Longmont’s Hells Angels Are Paving Their Own Path to Connection, Community, and Giving Back
On a Monday night, inside a former tortilla factory tucked into a strip mall near 11th Avenue and Main Street, members of the Longmont charter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) prepare dinner for their weekly meeting.
The clubhouse’s bright-white brick walls display photos, club memorabilia, and Hells Angels merchandise in the organization’s signature red-and-white color scheme. A casual lounge area beckons visitors to plop down on two black leather couches or at one of several cocktail tables scattered throughout. Several members gather around a nearby buffet table, loading it with dishes they’ve prepared in the kitchen at the back of the clubhouse.
Another member stands behind a tidy bar along the far wall, its white granite countertop dotted with shot glasses and three bottles of the club’s private label whiskey, 81 Spirits. Behind him, a stainless countertop holding kitchen items and a microwave hangs above three glass-door mini-fridges neatly stocked with beer and soft drinks.
Outside the front door, chrome-bright Harley-Davidsons line the street.
The club’s six members and one prospective member typically gather each Monday night to discuss business and plan upcoming events. Member Matt Hogan rides more than two and a half hours each way from Leadville to attend.
“It’s about commitment, not convenience,” Hogan says. “Being a part of the community and the businesses we’re building, there’s a lot to learn.”
And there’s a lot to do, especially this time of year when the charter is preparing for two of its largest fundraisers: a toy drive on Dec. 13 and 14 and a fundraiser for the Longmont Humane Society on Jan. 17.
“We don’t want to just be in the shadows,” says founding member Mike OʼNeil. “We want to be part of the community.”
Moving Forward for Community
The Hells Angels Longmont charter officially debuted in January 2020 with a meet and greet at a downtown restaurant.
“[Locals] came in and said hello to us. We introduced ourselves and let them know we’re going to be around, and we’re not going anywhere,” says founding member Doug Willis. “And they opened their arms to us.”
Known as LOCO 81—combining Longmont, Colorado, and the organization’s numerical shorthand for HA (the eighth and first letters of the alphabet)—the charter took shape more than five years ago under O’Neil and Willis.
Their friendship goes back to the 1980s, when Willis spent his 17th birthday getting a tattoo at a shop in Fort Collins where O’Neil worked as an artist.
“He had a [Harley-Davidson] Panhead chopper, and I had a Shovelhead,” Willis says. “That’s how we got together.”
They both joined the Denver Hells Angels Motorcycle Club about 15 years ago. Originally launched in 1963 as the Brothers Fast Motorcycle Club, it became Colorado’s first official HAMC charter in 2001. The group eventually grew large enough to expand into two more: the Colorado Nomads HAMC in LaSalle and the Rocky Mountain HAMC in Sedalia, which O’Neil and Willis helped found.
“We drove our motorcycles a long way … for almost five years,” O’Neil says. “It was hectic at times, and lots of traffic, so the plan was always to start something [closer to home].”
Home for O’Neil is Longmont, where he co-owns Main Street Tattoo with his wife, Julie. Willis lives in Greeley where he owns and operates Above All HVAC. Together, they wanted to build a charter that could make an impact in their own communities.
“Our goal is always the same thing: to grow a positive, productive charter that moves the club forward and the community forward in a positive, productive manner,” Willis says.
Beyond the Biker-Gang Stereotype
For the Longmont charter members, showing up and building a positive presence in their neighborhoods is critical to shifting a common misconception about the Hells Angels.
“That we’re all criminals—because we’re not,” O’Neil says. “For every 99 good things we do, someone does something dumb. And that’s what catches everyone’s attention.”
Most Hells Angels members are law-abiding, motorcycle-riding citizens who work or are retired from full-time jobs, O’Neil says—from truck drivers to bike mechanics to military veterans and more.
Since the Hells Angels formed in 1948, there’s been a misplaced focus on the club’s criminal past, according to O’Neil.
“Like any large organization, you get maybe a few bad actors here and there. And that’s what everybody focuses on,” O’Neil says. “But the club has had a lot of really good influence on towns and cities that doesn’t get nearly the press.”
O’Neil compares the Hells Angels to any other organized club, with officers who plan events, members who pay dues, and a code of conduct that guides their mission. Membership is open only to men 21 and older.
While the Hells Angels name is recognized worldwide, the club itself is made up of independent local charters—each its own entity, deciding how to operate within its community.
“When we open clubhouses, we get to know all the community around us and find out what they need,” Willis says. “We take care of them; they take care of us.”
For the Longmont charter, that means supporting local businesses and charities whenever possible, and hosting public events like the midsummer bike show, which benefits a different organization each year.
The group’s toy drive began three years ago, with each charter member donating $100 worth of toys that went to a local organization. It has since grown to include toys donated by Longmont residents, and the charter now hosts the drive at its clubhouse. On the weekend of last year’s drive, families stopped by to pick out toys from under a Christmas tree and enjoy snacks and refreshments. The line for entry stretched halfway down the block.
“It’s cool to see families come in here and see how much it means to them,” member Jeremy Wheeler says. “Maybe mom or dad lost their job, or it’s just been a tough year. Watching kids come through and get excited about grabbing a toy, and inviting them in to have some food or get a soda, they’re so grateful.”
