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Anaheim’s Booktown USA bookshop solves a years-old mystery before closure

July 16, 2026

It was a sign for Booktown USA.

A literal one.

For years, Thomas Pesce has had a small, hand-written sign on the front door window of Booktown USA that reads, “‘Larry, I found your book.” The Anaheim bookshop owner told us about it when we spoke to him about Booktown USA, which he’s having to close after working there six days a week for 23 years.

“Larry was an old-time customer,” Pesce told us in late June when he first discussed the store’s imminent closure in August.“The reason that the sign is in the window was that I don’t have a way to contact him, and I have a book for him.”

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Pesce and some other regulars speculated that Larry, a private man who’d shopped at the store for two decades but wouldn’t leave his contact information, might have died during the pandemic. Pesce says the last time he’d seen Larry had been around the time of the shelter-in-place order in March 2020.

“My good friend Stan is going to be 94. He just flat-out came out and said, ‘I think he passed away from COVID,’ and I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ I don’t want to think that, but I have to admit that every time he said it, I would lean a little bit more that way,” says Pesce, during an interview this week. “But you know, my wife put it in a good way. She said, ‘Maybe he just moved.’ … That was a better way of looking at it. It made me feel better when she said that.”

The fate of Larry and his requested book on Roman coins seemed like it would remain a mystery for Pesce, the regulars and everyone else who’d read about the store.

Until earlier this week, that is.

Booktown USA owner Thomas Pesce opened his store on November 1, 2003 in Anaheim. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Booktown USA owner Thomas Pesce opened his store on November 1, 2003 in Anaheim. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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As it neared closing time early Monday evening, Pesce says he was straightening up and though he hadn’t heard his door chime, he sensed a presence in the shop.

“I turned around, and there he was,” recalls Pesce, who says Larry was wearing a mask and gloves out of an abundance of caution to avoid getting sick. “He said because of COVID, he didn’t believe that it was totally safe to go out, so he’d just changed his buying habits.

“So that was a real pleasant surprise,” says Pesce. “We had a real nice chat.”

Pesce said Larry had seen the story about the closing of Booktown USA — and learned about the sign — and knew he had to come in, especially since he had no idea what book Pesce was talking about.

“He didn’t remember what the book was,” says Pesce, laughing. “I had to convince him that he had asked for the book. … He just drew a blank.

“I said, ‘Larry, I could have just kept this book; it’s such a great book,” says Pesce of the volume in question, “The Handbook of Roman Imperial Coins” by David Van Meter.

“I couldn’t believe he didn’t remember.”

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Pesce says he’ll be out of the Booktown USA location by Aug. 15, but he plans to remain open 7 days a week until the end.

“I’ve had people come in who are just so nice about wanting to help me and buy books,” says Pesce. “It really reinforces, you know, your belief that there are a lot of good people out there.”

Then he repeats himself.

“There are a lot of good people out there,” he says. “I’ve gotten 10 times what I’ve given. It’s been wonderful.”

Booktown USA, Camphor Tree Plaza, 2090 S Euclid St #108, Anaheim. 714-534-5038

Anaheim’s Booktown USA bookshop is being forced to close after 23 years

Anaheim’s Booktown USA bookshop solves a years-old mystery before closure Orange County Register

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Anaheim’s Booktown USA bookshop solves a years-old mystery before closure

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