FAS - 1980s

The 1980s was a good decade for Frank Scioscia and riverrun. The bookstore was a hobby for Frank. He still worked at Harper (& Bros, & Row, Collins) marketing children's books. He liked his job there. He loved his hobby at riverrun.

Because it was a hobby, Frank was pretty casual about financial arrangements and about store hours. Pals came to the store and talked books. Pretty regularly Frank, Stefan Kanfer and Kevin Ettinger left the comfortable store - often leaving browsers alone there - to play bocce down by the railroad. Kanfer built a board game of miniature bocce for play in the store. Ecco bocce he called it. The indoor game didn't regularize the store hours but, during inclement weather, it did provide entertainment for patrons and proprietor alike.

Bocce and companionship contributed to the warmth of the store, but it was all those books and all those lovers of books that accounted for its magic.