George Christie
Marking 75 years since the Hells Angels was founded, former Chapter President, George Christie, reveals how he balanced family life with club loyalties –and took the Angels to the Olympics
On March 17, 1948 three Californian motorcycle clubs merged to form what has now become the world’s most infamous biker gang – the Hells Angels. Widely regarded as outlaws with links to organised crime and violence, the Hells Angels is a name that’s discussed with excitement but hushed whispers. As a secret biking brotherhood, the outlaw lifestyle has sparked curiosity throughout the decades, captivating authors such as Hunter S. Thompson in 1967, and inspiring countless TV dramas, like 2008’s Sons of Anarchy.
But the life George Christie led as the President of the Ventura Hells Angels wasn’t fiction. He lived and breathed the real thing - the bikes, the brawls and the bullets - for 40 years, and gave up plenty to do so.
Uniquely, he also strived to boost the Angels’ reputation through publicity stunts, charitable donations and promoting peace between rivals, before leaving the club in 2011. With so many stories to tell, he released his first book, Exile on Front Street in 2016 to put the record straight.
‘Always an outlaw’
When you think of an outlaw perhaps the last thing to come to your mind is a Marine Reservist, an employee at the Department of Defense… or the devoted father of two young kids, but Californian George Christie was all those things. From the first time he saw a biker on the streets of his Ventura home as a child, Christie became fascinated by the culture. His first “introduction into an outlaw brotherhood” was surfing, through that, he met his first wife, Cheryl, and a friend who introduced him to both motorcycles and outlaw life.
Christie bought his first bike in 1966, a well-ridden 1957 Harley-Davidson Panhead that a friend – an ex-Hells Angel – had found, and it was through this he began his relationship with other outlaws. “Motorcycles were the thing that drew us all together,” Christie said. “We ate, slept, and breathed them. It was what we lived for. A feeling of true and complete freedom.”
Christie initially formed friendships with other outlaw biker groups the Question Marks and Satan’s Slaves. A month after his second child was born, he was approached by John ‘Old Man John’ Noble, LA County President of the chance to prospect (the first step to becoming an Angel).
“My head was spinning. I had always known I would join a club, but I hadn’t figured on joining the club of clubs. I became a full patch member on December 26, 1976.”
Soon after meeting Hells Angel frontman Sonny Barger, Christie was promoted to Vice President of his chapter, and four months later, President. He left his job and became a full-time outlaw, building engine
