Exile on Front Street by George Christie

Exile on Front Street by George Christie

A memoir of the Hells Angels motorcycle club from one of its most high-profile leaders.

After forty years in the Hells Angels, George Christie was ready to retire. As president of the high-profile Ventura charter of the club, he had been the yin to Sonny Barger's yang. Barger was the reckless figurehead and de facto world leader of the Hells Angels. Christie was the negotiator, the spokesman, the thinker, the guy who smoothed things out. He was the one who carried the Olympic torch and counted movie stars, artists, rock musicians, and police chief captains among his friends.

But leaving the Hells Angels isn't easy, and within two weeks of retirement, he was told he was "out bad"--blackballed by his fellow Angels, prohibited from wearing the club patch, and even told he should remove his Death Head tattoo.

Now Christie sets out to tell his story. Exile on Front Street is the tale of how a former Marine gave up a comfortable job with the Department of Defense and swore allegiance to the Hells Angels. In this revealing, hard-hitting memoir, he recounts his life as an outlaw biker with the world's most infamous motorcycle club.

After serving as a Marine reserve, George Christie worked for the Department of Defense as an electrician and communications troubleshooter. In 1975, he joined the Hells Angel Motorcycle Club as a prospect, eventually becoming a full-patch member in 1976. He went on to organize the Ventura Chapter and serve as its president for over thirty years, carrying the Olympic torch at the 1984 Games. For more than two decades, he also acted as the club's worldwide spokesman. He currently resides in Ojai, California.