Violence Warning Cancels Bike Show : Motorcycles: Police intelligence report cites danger of clash between rival clubs at Convention Center. Event is rescheduled in Malibu.

A motorcycle trade show scheduled for later this month at the Los Angeles Convention Center has been canceled because of police warnings that it could lead to violence similar to a brawl involving two biker clubs at last year’s event, The Times has learned.

Citing last year’s trouble at a show in Long Beach, which left a member of the Hells Angels dead, Convention Center officials confirmed Tuesday that they have canceled the “$25,000 Invitational Bike Show” that had been planned for Feb. 23-25.

Officials said the decision was based on a Los Angeles police intelligence report warning that the public might be in danger if the bikers were allowed to meet at the facility.

“This is a situation where a clear and present danger was felt to be created if that show were held,” said Dick Walsh, convention center general manager. “ . . . That was the feeling of the Police Department.”

The show is sponsored by the owners of Easyriders, a magazine devoted to customized American bikes and hard-core bikers. The sponsors protested the cancellation, but said they have been able to reschedule the show for the same weekend in Malibu.

Walsh said the decision to cancel was made about a month ago after extensive meetings with police and the show promoters. The Los Angeles city attorney’s office said that, as a matter of policy, it normally does not announce such cancellations.

Police would not comment on the intelligence report.

But Assistant City Atty. Pete Echeverria said investigators had “very reliable intelligence information that there would be significant violence if the event were to take place.”

Echeverria said police were concerned about a repeat of what happened at the Feb. 10, 1989, show at the Queen Mary, when one biker was killed and several others were injured after a brawl broke out in the parking lot.

“I don’t know if that was the genesis, or continuation, of animosity between (two) motorcycle clubs,” Echeverria said. “The Police Department expressed concern that there would be retaliation that would occur because those same clubs would be in attendance. I don’t know the nature of the threats that LAPD has.”

In the Queen Mary incident, Long Beach police said a fight broke out between members of the Hells Angels and another, unidentified club. The fighting was so intense that police in riot gear were called in to restore order.

Hells Angel Aristeo Andres Carbajal, 38, of Fontana, was stabbed to death and several other people were knifed in the scuffle, Long Beach police said. No suspects have been arrested in the slaying.

Echeverria said there also were concerns for the safety of people attending three other trade shows to be held simultaneously at the huge downtown Los Angeles exhibition center.

“The Convention Center exercised the right under the agreement that gives (it) the right to terminate the license agreement and refund all the monies to the promoter,” he said. “And that has been done.”

Joe Teresi, publisher of the Agoura Hills-based Easyriders magazine, said the trade show will be held under a large tent Feb. 24 and 25 at the Calamigos Ranch in Malibu.

Teresi said he was considering legal action against the city for breaking the contract.

“We don’t feel there is a good basis for cancellation,” he said. “At this point they seem to have us over the barrel. With the time restraints, with people bringing their motorcycles from all over the country, we don’t want to disappoint them. We just decided to put litigation aside for now and make sure the show goes on.”

Teresi said that 8,000 to 10,000 people are expected to attend the show, which features merchants selling everything from motorcycles to helmets, jackets and other accessories. He said $25,000 in prizes will be awarded.

Teresi blamed last year’s violence on the failure of the Walt Disney Co., operators of the Queen Mary, to provide adequate security.

“They didn’t put in the security we wanted them to,” he said. “The things that we were told would be made available to us--mainly armed security, we had asked for off-duty police--were not made available to us.”

Teresi said he later learned that Disney had a policy against the use of off-duty police at its facilities.

“We don’t know if it was a lover’s quarrel or what” that led to the stabbing, he said. “The bottom line is that there have been many events that the same people have attended over the past year and there have been no problems.”

Rich Kerlin, publicity manager for the Queen Mary complex, confirmed that Disney did have a policy against having armed security guards on its sites.

He called the stabbing “an isolated incident.”