Scooters in San Diego

(Answers/Manual Scan/I Spy bassist Tony Suarez talks scooters with some help from the Cyndie Jaynes Collection of photos.)
Scooters — Vespas and Lambrettas in particular — were primary transport for many mods and punk kids even before the appearance of the Who movie “Quadrophenia” in late 1979. They were cheap and plentiful. You had three places to buy them (Vespa at the Beaches, Vespa of San Diego, Moped Mama). They showed up in the Reader Classifieds on the cheap.

Bart Mendoza relates that there were a few mods already in circulation by 1979. Dean Curtis, Kristine and James Harrell, Dennis Borlek, and Steve Medico were early adopters, and the movie just added to the interest.

These photos of San Diego mods and scooterists at Ski Beach in Mission Bay date from around 1984:

1. John Ryan

2. Keona Faasofia with Bo Courney in the background.

3. From left: Bo Courtney, Keona, Dusty Sims, Gary Reyes, unidentified.

4. From left: Steve Griggs; Dave Dubiner; Sofie (now a prosecutor for the San Diego county courts); Dusty Sims in the background.

I remember my first scooter sighting in early 1981. Manual Scan guitarist Kevin Ring had a Lambretta LI and worked at Guitar Trader throughout that year, and this was his only mode of transportation. This same scooter was in Steve Medico’s hands when I first met him at Madison High School and we started the I Spy Band. Dave Flem and I took rides on it up and down the street during breaks. Steve would reluctantly take me to gigs at King’s Road Café on the back of that Lambretta.

Both Kevin Ring and Bart Mendoza of Manual Scan rode scooters as their only source of transportation. I even remember Bart transporting a small amp on his Vespa! (Just once, though, as I was a reluctant roadie and bass player during my tenure.)

Dave Anderson (drummer for 15 bands) bought a Vespa 90 in 1983 while we were still at Madison. Lunch time was spent going to the Anderson house and raiding the family snacks. I remember hanging out at Dave’s in the spring of 1983 and goofing off with Bert Huerta and Darren Grealish after school when they’d ride down from Mira Mesa.

I met many of the scooter guys I had seen at Headquarters, Presidio Park and Ski Beach, and when I played in Manual Scan from 1983-’84. It was a easy and cheap transportation option and while they weren’t as practical for many of the musicians on the scene. For the rest of those who did hang out, they were part of the deal. You didn’t need a scooter to hang out, it just helped get you there.

My chance to own one came from Secret Society Scooter Club member Mike Rice, when I needed wheels to go to State in the fall of 1984. I bought a 1962 Vespa GS Mark 1. Four motors, two paint jobs and 24 years later I still own the scooter.

By the time many of the events of that we chronicle here on the blog (1983-’87), scootering had changed significantly. More kids bought their P200s new. The Mod thing had blown up and gone … well, mainstream. Vespa USA had forsaken the American market due to more restrictive laws banning two-stroke engines in California. Vespa of San Diego closed, and Fabio Ballarin, one of their mechanics, had branched out and serviced bikes on his own (first with Vince Mross in a garage off of Fairmont Ave and later at 2525 University Ave).

Fabio was the key ingredient in keeping Vespas alive through the ’80s and ’90s as he had started a mail order business (Vespa Super Shop) and more importantly he started to import some of the first speed equipment upgrades that were available to the UK and Italian markets. You could get a Polini pipe or Mallossi cylinder kit or Disc Brake kit for your P200.

Vince Mross, brother of Che blogger Sean McMullen, serviced Lambrettas from all over the US and was the main source for all things Lambretta for years, running his mailorder and repair shop in Rolando (just west of La Mesa) up until its sale a year and a half ago. He was instrumental in updating the electrics, and performance for Lambrettas. Even to go as far as setting a racing season in the ’90s.

Several of us (including contributor Barney Firks) joined scooter clubs. Secret Society Scooter club started in September of 1983 and met at Presidio Park on Sunday nights. The club organized rides to many of the shows that were mentioned and featured in the flyers section. We held a few of our own at Adams Avenue Theater, Club 2581 and JP’s and helped Bart sponsor and run his new sounds of the 6t’s calvalcade of bands at whatever location would have us. Sundays were sacred and a time to leave the girlfriends at home.

Ski Beach was also the hangout for many a bored teenager/scooterist in the summers of 1984-1988. You could hang out in the day for the scooter ride to what ever event. But if it was a slow weekend, you hung out at night and perhaps, rumbled with the dirtheads/lifted truck/East County folk (see Dave Rinck’s account). But I’ll leave that for another entry.

— Tony Suarez