Stone Greasers
kids quit public schools and moved to private,
making all the public schools here equally poor,
wiped out the social. Leather jackets, long hair, and
rebellion were overtaken by gangs of mostly
African Americans, and the white kids seemed to
not hang out in groups anymore. Now it's CRIPS,
and bloods, Preppies, and Goths, Jocs, and Dweebs.
None of which would dare to cross into another
group.
..Gone are the days of loyalty
The term "Stone Greasers" was borrowed from the
Greaser gangs from Chicago who use to called
themselves "Stone Greasers" because they could
trace their legacy back to the gangs from the 50s.
We felt that was a good term used to describe
Greasers from all others who live the Greaser
lifestyle. This website was put together to honor all
Greasers, from the originals from the 50s to the next
generation Boppers of today, and for everyone who
enjoys the lifestyle - we honor you!
Stone Greasers
Tulsa Greasers
Two Will Roger's Greasers Speak out
Galvin, a Tulsa greaser, had this to say: I was/
am/will always be a greaser. My sister and Susan
were friends, she and Ms. Parker who is still a
teacher at Rogers all hung out at the roller skate
ring, the Rose Bowl, and the Admiral twin drive in
together. We were the guys at Will Rogers who had
cars, smoked, and in my case had a leather jacket.
Started back in 1947, and lasted until 1980. At that
time the schools ended driving to school, smoking
required you to be over 18, and with busing, the rich
Gone are the days where you might not know a kid,
but if he was like you both of you had the others
back. Pony-boy, soda-pop, and the others have all
grown-up, and moved on. Tex married Cherry his
sweetheart from Edison (the rich kid school), and
went on to be of all things a cop. Pony-boy died in
1968 in Vietnam, and soda-pop has his own Cycle
shop just down the street from Rogers. They are
grandpas and grandmas now. Susan still works with
kids who want to be writers, and is still seen
hanging out by the park, but the fountain is gone
now, like everything change is forever, and the
moments in time we share, are best left to the
writers to document.
Patrica, a Will Rogers greaser, had this to say: If
you lived north of Admiral you were a "greaser".
South of admiral you were a soc! I graduated in
1972. I lived south of Pine Street and we were
definitely a mixed crowd. The people living down
the street from me were "Soc's) at Rogers i.e.
cheerleaders, etc. Myself I was a Roper Doper in
the junior and senior year. We used to go to a drive
in at 18 and Sheridan to open up a big can of whoop
a*s on the Soc's at Hale....We partied at the boat
house at Mohawk park and got drunk every Friday
night at the "library" restaurant on 11th street. I
have not been back to Tulsa for years now so I am
sure things have changed but I am still a "greaser"
at heart. They can take those snotty "antisocial"
(Soc's) and keep them on the south side. But Rogers
had PLENTY of "Soc's" believe me. My parents
live near the Dairy Queen and middle school where
the Outsiders was filmed in Owasso.
Bill 1970 Graduate: I graduated in 1970 from
Rogers. There were Greasers, Socs, Hippies and of
course the Jocks! The smoke hole was the place to
go, if you were a sophomore they would make you
climb the pole and I believe it was greased or you
would get thrown out of the window in Art Class
(faced East) into a sticker bush! They had just
started segretion of schools. I went to school with
Susan Hinton’s sister Beverly. Went to Burbank and
Bell Junior High. Those were great years. The
smoke for Greasers at Bell Junior High was at
Sheridan Village underneath the ramp going to the
second level.
Stone Greaser Defined
and nineties. Cities like Detroit lost their Greaser
neighborhoods in the late 1960s when the Whites
moved out to the suburbs dispersing the Greaser
subculture into communities where there wasn't a
Greaser presence. "White Flight" did more damage
to the Grease Culture than a change in style.
Greasers still started car clubs, cruise nights, and
sponsored fifties dances, but the big presence of
Greasers in communities aimed at the Greaser
lifestyle changed from leather to vinyl, and blended
into the suburban countryside.
A Greaser from the 1960s/70s had this to say about
"Stone Grease":
"The term 'Stone Greaser' didn't originate with any
one club, or even in a club at all, and was never
used to identify someone exclusively as a club
member.
