Brian Brennan
Former Editor
In the early days (the late '60s) of Street Chopper we were still trying to find the magazine's niche. As you may or may not be aware of, Street Chopper started life as a "little book" titled Outlaw Chopper and it was about half the trim size it is today. As the name would imply the book was geared toward the hardcore chopper enthusiast-lifestyle and to a lesser degree about the bike.
Founder Tom McMullen hired longtime friend and fellow freelance journalist, Tex Smith, who was then charged with taking the book mainstream by changing the format to today's traditional magazine format. Tex offered the book for sale on public newsstands, opened it up for advertising, and most of all, used it as a "vehicle" to publicize Tom's chopper accessory parts company, AEE. (Ironically, the acronym stood for Automotive Electric Engineering, which was the only business license that Tom had at the time he opened the doors to AEE. After hours from his day job at Beckman Electronics, Tom would wire hot rods and this is where his AEE business license came into play.)
Tom and Tex developed an idea to use Street Chopper as the core for a budding magazine publishing company that would soon give birth to the titles HOT BIKE, Street Rodder, and Truckin' to name a few. In those early days, the staff of Street Chopper was the same editorial and artist staff forHOT BIKE, Street Rodder, and don't forget there was a quarterly title, Chopper, The Custom Motorcycle Guide. Each week we would be up against a deadline for one of the titles and while several of us would work on specific magazines, most of us worked on all the books. I learned about layouts, how to size photos, paste type, and read and handle flats as each of us helped the art department get the book out the door.
When I was not in the art department, I would find myself at a motorcycle shop one day, a hot rod shop the next, and somewhere in between playing "touch 'til you were down football" in the parking lot. I would have to say I learned more about magazine publishing during those intense and hectic days working on staff of Street Chopper than at any other time in my career.
There were also "outside the box" upsides. Tom was an enthusiastic gambler and that is putting it mildly. Come Friday afternoons around 4 p.m. he would come into the bullpen (a small grouping of desks where all of the staff worked) and ask "who wants to go to Vegas?" Early on I was always one to gladly sign up for "overtime." He would fire-up the Cessna and we would fly from Fullerton, California, to Las Vegas landing just in time to check-in to the Hilton Hotel and get to dinner. One of the benefits of Tom being a high-roller was we ate often, well, and for free. Then we went to the shows; Elvis, yes, that Elvis, Ann Margaret, and a couple of others I can no longer remember.
The early days at Street Chopper saw me covering iconic chopper events such as Zion, Laconia, Daytona, and many others. I was able to meet many chopper builders who have turned into lifelong friends. I also learned those really were the good ol' days and the camaraderie I gained with fellow staffers Richard Bean, Steve Stillwell, Dain Gingerelli, R.K. Smith, and Paul Walker (for the younger set, this is Paul Walker senior whose son is now the movie star Paul Walker) it can never be forgotten, nor would I.