![]() Of the term ‘sugar daddy’, a moniker given to him by his wife Alma de Bretteville, a woman 24 years his junior (AlmaĪlso had a number of monikers bequeathed to her, notably “Big Alma” on account of her 6” 1’ frame, and “The Great Surprise given the wealth and standing of the man, not to mention the levels of investment the Spreckels family had Spreckels pleaded temporary insanity to the charge of attempted murder and was acquitted, which is perhaps no Shareholders by the San Francisco Chronicle, Adolph II tracked down the newspaper’s co-founder Michael H. In 1884, furious after the Spreckels Sugar Company was accused of defrauding its The siblings, all of whom were already millionaires, sued andĬountersued one another for a bigger slice of their father’s pie. WhenĬlaus died in 1908, the business was passed onto his second son, Adolph II, and from that moment on the familyĭescends into a litigation mess that makes Dynasty look like Little House on the Spreckels was the consummate immigrant success story and the poster boy for a generation of Americans for whomīusiness opportunities and hard graft would be viewed as birthrights. From the man with one thaler in his pocket to one of the wealthiest men on the planet, In turn, Spreckels would become de facto money lender to King Kalākaua, in return for favourable landĭeals and water rights. By the end of the 19th century, Spreckelsville had grown into the largest sugarcane plantation His standing was such in Hawaii that in 1878 Spreckels founded Spreckelsville, aĬompany town along the northern shore of Maui, the home of Peahi, also known as ‘Jaws’, one of the world’s mostįearsome big waves. Investments in beet plantations, Spreckels was able to make a killing. Railroad investment followed, and with a slew of clever Wealthy, able to corner the Hawaiian sugar refining trade. It wasn’t until the mid-1860s, when Spreckels got into the sugar refining business, that he quickly became extremely Moved to South Carolina to open a grocery business before upping sticks back to New York and then finally to SouthĬalifornia, where the ever industrious and entrepreneurial Spreckels started a brewery. Those days, had thirteen children, only five of whom were fortunate enough to make it into adulthood. York shortly after arriving (she had moved there three years previous) and, given there was little else to do in He married his childhood sweetheart in New Thaler in his pocket (‘thaler’ is where the name ‘dollar’ originates). The story of Bunker really starts with his Claus, his great-grandfather, who in 1846īid farewell to his home in Hanover, Germany and moved to the United States, carrying, reputedly, just one German While his adulthood, fleeting as it was, played out in a palimpsest of drugs, sex, surfing, and martial arts.īunker’s life was Exhibit A in the crime against conservatism, part cautionary tale about the dangers of flagrantĮxcess, but also part inspiration to relentlessly pursue emancipation from mundanity. ![]() The great-grandson of the German-born sugar baron, railway tycoonĪnd publisher, Adolph Claus Spreckels, Bunker’s childhood was one punctuated by family feuds and Hollywood glamour, Orated through a megaphone dialled to full volume. Spreckels III? Born in 1949, and affectionately known as ‘Bunker’, his was a story of decadence As far as history’s hellraisers go, Adolph Bernard Spreckels III is not a name that
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |