Quote:
Originally Posted by angela4design
With all due respect to Law Enforcement... there needs to be an understanding, IMO. Bike Week used to be Spring Break on Wheels! Wild, crazy, fun and outrageous! I think it was in 2000 that they decided to prosecute for nudity. Now, I'm not a proponent of public nudity by any means, but banning it REALLY impacted the frivolity of the event. And, really, was there any harm done? I miss the days where the lawn chairs and coolers were lined up on the boulevard five deep, watching the bikes go by, and soliciting pass-bys with cheers and taunting. Am I crazy? Maybe. But, it's not Sunday church, it's BIKE WEEK! Like I said, Spring Break on wheels!
I'm not sure we should cut back in LE Patrols, for safety reasons. I just think that public nudity should be lower on their priority list. What does it cost the city/state to jail someone for "showin' em", compared to the $800 fine, I wonder?? Worth it?
My fear, moving forward, is that the same visitors come for bike week each year, and we're all getting older. We're not getting any new blood from year to year, which will result in a slow decline of the visitors to the event.
When I share this philosophy with people, they seem to agree. It's not that I like the lewdness of the event, but for many years, the region profited from the visitors that came for exactly that! So I thought I'd just throw that out there - what are your thoughts? What do you think marked the decline?
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I used to have a place behind Christmas Island steakhouse and used to go up to the main road to watch the parade. This was when show us your tips (I think they meant steak) was in full swing. What I saw then was near riot conditions, something you'd see on the streets of LA. This is the one story that sticks out in my head, A car with two young females was stuck in traffic right in front of us. All of a sudden, a couple of guys who probably had a few too many, started jumping on the hood yelling, "show us your tips". Withing seconds, like locust, the car was surrounded by a bunch of guys who obviously didn't have a VCR and any porn tapes at home. They started rocking the car from both sides and were yelling, if you don't show us, the car goes on its side. Two young woman crying inside a car with hungry animals outside was quite a scary site. For Gods sake, man....go to jolly jays and buy a doll. Good thing there were cops close enough to help these two. Oh, and I know they weren't saying tips