Contra Costa Times
November 9, 2007
Stint as cab driver results in award-winning book
Stories about Popeye's Bitter Half-Brother and Cat Woman get honors for newauthor
By Marta Yamamoto
When life pelts you with lemons, make lemonade. When stuck in a cab withquirky, often dangerous characters, write a book.
Larry Sager, an Oakland hills resident and an attorney with Thelen ReidBrown Raysman & Steiner in San Francisco, has done just that in his witty,funny and suspenseful book, "No Guns, No Knives, No Personal Checks -- TheTales of a San Francisco Cab Driver" (Everett Madison Publishing, $14.95).
His stories about Popeye's Bitter Half-Brother, Cat Woman and The Dancerhave been awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best First Book. Inaddition, the book also won an award at the recent IRWIN (IndustryRecognition of Writers in the News) event in Los Angeles.
Sager's life experiences, leading up to his stint as a cab driver, seem toset the tone for his adventures. In 1973, at 18, he came to San Francisco towork as a musician. Over the next 20 years, his music gigs were augmented byrenovating Victorians, being employed in engineering construction, doingradio work as a DJ and talk show host and writing both music and articles.
"During this time, I picked up numerous college credits and was in and outof universities," he said. "In 1992 I decided I would go to law school, butI only had 21/2 years of college."
He determined that the fastest route out of undergrad status was an Englishdegree and signed up for 18 units of creative writing at San Francisco State.
"Right before I went back to school for the semester, I took this job driving a cab at night," he said.
The job seemed ideal. It was part time, with flexible hours and a nighttime shift.
"I thought I could hang out and study in the airport garage, waiting forfares," he said.
The job turned out a bit more lively then he anticipated.
"The first couple of months I was driving, three different people pulledknives out," he said. "I started getting all types of strange people, andstrange things started happening to me."
After driving for 10 hours, from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., he would return home andpen vignettes of that night's experiences, with exacting detail and insight.
"Driving a cab was like an interview show. After a few months I couldn'tkeep up with what was going on, so I started a collection of tapes," he said.
After 21/2 years, he had 131/2 hours of tape and more than 50 stories.
"Some characters are composites, but a lot is exactly as it happened; 90 percent true and 10 percent artistic license," he said.
His observations of his passengers and his gift for acute descriptions placethe reader inside his cab. With humorous running commentary and a whirlwindtour of the full scope of San Francisco's sights, his skills as astoryteller emerge.
However, life intervened and his collection sat for 10 years, during whichhe earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, worked as an intern at the White House Council's Office and began his career as aproducts liability attorney.
After working with illustrator Shannon Essex and shuffling the order of his stories, his book was released in November, 2006.
He was presented with the Benjamin Franklin Award this past May 31, on theeve of BookExpo America in New York City. The award, sponsored by PMA, theIndependent Book Publishers Association, celebrates editorial and design excellence.
He was uncertain how Yellow Cab would react, so he visited with the book,champagne and some Godiva chocolates.
"If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have all this material," he said. "Theywere extremely nice, and I even did a book signing at the cab company."
Sager, 52, and his wife, Maria, have enjoyed living in the Oakland hills since March 2003. Both love the location, as well as Oakland's climate andits diversity.
"We're in a great location for Maria's job in downtown Oakland and for SanFrancisco," he said. "We can go up north to Marin or south to Santa Cruz. Wecan see if there's traffic and decide which way to go."
Asked if he ever misses his days as a cab driver, Sager's answer wassuccinct.
"Actually, I don't," he said.
