Thomas Hickenbottom is the author of Surfing in Santa Cruz and the new novel Local Tribes. He kindly answered our prying questions.
What do you do for a living?
I am a full-time writer of novels, short fiction, poetry and local surfing history.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing that?
I wouldn’t be doing anything else…it’s my life’s passion and resonates from deep within me.
What do you do in your free time?
My “free time” is spent mountain and road cycling, gardening, walking on North Coast beaches, spending as much time with my family as possible and international travel. I was a former 52-year local surfer until my battle with larynx cancer now has made it impossible for me to be in the ocean.
What brought you to Santa Cruz?
My family moved to Santa Cruz in 1954 to open up three drive-in restaurants in the Monterey Bay area. The Driv ‘N’ Eat was located on the corner of Ocean and Soquel Avenue, where Cafe Lucio is now. I am a fourth-generation Central Coast native.
Name something you’re excited about.
I’m excited to be a cancer survivor with a positive attitude about my future long life now, happy to see my writings getting published, watching my sons Tristan and Bryce become awesome young men and super stoked to have such a wonderful wife, Susan Allison.
Name a pet peeve.
I really hate people who are consciously mean and harmful to others and animals.
Secret star crush?
Darryl Hannah and Meryl Streep.
What are you reading?
I’m currently reading Healthy Aging by Andrew Weil and Stalin’s Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in the last three years?
The most important thing I’ve learned in the past three years is that you can overcome anything with a positive attitude and the belief that you possess the inner power to heal yourself from all of life’s wounds, and that love is the greatest medicine of all.
Recent personal food trend?
Mostly vegetarian diet and love experimenting with new veggie recipes.
