Downtown director hired for Old Town Newhall
By Marci Wormser Tuesday, September 4, 2001
Signal Staff Writer
Suzie Szabo takes
over today as the Old Town Newhall Association's first downtown director.
Photo by Reneh Agha / The Signal
ewhall resident Suzie Szabo was hired by the city of Santa Clarita last week to serve as Old Town Newhall's first "downtown director."
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Szabo begins serving in her part-time position today. Although her salary is paid by the city and she'll have a desk and computer at City Hall, she won't be considered a city employee.
Rather, she will answer to the Old Town Newhall Association — the merchants' and community organization that formed last year to spur revitalization of the historic downtown core.
The city's funding of the newly created position is part of its commitment to share in the revitalization effort.
Szabo's role will be as a consultant to the association — organizing meetings, keeping association members up to date on the news, reporting to the city, raising funds and budgeting for activities, doing the banking and acting as a public relations representative.
"It's got a lot of points to the hat," Szabo said of her job.
Szabo isn't one to shy away from a challenge.
Since she retired in 1990 from her job as an advertising representative for GTE, she has taken on her share of community-related tasks, in addition to caring for her six grandchildren during the day.
For four years, the Newhall resident served on the advisory board to the William S. Hart Union High School District, and she has been the Old Town Newhall Association's liaison to the city's redevelopment committee.
She says her biggest challenge was helping her cousin, Raul, build his restaurant, El Trocadero, from the ground up several years ago.
After her cousin expressed interest in opening up a restaurant in the United States — he hails from Mexico — Szabo, she acted as a middleman between Raul and the city.
Szabo took it upon herself to learn about the restaurant business, construction and permit requirements, and she helped Raul pull his building and AQMD permits.
"I was basically his right-hand person," she says.
She believes the experience will serve her well in her new position.
"A lot of what the job entails will be like what I did for Raul," she said.
She said her new tasks will also require management skills, teamwork and the ability to communicate ideas and goals to others; and her background in marketing and sales, as part of a team, are assets.
"You have to be able to work with a team," she said. "Downtown Newhall has a huge team."
Szabo first became interested in taking part in the area's revitalization after reading about the efforts that were underway in Newhall for several years.
"This is something in my heart I want to do," said the 15-year resident of Happy Valley. "I love Newhall. I love the fact we're trying to maintain the portion of town that is downtown."
The downtown area gives mom-and-pop store owners a place to do business without paying exorbitant rent, she said. In turn, the stores give consumers an opportunity for personal attention a different experience from that found in chain stores.
"The mom-and-pop shops we're real interested in keeping," she said. "They bring jobs and they bring stability to the area."
Too often, Santa Clarita residents either act indifferently or negatively toward downtown Newhall, she said.
"A lot of times the perception of the area is kind of bad — that it's not safe," she said. However, Szabo quickly points out, "We are (one of the safest) areas in the country and that includes downtown Newhall."
Downtown Newhall also contains some of the Santa Clarita Valley's most undiscovered retail treasures — and part of Szabo's job will be to take them off the "undiscovered" list.
"There's so much to offer down here," she said. "I can only say it will get better as time goes on because we will be bringing in more services."
She acknowledges there is a challenging road ahead.
Part of the trick to bringing in more foot traffic will be to build on Newhall's identity as an entertainment destination — which already includes two new live theaters. Szabo would also like to bring in more restaurants, boutiques and large businesses.
And she said the association hopes to build on the SCV's rich Native American and Western heritage. The area already is the venue for several annual activities that draw local and out-of-town visitors — the Fourth of July Parade, the Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival, the Hart of the West Powwow — returning Sept. 15 and 16 ‹and the Downtown Newhall Street Faire — returning Sept. 22.
"We have a few good things that bring people in the area that we can build on," she said.
Szabo also hopes to bring back a downtown Newhall Christmas parade. She said a plan is in the works.
In the meantime, the street fair will feature pony rides, a kids' bounce, hay rides and a puppeteer, as well as a classic car display, local food vendors, a raffle and music performances. Popular performer Cowgirl Julie will make an appearance.
Szabo is still accepting donations from local retailers for the raffle, and said various items, such as theater tickets, gift certificates, gift baskets, facials and bottles of wine will be auctioned.
The money raised through the faire will go toward the association's revitalization efforts, she said.
For now, though, Szabo is still getting used to the idea of coming out of her 11-year retirement.
"I want the city to know this area is part of the community," she said. "It will be redeveloped. Things are changing, and they're changing for the better."
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