Bikes: The East Bay Dragons MC and . You wear out man! But hes still there. He was 86. More than 50 made the trip to Fresno, including Levingston. In the show, she examines big topics, like the class differences that exist in cities separated by a few simple bridges, and tells stories based on the nonfictional locals, like the real-life storied motorcycle club, the East Bay Dragons. I wasn't a BeyHive member. Only white boys had those types of bikes back then, and not in a motorcycle set. They are known to form lifelong bonds with their owners. 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 . US motorcycle brand is stopping manufacturing, Ep 936 Hells Angels A violent price to pay **FULL AUDIO**, Ep 936 Pagans Motorcycle Club Causing Panic in Missouri **FULL AUDIO EPISODE**, Pagans Motorcycle Club Causing Panic in Missouri **Video**, IS THE HARLEY SPORTSTER CONSIDERED A GIRLS MOTORCYCLE **VIDEO**, HERE'S THE TRUTH ABOUT UNCLE SHAGGY & THE INVADERS MC, Pagans Motorcycle Club Causing Panic in Missouri, https://insanethrottleinternational.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/discord-commercial-harley.mp3, https://insanethrottleinternational.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/motorcyclemadhousemayhempromo.mp3. [11] However, they would lose to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 43. He is an Oakland treasure that will be sorely missed. Bay Area Dragons Hold Charity Event in Manila in Collaboration with Chinese Embassy of the Philippines. He passed in July 2020. 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. East Asia Super League's (EASL) founding mission is to create Asia's premier basketball league, while elevating the sport in the region. all that is interesting Hells Angels' old ladies (girlfriends) sit during a rest stop on the group's ride from San Bernardino to Bakersfield, California. Other makes of motorcycles are not allowed. Donate. Thi. Rasheed is a member of the East Bay Dragons. $45.00. Crime and Public Safety | The bikes shiny chrome finish stood out against bright paint, each a different color. Three Bay Area men, including justice reform activist, plead guilty in Norteo RICO murder case, Californias hardest to book campground isnt in a famous park. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group), OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA AUGUST 29: Memorabilia of the East Bay Dragons decorate the walls 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. Brand New. Richard Serrell or better known as his stage name Richie Rich is a rapper from Oakland, California. Though industrial jobs were plentiful, young black men could still quickly find themselves getting into trouble if they didnt stay busy, Harper said. He is part of East Bay Dragons, an all-black and all-male Harley Davidson riding motorcycle club in Oakland, California. A strong message about friendship to the community from Oakland, CA Legends, Toby Gene Levingston (East Bay Dragons MC President) and Sonny Barger (Hells Ang. Topics Selection,Research, Editing, Correction Policy and Ethics, Hells Angels Death being treated as a homicide, Harley-Davidson is pulling out of India the worlds biggest motorcycle market. The East Bay Dragons are a motorcycle club in Oakland. The East Bay Dragons MC is an all-black, all-male, all-Harley Davidson riding motorcycle club founded in Oakland, California, in 1959 by Tobie Gene Levingston, who died in July 2020. That was 1964. They believe "you are either a member of the club or not, no in between". (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group), OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA AUGUST 29: An East Bay Dragons motorcycle club member known as Slow Motion arrives at the East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. There, they meet a number . "You look forward to it all year. 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. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group), OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA AUGUST 29: East Bay Dragons motorcycle club member Herm Top Secret Malone seats in motorcycle outside the East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Club in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. A lot of the members attended weekend rallies to show off their bikes and to listen to speeches given by prominent Black Power movement leaders of the day. All I say: Dont you get your butt outta here and get in and get out and jump and run off. "I lost a lot of good friends behind that s---., But the club survived, and continues to attract new members. 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. The East Bay Dragons turned 60, and brought all the bikes out. Outside of journalism, he doesn't do much. If you are a player and are looking for a new group post it here. You know its like an old car, he says. They really interact with the young kids out here in East Oakland and with families.. Crime and Public Safety | This is a carousel. If you came out here and talked to folks, no one is going to say anything negative about the East Bay Dragons, Reid said. Theyd only talk about the good things they do and how they are positive role models for our children.. Theyd only talk about the good things they do and how they are positive role models for our children., Insane Throttle Support Club Become a member Now, Insane Throttle/Motorcycle Madhouse Radio YouTube and Audio Disclaimer, Meet the Insane Throttle Contributing Columnist James Hollywood Macecari, Motorcycle Clubs Riding Clubs and Associations Near Me Index & Listings, Our Policies here at Insane Throttle Publications. 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