Introduction:
Kenneth Howard self named "Von Dutch"
grew up in south Los Angeles, or the Maywood area.
The son of a sign painter, who painted several well
known landmarks in the Los Angeles, California area.
It has been written that his father designed the Western Exterminator
Company logo. This is not the case. Vaughn Kauffman, a Yellow pages
layout artist, actually designed the logo in 1928. Walker Howard,
Kenneth's father had painted the sign. Walker Howard pin striped
the flower carts at Farmer's Market in L.A. , which is where Von
Dutch picked up on the technique. It also should be noted that Walker
Howard gold-leafed the doors of City Hall.
As a child Kenneth hung out in his father's shop and his Uncle Kenny's
garage. There he learning how to work with tools and how to paint
signs. Around 1941 he finished high school and got a job working
for George Birop's Motorcycle Shop. At this time motorcycles were
about the only vehicle that were being striped. Kenneth found striping
and character painting a way to cover and disguise scratches or
imperfections in body paint.
The Originator of the Modern "Pin" Striping also credits
himself with being one of the first to air brush on shirts. Von
Dutch had an idea that custom paint and pin striping was a way to
personalize a car, cycle or what ever. In doing so each work was
unique like it's owner. So in many cases the stripe job was meant
to reflect a personality. As for the paint jobs that just didn't
fit into that concept, Kenneth drew a fine line between striping
for cash or telling the customer to buzz off.
Kenneth Howard the legendary originator died the 19th of September
1992. A great amount of his work, automotive, gunsmith and cutlery
are in personal collections. Hopefully a comprehensive guide to
Von Dutch's work will be published one day. -end. [more]
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| VON DUTCH |
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| Final note from the editor: There's an upside down winged eyeball hand painted in the splash pan of the Rumpsville Roadster, it says R.I.P. ...enough said. |
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