PORT STOCKTON MOTORCYCLE CLUB

Aug 14, 2012

Port Stockton Motorcycle Club

728 South Laurel Street

Stockton, CA 95205

Port Stockton Motorcycle Club Celebrates its 75^th Anniversary!

So the story goes, the year was 1937 when a few sailors from the local Naval Base, Rough and Ready Island, decided to form a family friendly motorcycle club, and the name they came up with was the Vagabonds. The founding members would meet in rented halls - big smokey places where everyone talked at the same time. The group was all men, a boys club, with a passion for motorcycles.

Things were about to change. In 1946, August (Sharkey) Alvarez and his 4 year old son Carl went to one of the meetings. Sharkey was an avid rider and loved everything motorcycle. He was voted in and quickly got involved with the group and its politics. Being the trailblazer he was, Sharkey was in the group to make a revolutionary change to include women. At the time this was unheard of. Until this point, clubs had been exclusively for men. Women could participate but only as part of the women's auxiliary and they were not given the rights to full membership. Sharkey fought for the vote and it was decided the females could become full paying members of the group.

The group decided they needed a real clubhouse. Sharkey wrangled the task of finding a piece of property to purchase, he was able to secure land from a club member, a Stockton police motorcycle officer, Art Noverski. In 1947 the club purchased the property and built a club of their own. Carl, now 70, can remember carrying the bricks to his dad where he mortared them into place.  It took from early spring to late fall to complete it enough to use. When the doors opened they renamed the club from Vagabonds to Port Stockton Motorcycle Club (PSMC). And so it was.

With the opening of the clubhouse came many changes to who the members of the PSMC were and what they wanted to be known for. At that time, everyone road an Indian or a Harley, wore black leather, and had the bad boy image.  The members wanted to change that to become more family friendly. They decided the colors for the club would be white and black and that summer dress was to be white shirts, white pants, a black belt, boots, black gloves, and of course the ever important black vest with the emblems on them. Winter dress would  be the same, except instead of white pants, black pants would be worn.  The club's goal was to be a family friendly, safe and happy organization. That would be a big change from the Hollister days.

Seventy-five years later, the club house still stands and is used by its members every week for meetings and events. The clubhouse has been the venue for weddings, parties and memorials for those who have passed. The structure is an integral piece of PSMC history. Rich in both history and character, if the walls could talk, they'd have stories to tell.

Known for being family friendly, PSMC participates in several events each year including: Poker Runs, Campouts, Halloween and Christmas parties, dinner rides, Gypsy Tours, and the Western Hey Dey celebration.  They all are well attended and looked forward to.

On April Fool's Day, 1999 the club's beloved Sharkey passed on. It was fitting that he would leave the world he so loved on that day. Always a joker and good with a laugh, Sharkey will be a PSMC member for life. To thank him for his time and service and to make sure that all members, current and those yet to join, would remember the club's legacy - the PSMC group dedicated the club to him with a renaming ceremony. The clubhouse itself is now known as, the August (Sharkey) Alvarez memorial club hall. It seems fitting that it would be named after the man who built it.

Today the club hall is undergoing major renovations and should be completed by years end.

Port Stockton MC has been an AMA club from the start and has never had a break in AMA

Membership. All club members are required to be AMA members as well.

In 2012 Port Stockton Motorcycle Club celebrated its 75^th anniversary. The club has endured, loved, and rode the endless highway and looks forward to the next 75 years.

Written by:

Carl Alvarez Life member

David Stephens  Life member