past and present tenants and visitors, the four bedroom, single shed house has meant incredibly cheap rent and plenty of people to ride and party with. But to the rest of the hardcore 20” bike scene, the P.O.W. house and the Pros of Westminster that have inhabited it through the years mean a lot more. The P.O.W.s took the quintessential ’80s, mini truckin’ bicycle motocross rider out into the backyard and kicked his ass right in front of all the magazines. They threw his neon racing uniform under the ramp next to his factory contract, got him drunk on Old English and gave him cheesy tattoos. All the while exhaling new life into an otherwise stale sport and giving the entire multi-million dollar youth bicycle industry a headache. Not bad for a bunch of dirt poor guys doing whatever it took to hang out and ride their bikes. 
Today, there are similar houses in just about every state. But it took a few years for the BMX industry to catch on, and after many futile efforts to redirect the BMX population, they’re starting to come around. In their initial attempt to wipe out the grunge element, the leading BMX magazine issued a ban on all photos featuring riders that had tattoos, baggy pants or chain wallets—the P.O.W.’s. Nowadays, even the highest paid “legitimate” BMX professionals fit that description. And recognizing it as the valuable marketing tool that it is, some large companies are even making plans to set up P.O.W.-style houses for their team riders. 
Boy, all that sounds great now that I’m sitting in my own place five months after my last eight month stint at the house. Brought back to reality by my semi-daily diary of the last couple weeks with the P.O.W.s, it’s now perfectly clear that there are some serious drawbacks to everyday life for the dozen or so struggling guys that live in this little house—a house with, among other equally hindering ailments, a highly contagious case of lethargy. With an $1,100 rent split between a dozen or so guys, you’re either saving a ton of money or living way below your means. The truth is, the P.O.W. house is just a disorganized hostel for poor BMX riders who want to come to Southern California, where the sport thrives. Eventually, you grow roots in the area and move on up, or you go back home. In either case your picture comes down off the P.O.W. resident wall and finds its permanent place of the wall of fame.Thursday, 4/7/94
I showed up around 7:00 pm for the usual after work riding session and found Dave Clymer down on the ground in the shed looking for a matching set of rims. Dave was wearing some ripped up old Vision shorts with no underwear, no shirt and some Airwalks with no laces or socks. What’s left of his shorts was being held up with a rope or something and he’s got a 40 ounce bottle of OE in his hand. To top it all off, he’s starting to compile homemade tattoos. On one shoulder he let some rider kid do a P.O.W. deal above an ankh that’s supposed to symbolize everlasting life. On the other arm he’s got this huge unfinished bondage chick that’s going to be part of an S & M Bikes logo. S & M is Dave’s primary sponsor and the bike company I helped co-found back in ‘87. We’ve been lucky to have Dave as our main rider for the last five years. In that time Dave’s name has become almost synonymous with S & M and what industry executives have labelled “the grunge element”. As a testament to Dave’s marketing value we recently used a mail order ad to sell all of Dave’s old dreadlocks for $2 each. Then we sold some other kid’s. 
Even after cutting each dread into three or four pieces we ran out and had to cancel the ad because kids were still sending money. Originally from Pennsylvania, Dave moved out to California in ‘88 to ride and race more often. He quickly became one of the world’s fastest and most well-known professional racers. His aggressive come-from-behind riding style and hardcore tactics never made Dave any friends on the track but did make him the ultimate underdog hero for little BMX punks everywhere. He was once described by a major publication as “the dirtiest rider in the BMX”. 
The pun was of course intended. Lately, Dave’s attention has been focused on the world of freestyle, which he has since turned upside down. Dave’s outrageous antics include huge ramp-to-ramp backflips and transfers, with plenty of Evil Knievel-style stunts. Unlike anyone in BMX before him, Dave has successfully made the transition from weight lifting BMX stud to chain smoking freestyle daredevil. At 25 years old, Dave is making a living as a part-time mover and a fulltime freestyle showman. Right now Dave’s down in his shed digging through a bunch of shit. It resembles that scene in Star Wars where Luke and Han Solo are in that garbage compactor thing, only the shed is smaller, about 10’ by 5’. Originally built to house the water heater, Dave has since turned the shed into his own little room, adding a bunk bed and a new electrical outlet. The pile of filthy clothes, bike parts, and porno mags that was once four inches deep in the room I shared with him is now two feet deep in the tiny shed. 
