1950s Motorcycle Club Riding Through the California Mountains, Photo Archive

Motorcycle club in a mountainous Western setting circa 1950s photo archive. Five original silver gelatin black-and-white prints. All photos measure approximately 4.5 x 3.25 inches with deckled edges. These striking images document a moment in American youth subculture centered around postwar motorcycle clubs. A standout image features a man in a short pompadour and sunglasses leaning on an Ariel motorcycle—specifically an Ariel Red Hunter, a British single-cylinder model prized in the U.S. for its reliability and sleek style. Other motorcycles in the group include British makes such as BSA and Triumph, widely imported during this era and embraced by early (truncated) American motorcycle clubs prior to the Harley-Davidson boom of the late 1950s.

The archive showcases a gathering of motorcyclists, from their twenties into middle age and consisting of mostly men but with one woman present, posing and riding through rugged terrain. Taken in a forested mountainous region in the American West, the group includes about a dozen individuals clad in leather jackets, work shirts, engineer boots, denim jeans, and distinctive accessories like berets, goggles, and horn-rimmed glasses. In one photo, a member in a plaid jacket with a holstered tool or knife turns toward a huddle of riders inspecting a downed bike. The group's fashion expresses the gritty, masculine style of the early 1950s that eventually became morphed into the Greaser subculture. Light silvering and minor creases to margins; one image has a diagonal fold and minor corner wear. Overall very good condition. (Inventory #: 21840)