Folks Of Interest The Curse Of Kenneth Howard

I love the song and not so much the singer. I’m more of an introvert and try not to attach myself to anyone or idolize anyone. We almost always set ourselves up for disappointment. I’ve spent many man hours of my life to help a certain individual for the cause and only to find out he’s a crook. And yes condemnation of mass army committing genocide is not cancel culture. It’s time we act like Earthlings on Earth.

 

Ken was an asshole,
Ken was a drug abuser,
Ken was a racist,
Ken wasn't that great of a striper,
Ken did a remarkable paint job for me,
Ken made excellent knives; Stan Betz had a bunch of them.
Who knows how he became a legend, publicity, word of mouth, self-promotion?
After his death, the dogs jumped and made money off of a death licensing everything, who is worse?

 

Interesting post, learn more every day. As with all art, like some, dislike & ignore others - do not care about creator until I meet them. Only hero I can think of, & never met him, is Chuck Yeager. Now - on to the ART of cars/rods

 

Thank you, Ryan. That's a heart-felt post,and was hard to write. I agree with you. I never was that entranced by von Dutch art, now even less a fan. Even if the art was great, it's one thing to say "he was a great artist,but he was crazy" and quite another to say "he was a great artist but a bad person". I am proud of you for writing this.

 

This is some heavy shit. Did alot of people know about that letter before this post? Like is this widely known in hot rodding? I feel like I just found out something that everyone else knew. Thats alot to soak in when you didnt see it coming.

 

Yes, fairly common knowledge. In our modern internet era there is even more of this rabbit hole to dive into.

 

Amen to that statement! I'm a bit of a student of history, and if you start at the Roman empire (which is the basis for all western civilizations), you see echos of the past returning again and again. Even today....

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Winston Churchill.

 

I first read about him in the 70’s when there was some revival of customs. Kept seeing info on him but not any real car related after the late 50’s, always wondered why his name kept popping up, I think it had to do with him standing out with his antics at the time. More articles had quips about hate, addictions etc. When I first seen the designer hats and stuff I was dumbfounded on how that came about. I can respect people’s creations or accomplishments but don’t believe in idolization. Even that respect is gone when it’s tied to negative stuff like hate, racist, etc.

 

Fascinating story Ryan. I too have heard about the racist stuff from people. I lost all interest after that. Snowman ⛄️

 

He was famous enough in 1958 that the Collins Kids used his name in the lyrics of their song 'Hot Rod'...which was also around the time Steve McQueen got him to fabricate the glove box lid for his Jaguar XK-SS.

The lyrics to Hot Rod by the Collins Kids.

I'm only fourteen, but I'm goin' on fifteen
But I wanna be sixteen, so I can get me a hot rod
I want a streamline chassis, man it's gotta be classy
I'm gonna give it that certain touch
With a little bit of Von Dutch
I found a real cute baby, she's a real swingin' baby
And she says we'll go steady just
As soon as I get me a hot rod

I'm gonna take her for a moonlight drive
Across Mullholland Drive, then we'll really be alive
As soon as I get me a hot rod
With my baby sittin' close to me
We'll do a little draggin' don't you see
We'll even lay a path for you and me
As soon as I get me a hot rod
Yeah, I'm only fourteen, but I'm goin' on fifteen
But I wanna be sixteen, so I can get me a hot rod

I remember soon after the Von Dutch clothing stuff became hyped by trendy's in the early 2000's after the family sold out the name, and a black guy I knew well at work came in wearing a VD logo tee-shirt on 'dress-down' Friday, and I said to him, that I was surprised to see him wear it given Ken Howard's known attitude. He was aghast, and he didn't even know anything about it, or Howard even existed beyond a trendy fashion brand name. I doubt many that worn it did.

If you really want to be technically correct though in the meaning, he well could be described as a Nazi sympathizer, or a Neo-Nazi or any other similar connected term for those of such warped ideals, but he wasn't a Nazi (even if he did write those words in that letter), as he wasn't a card carrying member of the NSDAP, which is the legal definition IIRC.

 

Everyone has skeletons in their closet if you dig deep enough.
That’s why I don’t like the “ Twitter , Instagram , face book “ and other forms of social media .

m not the person I was at 10, 20 or even 30. But if I had documented some of the shit I thought was “ righteous “ or “ correct “ I would be doomed now.

beliefs change , society changes . And you as a good person should change with it .

