A moving, funny, and unforgettable memoir of homeless life in New York

For the past sixteen years, Cadillac Man has lived on the streets of New York City. Over those years, he has recorded the facts of his daily life, writing hundreds of thousands of words in a series of spiral-bound notebooks. Cadillac Man: My Life on the Streets distills those journals into a memoir of homeless life, full of indelible characters and packed with gripping stories. In a gritty, poignant, and funny voice, Cadillac narrates his descent into homelessness, the struggles and unexpected freedoms of his life, and the story of his love affair with a young runaway, whom he eventually (and tragically) reunites with her family. The United States has seven hundred thousand homeless people; ultimately, Cadillac’s story is their story.

"Writer, veteran and native Manhattanite Cadillac Man exposes the hidden world of the homeless in this riveting collection of stories from his sixteen years on the streets of New York City. Following the heartbreaking deterioration of his marriage, Cadillac finds himself wandering New York with no destination, comforted by the memories of his young daughter and haunted by his failures. With an uncanny sense of humor and invention, Cadillac uses everyday objects most take for granted (soda cans, discarded beach chairs, toy wagons) to build a life for himself, literally, from the ground up. Cadillac guides readers through streets most people don't (or choose not to) see, introducing the outcasts he comes to value most: singers, teen runaways, pimps, prostitutes and a few unlikely angels. Excruciating details of fist-fights and romantic escapades leave little to the imagination, rendering Cadillac's world intimate, scary and touching; it becomes clear that his survival and sanity depend not only on crafty methods of making money, but also on journaling (excerpts from which have appeared in Esquire magazine). A surprising find, Cadillac lets readers in on a rarely seen community, revealing the compassionate hearts that beat even in the most despairing circumstances." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Born in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan, Cadillac Man has lived on the streets in four of New York’s five boroughs. His journals have been excerpted in Esquire magazine.