These guys knew how to party. (Actually I dislike it when people use "party" as a verb.)

The dynamic relationship of Ken Kesey, LSD, the Hell’s Angels, and Hunter S. Thompson, would change the American cultural landscape. Somehow Kesey scored a gig taking LSD as a test subject for the government at Menlo Park Veterans Hospital. Kesey liked the acid but did not care much for the surroundings. He used his experiences taking psychoactives as inspiration for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. With the proceeds from his writing success he acquired a magical piece of land in La Honda California. At that time, Thompson was attracting attention from major publishers for his work in the Nation. He was writing a series of pieces on the Hell’s Angels. The Angels had been ripped apart by the press; they despised journalists. Thompson was able to play on his role as a fellow misfit in society to gain their acceptance. He worked to remove the stigma left by sensational headlines. When Kesey and Thompson were drinking at a bar, graced by a performance of fledgling rockers Jefferson Airplane, Kesey invited Thompson to bring the Angels to La Honda. There Kesey and his “Merry Band of Pranksters” were hosting bashes known as “acid tests”. These celebrations would later give birth to the hippie movement. The Angels arrived at La Honda on July 22, 1965; greeted by a sign reading “The Merry Pranksters Welcome The Hell’s Angels” This was the Angel’s first introduction to LSD. Thompson was no stranger to hard drugs. However, he stayed away from LSD on the advice of a trusted physician and friend who told him he was too violent for LSD’s effects. That night, after a memorable orgy, Thompson was ready and willing to dose. Surely the universe paused when Thompson’s tongue first contacted his beloved nectar. The matter-of-fact manner in which Thompson relayed his use of LSD in his writings became a trademark of his.
The illusion of a successful union between these fringe elements of society would soon crash. The Merry Pranksters and there hippie followers found themselves at odds with the Angels over their positions on communism, and the Vietnam War. The glue of drugs and rock-n-roll could not withstand the division. Angels would crash anti-war protests set up by Kesey and fellow prankster Neil Cassady. Sonny Barger, maximum leader of the Hell’s Angels, went so far as to offer the Angels service as a “crack group of trained gorillas” for service in Vietnam to President Johnson. Johnson declined the offer. Thompson could only play both sides of the issue for a finite amount of time. In September of sixty-six Thompson made a life changing mistake. At a drug fueled party he got into a fight with an Angel. Although he was in favor with the Angels Thompson was not one of them. The Angels beat Thompson with the ruthlessness he had worked to erase from the public’s opinion of them.