Bob Rasner and his wife Marie are the owners of Elijah Slocum, which designs and crafts fine handmade cabinetry and furniture. The store is now located in Hudson, but it wasn’t always so: until fairly recently, the Rasners lived in Los Angeles and had a showroom in New York. Four years ago, they found a niche for their store in Hudson, and left big-city congested life for a low-density town with a rich community. Now, Bob relishes seeing his customers face to face. “Folks from the city are way more relaxed when they’re up here for the weekend," he says. He tells RI about some of the ways he has made connections in the Hudson Valley.
Moving here has been one of the best decisions of our life. When we first got here, we rented an apartment that was lovely but too small for entertaining. When our lease was almost up, we started looking for another place, and friends put us on to a 14-room, 1860s house that we loved but that was too big for us. Owning a bed and breakfast has always been in the back of my mind — we've traveled a lot in Great Britain because our furniture is made in rural England and we have stayed at inns scores of times, So we moved in, and three weeks later had guests at The INN at 240. It’s been perfect — we’ve never had hassles with any of the guests. We’ve made some good long-term friends with people who stayed with us and eventually relocated here. In California I was a serious bicyclist. I started a bicycle club, Grand Masters Cycling, for people 50 and up and began racing in senior games; I won several gold medals. The Hudson Library has an annual fundraising race, the Ghostly Gallop, that wasn’t attracting the number of participants it should and I was asked if I could develop it into a more substantial event. I wrote a three-year plan and took on the responsibility of building an event that would put at least 100 kids in the one-mile event, and 500 in the 5K event. US Track and Field has been out to measure the race, and we’ll be closing the streets, which has never been done. It’s now listed on national websites and we have some serious competitors coming out to race. This year’s event happens on Oct. 25. I do a lot of recreational biking, and sometimes take my guests on bicycle trips to show them the area. It’s nirvana for bicyclists here. I like to ride along the river north through Stuyvesant, going through Kinderhook and Chatham. My daughter lives in Lakeville and I have a tradition: I ride my bike to her house every Christmas Eve. I really want people to experience the exhilaration of running or bicycling and keeping fit. Happiness doesn’t come about because of business, it comes in the enjoyment you get interacting with people and sharing experiences.
