Since 1969: Three Owners, One Phone Number

Richard “Dick” Neuman was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1929 and lived with his grandparents in LaMoure, North Dakota until he was 14. He worked on aircraft at Northwest Airlines — and it was there he married June Howe. In the mid-1950s they moved their young family to the San Fernando Valley, where Dick went, in his family’s words, “from aircraft to HVAC.”

That lineage explains the third word on our original sign: Heating — Air Conditioning — Sheet Metal. A man who learned precision metalwork on airplanes bent his own duct. By 1966 the Neumans had settled outside Lodi — daughters Cindy and Sandy appear in News-Sentinel school and recital pages from 1966 on — and Dick set about starting something of his own.

Sources: Richard Jerome Neuman obituary, Lodi News-Sentinel, March 31–April 7, 2023; Lodi News-Sentinel school and society pages, 1966–1968.

On page 2 of the Lodi News-Sentinel of May 15, 1969, All-Air’s first ad announced a grand opening for that Friday and Saturday, May 16 & 17, at 116 N. School Street — a new display of Whirlpool heating and air conditioning equipment, free estimates, residential and commercial. The ad reads:

ALL-AIR — Heating — Air Conditioning — Sheet Metal
DICK NEUMAN, Owner
“We also handle other brand names of heating and air conditioning equipment”
116 N. School St., Lodi

That’s the whole founding story in one artifact: the founder’s name, the date, and an address you can still drive past on School Street.

You can trace the company through the paper for the next twenty years — not in press releases, but in the everyday places a small-town business shows up:

• 1970 — the number that would become our shop line, 368-4264, was ringing at the Neumans’ place in the country: it appears in News-Sentinel residential classifieds that spring. A 1980 classified selling the family’s mobile home says it plainly: “ask for June.”
• 1975 — the All-Air softball team appears in the city league standings.
• 1981 — a custom-home credits ad lists “Heating, Air Conditioning and Sheetmetal: Dick Neuman, ‘All-Air.’”
• 1982–85 — the All-Air team bowls the Delta Mixed league; the January 11, 1985 box score has Dick rolling a 676 alongside his daughter Cindy.
• August 8, 1988 — the year Dick retired, a Lodi builder took out an ad thanking “Dick Neuman, owner of All-Air Heating & Air Conditioning, for his great integrity and quality work.” We didn’t write that. A customer did — in print.

Sources: Lodi News-Sentinel classifieds, March–June 1970 and May 16, 1980; league standings June 23 & July 21, 1975; builder credits December 11 & 15, 1981; Delta Mixed league reports 1982–85 (Oct. 26, 1984; Jan. 11, 1985); tribute ad Aug. 8, 1988. Archive copies via OldNews.com or Lodi Public Library microfilm.

When Dick retired in 1988, the company stayed in the family: his daughter Sandy Neuman Schultz and her husband Rick Schultz ran All-Air for the next 23 years from 502 N. School Street. Their directory ads through the 2000s carried the line we still use — “Lic. #395746 — Since 1969.”

In a July 2004 News-Sentinel story on a Lodi heat wave, Rick — then handling about 25 service calls a day — put it the way only a lifer can:

“It’s amazing how you get some of these calls from people claiming that they’re ill or have small children. It makes me wonder how I ever survived as a kid without A/C.”

In January 2011, Rick and Sandy chose me to carry All-Air forward — the name, the customer list, the maintenance agreements, and yes, the phone number. I’m the first owner from outside the founding family, and I’ve always understood the deal that came with the keys: this company’s reputation was built over four decades before I ever answered the phone, and my job is to hand it on stronger.

The founding family are still All-Air customers today — which might be the endorsement we’re proudest of.

Some of what the years since have looked like:

• 2017 — when the Lodi House Thrift Store’s 30-year-old rooftop unit died and replacement bids ran $7,000–$8,000, our team installed a new Lennox package unit free of charge. The News-Sentinel covered it: “A warm gesture: All-Air donates heating, air system to Lodi House Thrift Store” (Jan. 31, 2017).
• 2019 — BBB Accredited, A+ rating (profile opened 2012).
• Today — a certified Lennox dealer serving Lodi and the Central Valley from 248 Commerce Street, with a second parts-and-equipment location in Livermore (2026), and a 4.9-star Google rating from more than 500 customers.

Dick Neuman passed away in March 2023, at 93. Every service call we run is on the number his family once answered at home.

— Kevin Gutierrez, Owner

We think a history page should be checkable. Every date above comes from a primary source — click where a public copy exists:

• Lodi News-Sentinel, May 15, 1969, p. 2 — the grand-opening ad, “Dick Neuman, Owner” (snippet and ad image viewable at OldNews.com)
• Lodi News-Sentinel, 1970–1988 — classifieds (Mar.–Jun. 1970; May 16, 1980), league standings (Jun. 23 & Jul. 21, 1975), builder credits (Dec. 11 & 15, 1981), Delta Mixed league (Oct. 26, 1984; Jan. 11, 1985), tribute ad (Aug. 8, 1988). Archive copies via OldNews.com or Lodi Public Library microfilm.
• Lodi News-Sentinel business directory ads, Dec. 4, 2003 / Nov. 11, 2004 / Jun. 15, 2007: “Lic. #395746 — Since 1969”
• “Get out the swimsuits, lemonade — it’s going to be a hot one in Lodi,” Lodi News-Sentinel, Jul. 21, 2004 (Rick Schultz interview)
• “A warm gesture,” Lodi News-Sentinel, Jan. 31, 2017 (Lodi House donation)
• Richard Jerome Neuman obituary, Lodi News-Sentinel, Mar. 31–Apr. 7, 2023
• Verify our license: CSLB #959972 — cslb.ca.gov Check a License
• Verify our rating: BBB profile — A+, Accredited since 2019

If you spot an error in our history, call us — on the same number as always.

Serving Lodi since 1969 — we’d love to earn your business too.