Whats a Curmudgeon?
He takes pardonable pride in his reputation for good-natured curmudgeonliness.
And he must have been a practicing stoic during his working years, some friends say, because he sure has a lot to comment on in his leisure years.
In the four years since he retired from the Public Works Dept. at City Hall, he has shown only two personnas
Bicycling through the streets of Culver City because there is too much traffic and the signal lights are too long.
Motoring around the Westside in his vintage Model-A Ford, known as the Police Car, it is almost 80 years old.
Mr. Newtons baby will be on peacock-proud display Saturday morning in front of the Culver Hotel in the Car Show lineup.
When he sat down this morning to analyze his love life mostly but not entirely confined to engine-operated gadgets he came dressed as he has every day he has appeared in public as a retiree.
Heres a Line
Mr. Newtons sandy-tinted classically ruddy face is heavily lined. Always has been, hasnt it?
Maybe it carries two or three more lines than when he graduated from Culver City High School, Class of 63.
It is suggested that his face has been lined for 44 years because his ebullient congeniality and his folksiness throw off an unmistakable air of permanance. Hasnt he always been this way?
No slave to fashion, his crewcut, for sure, hearkens back to 63.
Make It Casual
And he is the arbiter of mens casual wear in Culver City, his uniform being a white tee-shirt, pale blue bermudas and his favorite dark blue baseball cap.
Happily married to Sue (Class of 64) for 42 years, with two children, Mr. Newton is proof a serious man can juggle more than one skyscraper-tall love in a lifetime.
As long as the topic is old cars, Mr. Newton is a dream interview.
Why Show Day Is So Sweet
The countdown: Barely 100 hours until the Car Show starts.
Saturday is a big day for me, said Mr. Newton, because we have a lot of Culver High School car guys comin in who havent been here in awhile.
Some we havent seen since a year ago. Others I met guys from 40 years ago last year.
Its not a matter of names I can mention. What was funny, I had the car set up. I always put a sticker of the Culver City Centaur on my headlight.
I have a place where I put on my name, my wifes name, and what year we graduated.
They Look Familiar
So five guys come by. Im in back of the car visiting with somebody.
I hear somebody say, Hey, do you think thats the same Steve that Sue Newton that we used to know?
I heard somebody else say, Just turn around and ask that fat guy there, meaning me. When they approached me, I turned around. Two out of the five I recognized.
Weight a Minute
Mr. Newton chuckled.
The rest had gotten heavy like me. We stared and we stared.
Everybody still had their flat-tops.
When it ended up, we finally had to tell each other who we were. I mean, it was unbelievable because we never would have recognized each other.
Continuing Saga
The fun did not end at last years car show.
One of the guys started a friendship back up again. He joined two of my Model-A clubs and my senior golf league in Westchester. Were fishin every other Monday, and were doin some stuff.
He wasnt doin too much. But he lives in Redondo Beach. We get together a couple times a week now.
Reunion Anyone?
The Car Show has become like the Fiesta. Everybody comes home. Its like a reunion with people you havent seen in years.
You sit down. You visit. You find out what has been happenin, what theyve been doing, how the family is. Stuff like that.
Its more of a reunion for people who have lived here all their lives to see the people who have moved away.
Verbal Scrapbook
Three generations ago, in 1945, the Newtons of Kansas City moved to Culver City, the same year the subject of this story came to planet earth.
My great-grandfather was a blacksmith, and he had a blacksmith shop in Martin, Mo., Steve Newton said.
My grandfather was a salesman for Topeka Boiler Works until World War II came in. Then he was in the Seabees. He got used to workin on big stuff. Half of the storm drains on Venice Boulevard were put in by him.
He had a big Army truck when he came back. You could call it a troop carrier, I guess. That was his plumbing truck.
Newton Plumbing Supply was established on Huron Avenue, on the property of Mr. Newtons great-grandparents, and a family of plumbing mavens began to fan out across the community for the next 62 years.
His City Career
In 1980, Mr. Newtons career as a plumber in the family business was parlayed into a position with the city, with whom the Newtons had been working all along anyway. This just formalized the arrangement.
Has Mr. Newtons wry sense of humor been mentioned?
When I took the city job in 1980, I basically knew everything I was doing. It just was a matter of doing it for less money.
A Wheel on Wheels
Ill tell you why I ride my bicycle, he said. Just because the traffic is horrible here. I still consider this a small town, even though its close to 40,000 people.
So much traffic goes through every day with all of the improvements and new businesses Downtown that have become so popular.
Not that long ago, Culver City boosters complained about the desert-like environment Downtown, that you could pilot your car sideways through the vortex at almost any hour.
No more.
Signal Lights Very Long
I tell the guys in the (traffic) signal shop, I go, I dont know who set the timing on some of the signals Downtown, but I think my hair gets grayer every time I have to come through Downtown.
For many years, the Newtons have lived just yards away from the center of Downtown.
You know, Im an old crank because Ive been here all my life. Its just one of those things. I guess youd call it progress. But its still a little hard. Its easier to get on the bicycle and peddle around.
I need the exercise anyway.
Anyone Seen a Yard Sale?
Saturdays may be his favorite day of the week, although this week his regular routine will be interrupted for a very crucial reason.
Saturdays normally are yard-sale days, he says with a smile as open and sunny as the friendly skies over Culver City.
Certain areas I have come to know have yard-sales regularly.
Gaining Information
I read the papers, and mark those. Then there are favorite telephone poles in town where most of the yard-sale signs are posted.
If you go to LeBourget and Braddock, there is a big post there. Youll find them at Jackson and Braddock, too. Braddock, you know, is kind of like the main thoroughfare for everything north and south, east and west.
One Mans Route
Then I will get to Overland. I might end up going to the Lindberg Park area, Studio Village or I might go to Sunkist Park.
Even in retirement, you see, the hardy Mr. Newton works a full shift on weekends.
I start out at 8:30, quarter of 9, and I get back home around 3.
Super Shmoozer
Most of it is visiting people in different areas. People who used to be my customers, friends of the family.
Since Mr. Newton is traveling lightly, by bicycle, doesnt that cramp his shopping style?
Not a chance.
Would that this were his major thorn.
A Different Problem
I can buy any size object, and then I come back later and pick it up with my car.
The trouble is, whatever I get, I have to sneak it past the wife so she doesnt see it.
The garage is about full. In fact, its over-full. And the sheds full. Behind the garages full.
Always Room for More
Ya know, these are really important things. I think the most unusual thing I bought was a 2 1/2-foot goose light. It was a plastic goose, and it had a light bulb in it.
I couldnt pass it up for $2. I put it in the basket, and of course I set it in the basket with its head up.
I go in the driveway, and the wife spotted it through the window in the computer room.
Cornered or Not?
She gave me a bad time about what I needed that for. So, every barbecue, I bring that out and plug it in so she knows that the goose is useful.
The good part is that with the Car Show coming, Mrs. Newton can take this Saturday off.
