The National Hobo Association is an organization for enthusiasts of the
hobo
A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works.
E ...
lifestyle, founded in Los Angeles as part of a "hobo revival" in the US in the late 1970s and during the
Reagan administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over D ...
. It was last headquartered in
Nisswa, Minnesota
Nisswa ( ) is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,971 at the 2010 census. Nisswa is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area, near Gull Lake.
History
Smiley Township was founded in 1900, bu ...
.
The National Hobo Association was founded in 1977 by actor
Bobb Hopkins
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.
Early life and education
Hopkins was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, and attended Swampscott H ...
and others in Los Angeles who were interested in the hobo lifestyle as a hobby,
[Nikki Finke]
"The Yuppie Hobos: When Trekking in Nepal Gets Old, They Hear the Call of the Rails"
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', December 17, 1987.[Lily Eng, ]Scripps Howard News Service
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
"Boxcars as well as BMWs: Yuppies discover hobo chic"
''The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' (Nashua, New Hampshire), January 13, 1988, p. 12.[Kathleen Parker, '']Orlando Sentinel
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company.
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...
''
"Muffy And Biff Ride The Rails"
''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'', January 8, 1988. and was part of a romantic interest in hoboes during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.
[Todd DePastino, ''Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America'', Chicago / London: University of Chicago, 2003, , pp. 262–63.] The group had approximately 2,000 members nationwide in 1987, approximately 3,000 in 1990, 3,800 in 1991, when 100 people attended its annual regional convention in San Francisco,
[Elisabeth Dunham, ]Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
"Tales of the Rails"
''The Telegraph'' (Nashua), October 16, 1991, p. 21. and 4,500 in 1992.
[Jeff Wilson, Associated Press]
"Hobos mourn Miller, 'King of the Road'"
''Ocala Star-Banner
Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida.
Home to ...
'', October 27, 1992, p. 2A. One recreational hobo attended NHA gatherings by corporate jet. In 1992 it endorsed
Ross Perot
Henry Ross Perot (; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an inde ...
's
candidacy for President of the US.
[DePastino, p. 264.]
From November 1987 until 2000 the NHA published the ''Hobo Times'', which appeared bimonthly and was also read by full-time hoboes;
[ 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".][ Hopkins was the first editor;][ it was later edited by Garth Bishop.][
By 1999, ]yuppie
Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...
s 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.[ Edwin C. "Buzz" Potter, who had helped found ''The Hobo Times'', was then its editor and president of the National Hobo Association, which under his leadership organized a Hobo Festival in ]Elko, Nevada
Elko (Shoshoni: Natakkoa, "Rocks Piled on One Another") is the largest city in and county seat of Elko County, Nevada, United States. With a 2020 population of 20,564, Elko is currently growing at a rate of 0.31% annually and its population has i ...
in 2000. Bud Webster
Clarence Howard "Bud" Webster (July 27, 1952 – February 13, 2016) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer who is also known for his essays on both the history of science fiction and sf/fantasy anthologies as well. He is perhaps bes ...
's "The Ballad of Kansas McGriff" won the poetry contest; he read it to an audience of 5,000 attendees.[Mike Glyer]
"Bud Webster (1952–2016)"
''File 770'', February 15, 2016. The last known headquarters for the organization was Nisswa, Minnesota.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
National Hobo Associationarchived
at the Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
, October 13, 1999.
Hoboes
Clubs and societies in the United States
1977 establishments in California