WORKING-- ISMAEL LEON

-- Story by Paul Clinton; photo by [tk]

HE IS

Bringing his ray of shine to Newport Beach

KEEPING THEM CLEAN

A pair of military boots. Suede loafers. Leather ankle boots.

Ismael Leon has seen them all, and much more, in his more than 20

years of shining shoes in Newport Beach. For more than 15 of those years,

Leon has plied his wax-and-polish trade at the Texaco Auto Wash in

Fashion Island.

“It’s honest work,” Leon said. “Nothing wrong with doing this.”

Leon, along with his 21-year-old nephew, Rene, sets up shop every

morning at the carwash. Many of his regular customers drop off their

shoes in the morning before work for a shine, repair or dye job.

Leon and his nephew also shine about 50 pair of shoes a day from

office workers and others who drop off their car for a wash.

BREAKING DOWN THE RUBDOWN

When Leon starts work on a pair of shoes, he begins by sticking two

plastic pieces in over the socks to protect them from polish stains.

Then, Leon spreads the polish -- from an arsenal of more than 50

colors -- on the shoes. Mostly, Leon uses black and cordovan, a reddish

color, on the shoes he shines.

Once he spreads the polish across the entire surface of the shoes,

Leon uncorks his electric-wheel brush to take off the excess polish. An

old-school shine man, as they are known, would use a hand brush. But the

electric brush makes things much easier.

Once that’s done, Leon unscrews his wax and applies it, buffing the

wax into the shoe with a cloth chamois.

“The friction of the cloth burns the wax and makes it shiny,” Leon

says.

THE CLIENTS CAN SIT BACK AND RELAX

Leon, 46, has lived in Costa Mesa for 20 years. His wife, Juanita,

used to work side by side with him. But no longer.

But he has kept it a family business. His 22-year-old son and three

daughters, ages 10, 14 and 18, have also shined shoes with him.

He has developed a loyal clientele of customers who are happy to slap

down $5 for one of his shines.

They can read the paper and forget about their work-related stress

while they sit and receive one of his shines.

“People like to come here to relax,” Leon said. “They forget about

their problems at work.”