From a press release:

San Francisco Motorcycle Club 100th Anniversary Celebration

The San Francisco Motorcycle Club is pleased to announce that during the weekend of June 17th thru June 20th we will be hosting our 100th Anniversary Celebration

This centennial celebration will commence with our weekly Thursday Night meeting at 7pm where members, guests, and a list of motorcycle dignitaries will view our many photos and artifacts and learn the history of our fine club.

On Friday at 8pm, we will be co-hosting with the Secret Society Scooter Club an annual Beer Tasting event. Members of other motorcycle clubs are encouraged to attend.

On Saturday at 11am, we will be closing the 2100 block of Folsom Street (between 17th and 18th St.) where we will be dancing in the street to the sounds of Latin music performed by local talent and rocking with “Johnny and the River Rats.” There will be a Motorcycle Show with showing classes for Vintage, Contemporary, Scooter and “Rat” Bikes. There will also be a display of motorcycles from the SFPD . There will be vendors selling T-Shirts, jewelry, leather goods, motorcycle parts and other goodies. There will also be a Dyno-Test Machine for those who want to show off their horsepower. There will also be several ethnic food concessioners supplying tasty delicacies. Further, there will be an area set aside for the kids that will include a Jumper Castle, Face-Painting and more. As a special treat, we will have an Observed Trials Rider entertaining us with his mastery of his motorcycle over difficult terrain and obstacles. The Street Fair will end at 6pm and at 7pm the San Francisco Motorcycle Club will open its Clubhouse doors for “A Mid Summer”s Night” Old Timers” Dance where many of the members of “Days Gone By” will be in attendance.

On Sunday at 10am, we will culminate our celebration with “The Ride.” This will be a ride thru the streets of San Francisco to view our City’s many unique and wonderful landmarks. A commemorative photograph will be taken as a keepsake for all the riders who participate. A short final ceremony will take place at the SFMC Clubhouse at the end of the ride. The members of the San Francisco Motorcycle Club hope that everyone will take this opportunity to attend one or more of these functions and learn more about the San Francisco Motorcycle Club, its history, its present, and its future.


Some highlights from club history:

1904
In November of this year, the SFMC holds its first meeting at the Thor Motorcycle shop, owned by A. Freed, on the 1400 block of Market street near Fulton. 12 charter members were in attendance. A few were: C.C. “Daddy” Hopkins, J.L. Tormey George Peyton, Joe Holle, Harry Rockwell, A. Freed

1905
In the summer of ’05, the club held its first run. It was to be a 5 mile race from the clubroom to the top of the hill in Daly City by way of Mission Street. The weather would not cooperate and the event was cancelled as none of the 12 riders could make it past Geneva Avenue as they were bogged down by rain and mud. At that time Mission Street was dirt south of Army Street.

1906
April 18th, a day that all San Franciscans remember, the Great Earthquake and Fire strikes and fire ravages the SFMC clubroom and all its possessions.

1907
The club finds a new clubroom at 25th and Mission Streets just outside the earthquake;fire damaged area.

1911
The membership of the SFMC hits its peak with over 500 members including San Francisco’s mayor P.H. McCarthy.

1913
Dudley “Red” Perkins Sr. joins the SFMC, a spirited rider, he gains recognition as a champion hill-climber aboard his Harley-Davidson. One year later, he opens a Harley Davidson dealership.

1924
San Francisco Motorcycle Club joins the American Motorcycle Association as club number 142. Dud Perkins wins the National Hill-Climb
Championship. The club also wins big at Motorcycle Polo led by Pat Speer.