National Hobo Association

Last updated

The National Hobo Association is an organization for enthusiasts of the hobo lifestyle, founded in Los Angeles as part of a "hobo revival" in the US in the late 1970s and during the Reagan administration. It was last headquartered in Nisswa, Minnesota.

The National Hobo Association was founded in 1977 by actor Bobb Hopkins and others in Los Angeles who were interested in the hobo lifestyle as a hobby, [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] and was part of a romantic interest in hoboes during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. [6] The group had approximately 2,000 members nationwide in 1987, approximately 3,000 in 1990, [7] 3,800 in 1991, when 100 people attended its annual regional convention in San Francisco, [8] and 4,500 in 1992. [9] One recreational hobo attended NHA gatherings by corporate jet. [10] In 1992 it endorsed Ross Perot's candidacy for President of the US. [11]

From November 1987 until 2000 the NHA published the Hobo Times, which appeared bimonthly and was also read by full-time hoboes; [2] it included articles such as "Seeing America on Zero Dollars a Day", "Mulligan Stew Recipes", "The Glossary of Hobo Vernacular", "The 10 Most Scenic Train Rides", and "The Slowest Freights in the Land". [1] [12] Hopkins was the first editor; [2] [3] [13] [14] it was later edited by Garth Bishop. [8] [9]

By 1999, yuppies were less inclined to ride the rails for fun because of the hunt for Rafael Resendez Ramirez, whose serial murders in railroad towns had given hoboing a bad name. [11] [15] [16] [17] Edwin C. "Buzz" Potter, who had helped found The Hobo Times, was then its editor and president of the National Hobo Association, [18] [19] which under his leadership organized a Hobo Festival in Elko, Nevada in 2000. [20] [21] [22] Bud Webster's "The Ballad of Kansas McGriff" won the poetry contest; he read it to an audience of 5,000 attendees. [23] The last known headquarters for the organization was Nisswa, Minnesota.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

Hobo Migratory worker or homeless vagabond

A hobo is a migrant worker or homeless vagrant, especially one who is impoverished. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States around 1890. Unlike a "tramp", who works only when forced to, and a "bum", who does not work at all, a "hobo" is a traveling worker.

Hybristophilia is a paraphilia in which sexual arousal, facilitation, and attainment of orgasm are responsive to and contingent upon being with a partner known to have committed an outrage, cheating, lying, known infidelities, or crime—such as rape or murder. The term is derived from the Greek word ὑβρίζειν hubrizein, meaning "to commit an outrage against someone", and philo, meaning "having a strong affinity/preference for". In popular culture, this phenomenon is also known as "Bonnie and Clyde syndrome".

San Quentin State Prison California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men

San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated town of San Quentin in Marin County.

Cleveland Torso Murderer unidentified serial killer

The Cleveland Torso Murderer was an unidentified serial killer who was active in Cleveland, Ohio, United States in the 1930s. The killings were characterized by the dismemberment of twelve known victims and the disposal of their remains in the impoverished neighborhood of Kingsbury Run. Most victims came from an area east of Kingsbury Run called The Roaring Third, known for its bars, gambling dens and brothels. Another name for this area was "Hobo Jungle", as it was home to many vagrants. Despite an investigation of the murders, which at one time was led by famed lawman Eliot Ness, then Cleveland's Public Safety Director, the murderer was never apprehended.

Dennis Rader American serial killer (born 1945)

Dennis Lynn Rader is an American serial killer known as BTK or the BTK Strangler. Rader gave himself the name "BTK". Between 1974 and 1991, Rader killed ten people in the Wichita, Kansas metro area and sent taunting letters to police and newspapers describing the details of his crimes. After a decade-long hiatus, Rader resumed sending letters in 2004, leading to his 2005 arrest and subsequent guilty plea. He is serving ten consecutive life sentences at El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas.

Mark Harmon American actor

Thomas Mark Harmon is an American television and film actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of roles since the early 1970s. Initially a college football player, his role on St. Elsewhere led to his being named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People in 1986. After spending the majority of the 1990s as a character actor, he played Secret Service special agent Simon Donovan in The West Wing, receiving a 2002 Emmy Award nomination for his acting in a four-episode story arc.

The Freight Train Riders of America (FTRA) is a notional group who move about America by freight hopping in railroad cars, particularly in the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada, and have sometimes been linked to crimes and train derailments.

Golden State Killer American serial killer, serial rapist, serial burglar

The Golden State Killer is a serial killer, serial rapist, and burglar who committed at least 13 murders, more than 50 rapes, and over 100 burglaries in California from 1974 to 1986. He is believed to be responsible for at least three crime sprees throughout California, each of which spawned a different nickname in the press, before it became evident that they were committed by the same person. In the Sacramento area he was known as the East Area Rapist, and was linked by modus operandi to additional attacks in Contra Costa County, Stockton, and Modesto. He was later known for his southern California crimes as the Original Night Stalker. He is suspected to have begun as a burglar before moving to the Sacramento area, based on a similar modus operandi and circumstantial evidence. He taunted and threatened his victims and police in obscene phone calls and other communications.

Cleophus Prince Jr. is an American serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1993 for the rape and murder of six women in San Diego County, California from January through September 1990. Before these crimes, Prince was court-martialed in 1989 due to larceny, and when he was convicted and served his sentence, it was recommended that he be discharged from the United States Navy. Multiple books have been written on Prince and his crimes.

