Robert "Bobby" Vaughn (born c. 1975 [1] [2] ) is an American surfer and co-founder of the Von Dutch clothing company. [1] [3] He was acquitted of first-degree murder of his friend Mark Rivas in February 2005 on the grounds of justifiable homicide. [2] [4]
He grew up surfing in Santa Cruz, California, and later in Hawaii. [2] He was involved in some manner in a fatal shooting at his high school. [4]
Art collector Ed Boswell bought the rights to the Von Dutch name from Kenny Howard's daughters after Howard died in 1992. [4] He met Mike Cassel, a former drug dealer turned clothing company entrepreneur. [4] They and Vaughn, an associate of Cassel's, co-founded Von Dutch, at first hoping to start the next hot denim line. [4] However, Boswell and Cassel did not get along, and Cassel ended up driving Boswell out of the business. [4] Then Danish investor Tonny Sorensen was brought in to provide much-needed financing. [4] Vaughn began feeling marginalized when Sorensen was made Chief Executive Officer and installed his own people in the sales and marketing departments. [4] Sorensen eventually bought Vaughn's share of the company and fired him. [4]
In February 2005, Vaughn claimed that his friend Mark Rivas, recently released from prison, attacked him with a broken bottle. Vaughn shot and killed Rivas. He was charged with first-degree murder, but was acquitted by a jury. [1]
He was later sentenced to five years probation for carrying an unregistered gun. [1]
In April 2009, Vaughn opened a high-end surf shop in Queens called FTW. [1]
He is the subject of the 2010 short documentary Facing the Waves. [5] He is also one of the principal figures in the 2021 Hulu documentary series The Curse of Von Dutch: A Brand to Die For. [3]
Santa Cruz is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a popular tourist destination, owing to its beaches, surf culture, and historic landmarks.
Robert Kelly Slater is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship Tour victories. He won the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year four-times. Slater is also the oldest surfer still active on the World Surf League, winning his 8th Billabong Pipeline Masters title at age 49.
Mavericks is a surfing location in northern California outside Pillar Point Harbor, just north of the town of Half Moon Bay at the village of Princeton-by-the-Sea. After a strong winter storm in the northern Pacific Ocean, waves can routinely crest at over 25 ft (8 m) and top out at over 60 ft (18 m). Routinely, waves that break can be recorded on seismometers. The break is caused by an unusually shaped underwater rock formation.
The Brink's-Mat robbery was one of the largest robberies in British history, with £26 million worth of gold bullion, diamonds, and cash stolen. It occurred at the Heathrow International Trading Estate, London, on 26 November 1983, from a warehouse operated by Brink's-Mat, a former joint venture between US security company Brink's and London-based company MAT Transport. The bullion was the property of Johnson Matthey Bankers Ltd. Micky McAvoy and Brian Robinson were convicted of armed robbery. Most of the gold has never been recovered. Lloyd's of London paid out for the losses, and several shooting deaths have been linked to the case.
Kenneth Robert Howard, also known as Dutch, Von Dutch, or J. L. Bachs, was an American motorcycle mechanic, artist, pin striper, metal fabricator, knifemaker and gunsmith.
Von Dutch is an American multinational fashion brand posthumously named after Kenny Howard, a.k.a. "Von Dutch", an American artist and pinstriper of the Kustom Kulture movement. After Howard's death in 1992, his daughters allowed Ed Boswell to produce items using the Von Dutch trademark logo. The trademark rights were sold in 1996 to Mike Cassell who, with Robert Vaughn, used the logo for an apparel line named Von Dutch Originals. French designer Christian Audigier helped popularize the brand in the early 2000s. Von Dutch was repurchased in 2009 by Groupe Royer S.A., through its Luxembourg subsidiary Royer brands International S.a.r.l. In 2024, WSG purchased the global rights from Groupe Royer S.A. and plans to continue to journey of bringing Von Dutch back in a compelling way.
Surf culture includes the people, language, fashion, and lifestyle surrounding the sport of surfing. The history of surfing began with the ancient Polynesians. That initial culture directly influenced modern surfing, which began to flourish and evolve in the early 20th century, with its popularity peaking during the 1950s and 1960s. It has affected music, fashion, literature, film, art, and youth jargon in popular culture. The number of surfers throughout the world continues to increase as the culture spreads.
Bruce Irons is an American regularfoot professional surfer from Hanalei, Kauai, and is often regarded as one of the best tuberiders of all time. He is the younger brother of three-time world champion Andy Irons.
Nicholas C. Frost, known professionally as Nicholas Farrell, is an English stage, film and television actor.
Tonny Sorensen, born March 9, 1964, is a Danish entrepreneur and creative director best known for his commercialization of the California clothing brand Von Dutch Originals. He is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Planet illogica, an online creative community for artists and art organizations. and California Christiania Republic clothing brand.
Christian Audigier was a French fashion designer known for the Ed Hardy and Von Dutch clothing lines.
The registration of the "Surf City USA" trademark inflamed a historical dispute between the California coastal cities of Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz. Both cities claimed the "Surf City" nickname, but after the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau filed three trademark applications for "Surf City USA" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2004, a new conflict erupted, a controversy Surfer dubbed "Moniker-gate." The resulting publicity generated the equivalent of several million dollars in advertising with thousands of stories and news reports broadcast across the globe. A lawsuit was eventually settled in January 2008 which validated Huntington Beach's exclusive rights to the trademark.
Jack O'Neill was an American businessman and founder of the surfwear and surfboard company O'Neill.
Surfing in the United States is a popular hobby in coastal areas, and more recently due to the invention of wave pools, inland regions of the country. It contributes to a lifestyle and culture in which millions participate and which millions more have an interest. USA surfing is the governing body for the sport of surfing in the United States, with surf leagues such as the World Surf League available in the country. Surfing can be traced back to 17th Century Hawaii and has evolved over time into the professional sport it is today, with surfing being included for the first time in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Kyle Thiermann is a professional surfer, writer, podcast host, and filmmaker from Santa Cruz, California.
Tlaloc Rivas is a Mexican-American writer, producer, and theatre director. He is one of the co-founders of the Latinx Theatre Commons, which works side by side with HowlRound to revolutionize American theater and to highlight and promote the contributions and presence of Latinos in theatre. Central to Rivas' work is the Latino experience, but also exploring the American experience through the lens' of underrepresented voices. Rivas focuses on writing and directing plays that significantly explore Latino identity and history. Additionally, Rivas has also translated and adapted plays from the Spanish language and directed Spanish-language and bilingual plays such as Mariela in the Desert by Karen Zacarias and classical works such as Peribáñez y el Comendador de Ocaña.
Bill Clutter is an American private investigator, wrongful conviction advocate, and author. He is the co-founder of the Illinois Innocence Project and founder of the national wrongful conviction organization Investigating Innocence. His work on the Donaldson v. Central Illinois Public Service Company case led him to write the book Coal Tar: How Corrupt Politics and Corporate Greed Are Killing America's Children, which is the story of an epidemic of neuroblastoma in Taylorville, Illinois, caused by exposure to coal tar.
Only Murders in the Building is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman. The main plot focuses on a trio of strangers, all with a shared interest in true crime podcasts, who become friends while investigating a succession of suspicious murders in the Arconia, their affluent Upper West Side apartment building, and producing their own podcast about the cases, titled Only Murders in the Building. Its four ten-episode seasons premiered on Hulu in August 2021, June 2022, August 2023, and August 2024. The series was renewed for a fifth season in September 2024.
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