Museum draws motorcycle riding visitors to see exhibit

January 02, 2002
Santa Paula News

The California Oil Museum is definitely becoming a more popular destination for visitors, including a group of law enforcement types who rode into town on their motorcycles to view an exhibit paying homage to, well, motorcycles.

By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe California Oil Museum is definitely becoming a more popular destination for visitors, including a group of law enforcement types who rode into town on their motorcycles to view an exhibit paying homage to, well, motorcycles.On Dec. 22, just in time for Christmas came the group of over 75 active and retired Los Angeles police and California Highway Patrol officers who arrived on their motorcycles to view the “Bikes & Badges: Motorcycles of the Police & Military” exhibit.The visitors came in response to the posters of the exhibit sent to all Harley-Davidson dealers throughout Southern California.
“Bikes & Badges: Motorcycles of the Police & Military” features contemporary and vintage motorcycles made for law enforcement and the military, from the 1920s to the present. The exhibit gives visitors an up-close view of the powerful machines, displayed with the equipment and gear their riders used. Many of the motorcycles on display found a new life in films and television after their police and military careers. The exhibit includes a 1928 Harley JD74, a 1938 Harley Big Twin SV and a 1969 Honda CB750, classic police motorcycles and outfitted with their period police equipment. One of the earliest police motorcycle radios ever manufactured, a rare “receive only” unit with an elk horn speaker, is part of the display, as are early-model sirens, tool kits, fire extinguishers and other vintage police equipment.In other museum news, the smoke detector system in the Rig Building has been upgraded with new detector units to protect the museum’s prized 1900 cable-tooling rig, a favorite of museum visitors. The video program that plays for visitors in the Rig Building is also being upgraded to DVD technology.The California Oil Museum continues to draw visitors from far and wide: during a recent week the over 100 visitors included those from Switzerland, Oklahoma, Florida and Wisconsin, as well as school groups from throughout Ventura County, including Santa Paula.For more information on the California Oil Museum, call 933-0076.



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