People of Chelsea: Daniel Hamilton

By Darlene DeVita

(The following is one in a series of sneak peeks at the upcoming People of Chelsea additions by Photographer Darlene DeVita. The new work will ultimately appear on the fence of the Chelsea Public Library (CPL) this fall in a collaboration between the People of Chelsea project and the CPL.)

I met Daniel Hamilton, AKA Danny The Bicycle Guy, through Margaret Hernandez, who we photographed last year in Admirals Hill. He’s a huge part of her and her son’s life and one reason she won’t leave Chelsea! 

I was born in Everett in 1952. Before living in Chelsea, I lived in Peabody. There was a church there, and I gave my heart to Jesus, I was born-again. We were outreaching to people then, and I ended up living in South Boston and got involved with a church.   Then the landlord says I have to move. I’m praying to God and reading the bible where it talks about Peter. He lives on the seaside and he’s going to tell you what you should do. At that very moment, the door knocks, and I go to open it, and there’s a guy named Peter. He tells me what we should do. There’s an apartment available in Chelsea.  Two other people were going to come, but they had a car accident and couldn’t make it.

The landlady says you can rent it at-will. It was $465/month, on Library St. We lived there for about 20 yrs, until she sold the building, then we’re praying to God to get another place. We’re out of the loop, we don’t speak Spanish, but we wanted to stay in Chelsea. Then Bob went out to shoot baskets, and he felt God saying to come down the street to a house…we called a landlord blind. He owns the building, and he said he’d cut down the rent for us. He’s been very gracious to us. 

I made a commitment to Christ, I’m going to serve You full-time. I could have married a girl, but I felt God calling me and after that kind of call I couldn’t have married.  That was a sacrifice, believe me. I think I have a heart for the kids because of that. I’m the biggest kid here! Just ask the kids across the street. The people who live here, it’s always WE. God put in my heart a love for people. I want to help people. I pray everyday, ‘God bring people that I can help and make a difference in their lives’.

I’m not going to ask for any money, which I don’t. You can ask anyone here; you’ll never find anybody to who I’ve asked money for labor [for the bikes]. I get the [bicycle] parts at the lowest prices.  People ask me how it started with the bicycles.  A kid asked me to fix his bicycle, and he told someone else, and he told someone else, and they told you! That’s how it works. There’s a lot to learn. I used to make house calls. I cut that out, God has me here.

All the kids are different. Some kids are problematic. I try to teach them they can be rowdy but can’t be mean. But some kids are a project. They’re all different; they’re like plants. It’s a great neighborhood.