Too wild for this life
Interview with Bunker Spreckels by C.R. Stecyk III
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How do you react to being called the most decadent person in surfing?
I suppose it's reasonably satisfying to have that sort of reputation, because it's a reputation that I alone have built for myself, without the help of advertisers or manufacturers or glassers or shapers.
Money?
Money helps.
You mean it's a noncommercial image?
Yeah.
Built firsthand through actions rather than inoculations?
Yes, I never advertise.
How did you realize you were going to inherit the money?
I wasn't in line to inherit any money in the first place. The only reason I inherited money was because of a sequence of events, the way people died in my family. Had my father lived, he very easily and very probably would've spent the money that I inherited.
When did you actually get the money?
When I turned 21, I went to the bank and I picked up my money.
In cash?
That's right.
What'd you do with it?
Spent it and made investments.
When you took the money out of the bank in cash, how did you get it out of the bank?
Armored car.
Where'd you take it?
To my secret cave.
Your secret cave, what do you use that for?
It's just a place I have that nobody knows where it is, where I keep certain objects, art treasures, things I don't want people to see. Plus, it's where I can go do things that I don't want people to know that I'm doing. It's just a secret place that I have here on the earth where I can go and be alone. I've got all my things of value hidden there, and everything is arranged very neatly. It's like, you know, the Batcave or something.
Did your life change at all when you got the money?
Yes.
How so?
I had a lot of new friends all of a sudden. That's a joke, son. Anyway…Yeah, things changed. They called me Mr. Spreckels at the bank.When I went to the bank to get some money, I didn't get any shit any more.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Page [1] [2] [3]
How do you react to being called the most decadent person in surfing?
I suppose it's reasonably satisfying to have that sort of reputation, because it's a reputation that I alone have built for myself, without the help of advertisers or manufacturers or glassers or shapers.
Money?
Money helps.
You mean it's a noncommercial image?
Yeah.
Built firsthand through actions rather than inoculations?
Yes, I never advertise.
How did you realize you were going to inherit the money?
I wasn't in line to inherit any money in the first place. The only reason I inherited money was because of a sequence of events, the way people died in my family. Had my father lived, he very easily and very probably would've spent the money that I inherited.
When did you actually get the money?
When I turned 21, I went to the bank and I picked up my money.
In cash?
That's right.
What'd you do with it?
Spent it and made investments.
When you took the money out of the bank in cash, how did you get it out of the bank?
Armored car.
Where'd you take it?
To my secret cave.
Your secret cave, what do you use that for?
It's just a place I have that nobody knows where it is, where I keep certain objects, art treasures, things I don't want people to see. Plus, it's where I can go do things that I don't want people to know that I'm doing. It's just a secret place that I have here on the earth where I can go and be alone. I've got all my things of value hidden there, and everything is arranged very neatly. It's like, you know, the Batcave or something.
Did your life change at all when you got the money?
Yes.
How so?
I had a lot of new friends all of a sudden. That's a joke, son. Anyway…Yeah, things changed. They called me Mr. Spreckels at the bank.When I went to the bank to get some money, I didn't get any shit any more.
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Bunker Spreckels: Surfing's Divine Prince of Decadence
Hardcover, 21.8 x 28.9 cm (8.6 x 11.4 in.), 216 pages
$ 39.99
$ 39.99
The hedonistic life of a peculiar playboy and surfing legend
"The Player" outside his North Shore hotel not long before his death, Oahu, Hawaii, November 1976
Bunker wielding Clark Gable's knife from the film Mogambo, London hotel, July 1975