Noted custom motorcycle builder ‘Culprit’ Culley dies at 57

Thursday, April 1, 1999 | 11:12 a.m.

In 1956 Paul Culley was asked to leave a Carson City children's home because officials there felt his mature ways might be a bad influence on the younger kids.

So, at age 14, he packed his car, put his motorcycle in tow and, despite the fact he was too young to legally operate vehicles, even ones he owned, drove to Las Vegas, where his pioneering family had settled in the 1920s.

Forever a free spirit, Culley dropped out of Las Vegas High School a short time after enrolling there and began a three-decade-long career building custom motorcycles, which he sold to everyone from local doctors, lawyers and police officers to members of the Hell's Angels and other motorcycle clubs.

Paul George "Culprit" Culley, regarded as the grandfather of custom motorcycles in Las Vegas, died Tuesday of lung cancer at his Las Vegas home. He was 57.

Services for the native Nevadan who lived in Las Vegas from 1944 to 1952 and from 1957 to the present -- 50 years -- are pending. Bunker Brothers Mortuary is handling the arrangements.

"He loved the excitement of being a biker," said longtime friend Ralph Alsup Jr., a charter member of the Gents Motorcycle Club. "He really built classy bikes."

Culley was the grandson of Martha Culley, who in the 1920s ran a soup kitchen on Fremont Street. He also was a descendant of Paul E. Culley, a gaming figure for whom a Las Vegas elementary school is named. Culley Street in Las Vegas also is named for the family.

"My husband lived life on his own terms, and although he loved bikes, he never joined a gang or club," said Jeri Ann Culley, Paul's wife of nearly 35 years. "He was a family man who loved taking camping trips and telling true stories about bikers."

Culley got his nickname from a newspaper account of a bar fight in North Las Vegas. It was reported that a "culprit" was seen leaving the scene on a motorcycle. That culprit was a young Paul Culley. He was never caught and the moniker stuck.

Born Jan. 18, 1942, in Ely, Culley was the son of miner Max Culley and the former Bernice Rippeth. After his father was seriously injured in an auto accident, Paul spent his early years bouncing from family members in Las Vegas to children's homes.

As a teenager he got jobs working at places such as Shadow Custom Cycle and Nasty's Cycle. At Shadow, he rebuilt a bike that entertainer Ann-Margret rode on stage to open her shows in Las Vegas and on the road.

In the 1970s Culley, who in his prime stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 190 pounds, opened a shop in his home, where he eventually built more than 100 custom cycles. Nearly every room in his house had motorcycles or motorcycle parts strewn about.

He would barter with customers, accepting in trade cars, motorcycle parts and even rooms full of furniture for his redesigned Harley Davidson motorcycles and other custom machines. In addition to the infamous Hell's Angels, members of local clubs such as the Bagos, Hessians and Gents purchased his bikes, hot rods and low-riders.

Culley retired in 1989 following triple heart bypass surgery. Although he did not smoke cigarettes, he was rarely seen without a small, wooden-tipped cigar in his mouth. He quit smoking cigars 10 years ago.

Culley was diagnosed with lung cancer in late February.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Daren and Donnie Culley; a daughter, Denise Culley-Miller; sisters Maxine Simons and Carol Darrin; and three grandchildren, Ryan, Jesse and Dylan, all of Las Vegas. He also has a daughter, DeAnn, from a previous marriage.