It’s been five long years since Indian Larry passed away, and in his absence there have been many changes. Keino and Paul have each moved on to their own respective paths; the old shop on 14th Street in Brooklyn now sits empty. Even the annual event that surrounded his shop, and caused the migration of many to New York each September for “The Block Party” seemed as if it was gone. But that all changed in 2009.
It has been 20 years since Bobby Seeger first met Larry and in his many stories of massages and coffee runs, I got to understand what it means for this cat to keep his brother’s name alive. Larry was a very important part of Bobby’s life, a part that in some ways will always be gone. But when it comes to his style of bikes, the philosophy he lived by and the direction he was headed, Bobby intends to see that this part of Larry lives on forever.
After closing the shop and moving their operation into a small warehouse facility, Elisa and Bobby Seeger decided that while they chose a direction there would be no point in wasting rent money on a big building. Instead, they launched Genuine Motorworks nine months ago; Elisa’s dream of an apparel shop she could call her own. In it you can see works by various artists, American made goods and apparel and even Americana items that all fall under the mission statement painted on the wall: “There’s no way like the American way.” This was still only part of what they had planned. While there was a silent hush last September as the date for the block party came and went, in spite of sponsorship offers and the curiosity of the general public, they decided to get everything stabilized and then move forward in the best way they knew how to immortalize the man behind the question mark. And this year was the year to let it all out. With the new 5,500 square foot building on Union Ave. in Brooklyn, Indian Larry Motorcycles opened its doors and kicked off a new era with the celebration that everyone had been missing, The Block Party.
Almost as if it had never changed, never moved or skipped a year, 8 a.m. saw some forty volunteers standing in front of the shop ready to help. As famous New York photographer Clay Patrick McBride hung giant prints on the outside of the building, people scurried about on the task of preparing the block for a hell of a day. They shut down an entire city block on Union Ave. and by mid afternoon you could tell that was a good thing. People clogged the street with activity, visiting one vendor after another, standing around, just talking and staring at the giant images of Indian Larry. Bobby told me that it still blows his mind how many Larry fans are out there and how many still come up to show him little question mark tattoos or big back pieces that feature his friend and mentor’s image.
Inside the shop, a good friend of Bobby’s who goes by the name Ewok had painted a giant graffiti mural along the whole side wall. It immediately made you feel like you were in the right place; the grit of the city sliding right up along side you. Seeger mentioned that the shop will be open for business now and that means all business. Everything from service work and parts all the way up to custom builds; they want to be the number one shop in the beautiful five boroughs of New York. After that they said they’ll concentrate of the rest of the country.
So yeah, there were killer bands, kickass cars from the “Rumblers” outside and some of the wickedest choppers ever, but this was a different thing. In this day I learned why they called this The Block Party to begin with. This was simply a collection of kids from the block, kickin’ it in the city for a day, in the memory of their good friend. Some were local, some came from as far away as the West Coast, but it was the kind of atmosphere you only get when you live on the block.
www.genuinemotorworks.com
www.indianlarry.com
Indian Larry Motorcycles
400 Union Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
