A Fine Line, Part 1: Von Dutch

By Rich Ostrander

In the early 1960s, I went to high school in SoCal, on the corner of Atlantic Blvd (south to north) and Artesia Blvd (east to west).  That was the dividing line between Long Beach and Compton, to the north.  Beyond Compton was Lynwood, then Southgate, Bell and last, Maywood.  One block up from me on Atlantic (at Alondra), Dale’s Donuts was famous for its giant donut sign on the roof, which was featured in a lot of TV shows and movies.  If you drew a line around the area one mile east to west from there, going ten miles north to Slauson Blvd and Maywood, that zone would contain most of the artisans and shops that became icons of the ‘Kustom Kulture’ scene, as it was labeled in the mid-1980s [though the ‘Kustom’ tag was coined by George Barris while still in High School, ca.1941 – ed.]. Between 1950 and 1970 this area was the hotbed of vehicle customization in southern California, and by extension the whole nation, and the world.

So: George Cerny’s shop was near Alondra and Long Beach Blvd in Compton, George Barris‘ shop was on Atlantic in Lynwood, Dean Jeffries’ shop was next door to Barris, ‘Big Daddy’ Ed Roth‘s workshops were on Slauson in Maywood. Motorcycle-related shops included CB Clausen‘s shop in Southgate, which later moved down to Florence Blvd in Compton, not far from Jungle Jim’s shop and Al Titus’s in Lynwood, both on Atlantic.  Most of the big names were within blocks of each other, if not actual neighbors.

For a teenager just getting his first car (a 1948 Ford) and starting high school in 1963, what more could you ask for? Most of these shops were just trying to make a living with their craft and talent, in the fairly new medium of car and motorcycle modification. Torch welding, lead-filling, speciality painting and aftermarket parts development kept them in business, and made their names known. Many of these shops became very successful, or even world famous in the case of Barris’ Batmobile and Roth’s Revell models.  But I think those guys would have been puzzled by the ‘hero’ status given to them down the road, by folks who weren’t there at the time.

Let’s go back to yesterday and follow one of these characters through his rise to fame, even though he never wanted the reputation assigned to him by others, and was never interested in monetary gain. Kenny Howard initially learned the craft of signwriting when he was just ten years of age (1939), from his father Wally, who was a very accomplished sign painter and pinstriper. While he became an accomplished painter himself, Kenny always considered himself a mechanic and machinist first and foremost, and when he was 15 he went to work at George Beerup’s motorcycle shop. The earliest photo of Kenny on a motorcycle was taken in 1946, with him perched on his magneto-fired Indian Scout, complete with Flanders handlebar risers, high ‘bars, dual pipes, a chromed English tank, and an earlier Scout leaf spring fork.

In 1947, the year after that photo was taken, Howard started painting signs; he started earning money from pinstriping around 1950.  He style was, of course, influenced by his father Wally, but his main inspiration was Tommy ‘The Greek’ Hrones from NorCal Bay Area.  Like Kenny Howard, Tommy was a bike nut, and had various Harleys, Indians, and Triumphs.  He’s started pinstriping in the late 1920s, and closed his last shop in the mid-nineties.  He was the originator of ‘spits’, or teardrops, on custom paint jobs.

It’s no surprise that by 1952 Kenny was working out of CB Clausen’s shop, painting and striping motorcycles.  Look for Kenny’s work on early fifties photos of CB’s ‘The Brute’ salt flat racing Knucklehead.  While at CB’s he built himself another Indian Scout with a rare Crocker OHV conversion. In the early fifties, he helped Dean Jeffries start his pinstriping career; he also did work for George Barris and George Cerny.  Sources say he moved to the Hollywood area in the mid-fifties, until he went to work for Bud Ekins around 1960. Kenny would stripe cars to earn a buck, but his real joy came from motorcycles.

Bud Ekins, as you probably know, was an off-road scrambles and desert racer of much accomplishment, a motorcycle dealer, a great Hollywood stunt man and a priominent collector of earyAmerican motorcycles. His shop stood on the corner of Van Nuys Blvd and Ventura Blvd. Kenny worked for Bud throughout the sixties, helping him restore his huge bike collection.  Whilst working there he also built several unique machines for himself.  One was the XAVW that was sold to Randy Smith of Custom Cyclce Engineering and was then sold on to Tom bBurke of B&O Cycles in Long Beach.  It now resides in Iowa having been purchased by Mike Wolfe of ‘American Pickers’ TV fame.

Another of Kenny’s creations was a VW powered C-cab trike, and later owned by Tom Burke.  After Tom’s shop closed in the early ’70s, it disappeared; I have it on good authority that it is still stashed in SoCal, yet to be found by the monied and crazed collectors of all things ‘Von Dutch’.

After being asked to leave Bud’s employment, Kenny moved around in his famous bus equipped with small machine shop and living quarters.  In the mid-1970s he ended up working for Jim Brucker who owned the ‘Cars of the Stars and Planes of Fame Museum” Kenny’s ob was to keep the varied collection of vehicles in good repair. Ed Roth was also working for Jim Brucker at this time, building display sets and sign painting.  Jim had bought most of Ed’s cars when his Roth Studios closed down in 1970.  In 1979 Jim closed down the museum, he allowed Kenny to move his bus out to a ranch he owned, where Kenny spent the remaining 13 years of his life doing a little pinstriping and hand-crafting knives and pistols.  All highly valued today.  He died just after his 63rd birthday.

There was a time in the early fifties to early sixties where Kenny led a very colorful life; what I like to call his Bohemian, avant-garde, Beatnik days.  He was the dictionary definition of ‘artist’ and his reputation was created by the upright, buttoned-down society of that time. Some of his ideas and beliefs were also the product of the times and wouldn’t fly when viewed in the light of today, by most.

A friend of mine told me that Kenny told him that he striped those elaborate designs originally on the trunks and hoods of cars because some painters covered over grinding marks where customizers had removed emblems, and it was a good way to disguise them. Who knew! Kenny was a hepcat and too cool for school before cool was in fashion; I wonder what he’d say about the wealthy hipsters making money off his work today?

Stay tuned for Part 2 of ‘A Fine Line’; next time I’ll look into Ed Roth’s motorsickle days.