How four broke BMXers accidentally turned into a highly influential bike scene

In 1989, at the main bicycle trade show early in the year, a mantra was being said over and over, "BMX is, mountain bikes are the future."  Yes, the mountain bike industry took off.  But BMX racing and BMX freestyle weren't dead, they just had most of the bike industry money siphoned off and put into mountain bikes. Dozens of pro riders in both racing and freestyle suddenly lost sponsors and their income.  But us hardcore riders kept riding. 

Four pro BMX racers rented a two bedroom apartment in Huntington Beach, California, shared bedrooms, and cut living expenses to a bare minimum in order to keep riding and racing.  Those guys, Chris Moeller, Dave Clymer, John Paul Rogers and (I think) Alan Foster, discovered a way to live cheap and keep riding every day as the U.S. slid into one of the longest recessions ever. 

Before long, other riders liked the "BMX House" idea, and those four and a few others rented a four bedroom, two bathroom house on Iroquois street in Westminster, California.  Westminster is the city just inland of Huntington Beach, and is quite a bit cheaper to live in.  For the next four or five years, a series of BMX riders and industry people lived cheap in that house.  The riders named themselves the Pros Of Westminster or P.O.W.'s for short.  They meant no disrespect to the true military P.O.W.'s, but the name fit and it stuck.  In those few short years, the P.O.W. House scene changed BMX riding forever.  The scruffy bunch of guys became known as some of the best dirt jumpers in the world, and some top racers as well as street riders.   I know, I was one of the guys who lived in that house. 

But before I needed a cheap place to live, I was the first video producer to shoot video of the P.O.W. House and riders in their backyard in 1990.  That is the clip above, from my 1990 self-produced video, The Ultimate Weekend.   None of us had any idea just how big of an influence that crazy house would have in the bike world.  We just wanted to live cheap, ride a lot, and try to pick up women. 

The other day I scoured the You Tube for clips of the guys who lived in that house, and here's the blog post that led to.  Even I was amazed by how much stuff I found.  And even though I've written well over 1500 blog posts about those early BMX days, this post is my most popular ever, getting over 800 page views in less than 48 hours.

This blog is about building, nurturing, and growing creative scenes, and the P.O.W. House legacy is a prime example of how a few people pushing each other to progress can turn into much more in later years.