From Eddie Ryan’s Shop to Backyard Builder
Photos/Story: T-Bone
We heard around the grapevine that there’s this cat who has a yard full of old Harleys right here in town. In-fact every morning at 6am he frequents the downtown coffee shop for breakfast.
My buddy Krylon John and I hit the diner and met-up with “Dr. George Hood”.
Come to find out I met him two years earlier when his neighbor invited us over to see some old iron after a local motorcycle show.
John and I introduced ourselves at the counter and got to talking over eggs and home-fries. George graciously invited us over to see what he’s working on. We happened on a real treasure.
There’s no X on the map to find his place. George works in his non-descript home. In his treasure chest is a maniacle obsession with early or Vintage Harley-Davidsons and an occasional Crocker or Indian. George restores and hops up these bikes for a variety of customers who learn of him through seemingly long tales and folk lore. One of his most interesting jewels are the four-valve heads he builds in his garage.
The crown jewel in this booty is a frame jig sitting on his patio, which he acquired as the third owner of the legendary Eddie Ryan shop in San Pedro of the 1920’s. Yes, that’s close to 100 years ago.
An interesting side-note: The day John and I stumbled on this historic adventure the old Model T that was making a stop in his backyard was exactly 100 years old that day.
Back to our hero in the story. In the early 1960’s Bob Ross, a frequent customer of Eddie Ryan was made an offer he couldn’t refuse and bought Eddie Ryan’s famed shop in 1962. Just then, Harley took away the franchise to open Long Beach Harley-Davidson. And the city of San Pedro wanted to “Revitalized Downtown San Pedro.” Bob moved that frame jig and the shop 17 miles north to Gardena. Close to 10 years later as Bob prospered with his “Motorcycles Only” shop. George Hood was a frequent customer and Bob passed the torch to George as Eddie gave it to him. “Tomorrow will be my last day, if you want the shop it’s yours.”
Today between building a vintage inspired flat track racer and maintaining his buddies old iron you will find him on online sharing antics with the young ladies in his life.
Thank you George for opening your garage for us. It is truly an honor to bear witness of a dedicated craftsman, expert builder and heck of a nice guy.