I work with a guy who preaches everyday and is a bible thumper to the 10th degree .

he hates everyone because of one verse or line taken out of context .
He fully believes the corona virus is the “ End of days plague “ like what the Egyptians went through.
And why may you ask ?
Because we allowed gays into society.
Fuck you steve , fuck you all the way over there and just keep fucking off .

I have a family member with mental illness who drank and did drugs and was in and out of institutions. He was a spoiled mommas boy brat .
I told him one day when he tried to take a swing a me . “ I love you like a brother “ but I’m done with you until you decide to take care of yourself .
That was 10 years ago , he got help , got medicated and doctored up, he’s a great guy and really is a brother to me .

I think a lot of the stuff vin Dutch did is pretty cool , he was there at the start of all this .
He was a piece of shit , but society back then looked at beatniks and counter culture folks as weird and should be embraced for there weirdness . Times where different then , you could say all that garbage and not be looked at bad. Not like today .

it was bad then , it’s bad now . I think we have gone to far the other way and no ones feelings can be hurt or bothered by you as your “ not tolerant “
He was a racist , neo-nazi who left his wife and daughters penniless . He would have been thrown in jail today and should have been thrown in jail then .


He has become a legend in hot rod circles .
Talent ….. maybe
Smoke and mirrors …… maybe
Piece of shit human being who was an example of his time , yes . Because from that brief moment in time he was able to be famous

just like today the kardashian clan is worth billions because there dad was a lawyer on the OJ case and kim sucked a dick on camera that her own mother leaked to the media.
Could not of happened in the 80’s would not of happened now after “ me 2 movements” a product of the time .

I’m rambling , later .

 

If you expect perfection in your heroes, sooner or later you'll be disappointed. But as Ryan said, there are lines that shouldn't be crossed.

 

I think the issue here is context, especially for the time in the past when VD was doing his painting and striping, and knifemaking and gunsmithing. There are a lot of things in the past that were not condemned as they are today. We had segregation in the US in the 50's and into the 60's. There were plenty of racist people in society back then, it was not condemned as it is today. We have ended that as we should have.
I do not think context can ever defend support for Nazi actions or philosophy. That was never acceptable in US.
I recall a youtube video (that was listed on HAMB here, that's how I saw it) of VD doing some striping on a glass panel, with no guidelines and it was a good example of clean, symmetrical lines. Seems that was an example of decent work going from memory. VD also had some paint jobs that were good enough to be in magazines or on show cars of the period.
This isn't trying to defend the guy. I fully agree that many of the celebrity type people have some skeletons and bad things in the past that can affect our view of them as a person. Which also has a natural reaction to taint our view of the works of that person. We all need to find our level of distinguishing between the person and the works. It is also changing as we learn more.

 

Sounds like you had a cathartic moment Ryan, now that I think about it, that word has more than one meaning.
Both have nearly the same effect!

 

Great post, Ryan, and I agree... just like art is subjective, assessing someone's character is also subjective. One person's 'insufferable A-hole' is another person's 'entertaining eccentric'. That's what makes the world interesting, I guess.

However, some character traits are not to be assessed subjectively. Those traits are objective disqualifiers. Bigotry (in all its forms) is the prime example of such a trait... a disqualifier. Hating on others due to their innate characteristics...? GFY, regardless of whatever beauty you otherwise contributed to the world.

 

Jeff, right you are. I don't know who own's the licensing right's to the Von Dutch name but they are still making money off of it. Before I retired I worked in NYC for 22 years. I would take the subway uptown to 66th St. Every few days I would see a kid with a Von Dutch shirt on his way to high school. One day I asked the kid if he knew who Von Dutch was and he replied "yes, he is a painter famous for painting flowers".

 

After reading your article and seeing the comments here it makes me think of a few things. First, we are the younger crowd who were coming up in the hot rod world in the late 80s and had no context for who was good or bad. What we saw in von dutch was as you noted a punk rock attitude to the rich hot rod guys who would not give us the time of day when we all were trying to put our first cars together. On top of that, we already had the punk rock DIY attitude for everything so dutch just filled in like a correct puzzle piece. That photo a few posts back on the sticker "kennth howard hates you" is from my coupe when I had it first on the road. It's not there anymore and I take no delight in knowing his real name when most people didn't during those times when the clothing and trendsetters went on MTV and such.

