( CNN ) -- America loves its outlaws , but few of us actually dare to live the lifestyle . Veteran LIFE photographer Bill Ray got about as close as anyone , riding along with a notorious biker gang . In 1965 , the Hells Angels were little known outside the American West . Ray spent several weeks in Southern California , photographing and traveling with the San Bernardino chapter of a gang that would soon become notorious for its hedonistic , lawless swagger . See more of Bill Ray 's Hells Angels photos at LIFE.com . The Hells Angels are now a worldwide phenomenon -- incorporated , licensed and branded . But the gang Ray traveled with , two years before the Summer of Love and four years before the deadly violence at a Rolling Stones concert at Altamont speedway made them infamous , truly lived on the fringes of society . In a culture where the Beach Boys and the Beatles fought a squeaky-clean battle for the hearts and minds of America , the Hells Angels were , in the words of Hunter S. Thompson , a `` burst of dirty thunder '' that shocked folks wherever they went . It was a time when the roar of stripped-down Harleys and the sight of long-haired bikers on the freeway -- or riding into a sleepy town -- was still new , alien , and for the average law-abiding citizen , more than a little frightening . Forty-five years after the story and photos were rejected by a LIFE managing editor , they still have some of that shock value , a reminder that outlaws still have a secret sweet spot in the American psyche .
The photographer Don Ray rode along with the Hells Angels in Chicago . The story and photos were written by a LIFE magazine editor . Now they 're being published .