Bikers Add Spice to Benefit

The Scene: The Harley, Leather & Lace Affair at the Spice club Tuesday night in Hollywood. Chaired by Dan Haggerty (“Grizzly Adams”) and Bill Reed, 1,000 motorcycle riders were expected at this benefit for the World Children’s Transplant Fund, the Spastic Children’s Fund and A Head With Horses, a horseback-riding program for handicapped children.

Who Was There: Traditional Spandex-and-leather club scene types, plus members of the Hells Angels, the Tribes and other assorted motorcycle clubs. By midnight, perhaps 100 motorcycles were parked outside. The lengthy list of promised celeb guests came close to batting a rare, absolute zero until Mickey Rourke arrived at 11 p.m. He left 20 minutes later looking angry. (There was also a large turnout of press, TV crews and paparazzi grumbling about the lack of star presence and ready to lynch the publicist.)

The Buzz: No buzz, plenty of roar as open-piped motorcycles came and went. “The American people love American iron,” said Haggerty.

Dress Code: Everybody had a black leather jacket. Optional equipment included Levi’s with a heavy-duty padlock hanging from a belt loop, handkerchief headbands, scar tissue. The general idea was to look sinister but to have a heart of gold.

Motorcycle Mode: The ‘50s retro look is big. Two-tone paint jobs on “Fat Bobs” (large gas tanks), whitewall tires partially covered by drooping fenders, more chrome than Zimbabwe produces in a year.

Money Matters: Tickets were $20. There appeared to be a few hundred paying guests; no one ventured an estimate of the net receipts.

Chow: Hors d’oeuvres passed on trays included smoked salmon mousse, cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto and puffed pastry with shrimp curry. Pretty much what you’d expect at any Hells Angels picnic.

Quoted: “There are all kinds of people in the world, but no matter what concerns them, they care about kids,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker, founder of the World Children’s Transplant Fund, which helps to pay for organ transplants performed in the United States for poor children from Third World countries.

The Story of Many a Biker Relationship in One Sentence: “She’s back in Beaumont, man, workin’ in a bar.”