Kaarin Von founded the eponymous Von Bar in 1995. (@vonbarnyc Currently open for delicious to-go cocktails!) It started as an antique shop with coffee service, but guided by friends and the small matter of high rent, transformed into a trend-setting nightspot, and ultimately into the “neighborhood fixture” it is today. As it grew, Von helped to reinvigorate the neighborhood and will always be remembered as a pioneering Noho-Bowery business. 

Married to an Italian “Count” for 12 years, Kaarin and her family regularly travel throughout Europe seeking the best coffee and cake that can be found. She can converse in Italian and rusty French and German.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Medieval Literature and is an amateur writer and historian (skills used mostly to answer late night bar disputes about Chaucer or the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Federico II—since there are many such disputes at the Von, believe it or not). 

Kaarin is an elected official for Assembly District 66 of New York, serving as the Democratic Party’s County Committee Person. Active in community matters, Kaarin is also a member of the Noho-Bowery Stake Holders, the Noho Alliance and a sponsor of ACE for the Homeless. Kaarin has coordinated innumerable fundraising events at Von for Not-For-Profit organizations such as Project Pet, Japan Society, Unicef, Solar Salon, STEPS to end family violence, Move-On, and the New Amsterdam School among others.

In her non-professional life, she has continued the community building activities that define her role at Von, serving on the board of the Grace Church Choral Society, a choir in which she has sung for the past twelve years, and helping to spearhead fundraising efforts at the New Amsterdam School, where she co-chairs the resource development committee and the craft cooperative, and where she also pursues studies in anthroposophy.

She also, incidentally, made Vogue’s best-dressed list a few years back (but since then she hardly dresses up at all, preferring the simpler art of sweatpants).