A Wrong Made Right, 50 Years Later
A wrong made right, 50 years later
Fifty years ago. Hap Jones was denied the right to be the first person ever to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, simply because he was riding a motorcycle. On the morning the bridge was to open, the wire services had already snapped Jones’ picture and proclaimed him the first person to cross because he had pushed his bike to the very front of the line. But bridge authorities then told him that, for safety reasons, he couldn’t ride his bike on the bridge. So he jumped into a car, and was still one of the very first people to cross the Golden Gate.
On May 24, 1987, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the bridge, that earlier wrong was made right when Jones led a parade of nine pre-1937 motorcycles and 100 vintage cars across the bridge. Now well into his eighties, Jones rode a red 1924 Henderson sidehack. His passenger was Helen Clifford, the great niece of the late William Henderson, founder and owner of Henderson Motorcycles.
