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From AM Costa Rica this morning.
Harley Davidson fan Bo Hanson operated restaurant here
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Long time resident Fred “Bo†Hanson, known to the expat community in San José both for his love of Harley Davidsons and for frequenting the restaurant/bar in the Hotel Castillo, died last week in a motorcycle accident.
He was 56 and lived in San José with his wife, Alejandra Ximenez Pervas.
He is also survived by Ch*ldren from a previous marriage to Linda Hanson: his son Fred, 28, and daughters, Genesis, 32, Tiffany, 24, and Courtney and Abigail, both 8.
According to family members, Hanson was driving his motorcycle at 1:30 p.m. in front of the Mall San Pedro when a car stopped abruptly in front of him, in response to a traffic light. Hanson's vehicle struck the back of the car and he was thrown into the next lane, breaking his arm and a leg. He was killed when another car ran over him.
Hanson was born on Nov. 22, 1952, in Orlando, Florida, a state where he lived for most of his life. He worked in real estate, construction and sales, and was involved in building high-end condo residences such as the World Golf Village in St. Augustine.
He became a frequent visitor to Costa Rica in 2000, originally coming down on real estate-related business. While he never gained residency status, he settled in Costa Rica more or less permanently by 2005, traveling to San Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras by motorcycle when his three-month tourist visa expired. He married Ms. Pervas in 2007.
“He was just a happy guy who never had a bad attitude,†said his son, Fred Hanson. “If he was angry or upset, you'd never know. On Feb. 1 Hanson became a partner at a The Garden, a restaurant-bar located in the Hotel Castillo on Avenida 9 between calles 9 and 11 and owned by his mother-in-law's husband, Tom Burnam. He struggled trying to turn the restaurant into a success.
“He was working real hard to get the bar going,†said Bob Steinhardt, a retiree who also knew Hanson from the bar scene. “He tried to create a membership program that customers could buy into. He was trying to get slot machines and gambling in here too, but that never worked out.â€
Even after the restaurant closed in August, due to what Burnam described as financial problems caused by a weakened U.S. economy, Hanson remained a familiar face at the bar.
“He was a big talker,†said Charlie Johnson, a frequent patron at the bar, called Las Palmas.
Burnam said that Hanson would frequently give away free meals from the restaurant's buffet table. For months, he fed a Colombian whose son had broken a leg in a car accident, and would sometimes invite prostitutes and down-and-out characters that he'd meet on the streets.
“Right before he died, a beggar on the street asked him for money to buy glasses, and, of course, he gave it to him,†said Hanson's wife. “Every time he saw that beggar again he kept asking him where the glasses were.â€
A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Hanson's family home in Tibás, which is located 100 meters north and 100 meters east from the ice cream store Pops.
A service will then be held at the Iglesia Don Bosco.
_________________  Pura Vida Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat. Alex Levine 
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There are literally hundreds of motorcycles on the streets of San Jose everyday.
