My Story
This story wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for Douglas Monitto, (may he rest in peace), I grew up in venice california, surfing, playing drum and riding motorcycles fast forward to Beijing. I was standing in front of The Club One Gospel Sunday, who flew me and my jazz band into Beijing on June 18, 1998, to open up his New Orleans-style club, The Big Easy.

For the first time I noticed the lines on his sidecar bike. I wondered how this could have eluded me. The frame caught my eye, the old suspension, spring seat, and wire wheels. Why, the whole bike was lost in time.

I remembered that some old war Harley's I had seen had the same kind of frame and suspension. Mike said he would give me the 25-cent tour of the bike shops, so I jumped in his sidecar and went and bought me a bike, and drove it home.

At the Beijing Bike School of Hard Knocks,
You learn that if you want something special that looks like Southern California down Sunset Boulevard, you're going have to create it yourself. .

There are no good chrome shops, they don't do polishing, nobody uses lacquer paint, and used parts are very popular. So, I got my own shop and started a process, which is still going on in Shanghai today.

You see I had to move from Beijing and I heard Shanghai was the place to be from by my friend, Mr. Handel Lee. Handel told me Shanghai was a more modern city and that I could get better quality everything.

When I first arrived, HandeI had set me up in a shop down in the "Soho" of Shanghai, near the river, and shortly after that, CBS 60 Minutes News added the story about a California guy restoring old war bikes in Shanghai. Later, I met a guy, Mr. Mark Decocinis, General Manager of the Portman Ritz-Carlton Hotel, who loved motorcycles as much as me. I went over to see him one afternoon at the hotel, and we both became instant friends. We got very excited talking about bikes, jazz, and the good life. And that's how it all began.

Since that afternoon, one of my bikes has its own stage near The Jazz Bar at the Portman Ritz-Carlton Hotel.