Grant Hatfield

Suburban Youth Pop Quiz #10 — Deadbeat Club photographer Grant Hatfield remembers spiked hair, Osiris D3s and lots of tongue from his Californian suburban youth.

To celebrate Huck 45, curated by artist, skateboarder and chronicler of teenage California Ed Templeton, we are having a Huck website summer takeover dedicated to Ed’s longtime muse, suburbia.

In this regular series, the Suburban Youth Pop Quiz, we ask characters from our world what their suburban youth meant to them.

Number ten is photographer and Deadbeat Club member Grant Hatfield, who captures surreal and often comical moments of Southern California life.

Where did you grow up and can you describe it in three words?
Temecula, California. Conservative, urban sprawl, lifted trucks.

Who was your weirdest neighbour?
The opossums, coyotes and turkey vultures.

What was the most important record you owned?
Neil Young’s Harvest. It was my dad’s and he always had it playing at home or in the car. I still listen to it today.

Where did the bad kids hang out?
At the skatepark where I met most of my friends.

Biggest fashion faux pas as a teenager?
Spiked hair and Osiris D3s.

Who was your first celebrity crush?
I thought Gwen Stefani from No Doubt was pretty hot. I think she still holds up by today’s standards.

Describe your first kiss.
Her: BMW, Victoria Secret perfume, lots of tongue.
Me: Backwards hat, passenger seat, zits.

What happened the first time you got drunk?
I drank a bunch of champagne at a friend’s graduation party. I started spinning super hard so I went and laid down in a bedroom. Then my friend came in with his girlfriend and boned in the bed next to me thinking I was passed out.

What is the naughtiest thing you did as a suburban youth?
I liked throwing stuff at cars and duct taping across streets. Nothing too major.

What was the best party of your teenage years?
Some rich kid had a party when his parents were gone and a huge fight broke out. Someone knocked one of those heat lamps over through his glass sliding door, someone Chris Farley’d through a coffee table, girls were fighting. I wish I had a camera then.

What’s your most embarrassing suburban youth memory?
I was at roller hockey tournament and I went to take a piss at the sports park bathroom. I went into a stall with an overflowing shit toilet and peed into it. While I was peeing my rollerblades slipped on the wet floor and I fell arm first into the shit water. My parents weren’t there at the time so I had to sit there covered in shit and trying not to cry for like 30 mins.

What was the greatest lesson you learnt during that time?
I know now what I knew then but I didn’t know then what I know now.

Who would you most like to see at a reunion?
The class clowns and the nerds.

What was your first car?
A 1998 red Chevy Tahoe.

What was your food of choice?
I really liked teppanyaki style Japanese food, kinda like Benihanas. We would always to go this one called Fujiyama at a strip mall next to a Weight Watchers.

What was the biggest fight you ever had with your parents?
Maybe that one time I went out night skating with some friends and lit up a spot and didn’t come home until 3am. I guess my parents were trying to call me and I didn’t have my phone on me. They ended up calling the police and fire station looking for me. They were bummed for sure.

What book/film changed your teenage life?
On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I never really read the books they gave us for assigned reading in high school, I just kinda skimmed through them. This was one of the only books I read on my own during that time and I really connected with it.

What posters did you have on your bedroom wall?
Clippings from skate magazines, Nirvana, American flag.

Any hobbies you didn’t give up?
I still play guitar, skateboard, surf, bite my nails and pick my nose.

What smell reminds you most of your suburban youth?
Teen spirit.

See other interviews in the Suburban Pop Youth Quiz series and buy the Ed Templeton issue at our online store.


Ad

Latest on Huck

Red shop frontage with "Open Out" branding and appointment-only signage.
Activism

Meet the trans-led hairdressers providing London with gender-affirming trims

Open Out — Since being founded in 2011, the Hoxton salon has become a crucial space the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Hannah Bentley caught up with co-founder Greygory Vass to hear about its growth, breaking down barbering binaries, and the recent Supreme Court ruling.

Written by: Hannah Bentley

Cyclists racing past Palestinian flag, yellow barriers, and spectators.
Sport

Gazan amputees secure Para-Cycling World Championships qualification

Gaza Sunbirds — Alaa al-Dali and Mohamed Asfour earned Palestine’s first-ever top-20 finish at the Para-Cycling World Cup in Belgium over the weekend.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Crowded festival site with tents, stalls and an illuminated red double-decker bus. Groups of people, including children, milling about on the muddy ground.
© Alan Tash Lodge
Music

New documentary revisits the radical history of UK free rave culture

Free Party: A Folk History — Directed by Aaron Trinder, it features first-hand stories from key crews including DiY, Spiral Tribe, Bedlam and Circus Warp, with public streaming available from May 30.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Weathered wooden building with a tall spire, person on horseback in foreground.
Culture

Rahim Fortune’s dreamlike vision of the Black American South

Reflections — In the Texas native’s debut solo show, he weaves familial history and documentary photography to challenge the region’s visual tropes.

Written by: Miss Rosen

A collage depicting a giant flup for mankind, with an image of the Earth surrounded by planets and people in sci-fi costumes.
Culture

Why Katy Perry’s space flight was one giant flop for mankind

Galactic girlbossing — In a widely-panned, 11-minute trip to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere, the ‘Women’s World’ singer joined an all-female space crew in an expensive vanity advert for Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. Newsletter columnist Emma Garland explains its apocalypse indicating signs.

Written by: Emma Garland

Three orange book covers with the title "Foreign Fruit" against a dark background.
Culture

Katie Goh: “I want people to engage with the politics of oranges”

Foreign Fruit — In her new book, the Edinburgh-based writer traces her personal history through the citrus fruit’s global spread, from a village in China to Californian groves. Angela Hui caught up with her to find out more.

Written by: Katie Goh

Huck is supported by our readers, subscribers and Club Huck members. It is also made possible by sponsorship from:

Signup to our newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter to informed with the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture, featuring personal takes on the state of media and pop culture from Emma Garland, former Digital Editor of Huck, exclusive interviews, recommendations and more.

Please wait...

Accessibility Settings

Text

Applies the Open Dyslexic font, designed to improve readability for individuals with dyslexia.

Applies a more readable font throughout the website, improving readability.

Underlines links throughout the website, making them easier to distinguish.

Adjusts the font size for improved readability.

Visuals

Reduces animations and disables autoplaying videos across the website, reducing distractions and improving focus.

Reduces the colour saturation throughout the website to create a more soothing visual experience.

Increases the contrast of elements on the website, making text and interface elements easier to distinguish.