Don't Roll Over: How Sam's Taxi Owner Made it From the Streets to Small Biz Owner

Five and half years ago Sam Tawasha was standing on a corner panhandling, like he'd done hundreds of times before. While scanning cars, asking for change, Tawasha noticed a sign. Rohnert Park Taxi, now called Ace Taxi, was looking for drivers — and Tawasha, who was homeless, saw an opportunity.

Tawasha, 51, lived on the streets of Rohnert Park. He was newly divorced, and lost his home and his business because of it, forcing him into homelessness.

“For four years I was homeless in Rohnert Park; it was just me and my dog,” Tawasha said, on a recent day in between shifts. He and his dog Blacky depended on one another what he described as "tough times."

The two lived in an old beat up RV, a position Tawasha found himself in after his nine-year calzone business folded — a result of hard economic times.

In fact, Tawasha, an unusually optimistic man for his disposition, attributes his zest for life to his dog Blacky. Most days, he was forced to choose: dinner for himself or his dog. But Blacky wouldn't touch a morsel till his owner ate. On the streets, he often ran into friends from his former life.

“They would go inside their pocket, take all their money and spilt it in half with me so I'd have money for food for me and my dog," Tawasha says.

Blacky has always been an important part of Sam’s life. A nephew brought the pouty-faced pit-bull home, he was just one year old and he was about to be put to sleep. Tawasha's nephew begged him to take the dog.

Reluctant at first because he had a cat, Tawasha took him in anyway, the rest is history.

“If you ask me who my friend is, that’s Blacky," Tawasha says. "The best thing that happened to me besides the Lord was that dog coming into my life. When I needed somebody, that dog was there for me."

Turned Life Around

One day in the spring of 2005, Tawasha, who moved to America from Jerusalem in 1973, was walking by the former Albertsons Supermarket (now Grocery Outlet) when he saw a help wanted sign in the window. Rohnert Park Taxi was looking for drivers, so he took a chance and applied. The owner was a good man, according to Sam, and even though he earned very little compared to his calzone business, he was grateful for the opportunity.

"The money there was like chump change to me, but I didn't care. It was a job," Tawasha says.

Right off the bat, Sam's charm and friendship won over the customers.

"People would call and they'd ask for me," Tawasha says. "I received so many compliments."

"At the time they [Rohnert Park Taxi] was the only taxi in town, you had no choice ... but Sam was always dependable and really cared about his customers. He treats them with respect," says longtime rider Sandy Woodruff of Rohnert Park.

The employees, however, didn't take to Sam as well. After being denied available shifts and frustrated with his fellow employees, Tawasha decided it was time to have his own.

He even let his customer Sandy in on his plan, when he picked her up, she said she'd follow him on his endeavor.

"Ok Sammy," she said.

A Rohnert Park Business is Born

Making the move to running a business was a no-brainer for Tawasha.

"I always had my own business, my whole life" he says.

Tawasha worked and saved for four months until he had enough money to apply for his license. On Sept. 16, 2005 the city of Rohnert Park approved the company and Sam's Taxi was born.

He started with one taxi the first year and by the end of that year he had three. The first year proved to be a tough one, however. He ran the service alone, sleeping with the phone sometimes, according to his nephew, earning his dues and trying to attend every customer.

He later hired someone but he didn't value the customers the way Sam wanted. Near the start of the first year he found out he had Bells Parsy and was forced to take time off to deal with his illness. So he called his nephew, who left his job to come and help with the taxi business.

"Then from then on anytime I had to step out they stepped in for me and the business kept growing," Tawasha says. "Every time I gave my family a position the business kept growing; the lord was very good to me."

Within three years, Sam added four more taxis to his lot. Sam's Taxi is now completley family owned and operated with Sam’s seven nephews on his payroll and six cabs running in Rohnert Park.

A driver for the past four years, Issah Khouri, 34, Sam's nephew, describes working for his uncle as wonderful, having worked for him since he was 15 years old.

“He's an honest man. He cares about family," Khouri says. "He's a lot more than an uncle; he's a good friend as well." 

Working with family also means co-workers you can count on. "It's great we stand by each other. It's not about me, me, me, it's about us," Khouri added.

Understanding what it was like to have nothing, it was important for Tawasha to give back to others in need, he says. With three cabs running under his name in Santa Rosa, he lent them to another family in need so they could make a living. 

"I helped someone else also in life," he says.

If there were a word to describe Sam Tawasha, generous would be it. As Sandy said "He's very honest you can trust him and depend on him. He runs his cab company with his heart, and he has a big heart."

Even though the taxi service is a business, money is not the center of it. His customers' happiness is, Tawasha says.

"They depend on me,” Sam says. “My duty is to treat them right, and they see that. They're like family to me. If somebody needed help and called on me, I would show up right there and then."

Khouri agreed. "It isn't about finances. You can call him at anytime of the night at 3 a.m. to talk and he's like that with people he isn't related to.”

Hillary Starr, 31, a bartender at Tradewinds in Cotati, has been a customer of Sam's since she moved to Rohnert Park five years ago.

"I know them by name. They come in and say hi or you might see them at the grocery store and they greet you," Starr says. "They treat you like more than a customer, they treat you like friends, they're friendly and very, very funny guys." 

The staff at Sam's are like a family to Rohnert Park; the majority of the company's drivers have lived here for 30 years.  “We all went to school here and grew up here," Khouri says.

According to Tawasha, the majority of clients get picked up within 10 minutes. If the pick-up times take longer because of an influx of calls, they call their customers right away.

He even calls other taxis for customers going out of town if he doesn't have enough cabs out, so no one is left waiting. 

"We're very reliable we call them back and don't have them waiting. If we think we're going to be late and majority if not all the time they're still waiting for us," Khouri says.

The reliability helps customers, like Woodruff, who depend on the taxi for many of her trips.

"Sam knows if he dropped you off you need to be picked up and he's there," Woodruff says.

Starr, who used Sam while she didn't have a license and regularly calls him for her customers at the bar, agrees. She used the taxi to catch Amtrak and get to school in Sacramento when she first arrived and was able to depend on the family.

Even many locals who never met Tawasha appreciate his services.

He gives the example of Sonoma State students returning home out of state, who would often would tell their parents about the driver who made sure they got home safe from the local Cotati hub bars, even if they didn't have the fare.

Parents would often call me to just say thank you, Tawahsa says.

When he first got started, Tawasha remembers, two female students called him late at night, anxious being alone with a cluster of guys at the hub. They had no money, but he gave them a safe ride home. They helped spread the word quickly around campus.

Some passengers call even after a year or two just to say hello, and see how he is. "It gives me a good feeling I'm doing something good that people appreciate," he says.

If customers need help loading groceries or a walker into the cab, Sam's Taxi doesn't hesitate to help. They also don't hesitate to crack a joke or a smile.

When asked about his success, Tawasha says he does well and pays his bills and is saving money to buy a home for Blacky and himself.

"I am very proud and very happy for him he deserves everything, everything," Khouri said.

To those who are struggling Tawasha gives this advice: "Do not roll over, do not roll over no matter what happens to you. The wheel will keep turning. It will not stop for nobody. You just gotta pick yourself up and start."