Image: Las Vegas Soul Brothers' Founder, HD
Westside Happenings
HD, aka the Las Vegas Soul Brothers founder, sat down with Indian Voices to talk about the effect this Black motorcycle club has had on preserving the few original buildings and culture left on the Historic Westside. This club has stayed in the same building for more than two decades. The likes of Sammy Davis Jr, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey and Joe Lewis stayed as close as next door throughout the 50s and 60s.
I remember the day they demolished the buildings. I was disturbed, to say the least. Moulin Rouge founder Sara Ann Preddy also felt the same as we spoke that day about this historic place. Sara Ann has passed on(may she rest in eternal peace) and so has her beloved Moulin Rouge on the Westside, which burned to the ground in 2017. Indian Voices covered that fire and remembered watching in agony as it burned.
HD explained that the MC’s presence in the community was always about respect — respect for our neighborhood, respect for each other, and respect for the police that man the area in which the Soul Brothers are located. This club has always kept an outstanding relationship with the community. “We have always taken care of this community,” HD said.
Over the past 20 years, HD has lost count of the charity events the motorcycle club has participated in. The club has fed the homeless and held toy runs. These Soul Brother MC Las Vegas Chapter events have all taken place in and around the Historic Westside.
I know that the stigma is that motorcycle clubs are gangs, but I beg to differ. There are certainly bad apples in all facets of life and culture, but this is not a true picture of what this and other Black motorcycle clubs have done in the communities they are from.
