Bunker Spreckels: Surfing&#;s Divine Prince of Decadence
C.R. Stecyk III
By Jesse Kornbluth
Published: Jan 01,
Category: Biography
When it comes to books as gifts, I vote for anything about surfing.
For one thing, it&#;s a perverse choice. You can be pretty much assured that the recipient has no interest in it &#; and forcing a friend or loved one to expand his/her interests is always a good thing.
For another, the photography is thrilling, bringing sports and nature and the nearly-naked body together as no other activity can.
And then there&#;s the freak factor &#; the kinds of surfers who find their way into books are so far beyond anyone you&#;ll run into the mall or the office that it&#;s refreshing just to know they&#;re Out There.
For years, I&#;ve been giving Dora Lives, a loving portrait of a surfing sociopath with fantasies of personal perfection. For sheer bravado, I thought it couldn&#;t be topped. But now its co-author has produced an oversized book &#; with pictures by the legendary surfing photographer Art Brewer &#; about a guy who was even more convinced he was the greatest show on earth.
Burton Spreckels was not destined for surfing. He was th
The Tale of Bunker Spreckels
Bunker Spreckels: Surfing&#;s Divine Prince of Decadence
The tale of Bunker Spreckels (–) reads like a pitch for a movie to rival Boogie Nights: the stepson of Clark Gable is a privileged Los Angeles party boy who is heir to a multimillion–dollar fortune; passionate about surfing, martial arts, guns, and women, he lives the life of a debauched international jet-setter before succumbing to his excesses at the tender age of
Born Adolph B. Spreckels III, heir to the Spreckels Sugar fortune, Bunker became a famous surfer as a teenager, but after his inheritance came along, he began to slip into a life of pomp and excess where surfing took a back–seat to drugs, sex, and wild road trips. So remarkable was his lifestyle that he created an alter ego who invited photographers and documentarists to trail him, piecing together a tell-all epic of his own rise to fame and fortune. Before the project, known as “The Player,” could be completed, Spreckels suddenly died of “natural causes.”
Thirty years later, photographer Art Brewer and writer/photojournalist C. R. Stecyk III have come together to make this book, which traces the meteoric rise an
The tale of Bunker Spreckels (–) reads like a pitch for a movie to rival Boogie Nights: the stepson of Clark Gable is a privileged Los Angeles party boy who is heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, passionate about surfing, martial arts, guns, and women, he lives the life of a debauched international jet-setter before succumbing to his excesses at the tender age of
Born Adolph B. Spreckels III, heir to the Spreckels Sugar fortune, Bunker became a famous surfer as a teenager.
But after his inheritance came along, he began to slip into a life of pomp and excess where surfing took a back–seat to drugs, sex, and wild road trips.
So remarkable was his lifestyle that he created an alter ego who invited photographers and documentarists to trail him, piecing together a tell-all epic of his own rise to fame and fortune. Before the project, known as "The Player," could be completed, Spreckels suddenly died of "natural causes."
Thirty years later, photographer Art Brewer and writer/photojournalist C. R. Stecyk III have come together to make this book, which traces the meteoric rise and dramatic fall of Bunker Spreckels.
Widely considered one of the world's most gifted surfing photog
Tony Alva
Image: William Sharp
Bunker Speckels and friend with Tony Alva
Image: Art Brewer
“I lived with Bunker Spreckels the last couple years of his life. I lived with him in Hollywood and in Hawaii. He had a townhouse there in Turtle Bay and it was actually the last place I saw him before he passed away. You see, Bunker and guys like Torger Johnson really taught me about attitude. Winning. Seeing the way they were helped shape my thinking. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know if I would’ve won the World Championships. I mean, I had to beat older skaters who had been competing for years already. I had to beat Torger himself. I had to beat Bruce Logan, Stacy Peralta… I had to go in there ready to be the best. It was the only mindset I could have. It was me against the world. Bunker taught me that. That’s why it was so hard to get that phone call. I had left Hawaii and when I went to go to the airport, Bunker was looking tore up. I knew he was using hard drugs but I hoped he’d get it together. He gave me a hug and a look like, “Don’t worry about me.” He said, “I’ll see you in LA.” That was the last time I saw him. I was staying at my dads place when I got back to Californ
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