Each January, the LOCO 81 fundraiser for the Longmont Humane Society collects supplies on the organization’s wish list.
“They bring in a large donation—a truck full of food, toys, and treats,” says Melissa Grosjean, Longmont Humane Society’s director of marketing. “They’re very generous, and we appreciate that they think of us and the animals.”
LOCO 81 helps fund these efforts and its operations through two local products. The first is Loco Hot Sauce—in Original and Fire—which they launched in 2021 and make in the commercial kitchen at the Longmont Elks Lodge.
The second is 81 Spirits, a whiskey brand launched in 2024. Bottled locally by Valor Peak Distillery, 81 Spirits offers two releases: a flagship blend of seven-year rye with two-year wheated bourbon, and the Black Label Special Release, a limited single-barrel edition of just 50 bottles. A new low-rye, cask-strength blend featuring 95% rye will be released in the coming months.
“We’ve been working with them to create their whiskey brand, which they’re using to impact the community. Their whole team comes in, and we do tastings and workshop what they’re looking for,” says Valor Peak Distillery owner Calvin Blankenship. “They’re super easy and flexible to work with, and they’re creating local impact, supporting the community and local businesses.”
Distributed to liquor stores and bars across Colorado and nearby states—from Longmont businesses like Quality Liquor to the Legendary Silver Dollar Saloon in Leadville and Outlaw Liquors in Cheyenne, Wyoming—the whiskey serves as another source of pride for members.
“Having this [whiskey], having our motorcycles, and the love and respect that we have for each other, it all makes you feel proud to be a part of it,” O’Neil says.
A Biker Brotherhood
Across many of its charters, Hells Angels culture continues to emphasize the traditions that have defined the club for decades—motorcycling, camaraderie, loyalty, and independence. Members of the Longmont charter uphold those same values and a simple theme: Ride for the brand.
“That means taking pride in what you represent,” says O’Neil, adding that the sense of brotherhood extends worldwide, to Hells Angels charters across six continents. “You don’t just wear it—you live it.”
The Longmont charter takes this theme seriously and has, in the past, kicked out members who are breaking rules or not representing the brand in a good light.
“We hold each other accountable. We don’t like slackers. We don’t like lazy people. We don’t like people that don’t do what they say they’re going to do,” O’Neil says. “It’s not OK to lie, cheat, or steal—you can get kicked out real fast for that.”
Those values are what make the charter—and the friendships in it—strong.
“A lot of men like being part of this club because of the brotherhood aspect,” Willis says. “It’s a source of pride for us—the love and respect we have for each other.”
Wheeler appreciates the charter’s family-oriented nature.
“I bring [my 13-year-old son] to a lot of events, and he absolutely loves everybody,” Wheeler says. “I think he just enjoys having a lot of cool uncles.”
Hogan says he can count on members for support, whether it’s business advice or a ride when his bike breaks down.
“If a guy was short on rent or needed some help or advice, or is in a tough spot and doesn’t know what to do, we’re here for each other,” Hogan says. “[We] have brothers all over the country who are always willing to open up their homes and their hearts to you.”
The brotherhood is reflected in a memorial behind the LOCO 81 clubhouse bar dedicated to fallen member Alan Davis. Mounted high in the corner, it features a shelf with Davis’s ashes beneath a curved red-and-white fiberglass “nose”—the front fairing, or face, of his Harley—flanked by a pair of golden wings.
The fairing was the only intact piece recovered from Davis’s bike after his fatal crash two years ago. At its center, a photo of Davis now fills the circular recess where the headlight sat. Pictured on his bike, sunglasses on and cigarette in hand, he looks like a guardian watching over his brothers—a reminder to LOCO 81’s crew that one of their own is still with them.
“Together, we’re just one rolling unit of like-minded individuals who love motorcycling and being around each other,” Willis says. “It’s hard to explain the feeling you get.” IL
Photography by John Robson
Rooted in Rebellion: The History of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club
Founded primarily by World War II veterans in Fontana, California—roughly 50 miles east of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County—the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club took its name from World War II bomber squadrons. They emerged as a postwar counterculture when many veterans returning home felt like outsiders.
As many Americans embraced the solace and conformity of suburban life, the Hells Angels rejected it, defining themselves as leather-clad bikers who didn’t fit into “normal” society or other sanctioned motorcycle clubs. Seeking the brotherhood and loyalty of soldier life, they found it on the backs of Harley-Davidsons.
The club rapidly expanded throughout California and beyond, as did its reputation as an outlaw brotherhood. That image seeped into American pop culture, portrayed in films like The Wild One (1953), starring Marlon Brando as the rebellious leader of the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club, and in Life magazine’s 1965 photo essay featuring bikers and their companions riding, drinking, and partying.
The outlaw image was further defined by Hunter S. Thompson’s first book, Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1967), a firsthand account of more than a year spent riding with the Bay Area charters. Thompson’s portrayal of a fiercely loyal yet violent subculture earned both acclaim and criticism—and led to a personal falling out with the club for sensationalizing his experience.
The club’s reputation was further shaped after the 1969 Altamont Free Concert in Northern California, when Hells Angels members, hired to provide security for the Rolling Stones, clashed with concertgoers, resulting in one death. The incident made international headlines, reinforcing the club’s rebellious reputation for decades to come.