“That” Town

We all know it when we see it.
Sometimes during our travels we enter a town (perhaps a part of our own town) and something changes… The air seems to change, the people seem different, the atmosphere becomes alien and strange.

Photo by Alan Levine – Rye, AZ – Old Bikes Galore

Then it hits us- we’re in “that” town.
Everyone has a “that” town. And if your town is “that” town, then perhaps there is “that guy” in your town.
You know the one – always has some rare classic that’s rusting in the front yard. Perhaps he rides said rust-bucket to the amazement of the townsfolk and the elements themselves; who, trying their best to reclaim the metals and and materials and render them back to their simplest atomic particles, can never succeed in spite of “that guy”.

In Episode 51 of the Creative Riding Motorcycle Podcast I mentioned  that “that town” in Los Angeles county is Rialto. The town where rusty relics and motorized vestiges of technology and various racing pedigrees go to die – or never die, as it were, because of the insistence and stubbornness of their owners.

I guess I misspoke, since Rialto is in San Bernardino County. Sooo….

By Hernan Vargas from Saddle Brook, USA – Rialto, CA-LocoMotive Wagons, CC BY-SA 2.0,

I guess if I have to pick a town in L.A. County, I should make it within the county lines. I’ll have to amend my choice for “that town” to something like Van Nuys, North Hollywood, or Sun Valley. Something in that general vicinity. That’s where shows like Sons of Anarchy and many of the neighborhood shots for The Office and Parks And Recreation were filmed. So it should be no surprise that former movie vehicles, piloted by some of the best stunt people in the world, go to await their fate and final resting places in the warehouses and back lots of the surrounding communities.

Many of the old greats end up dismantled or repurposed for other movies. Some sit in storage containers waiting to be opened and, perchance, to live anew. Others get bought at auction and could end up in a museum, but just as likely may be turned out to pasture, quite literally, between the old rotting Massey Ferguson and the pile of plywood on old man Breece’s back 40.
The old man himself may take a liking to the old bike, and make twice-a-year runs on it down to the corner diner for Sunday coffee.

Photo: Old School Speed: Crusing Van Nuys by Redfishingboat (Mick O)

Bikes (or any vehicles) from “that town” may be pedestrian and quite run-of-the-mill. The sheer volume of said model may have been enough to overwhelm the market with enough spare parts to outlast the fossil fuels that power the machine.
Other bikes like the Captain America chopper from Easy Rider end up making headlines decades later. There were originally 4 choppers in that story – three of which were reportedly stolen -and the fourth which was burned in the film’s dramatic finale (spoiler alert!) It boggles the mind, therefore, that it sold in recent years at auction for $1.35 million. Here is a link to the L.A. Times story if you want all of the details.

Photo: Old Motorcycle (TOHATSU) by Yoichi Nakanishi

Nitrous Chris from Wisconsin checked in to report that in his region “That Town” is the whole state! He stated that fewer and fewer vehicles make it out of winter hibernation each year in Wisconsin.  Chris also claims that the same statistic applies to the whole midwest in general. Perhaps that’s why some wretch from California, a state whose riding season never ends, laments the $200 barn find in Iowa, or frets over pictures of piled up vintage steel and iron wasting away under a rural walnut tree.

Photo by Mike Linksvayer. thanks Mike!

It’s because in this metropolis the desire for bikes is so great that people are willing to pay out the nose for CB400s and SR500s in terrible condition. Forget buying a beat up and shit on Norton, BSA or tiny Ducati Desmo 125 unless you’re an architect or accountant to the Stars. Even the venerable CB750 and XS650 have been so sought after and snapped up that extremely derelict examples can still fetch a high price on the omnipotent Craigslist.org
For the greater L.A. area, as we seek out the towns and spaces where one still finds barns, chicken coops and hovels that may contain “that bike”, it seems as though the rest of the country has sort of become “that town” for us.

If you have any stories about your own region’s “that town”, please feel free to send them to:
creativeridingpodcast@gmail.com
I will be adding to this post and updating it with your stories.
-Cheers!