As you did I watched the docuseries and like you thought about all my friends in the industries that were contacted by the clothing company to do all kinds of work and in the end, never got paid for it. What it comes down to now is we are the next old guard and have had time to do our homework talk to those same people who now see we are serious about hot rodding and want to keep the history going but also make sure it's correctly documented for good or bad. I am sure we all here in the last two years have lost a lot of people who we thought were like us but as noted from another person posting we are so divided as a country that now truths are really coming out on where people stand. While it hurts greatly at the same time we know who is right and who is wrong.

Ryan don't be hard on yourself for coming to a realization that you found out the real story and are documenting it here for the historical record. It takes a lot of balls to publicly come out and take a stand on something and hope there are people there to back you up. You are not alone and the learning will never stop. The only way to stop racism is to call it out when you see it and make sure the people around you also call it out. I call it out when I see or hear it and I won't stop till its gone.

 

It's a good thing those involved in creating the documentary on the merchandising of Von Dutch didn't do a deep-dive into his avowed Nazi beliefs; the last thing the world needs is a bunch of "Skin-heads" paying obeisance to Kennith Howard by pinstriping their helmets and engraving their knives and guns.

 

If you're saying that I should be embarrassed for saying I wasn't sad when someone who I think was piece of garbage passed away, then sorry, not sorry?

My opinion of this individual is based on my personal experience, not hearsay or speculation, for what it's worth.

 

I may be wrong, but if you look carefully, I think he's very much agreeing with you.

 

You are correct in the fact that a shit sack of a human being is a shit sack of a human being , regardless of When or where they lived in any point in time .


But time is relevant .

Acapella singers ? Back in Roman times an acapella singer was a prepubescent boy that was castratated so he would not go through puberty and thus keep a high octave range. Acceptable at that time , fucking horrific now !!

owning slaves ??? It’s just fucking wrong , but EVERYONE was making money off it for a long time , and most knew it was unacceptable then . And now ? Well c’mon !!

segregation, sexism , patriarchy, etc etc .

me and my wife where watching the show MAD MEN , she could not get past how sub servant women where in the 50’s . Acceptable then , not so much now .


Human beings live and learn as time goes by , caves turned into homes and rocks into mattresses.

shit , when I was a teen “ jungle fever “ was such a taboo thing there was a movie about it and we had discussions about in in school !!!!!
I might be older but like fuck if I’m old !!!

my point is , as far as Avon Dutch’s fame and legendary status that has endeared, it was possible only because of the time he was relevant .

If he was doing what he did in the 40’s it would not of worked or the early 50’s
The late 50’s was ripe for his beatnik attitude
The 80’s he would of been a neo nazi freak and thrown out .


There are dozens and dozens of examples of shit sacks either turned wealthy , famous , political or all three . Simply from doing what “ they did “ at the right moment in time .


Look at movie stars and musicians, up until Harvey Weinstein and the Me too movement. Everyone knew they got away with murder as far as sex , drugs and all ‘round debauchery . Completely fucking wrong but “we” as a society just accepted it .
Now it’s completely unacceptable and “stars” are held accountable.


There was that college football coach a few years ago. That got caught diddling the kids on his teams for decades and a lot of the faculty knew he was doing it , I remember a guy I worked with saying how “papa” or “dad” or whatever “ what a tragedy that his name is sullied “ ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME ! He fucked young men in the ass simply because he was in a position of power !!

some people thinks certain folks are above the law and societies beliefs .
The 10 commandments and the golden rule are followed by all mainstream religions and by good people in general .


I’m rambling again , sorry . I get angry speaking of this shit . I agree with you Ryan 100%
If your a shit sack your a shit sack , we should follow the Egyptians if afterwards we realize your a shit sack your name and likeness is stripped from all records so you are forgotten.


All right I’m done postulating or masturbating or what ever …
Gonna go kick some rocks

 

Imteresting...when I posted a thread during the release of this docu-series in November, it was almost instantly crushed. The moderation here needs some tuning.
Carry on.

 

Maybe there's a hidden meaning in this . . .

"How embarrising!"

 

Ha, I totally missed that. It's been a long day.