SHINING AMBITION : Shoeshine King of Woodland Hills Plans His Empire

The shoeshine king of Woodland Hills was in step Wednesday with the booming Warner Center business district.

Asa P. Stevenson had polished off a deal to open his third shoeshine stand at a high-rise at the western end of the San Fernando Valley.

And he was brushing up on his negotiating skills in hopes of winning permission to open a fourth--and to launch a mobile shoeshine service that will travel between low-rise buildings.

“The shoe-shining business is off and running,” said Stevenson, 28. “I’m very fortunate to have my foot in the door.”

Stevenson, a former hotel bellhop, began shining shoes at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel in June. Four months later, he expanded to a nearby 20-floor office building and won permission to open a stand at another 20-story building that will open next year.

His newest plan is to obtain the shoeshine concession at a new Hilton Hotel under construction in Warner Center.

After that, he expects to really branch out.

“I’m not going to be a greedy individual,” Stevenson said. “But if everything goes as I plan, I’m thinking of the state of California. And then over to Phoenix. I’d like to have a monopoly on the shoeshine business.”

It’s a field that people have recently brushed off, Stevenson said.

He said he knows of only a handful of old-fashioned shoeshine operators still in the Valley.

“The old guys are dying, and nobody’s filling their shoes,” he said.

His own family and friends were skeptical 5 years ago when Stevenson decided to shine on the hotel business and shine shoes.

Though he spent $4,000 each to have his stands custom built from oak, he quickly broke even a few weeks after opening his first one, he said.

Stevenson’s chance to set up shop in the glistening marble lobby of an office building at 21600 Oxnard St. came after a building executive got a $3 shoeshine from him at the Marriott Hotel.

The executive, William W. Lassetter II, director of marketing for Voit Cos., took an immediate shine to Stevenson.

Lassetter invited him to the office building rent-free. He arranged to have a special shoeshine stand alcove installed for Stevenson in the new 20-story Warner Center building nearing completion.

“He’s our kind of guy,” Lassetter said Wednesday. “He’s articulate, eager, fun to work with. We want to add humanity to Warner Center--we don’t want it to be just parking structures.”

Office workers say the friendly Stevenson brightens their shoes and their day.

“I’m in and out of office buildings all over L.A. every week, but I always wait to come here to have my shoes shined,” said electronics field engineer Bob Martin of Woodland Hills.

Stevenson said his fledgling ASAP Co. has one employee. He said his wife, Cynthia, handles the books, delivers shoeshine supplies and occasionally delivers customers’ shoes to repair shops. They have three children.

His own workday is 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Stevenson said. He spends days at the office’s stand and evenings at the hotel’s.

He said he will hire more workers when he opens his third stand and begins his traveling shoeshine service. His employees will be trained to polish with silk rags, not nylon, and to wear tuxedos on the job, just like he does, he said.

And if the business expands, like Stevenson figures it will, he said he will end up well-heeled.