Bunker Spreckels. Surfing’s Divine Prince of Decadence

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Review

“…the book channels a sort of Boogie Nights on water feel.” ― Los Angeles Times

“What happens when a famous 21-year old L.A. surfer with a taste for partying inherits a multimillion-dollar fortune? We need to look no further than Bunker Spreckles, short-lived libertine and stepson of Clark Gable.” ― Anthem Magazine

From the Publisher

Thirty years later, photographer Art Brewer and writer/photojournalist C. R. Stecyk III (of Dogtown and Z-Boys fame) have come together to make this book, which traces the meteoric rise and dramatic fall of Bunker Spreckels. Brewer was a close friend of Spreckels and his personal photographer throughout the last decade of his life, traveling with him from Hawaii to Los Angeles to South Africa. His images of Spreckels, both on the waves and on land, chronicle Spreckels’s metamorphosis from hippie surfer to international playboy, while Stecyk’s extensive taped interview of Spreckels, completed just three months before his death, provides a rare first-person perspective on his decadent life.

From the Author

Professional photographer Art Brewer is among the veteran photographers of the sport of surfing. His decades-long tenure as documentarian of the international sport and as photo editor for Surfer Magazine have garnered him numerous awards and titles. Bunker and Brewer were longtime surfing buddies when Bunker tapped the journeyman photographer to be part of his entourage to document and film “The Player.” Brewer continued his relationship with Bunker until his passing, providing the most complete photographic record of his life.

About the Author

Born and raised in Santa Monica, California, C. R. Stecyk III’s first encounter with Bunker dates back to their meeting at Malibu Point in 1962. Their friendship of more than a decade spawned Bunker’s last interview, which appears in this book. Stecyk was an instrumental figure in the Southern California skateboarding scene of the early 1970s as both practitioner and chronicler, later serving as production designer and cowriter of the documentary film Dogtown and Z-Boys. The prolific artist and writer continues to create in Venice, California.

Professional photographer Art Brewer is among the veteran photographers of the sport of surfing. His decades-long tenure as documentarian of the international sport and as photo editor for Surfer Magazine have garnered him numerous awards and titles. Bunker and Brewer were longtime surfing buddies when Bunker tapped the journeyman photographer to be part of his entourage to document and film The Player. Brewer continued his relationship with Bunker until his passing, providing the most complete photographic record of his life.

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