Past the buildup, glamour, good times and disorderly behavior that could become any Daytona Bike Week, there remains a hallowed biker spirit and place. There’s the true born-to-ride brotherhood and any sacred gathering, a mere parking lot and back patio.
Daytona’s Bike Week can become a banal rerun, common place, we talk of in terms like mainstream. It’s tough to escape the weeklong rat race or re-kindle a forbidding romance. It can be misleading, crowded, and please, keep the family fun along its coastal beachfront pure.
Forget riding and drinking ….much, and those ape hangers you love to style around at the hometown with will get you a ticket quicker than red ants can piss on you. And forget trying to meet and make a new love sign. It’s just too dangerous these days, motorcycles still are safer.
But there’s a biker haven ink joint not far away. A place reeking of locals, babes and rowdies. Voted reader’s choice for East Coast Tattoo shop by numerous industry biker magazines, Willie’s Tropical Tattoo Studio and that parking lot are at 825 Yonge Street. It becomes a natural migration location for chopper freaks and misfits during the annual springtime approval of our lifestyle.
Rolling over to Willie’s Tropical Tattoo Parlor on Thursday afternoon, we go for the low profile, kicked back, incredibly artistic showing of skin ink and vintage iron. The place packs up quickly so if you want to show your sled off, get there early. There’s never a show fee.
Class winners this year were, ( now, dig the name of each class are:
Sportster –Evan Edwards
Panhead- Jim O’Brien
Shovelhead-Wacko Mike
Evo-Nash
Hard-core (Old)- Jean Claude
Hardcore Modern- Pat Patterson
Pre-Skool- Steve Brady
Bad Ass-Tex
“Damn Hot”- Steve Hodges.
Acknowledgment and appreciation like this should never go unnoticed. Willie doesn’t charge for vendor space either but he is eager to see the new custom shops get a chance at the outside viewing area (there’s that parking lot again!) so if you are interested in setting up, you better check with him first.
Willie started this party five years ago so his artists could get to see some of the wickedly cool customs rolling into town every March. The shop itself has been cranking out inksters and fine skin art since the early ‘90s. Willie lost one of his original artists, Mad Jack, to an unfortunate and untimely bike accident. And then three years later, he lost a good friend in Charley Subock.
Willie, who was actually born in Daytona, moved with his folks to Ft. Pierce, Florida in the ‘60s. As a young man he returned to Daytona and married the love of his life, beautiful Jean. They have been together for 26 years and have two wonderful daughters. Willie is the big guy, long seasoned salt and pepper hair, and plenty of tattoos. You can’t miss him. (Ok, so most of the men there resembled that remark…!)
Really, you can’t miss him! Willie enjoys making this a unique experience for the Bike Week throngs. Whether they are from Michigan or Miami, he makes everyone feel welcome. There’s usually an after party-party at Lollipops and countless unscrupulous biker journalists roaming around, looking of that next Kodak moment.
It’s not a big place, the parking lot, just a great place. There are swinging local bands rocking out in the backyard, wild women centerfolds showing what they are most proud of and a the picnic area always full of friendly scooter tramps from all over the country.
It’s a nudge north of Daytona, and what seems like miracle miles away from Main Street, on US Route One, in Ormond Beach. You can find this Daytona tradition set up for both, Florida’s Bike Week and Biketoberfest. Give a call first and confirm the date. Kudos to the people behind the scenes and the seamlessness of the event! It’s all about Willie’s Old Skool party and putts. His is our favorite Daytona Bike Week show. We like to go along for the ride with him anytime!
Can you dig it?
–Katmandu
