Santa Cruz County is calling all vintage bikers and their vehicles to the annual Capitola Chamber of Commerce sponsored “Bikes on the Bay” vintage motorcycle event at the Capitola Mall parking lot just up the street from a world famous Santa Cruz surfing spot if you care.

Capitola is like a burn of Santa Cruz, one of the most expensive places in the United States to live. So Capitola has the mall with all the usual mall stores like every other, which is outlawed in toney Santa Cruz. Anywho, this is another top notch event that is free to park and attend with a Carl’s Jr. just feet away for relatively cheap food and drink, plus a Starbucks in the mall.

A vintage bike event has a special allure and atmosphere lacking at contemporary bike shows. The vibes are more laid back and since the builders are long gone there is not the attitude of competitiveness as at builder exhibitions. We arrived at the mall just as they were taping off a portion off the parking lot under cool overcast skies which soon burnt off to make a perfect day. At around 7:30 vendors and exhibitors started rolling in to grab choice spots and the show was on.

We were surprised to see three Harley-Davidson side hacks including a 1929 stock with duel headlights. Due to the economy they allowed used parts vendors to give them a showcase to help them market their extra stuff. Notice in the photos the red Triumph with the headlight Nacelle like Marlon Brando rode in the film The Wild One.

Since it was a nice day and the usual mall stores opened at 11AM, the event got crowded with normal Sunday shoppers who got a real kick wandering around this superb collection of old bikes. It might be an idea for malls around the country to sponsor vintage stand alone bike shows as a draw for mall shoppers.

We had a great time and the Chamber of Commerce was well organized with no confusion about spotting vendors and bikes. There was even a row set up for people to place bikes that were for sale.