The strange and terrible story of the outlaw motorcycle gangs, told through the eyes of Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels, contains a large portion of Sonny Barger’s life.
Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test also features Barger and the Hells Angels during Ken Kesey’s La Honda campsite.
His name occurs in the film Gimme Shelter, which is about the Altamont Free Concert. Hells Angels on Wheels featured Barger in a cameo role, but he did not speak a word.
In Hell’s Angels ’69, he was one of the numerous Angels that took the stage and played themselves.
With his memoirs, Hell’s Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in 2000, Barger became a best-selling author.
He then went on to write a number of books about motorcycles and their culture.
More recently, Barger has focused on promoting motorcycle safety with the publication of a book with Darwin Holmstrom (the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Motorcycles) titled Let’s Ride: Sonny Barger’s Guide to Motorcycling.
Was Sonny Barger in Sons of Anarchy?
He appeared in the season 3 finale of Sons of Anarchy on November 30, 2010, as Lenny “The Pimp” Janowitz, an outlaw motorcycle gang shown on the FX television series.
Creator Kurt Sutter spent time with Hells Angels members, including Barger, while doing research for the show, and even appeared in a scene with Barger.
Barger made a triumphant return to the show on November 29th, 2011, in the first portion of the season 4 finale. On November 13, 2012, Barger made his third appearance on Sons of Anarchy as a guest star.
