the rix mix

Hells Angels: Rare and Unpublished Photos by LIFE Magazine's Bill Ray

In early 1965, LIFE photographer Bill Ray and writer Joe Bride spent several weeks with a gang that, to this day, serves as a living, brawling embodiment of our schizoid relationship with the rebel: the Hells Angels.

Here, in a gallery of remarkable photographs that were shot for LIFE but never ran in the magazine, Ray and Bride recall their days and nights spent with Buzzard, Hambone, Big D, and other Angels (as well as their equally tough “old ladies”).

I don't know anything about outlaw bikers except what I read in Hunter S. Thompson's book or seen in movies & on TV.

I used to, on occasion, encounter outlaw bikers from The Breed & The Pagans in, of all places, Dunkin' Donuts, when I was traveling late at night to & from the Jersey shore on roads like Route 9 & 34. They were totally uninterested in guys like me. I just sat at the counter next to them, drinking coffee, minding my own business.

Back then those roads were lightly used late nights & passed through long stretches of misty corn fields & dark pine woods. They were wonderful driving experiences in summer, windows down, the added time from not taking the Garden State Parkway well worth it. I'm sure even outlaw bikers appreciated it.