Cinco De Mayo's Coming

May 5th is on a Thursday this year which means after chowing down on some great free mexican food you can join us for Karaoke. The party starts at 5:00 with mexican beer specials and party favors. We'll eat at 6:00 and Shane will start Karaoke at 8:00. You don't want to miss this party!

Bike Blessing a Huge Success

There were so many bikes on San Benito Street Sunday it looked like the good old rally days. I worked and didn't get to take part in the festivities but I heard wonderful things about it. The Top Hatters did an excellent job as usual and a good time was had by all. The weather was perfect for the event and San Benito County was loaded with riders taking in the great sceanery and enjoying the ride.





It was a great opportuity to spread the word about the Hollister Independence Weekend. We don't need a rally to honor our tradition as the Birthplace of the American Biker. Businesses and non-profits are getting together to throw a Hollister open house July 1st- July 4th and it promises to be a great time. Just to mention a few things we've got going on, there's the Top Hatter and the VFW poker runs, Corbins open house including vendors and demo's and my big birthday bash for Vern Autry, the only living Boozefighter I know that was here in 1947. Vern rode into Hollister back then on his Knucklehead and he's riding in this year on his customized Sportster. He's turning 86 on June 26th and he's riding for five hours to be in Hollister once again for Fourth of July weekend. God bless him. My 51 year old butt doesn't handle rides much more than three hours long on our comfy Road King, I can't imagine being 86 and riding a Sportster for five. Vern has more great stories about the old days than anyone I know and I can't wait to hang out with him.
So spread the word folks, Hollister's the only place to be on Fourth of July weekend if you're a biker.

An Outpouring of Love

The people that came forward to help with the benefit for Scarlet Renee Gil overwhelmed me. With less than eight weeks of preparation and some flyers dispersed around town we managed to raise $3600.00 for Scarlet’s medical needs. All the food was donated, cooked and served by wonderful friends. By 12:30 there was a long line of people waiting for their plates and to-go boxes. Everyone was cheerful and patient and thanked the volunteers for the great job they did. Our local firefighters even bought plates for everyone at the firehouse.
I was awestruck by the raffle prizes that were donated. There were no less than a hundred of them with everything from a ceiling fan, garbage disposal and golf clubs to gift certificates for haircuts, facials and the Gilroy Gardens. Studious people made thoughtful baskets full of goodies like the fixings for a dinner for two, and chocolate, champagne and a movie for a romantic evening. Businesses and individuals alike kept showing up with gift after gift and then proceeded to purchase hoards of raffle tickets.
Little Scarlet spent hours enjoying all of the people and never got fussy. We were all blessed by her smiles and laughter. The love and charity that filled the building was palpable and I was more humbled than I can begin to say. It would be impossible for me to thank everyone who contributed without filling many pages but you know who you are. God Bless you all.

Great St. Patty's Day

A good time was had by all on March 17th at Johnny's. Speaking of the 17th, that's how many Saint Patrick's Days I've had at Johnny's. Time flies when you're having fun. We sold 39 orders of corned beef and cabbage at lunch and the 60 pounds I cooked to give away to my faithful friends was gone in thirty five minutes. We were so packed it felt like the 4th of July when we used to have a rally. Shane was a patient man. It took awhile to move all of the tables loaded with people so he could set up for Karaoke. And folks were great about being asked to move too. We needed a dance floor after all. As usual I saw people I haven't seen since last years festivities but we saw a lot of new faces too. Enjoy the photo's and we'll hope to see you Sunday for the benefit for baby Scarlett. We're serving great BBQ dinners from noon until the food runs out and have a raffle too with all proceed going to help fund her surgeries.