Over the years, this was the kind of hands-on service that the Golden Notebook grew famous for and ultimately what led to its being nominated for the Publishers Weekly Bookseller of the Year Award in 2003. The owners prided themselves on creating the kind of environment where customers were greeted by name and could talk books for hours with staff members familiar with their tastes. In those pre-digital days, all inventory was kept on file cards. Together they took out a Small Business Administration Loan, and with the help of legendary publisher Betty Ballantine renovated and stocked the store. Samuels, who’d first met Shapiro at Rutgers in the 1960s, was visiting his brother in Woodstock at the time, and quickly got on board. When the Colonial moved to Bradley Meadows, 29 Tinker languished for several years – used occasionally as a headquarters for the local Republican Party – until Shapiro, who’d been waitressing at the Threepenny Restaurant nearby, approached Forno about renting the space. Forno built 29 Tinker in 1947 with lumber from Nelson Shultis’ mill in Wittenberg under his kindly supervision Colonial became the town’s principal destination for ice cream. Shapiro and business partner Barry Samuels leased the storefront that had formerly been Joe Forno’s Colonial Pharmacy. Named after original owner Ellen Shapiro’s favorite Doris Lessing novel, The Golden Notebook opened its doors on June 23, 1978.

Author of the golden notebook