Grim Sleeper American serial killer (1952–2020)

Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., better known by the nickname Grim Sleeper, was an American serial killer who was responsible for at least ten murders and one attempted murder in Los Angeles, California. He was also convicted for rape and sexual violence. Franklin earned his nickname when he appeared to have taken a 14-year break from his crimes, from 1988 to 2002.

Bobb Hopkins, also known as Santa Fe Bo, is an American writer, director, actor, and producer who was founding director of the National Hobo Association.

This article refers to crime in the U.S. state of Oregon.

Richard Ramirez American serial killer

Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramírez, known as Richard Ramirez, was an American serial killer, rapist, and burglar. His highly publicized home invasion crime spree terrorized the residents of the greater Los Angeles area and later the residents of the San Francisco area from June 1984 until August 1985. Prior to his capture, Ramirez was dubbed the "Night Stalker" by the news media.

Museum of Death Museum

Museum of Death is a museum with locations on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. It was established in June 1995 by J. D. Healy and Catherine Shultz with the museum's stated goal being "to make people happy to be alive".

Glen Edward Rogers American serial killer on death row

Glen Edward Rogers, also known as "The Cross Country Killer" or "The Casanova Killer", is an American serial killer. He was convicted of two murders and is a suspect in numerous others throughout the United States, including being mentioned, and considered by investigators in Los Angeles County, as a possible alternative suspect to O.J. Simpson in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, although as of 2019 nothing has developed regarding these allegations. Rogers was featured on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list after a crime spree that began on September 28, 1995 with Rogers' first authoritatively established murder.

Michelle McNamara American writer

Michelle Eileen McNamara was an American true crime author. She was the author of I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, a true crime book based on the Golden State Killer, and helped coin the name "Golden State Killer". The book was released posthumously in February 2018 and later adapted as the HBO documentary series I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, debuting on the cable channel June 28, 2020.

Samuel Little American serial killer

Samuel Little is an American serial killer who was convicted in 2012 of the murders of three women in California between 1987 and 1989 and in 2018 of the murder of one woman in Texas in 1994. He claims to have killed as many as 93 people, and investigators have linked him to over 60 murders. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed his involvement in at least 50 murders, which makes Little the most prolific convicted serial killer in United States history in terms of proven cases; he allegedly murdered women across 19 states over a quarter of a century ending around 2005.

References

  1. 1 2 Nikki Finke, "The Yuppie Hobos: When Trekking in Nepal Gets Old, They Hear the Call of the Rails", Los Angeles Times , December 17, 1987.
  2. 1 2 3 Lily Eng, Scripps Howard News Service, "Boxcars as well as BMWs: Yuppies discover hobo chic", The Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire), January 13, 1988, p. 12.
  3. 1 2 Kathleen Parker, Orlando Sentinel , "Muffy And Biff Ride The Rails", Chicago Tribune , January 8, 1988.
  4. ↑ James Willwerth, "Hoboes From High-Rent Districts", Time , July 11, 1988.
  5. ↑ Times-Post News Service, "National Hobo Group Guides Would-Be Nomadic Pioneers Seeking The Latest In Vacation Thrills", Toledo Blade , January 1, 1988, p. 26.
  6. ↑ Todd DePastino, Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America, Chicago / London: University of Chicago, 2003, ISBN   9780226143781, pp. 262–63.
  7. ↑ Bob Pool, "It's a Jungle Out There: L.A.'s Hobos Are Forced to Hit the Road in Search of a New Clubhouse", Los Angeles Times, January 24, 1990.
  8. 1 2 Elisabeth Dunham, Associated Press, "Tales of the Rails", The Telegraph (Nashua), October 16, 1991, p. 21.
  9. 1 2 Jeff Wilson, Associated Press, "Hobos mourn Miller, 'King of the Road'", Ocala Star-Banner , October 27, 1992, p. 2A.
  10. ↑ Associated Press, "Hobo hobbyists love life on the rails", Lodi News-Sentinel , January 18, 1991, p. 5.
  11. 1 2 DePastino, p. 264.
  12. ↑ Katie Calautti, "Solving a Lingering Mystery from Cheryl Strayed’s Wild", Vanity Fair , February 16, 2015.
  13. ↑ Holly Mullen, "The Hobo Hobby: Wanderers follow call of 'lonesome whistle'", Spokane Chronicle , January 4, 1988, pp. B1, B4.
  14. ↑ "Hobos", The Pittsburgh Press , January 10, 1988, pp. &J1, J10.
  15. ↑ Martha Irvine, Associated Press, "Hobos claim resentment with serial-killer image", Amarillo Globe-News , June 27, 1999.
  16. ↑ Associated Press, "Hobos complain serial killer gives them bad name", The Deseret News , June 28, 1999, p. A2.
  17. ↑ Joe Carroll, "Killer rides the rails with 'romantic' hoboes", The Irish Times , July 3, 1999.
  18. ↑ "Edwin 'Buzz' C. Potter", Obituary, Brenny Funeral Chapel, Brainerd, Minnesota, March 2003, retrieved March 15, 2016.
  19. ↑ Associated Press with Andy Field, "Riding the Rails to the Hobo Convention", ABC News, [August 13, 2000], retrieved March 16, 2016.
  20. ↑ Art Thieme, "Obit: Buzz Potter--hobo poet", Mudcat.org, March 12, 2003, retrieved March 15, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Bumming Around", Eugene Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon), June 23, 2000, Ticket, p. 4.
  22. ↑ Brad Wetzler, "Is Just Like Amerika!", Outside, November 1, 2000, retrieved March 16, 2016.
  23. ↑ Mike Glyer, "Bud Webster (1952–2016)", File 770, February 15, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.