I thought I knew Jersey City pretty well, but one morning last summer, I was on my bike, and I found myself in a really cool place that I’d never seen before. Chipper’s instructions were good. I was around 18th Street and Coles when I checked with a cop, who pointed me in the right direction. Chipper had said it was on Hoboken Avenue, but the rustic-looking sign said Hoboken Pl.
The chain-link fence to the right of the short, curved driveway is lined with flags and beyond the fence is a field of beach grass. The long, low building at the end of the driveway is the home of the Hoboken Motorcycle Club (HMC). No, it’s not in Hoboken, but it’s on the Hoboken line, and the club definitely has its roots in the Mile Square.
Chipper Falco, along with 15-20 founding members, started the club in 1974. Nicknames are preferred in the club, and everyone calls him Chipper. He says that about 15 bikers were meeting informally in a garage in Hoboken when they got the idea of forming a club.
Back in the 1970s motorcycles were a big thing. Folks of a certain age may remember Easy Rider with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. The 1969 landmark counterculture film tells the story of two bikers traveling through the Southwest and South.
The other main characters in the movie are the bikes themselves—distinctive “Captain America” choppers made from Harley-Davidson Hydra Glide police bikes.
In order to join HMC you have to be male, over 21, and own an American-made bike. It used to be only Harley-Davidsons, but that rule has been relaxed. Many members take their bikes to a shop to give it the chopper look or do it themselves.
The original Hoboken club was at 103 Clinton St. A large renovated garage with a bar, pool tables, and couches, it was the starting point for the group rides, which are still a highlight of HMC membership. They’ve ridden to Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, the Jersey Shore, the New England states, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the Bluegrass Mountains, Mt. Rushmore, Custer National Park, and many other destinations.
Chipper, who has been retired for nine years, was one of the original club’s four police officers, but he says the members come from all walks of life and all around northern New Jersey and New York City. Most of the guys dress the way you would expect them to. They wear jeans, durable boots to protect themselves from the bike’s hot pipes, and leather vests which bear the club’s patch that reads “Two Wheeled Men.” They really are a brotherhood and often refer to themselves as brothers.
A major mission of the club is to do charitable work and serve the community. Among the charities it donates to are the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the American Cancer Society. Fundraisers benefit kids in hospitals and women in battered-women shelters. The club participates in the 9/11 Torches Across America memorial ride and the Shriners Hospital for Children Charity Run in Springfield, Mass. It also sponsors Toys for Tots drives, the Hoboken Soccer team, and the Jersey City Little League team. Even local bars, restaurants and other motorcycle clubs have not escaped the long charitable arm of the HMC.
Home is Where the Harleys Are
Looking at the Hoboken Avenue club from the outside, you would never guess what is housed there. It’s a gray building that could be a small warehouse or storage facility. The day I visit, there’s a beautiful, black, shiny, new Harley in the driveway, and Chipper is sitting outside with current president Kenny. They apologize that founding member Tobar can’t be there because he is babysitting his grandkids.
Kenny says that a fully accessorized Harley can cost as much as $33,000. He personally requires “heated grips.” My amazement that bikers can ride in the middle of winter gets them reminiscing about one winter ride that took them by Giants Stadium. Chipper thought it was about 28 degrees; he was doing fine until he saw a thermometer over the stadium that registered 9 degrees, and he shivered all the way home. He says they “ride into and out of the season to acclimate to the cold.” And the danger of the high speeds? “If you’re nervous you shouldn’t be riding,” Chipper warns. (Point taken.)
The brothers live for the bikes and for each other, regularly visiting club retirees who have moved to Florida, some riding all the way down, others trailering their bikes.
The club is a spacious, dark, but welcoming kind of man cave, with huge orange flames painted on some of the walls, a pool table, comfy couches, and a vintage Evel Knievel pinball machine. There’s a large bar with TVs overhead. On other walls are notices of events, pictures, and paintings of various shirts with slogans such as “Heaven, Hell or Hoboken.” That phrase is attributed to World War I General John J. Pershing, who promised his soldiers that they’d be in Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken by Christmas of 1917.
The guys are also big on barbecues, parties, and holiday dinners at Thanksgiving, Christmas New Year’s, and Easter. Members and their families bring food, but there is also a kitchen for any guy who has a knack for cooking. At the October party, the club will raffle a 2014 Road King.
Upstairs is the members-only area, where the men relax, watch TV, eat, drink—and even shower and sleep in a room with bunk beds. From the second-floor deck, you get a good sense of the locale. You can see Cast Iron Lofts off in the distance, the light rail curving toward Hoboken and train tracks that lead into a tunnel.
Hang out with the HMC for a while and you get the sense that it would be fun to join such a club, where everything is about bikes, brotherhood—and giving back.—07030