The Orange County Choppers Location in New York Is Just an Empty Building — What Happened?
The Orange County Choppers facility got a bit of a glow up.
Published Dec. 2 2024, 6:20 p.m. ET
In February 2024, Paul Teutul Sr. sat down with former employee Rick Petko to talk about the humble beginnings of American Chopper. The popular reality show premiered on the Discovery Channel in 2003 and it all began when someone from the network saw a photo of Paul. With his signature wrap-around sunglasses and full-sleeve tattoos on both arms, he's kind of hard to miss.
His business, Orange County Choppers, had only been around for a few years at that point. Still, people were talking.
"I think people invested a lot in that show," Paul said to Rick. He wasn't wrong there. It ended in 2010 but was picked up and bounced around in a few iterations. Then for various financial reasons, the business had to shut down but it popped back up in an entirely different state.
As a reminder, the Orange County in question was in New York, not California. If you ever forget, Paul tattooed this on one of his arms. So, what happened to the store? Here's what we know.
What happened to Orange County Choppers? They went south for the winter and stayed.
According to Slash Gear, like many businesses, Orange County Choppers was hit hard by the Great Recession when the housing bubble burst in 2008. No one was ordering custom-made motorcycles which meant Paul couldn't really afford to keep his huge 92,000 square foot building which was headquartered in Montgomery, N.Y.
The financial stress also put a strain on Paul's relationship with his son, who left to start his own business.
Soon Paul was operating out of a portion of his massive building, which he was able to lease from his mortgage company. Thankfully, Country Music Television swooped in and thus Orange County Choppers the reality show was born in 2013. Though it only aired for one season, the show made a splash by having huge guests, sometimes literally, like Shaquille O'Neal.
The original series, American Chopper, was rebooted in 2018 and allowed fans to catch up with their favorite motorcycle enthusiasts though.
Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt end to that which meant yet another pivot for Paul. This time he decided a huge change was needed, and looked to a warmer climate. He decided to relocate to Florida, where sunnier days meant more bike riding in general. So, he headed for the Sunshine State.
Orange County Choppers is much more than a manufacturing company.
Florida businessman Keith Overton is the guy responsible for planting the warm weather seed in Paul's head. After Keith chose to become an investor, Paul high-tailed it to Florida in late 2020. That's where opened up Orange County Choppers Roadhouse and Museum in St. Petersburg/Clearwater.
This place has everything. Not only is it a museum, but it's also a live music venue, restaurant, bar, event space, and design space for any bike your heart can dream of. Based on their Instagram profile alone, they are doing great.
Something is going on almost every night of the week and on the rare evenings they aren't booked, you can enjoy cornhole with some pals. It's definitely the kind of roadhouse that doesn't need Patrick Swayze to sort it out.
