THE RACE FOR NEWPORT BEACH CITY HALL

Mathis Winkler

Tom Thomson has never thought seriously about trading his current home

for that of his ancestors in Saskatchewan, Canada.

“There are some beautiful places in Canada,” said Thomson, the

incumbent seeking reelection for the District 7 seat on the Newport Beach

City Council. “Southern California’s too special. Newport Beach is

wonderful. There are so many things to do.”

As a child, he’d make the trip from Rancho Cucamonga to the beach with

his parents, who had immigrated from Canada. He’d play on the beach at

the Balboa Bay Club at a time when no air conditioning existed and

seawater flowed from taps, he said.

Enchanted with the area, the Thomsons moved to the city in time for

Tom to attend Newport Harbor High. His father, who worked in the

wholesale lumber business, didn’t mind the commute to his job in Colton.

“We lived here because we liked Newport so much,” Thomson said,

sitting in the conference room at his office on a recent afternoon.

A real estate agent, Thomson occupies a desk clustered with computers

and papers in the open room’s far corner. From here, he has a commanding

view of Coast Highway.

After spending his college years in Colorado, Thomson returned to

California and settled in Lake Arrowhead. The snow, apparently, attracted

the avid skier.

“I had a small tractor with a scoop in front of it,” he said. “I loved

to scrape the driveways of older people. I just love pushing

snow.”Eventually, he couldn’t resist the town of his youth. He moved back

to Newport Beach, where he’s lived in the same house on Jasmine Creek

Drive for 18 years.

He married Carol, a senior nurse at Hoag Hospital. And in 1986, their

son, Scott, was born.

At that point, after following in his father’s footsteps and commuting

from home to his office in Anaheim, Thomson finally decided that he

needed to spend more time at home.

“I would only come home at night,” he said. “Scott was 4 or 5 years

old and I wasn’t spending enough time with him.”

As for his choice of profession, Thomson said that it seemed more

appealing than the lumber business.

“Real estate gives you a unique opportunity to meet with a lot of

people,” he said. “There’s an ending to it when you sold [a property].

You have satisfied people and go on to the next deal.”