Life-long Resident Travels World, Happily Returns to Richmond

By Buffy McGuire

For veteran public relations man, first-time novelist and Richmond District native Alvin Guthertz, writing is the springboard of his life.

"I was one of those few guys who knew what he wanted," Guthertz said about his longing to write.

His new novel, "Low Fog in Eden," to be released in mid-November by Erik House Publishing, marks the continuation of a career shaped by a constant stream of new ideas.

He wrote the novel in three years, inspired by his trip as a travel writer to the Seychelles, an island off the African coast. Local folklore there maintains that the island is the site of the original Garden of Eden.

This idyllic and historic location became the catalyst for the themes in "Low Fog in Eden."

The novel is metaphorically set in a modern day Garden of Eden; it is Guthertz's interpretation of what happens the day after the snake comes to town.

Guthertz places his subjects in present day Bodega Bay, exploring the universal themes of both love lost and love found. The main characters, Jeremy, a fisherman, and London, an apple orchard worker, struggle with their unrequited dreams and desires.

An acclaimed freelance writer, Guthertz has won countless prizes. In 1998, he won an Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest annual awards for "The World at Your Feet," an article about the Richmond District.

As a native Richmond District boy, his dreams were cast by frequent trips from his home on 29th Avenue to the now closed Coliseum movie theater on Ninth Avenue and Clement Street, where he lived out his dreams as a writer. The heroes he wanted to emulate were the writers in classic movies, such as Hitchcock's "Foreign Correspondent" and "Stay Fair," with Dean Andrews.

Today, this 20 block radius is still his beat. His office has been located on Ninth Avenue and Geary Boulevard for 35 years and his 97-year-old mother still lives in their 29th Avenue home.

His roots in the Richmond run three generations deep. His grandfather owned a cigar factory at the Barbary Coast where Guthertz learned to roll his own cigars.

"It's really a lost art form," he said.

He's witnessed the changes that are transforming his movie theater into condominiums and turned scouting for parking spots into a fine art; yet, for a man so rooted in the Richmond, he appreciates the positive changes that have occurred in the neighborhood.

"It's a wonderful mix of people and cultures where you can pass the playground and hear kids singing "Happy Birthday" in Chinese and see kids wearing yarmulkes playing in the background."

As a 35-year public relations veteran, Guthertz daily uses his writing to entice the press into covering his clients, which range from Charles Schwab, the Winchester Mystery House and Metro-Goldwyn to the Cow Palace's Grand National Rodeo.

A typical day in the life of Guthertz is fodder for novel writing. He recently hosted a "media bull ride," where he invited the local press to ride a bull to promote the Grand National Rodeo. Guthertz even got taken for a ride. Bandaged and examined after being chucked, thrown and trampled on, he still greeted people.

After the necessary brevity of press releases, Guthertz appreciates the delving, creative nature of novel writing.

"The characters take me where I don't even plan to go and I get to say things I would never say," he said.

Guthertz is always taking notes and carrying a tape recorder in preparation for his next idea. Since childhood he has collected newspaper headlines; the collection ranges from Pearl Harbor to the Persian Gulf War to the World Trade Center attacks.

"When you look back and read the headlines, like from Pearl Harbor, you can really see the impact of the moment," Guthertz said.

Guthertz's writing and persistence have gotten him into all sorts of unusual places, including the Academy Awards, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson's Royal Wedding and Scotland Yard's Black Museum. Guthertz is not limited by geographical boundaries.

"Anyone in the world is three phone calls away," he said.

Guthertz has traveled all over the world yet he still calls the Richmond his home.

"I've done a lot of travel writing and in the Richmond we're lucky to have a neighborhood contained by the worldwide landmarks of Golden Gate Park, the Pacific Ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a fantastic neighborhood."