Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Hells Angels kindly request that hotel guests please refrain from sitting on their bench

The bench outside the Hells Angels headquarters on Third Street now features a recently added sign:




Given the proximity now of the Bowery Hotel and, more recently, the Cooper Square Hotel... I'd say one too many clueless hotel guests plopped down with a cup of FroYo to take in some authentic NYC scenery. Woo, honey check out the mopeds! Sit on one while I take your picture!

Man, I wish I would have seen this!

[Update: In the comments, reader James provides more information: "The sign is actually for the guests of an illegal hotel next door at 73-75 E 3rd. I used to live there as the building 'management' was turning the building into a 'Vegan Hotel' despite 8 complaints into the department of buildings to my last count. Now they even have a blog... I can see how the Hells Angels could be upset. They are great neighbors btw, if you don't sit on their bench."]

Not too long ago, I saw a harmless-looking delivery guy start to chain up his bicycle on the light pole to the west of the HQ's front door. The delivery was for the building next door. From a doorway across the street, a man emerged and hollered with authority: "MOVE THAT BIKE." Somehow, the delivery guy missed the "No Parking Except Authorized Hells Angels" sign.

23 comments:

  1. classic. you would think, however, that the hell's angels might have more persuasive methods than urban etiquette signage.

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  2. This is just the first line of defense, I imagine...

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  3. such fucking bullshit, those disgusting filthy selfish pricks with their loud bhullshit motorcycles thinkk they can intimidate the general public on public property fuck that. how do the police allow this?

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  4. I'm just concerned if members of the Mongol Nation are staying at the hotel and may take this the wrong. Then the Mongols are delivering exploding motorcycle tires and shooting machine guns at the HA HQ and *poof* there goes the neighborhood.

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  5. yes, Anon, how do the police allow that? We all know NY's finest keep our neighborhoods safe and respond to every noise complaint pronto! FTP!

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  6. All I'm saying is the Hell's Angels need to be more neighborly.

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  7. Here's a piece the Times did in 2007 on the Hells Angels... a few neighbors weigh in about living on the same block as the HA....

    http://tinyurl.com/l8fxv7

    (And in the photo you can see the old bench....)

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  8. The sign is actually for the guests of an illegal hotel next door at 73-75 E 3rd. I used to live there as the building "management" was turning the building into a "Vegan Hotel" despite 8 complaints into the department of buildings to my last count. Now they even have a blog. sanctuaryguesthousenyc.blogspot.com/

    So since I would come home and find people celebrating Bastille Day day on the roof or asking me to let them in to the building in many world accents, I can see how the Hells Angels could be upset. They are great neighbors btw, if you don't sit on their bench.

    P.S. Maybe you should try to do some posts on these stupid illegal hotels since complaining to the city does not work.

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  9. Thanks for the information, James... I'll add this to the main post...

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  10. The Hell's Angels are plenty neighborly ... almost surprisingly so, but all the same -- one would be wise not to fuck wit'em. They've been there longer than you, and they keep that block a lot safer than the NYPD will ever manage. So long as you count your change at the Edge Bar (notorious for stiffing oblivious drinkers), that street is problem-free.

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  11. yet another brave Anonymous comment. I'd like to see him take this issue up with the angels himself....

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  12. Thanks, Alex... good to point out: They've been there since 1969.

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  13. i live right across the street. i had no idea there was a hotel (or "hotel") there!

    the angels (and richie the guy who moves the bikes back and forth across the street for alternate side parking) have been very nice to us.

    but we don't sit on the bench.

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  14. Grieve, I hope you've got a good place to hide for making a sensation out of this. Jeez.

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  15. who cares how long they've been there, you can't fucking claim public property.

    and why would someone "take up this issue" with them? they'd not listen, or perhaps be violent or aggressive. why the fuck would someone take it up with them? it's the governments job.

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  16. Here is why, They are the FUCKING HELLS ANGELS OF NYC! Don't mess!
    They do a lot more good then you know!
    Unless you and you and your bretheren have been there since 1969, they you shouldn't speak!

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  17. "they do a lot more good then you know!"

    indeed, i've been buying (mostly) good speed from them for decades.

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  18. I heard a FED guy talk about his new Angles book on Diane Rehm last week:
    http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/06/08.php#26163

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  19. Back when my husband was still my boyfriend, he lived on the corner of the Angel's block. Once they realized I was "neighborhood" they were extremely polite and respectful. I always felt safer going to his house late at night than shlepping all the way to my own apartment on Ave.C... I guess I should credit the Hell's Angel's with bringing us together. Still, one 4th of July on that block was more than enough!

    -e-

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  20. Yeah, the HA are real neighborly...as long as you are not gay. They didn't take to kindly to my "faggot" roommates and warned them that they didn't want to see any of their "faggot behavior" on the street or in the vestibule of our building (this meant holding hands or kissing).

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  21. Ive never had worse less neighborly neighbors than the new yuppies. HAs actually protect women from harrasment on that block but because they dont wear sperry topsiders like you, you want them arrested. They were there first you entitled snobs.

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