Female bikers banned from selling cupcakes at shooting range

The Pacific Rod and Gun Club at Lake Merced in San Francisco.

The Pacific Rod and Gun Club at Lake Merced in San Francisco. Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Female bikers banned from selling cupcakes at shooting range 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

The Devil Dolls Motorcycle Club had planned to sell gourmet cupcakes to raise money for charity Sunday while celebrating their group's 15th anniversary.

But instead, they were at the Pacific Rod and Gun Club picketing.

The female bikers had reserved space at the shooting range back in December, but a week before Sunday's event, they got a cancellation notice but little explanation as to why.

Apparently, they weren't the right kind of clientele to rent space at a rod and gun club, or at least one that sits on city land.

The bikers were told the city, which leases the Lake Merced site to the gun club, wouldn't allow motorcycle clubs to use the club.

The manager "was apologetic," said Theresa Foglio, president of the Devil Dolls. "He was pressured by the city and county. They just freaked him out."

Calls to the gun club were not returned Sunday.

So the women set aside the cupcakes and sat outside the gun club with signs and a few dozen fellow bikers, protesting what they called unfair treatment and stereotyping.

"Motorcycle clubs are not street gangs," Foglio said. "The bigger issue is profiling."

The Devil Dolls describe themselves as an "outlaw motorcycle club."

Yet the members are business owners, veterans, single moms and women from "all walks of life," Foglio said.

"We're a female motorcycle club devoted to sisterhood and the ride," she said.

And raising money for charity is part of what they do.

A spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission said no information on the cancellation was available Sunday.

The Devil Dolls feel they were given a bad rap.

"Everyone thinks we're ... the Sons of Anarchy," Foglio said.

With members coming from across the state and country, the Devil Dolls organizers had to scramble to find a new site. Another local motorcycle club volunteered its clubhouse to host the event - after the morning picketing party, which was monitored by police.

"I don't know what they thought we were going to do," Foglio said. "They want to discriminate against cupcakes?"