All’s quiet in the library

Fewer visitors than expected have dropped by the much-ballyhooed, $165 million Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark., since its November gala opening, but one VIP has been trying to make up for that: President Clinton himself.

“I understand he’s here regularly,” says Todd Scholl, director of marketing for Little Rock’s Peabody Hotel.

And what does the former president do?

“That’s a good question,” says Mr. Scholl.

The former president recently showed up unannounced at a private reception at the library and has become so ubiquitous that a guest at another event this week approached Skip Rutherford, president of the William J. Clinton Foundation, and asked, “Is Bill here tonight?”

Mr. Clinton has been entertaining old friends in the museum’s two-bedroom penthouse apartment, overlooking the Arkansas River. The apartment is also known as the “Executive Suite,” and Mr. Clinton plans to spend an average of one week each month there. He used to bunk at his mother-in-law’s condo before getting the new pad that his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, has not visited since November.

“It’s awesome,” says David Leopoulos, a boyhood friend of Mr. Clinton’s. “Stereo, big-screen TV, lots of technology. It’s really neat.”

The penthouse, which is just beyond Mr. Clinton’s private office — ironically, oval-shaped, is “all glass. And it’s very modern. Ethnic art. And the view is incredible. It’s like floating in air,” says Mr. Leopoulos, 58, who refers to Mr. Clinton as “the Big Kahuna.”

Whether it’s nostalgia for his days in the White House, Mr. Clinton told Mr. Rutherford that “he wants to spend several hours just by himself” roaming the library, which houses the largest collection of presidential papers and artifacts in the United States.

“He will spend time greeting guests at the library. He enjoys that,” says Mr. Rutherford. “I think it’s a thrill for any president to go through your library.”

Mr. Leopoulos says Mr. Clinton “loved” his old job. “If he could be president again tomorrow, he would be.”

No doubt one of Mr. Clinton’s favorite exhibits is the exact replica of the Oval Office, meticulously cloned by Little Rock interior designer Kaki Hockersmith. Miss Hockersmith, who decorated the real Oval Office for Mr. Clinton, even grew the ivy on the fireplace from a cutting of the plant in the actual White House.

The fake Oval Office is where Mr. Clinton recently taped a television commercial with former President George Bush to raise money for tsunami relief. Another personal favorite, Mr. Rutherford says, is the exhibit of “Head of State” gifts.

And if Mr. Clinton gets a hunger for the munchies, he can pop down to “Cafe 42” for a few of Hillary’s famous chocolate-chip cookies.

Mr. Clinton, who plans to overnight at the penthouse whenever he has a speaking engagement in town, invited Mr. Leopoulos and his wife, as well as his first high-school date, Mauria Aspell, and her husband over the other night for a game of hearts.

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