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The next time we all met was at Laconia Motorcycle Week. Larry grinned from ear to ear he loved it. I pulled the cloth from the canvas, and one Indian Larry looked right into the other’s eyes. Larry was well educated in art - his favorite painter was Michelangelo - and so this was the moment of truth. Larry sat down in front of it in anticipation while his crew looked on. I brought in the 24 x 36″ painting, barely dry and shrouded in a big black cloth for the unveiling. They gave us Indian Larry shirts, and Larry took the time to pose with the girls on one of his choppers. This time his whole entourage was there - his crew, his photographer, and some business representatives. I was a little nervous - what if he wasn’t really serious about the “finger” painting being “the one”? I brought my sister Joann and my cousin Kristin with me - they were both dying to meet Indian Larry. Some time later, we returned to Larry’s shop to unveil the painting. I showed Larry the digital image and he said, “That’s the one!” Caleb backed out of the shoot at the last minute, so I asked Larry to give him the finger in absentia. I took several photos of Larry’s tattoos, including a close-up of his famous neck tattoo, which reads, “In God We Trust - Vengeance Is Mine Sayeth The Lord - No Fear.” After the shoot, I asked Larry for one more photo, this time for our friend and partner, Caleb. Meanwhile the UPS guy, Enzo, delivered boxes and ate Larry’s pizza.

We asked him if he felt like taking off his shirt to show off some of his ink, and like Clark Kent in a phone booth he pulled off his shirt and began posing with various bikes and chromed bike parts. “And this is my lady,” Larry said, beaming as he showed us a photo of his wife, Bambi.Īfter giving us the tour, Larry was ready to have his photo taken for the painting. “Here’s when I used to be a bodybuilder,” he said showing us a black-and-white photo of a young, muscular, tattoo-free man. Then he pulled out scrapbooks with some recent articles about him and his bikes and a collection of great photographs of himself taken over the years. Larry gave us a warm reception as if we were part of the family and showed us some of the choppers he was working on. The pizzas were for Larry and his crew - this being Brooklyn, we couldn’t just walk in empty handed. This is from the Web site of the artist who painted Larry’s official portrait (Used with permission)Ĭarrying two pizza pies from Spumoni Gardens, we walked into Indian Larry’s North 14th Street shop in Brooklyn to meet with him and photograph him for a painting that we planned on creating. Indian Larry is survived by his wife Bambi, the Mermaid of Coney Island. His autobiography, “Grease Monkey, The Life and Times of Motorcycle Artist Indian Larry,” is scheduled for publication in 2006. He was a featured artist on the Discovery Channel’s “Biker Build-Off” series, and once rode a motorcycle through a wall of fire on “The Late Show With David Letterman.”Ī memorial will be held at Gasoline Alley on Sept. Indian Larry also performed stunts in movies (“Quiz Show,” “200 Cigarettes”) and on television. The tattoo-covered metal-sculptor and motorcycle mechanic launched the Brooklyn-based Gasoline Alley motorcycle workshop in 1991 and devoted the rest of his life to creating and riding “old school bikes.” Several of his custom-built motorcycles won awards, including the “Grease Monkey,” which was named Easy Rider magazine’s Chopper of the Year. He later moved to California and apprenticed under hot rod builder Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.

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He took it apart and spent the next nine months learning how to put it back together again. He was not wearing a helmet.īorn in Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., Indian Larry was a teenager when he bought his first motorbike, a 1939 Harley Knucklehead, for $200. Unable to maintain his balance, Indian Larry fell off the bike before it crashed. He was standing on the seat when suddenly the motorcycle began to wobble.

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Indian Larry was performing one of his signature stunts last Saturday during the Liquid Steel Classic and Custom Bike Series in Concord, N.C. 30 of severe head injuries he sustained in an accident. Larry Desmedt, a legendary custom motorcycle builder and stunt rider who went by the name Indian Larry, died on Aug.