'Easy Rider' Town Welcomes Arizona Bikers
B E L L E M O N T, Ariz., Jan. 8 -- When Captain America and Billy try to rent a room at the Pine Breeze Inn in the movie Easy Rider, the outlaw bikers are turned away.
A man cracks the door, sees the men on their motorcycles andthen a glowing "NO" starts blinking in front of "VACANCY" onthe sign.
Captain America and Billy — played by Peter Fonda and DennisHopper — ride down Route 66 and sleep in the woods.
When the movie came out in 1969, bikers were disrespected andfeared. They represented trouble, rebellion and drugs. Not anymore.This tiny town west of Flagstaff even caters to bikers now.
The Pine Breeze Inn is boarded up, white paint peeling and grasscreeping up its sides. A rusted gas tank stands in front. And justfeet away, what's left of this portion of Route 66 — the fabledMother Road now largely bypassed by Interstate 40 — is cracked andovergrown with weeds.
Tribute to Harley
But instead of sending bikers away, the inn now invites them tocamp on the 2.5-acre property surrounding the fading building. Andjust down the road there is a Harley Davidson shop and a Route 66Roadhouse Bar and Grill, a tribute to everything Harley.
The table tops are glass-covered motorcycle wheels. There is aHarley Davidson jukebox. A motorcycle from World War II stands in amuseum-like room with a "Harley Parking Only" sign. The "NoVacancy" sign from "Easy Rider" hangs from the ceiling.
Bikers wearing leather chaps, skull bandanas, and Harleytank-tops and jackets periodically saunter in for drinks.
About eight years ago, Felix Mansene and his wife, Lori, builtthe roadhouse. Now it's frequently used for biker parties andcharity events.
About 20,000 riders passed by the roadhouse in August while onthe Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversary Ride Home, Mansene said. Theypartied in a circus tent filled with bands, American Indiandancers, and vendors selling corn on the cob and beer.
