Restaurant business is in his blood

He works the late shift at Los Angeles’ famed combination restaurant, bar and bakery, Canter’s. The Fairfax district deli that never closes is always busy, and that’s just how the man who “directs the traffic” likes it: Part host, part maitre d’, Carl Sammons handles the rich and famous, the after-hours crowd and the regulars as smooth as -- well, a slice of Canter’s New York-style cheesecake.

Right from the start

“I was raised up in a restaurant. My mother owned one back in Texas, and I must have started working by the time I was 10; this is what I do.”

Style

This man on the move blends in with stylish diners day and night: In white short-sleeved shirt, a slender black tie at his throat, in black slacks and comfortable shoes, the 44-year-old Sammons is in constant motion.

Pick-me-up

Sammons, a self-described five-shot-a-day diabetic, maintains his frenetic pace by sipping fruit juice. “They’ve had the paramedics in here a couple of times on the 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. shifts, when I’ve gotten so busy that I forgot my juice.”

Work strategies

“I try to get everybody where they need to go as fast as I can -- to the bar, seat at a booth, at a table, at the counter. I’m constantly looking for open tables, you know, to speed things up.”

Confessions

“Whenever I’m not doing something, I’m talking with co-workers, keeping spirits up. And if it’s really slow, you’ll see me going from waitress, to cook, to busboy, cupping my hands and calling out “Ooooooo.” Just making noise, it’s something to do when you’re bored. It keeps spirits up until the crowd picks up.”