Seventies and Eighties Greasers
Back in the sixties and seventies, 'stone' was a
common ghettoism meaning 'extremely', or
'absolutely', something on those lines. 'Stone to the
bone' was the common full version of the saying.
To say 'Stone Greaser', or the more common 'Stone
Grease', simply meant that you were a hardcore
Greaser."
Woodside Chiefs: Expressions Doo Wop
Stone Greaser Grapevine
In the late 1940's through the early 1960's, the
majority of Greaser gangs and clubs tended to be
made up of Italian, Irish and youth of European
decent. After the Immigration and Nationality
Act amendments of 1965, immigration from
European countries was greatly limited while
immigration from third world countries increased.
Demographics of inner city working class
neighborhoods changed dramatically during the
sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties. At the same
time poverty stricken families from the coal mining
region - Appalachia - began to move north seeking
a better life; therefore, in cities like New York,
Chicago and Detroit Greaser gangs began to recruit
more Appalachians as well as Polish, Russian and
American Indian youth. In the late seventies
through the nineties, it wasn't uncommon to find
entire gangs or sections made up of American
Indian and Appalachian greasers buried in pockets
of the large cities.
In the 1970s, Chicago had an
organization/underground newspaper called "Rising
Up Angry" which would feature Gangs and
Greasers in their "Stone Greaser Grapevine"
section.
The "Stone Greaser Grapevine" would feature a
greaser gang in every issue. The "Stone Greaser
Grapevine" was aimed at the Greaser subculture and
would have a cartoon in the back usually involving
a conflict between the Police and some Greasers.
The organization "Rising Up Angry" tried to help
out the gangs and form peace treaties between
warring gangs.
In the cities where the Greaser subculture survived
past the 1970s were in places like Chicago, New
York, and Tulsa where you had poor to workingclass White neighborhoods which did not
experience "ethnic cleansing" until into the eighties
Greaser Demographics
Suburban Greasers
When I moved to the suburbs and showed up to
high school in my baggies and suede’s... well let’s
put it this way. I stood out a bit.
We moved to the suburbs in 1974.My brother and I
were Chicago Stone Greasers. We went to sign
ourselves up for high school in Arlington Heights.
We walked in through one of the smoking areas
with greased hair wearing baggies, points and
suede’s and leather jackets, through a crowd of
jocks and hippies. We stood out a little. When were
in the office filling out papers, outside the glass we
saw a bunch of suburban greasers clowning around
trying to get our attention. We met about a dozen or
2 guys who hung at some park. No one wore
baggies; some had real leather jackets some plastic.
What a bunch of clowns. Out of 2 dozen, maybe 3
or 4 were OK guys and one of them died young.
Vietnam Veteran Greasers
White Flight" or "White Fright"?
Detroit Greaser/Veteran said this: I was home on
leave during the '67 riots. My family lived on
Belvidere between Charlevoix and Vernor. The
neighborhood went right down the tubes after that. I
was overseas for most of '68, came home and
started witnessing the flight. Tried to talk parents
into moving then, but they and older Brother
wouldn't budge. Came home in Aug '70 after 2nd
tour things had only gotten worst. By the time they
finally moved out in '72 they were the only white
family in a 20 block radius. Call it what you like,
but their flight was inevitable. They rented the
house out at first and then eventually sold it for next
to nothing, just to be free of the taxes. This
happened all over the city, people watched their
neighborhoods deteriorate, watched long time
friends move away, and watched their property,
their life's work, valued to almost nothing.
This is what us so called "baby killers" came home
to - this plight and the spitters and jeering protesters
at every airport. This is why the gang ranks
expanded, and the streets got worse. These men, not
boys, had no alternative and just didn't give a dam
anymore. They struck back at society, the only way
they had, for being convicted of the crime of
serving their country. Myself, I was able to avoid
this fate and got the family to move to suburbs.
Many other Caucasian vets didn't. I can only
imagine what it was like, the frustration and strife,
for the minority vets stuck in the inner city with
nowhere to go, but stay and fight a different war.
Hope that clarifies what I said about turning point.
Royal Javelins New York