by STEVEN MAYER from https://www.bakersfield.com Who opens a retail business at age 19? Patrick J. Ryan — his friends called him “Pat” — not only founded Bakersfield Motorcycle Supply at 2800 Chester Ave. in 1975, he later opened Ryan Kawasaki on Pierce Road where his passion for life and his full-throttle philosophy drew customers in droves. Ryan, who later in life focused on real estate and spent 20 years restoring the Kern Island Building on H Street, died Wednesday. He was 63. “Pat set the bar for me in retail,” said Kerry Ryan, Pat’s younger brother who owns Action Sports in Bakersfield. “He had no fear, and he taught me to be fearless,” recalled the younger Ryan. “I don’t think I would have risked going into retail if Pat hadn’t done it first. I thought, ‘If Pat can do it, I can do it, too.’” Born June 9, 1956, the oldest of six siblings, Pat Ryan fell in love with motorcycles at an early age, inspired by such ’60s movies as “Easy Rider” and “Bullitt,” which starred motorsports enthusiast Steve McQueen, “the king of cool,” said one of Pat Ryan’s two sons, Scott Ryan. With money he earned as a paperboy delivering The Californian, Pat Ryan bought his first dirt bike. At the not-so-tender age of 14, Pat entered his first desert motorcycle race, the Vegas 120. “Steve McQueen would also be in attendance that year,” said Scott Ryan. “At that time, Pat was the youngest entrant in the history of the race.” He was just 15 when he got a job sweeping floors and doing other work at Davey’s Motorcycle on Chester Avenue. Pat worked his way into counter sales, ordering custom parts and assisting customers with service needs. The budding businessman continued customizing bikes and racing through high
