Legends: Von Dutch

He lived life hard, but did so on his own terms.

Today, many years after his death in 1992, the Von Dutch name is a multi-million dollar brand. And who would have thought it? Probably not the real Von Dutch — Kenny Howard — who was a pioneer of the 1960s custom-car craze. Born in 1929, he transformed pin-striping into an art form. It all began with his father, who was a professional sign painter. Naturally, Howard picked up the craft and by the age of 10 was able to letter and paint with the pros. In the early 1940s, he began working at a motorcycle shop. Soon he was painting everything, including cars, motorcycles and T-shirts. By the 1950s he had painted thousands of bikes. When he switched to pin-striping cars, his status began to snowball. But Howard was reclusive and self-absorbed. And, for the most part, he lived an odd life but it was a life he chose. Success with pin-striping only cemented his eccentricities, however. He disappeared for part of the 1960s because his fame was so unsettling. From 1970-’79, Howard parked his bus behind a museum in Buena Park, Calif., and continued to work on his own projects. After the museum closed, he moved to a Santa Paula, Calif., warehouse where he stayed until he died in 1992. Less than four years later, the rights to the Von Dutch name were sold to an entrepreneur. The Von Dutch name is synonymous with American success, even if it’s the kind of success that Howard could have just as easily done without. It is widely known that he detested money and wealth and the way he lived proved it. Howard believed that “staying right at the edge of poverty,” as he once said, kept life simple. Having money merely complicated life’s struggle.