He’s been working on his bikes for the last two weeks nonstop and still hasn’t gotten anywhere. At the moment he’s building up another complete bike he was given to do shows on so he can sell it to some kid for $250. He needs to make it look good because the kid’s dad is coming to check it out. Since this bike building project began, Dave has only been out of the house a few times and all of his trips have been to the liquor store for beer and cigarettes. With freestyle shows starting at the local amusement park on Monday, he needs to finish at least one bike soon. I maneuver through all the nappy furniture in the living room and head straight for the back room where Cruisin’ Chris is hard at work on issue #2 of his BMX Racing magazine, Berm. Cruisin’ has his door locked and he’s not answering me. I’ve asked his roommate Jay to let me into the room before so I could check out the computer setup but he won’t. He acts really mysterious about it all and says Cruisin’ will spot my footprints in the carpet. Cruisin’ prides himself on two things: his ’62 Cadillac (aka The Cruisin’ Vessel) and his collection of 300 plus porno tapes, which partially explains why he spends so much time in is room.
Across the hall, a bunch of guys are smoking some pot they just had brought down from LA. They’re using the infamous “four footer”. Kids have passed out after just one hit from this ridiculous bong. Griffin, another S & M team rider and two-year P.O.W. clears the 48” chamber, grabs a cigarette and says he’s ready for a session on the ramp they’ve built in the back yard. There’s also a dirt jump back there, the last remaining hump of what used to be a very condensed race track. Griffin proceeds to rip the ramp apart on both his bike and his skateboard. At 21, Griffin is the youngest guy in the house. He moved out to California from Pennsylvania two years ago to escape the bad weather and ride more. Living mainly off checks from his mom, I think Griffin is on a permanent vacation. Other than the rare odd jobs he performs, he spends the majority of his time sitting around the house smoking, or out riding. He’s been spending more and more time at his girl’s house lately. Cruisin’ finally lets me into his room to see the operation. A set of bunk beds, tons of audio tapes, a nice stereo, a TV, VCR, computer setup, you name it, this is the secret blue door magazine room. Cruisin’s doing photo selection and the monitor has some page layouts on it. He says he’s printing 5,000 issues of Berm, his current brainchild—unfortunate for his advertisers, who they think he’s printing 10,000. With his first company, RAD Accessories,
Cruisin’ marketed number plates and safety pad sets. According to Cruisin’ the whole deal ended with some weird buyout, but I think he just traded the name to some guy he owed money. Nevertheless, it was enough to establish Cruisin’ as a bonafied member of the BMX industry. That was back in Virginia before his big move to Southern California. He just got out here and he’s having a hard time getting advertisers to pay his bills so Cruisin’s looking for a job until the magazine picks up. He says after three issues he’ll be established. We skate and ride until 8:30 when Sal, the house watchdog shuts the lights off while I’m in the middle of a run. Sal moved to California from Pennsylvania a few years ago and is gradually becoming the new house dad, acquiring a bunch of nicknames: Sal, short for Sales, as in Chris Sales; Sal D Dog, some drunken version of Salty Dog; or just D Dog. Besides some moving work or an occasional riding session, Sal rarely sees the outside world, which gives him plenty of time to drink wine and police the house.
Mike Castillo, aka The Big Island, returns from the hospital with a cast on his arm. Someone threw their bike off the ramp earlier in the day and broke his hand. Mike is visiting from Hawaii but is slowly becoming a resident of the house. His Tshirt company, Lip clothing, has just released ten new shirts. Not ten new designs, ten new shirts...period. They feature his new I heart Beer logo which doesn’t seem to be selling. When he finally gets rid of all ten he’s gonna come out with his next product, the I heart Ibuprofen shirt. For now he’s surviving off the $2 kids mail him for product info and stickers. He paid for the ad in the magazine back when he was in Hawaii working at a silk screening shop. Luckily, because he is so broke, he got some state insurance deal to pay for his hand. At 22 years of age, Big Island possesses absolutely no facial hair and recently shaved off his huge green afro. 
11:30 pm. Lawan is riding his bike to a local hotel where some shady friends of his are spending the night. Griffin makes a few jokes about Lawan’s sex life and Lawan just laughs and says he’s gonna do some drinkin’ and smokin’...that’s it. Lawan grew up in the Chicago area and enjoyed quite a bit of success as a Schwinnsponsored racer. As far as moving out to California, Lawan will tell you he’s pretty much just expanding the business to a bi-coastal operation. Lawan is a nonstop laugh riot with his slip on gold tooth and big chrome porno shades. Racing his bike, talking on the phone, laying down tracks in music producing class and distributing P.O.W. hats, T-shirts, headgear and beer coolies keeps L-Whack a busy man. 2:30 am. Dave is still digging around in his shed trying to build that bike. It doesn’t seem like he’s made any progress at all.
To be continued..........
Part 2
Part 3
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.