COVER STORY : Home Away From Home : If you’re seeking companionship, coffee or a place to relax, head for a good bookstore.

Two people sitting in the corner chat about obvious get-to-know-you topics. At a nearby table, another couple has the age-old debate--decaf or leaded?--before settling in to read. Students drop in to study or refuel with another cup of java. And at two couches, four women are held rapt by the musings of the futuristic Modrain, as revealed through a spiritual channeler.

A routine Tuesday night at The Book Grinders, one of the many bookstores where people are doing a lot more than just buying books.

They’re buying coffee, to start. Barnes & Noble began a partnership with Starbucks in 1993, and the Encino branch is one of 125 nationwide with an adjoining cafe. Even the tiny Portrait of a Bookstore reports a more regular clientele since moving in with the Royal Grounds Cafe in Toluca Lake.

The caffeine hook is only one of the tools bookstore owners are using to reel in patrons while trying to serve their communities better. They are rejecting the fast-brain-food ambience of Waldenbooks in favor of contemplative couches and chairs. They are filling calendars with events: book clubs, readings, discussion groups, author signings and story hours. And now their stores are turning into de facto community centers.

Robert and Susan Sugerman were using The Book Grinders to extend an evening away from their two young children by a few hours. While some patrons were engaged in conversation, the two doctors quietly caught up on professional reading, an activity reminiscent of the “library dates” they had in college.

“It’s an unexpected bright spot in this area,” Robert Sugerman, 32, said of the Van Nuys store. “It’s nice that people take a chance on a place like this. It’s as much of a community center as we use, since we don’t belong to any organizations.”

That’s the effect The Book Grinders is after, says manager Juli Michaud. Its events--such as an Utne Reader salon, a Civil War round table and a creative writing workshop--bring diverse groups of people into the store. They are welcome to browse the aisles or get comfortable on a couch.

“Which happens quite often,” Michaud says. “I’m going to bring in a Polaroid and take pictures of all the people who fall asleep on the couch.”

Neighborhood bookstores turned on the charm to compete in the 1980s, when book-selling chains were expanding based on volume buying and discount pricing. Area independent bookstores, led by Midnight Express in Santa Monica, distinguished themselves by offering readings, discussions and lectures.

“It’s complementary to the books,” explained Midnight Express owner Margie Ghiz. “Part of reading is being able to share it. You hear people get all jazzed or mad when they read something. . . . That’s when you’re alive .”

Independent store owners like Ghiz are irritated that chains such as Barnes & Noble have imitated their comfortable atmosphere, though with stylish Ethan Allen decor. But they are more defensive of their events and discussions. “Chains are only going to go as far as we go,” Ghiz says. “Once we’re gone, they won’t do it anymore, because you don’t make any money at it.”

Gary Delson, manager of the Barnes & Noble in Encino, disagrees. He says his store is trying to become part of the community, just like any shop would.

“I don’t know that we’re stealing any ideas. We’re just trying to make an environment that people would like to come to,” Delson says. “If Starbucks and Barnes & Noble build two businesses together and it works, then it works.”

Delson says his store is still in the “discovery” stage, meaning many customers are walking in for the first time. But he sees a social scene developing. “I’ve worked every Saturday night for the last six months,” he said. “This store at 10:30 at night is full of people. They’re meeting friends and seeing people they haven’t seen in a while.”

America’s collective longing for more informal public space may be played out in the aisles of bookshelves. In his 1989 book, “The Great Good Place,” sociologist Ray Oldenburg explains how our lives are bettered by “third places.” A third place can be anywhere other than home or work--a diner, bar, beauty parlor--where people gather for conversation.

While there’s a tradition of bookstores as gathering spots in New England, Oldenburg says, this recent incarnation isn’t the same. He compares them to bring-your-own-friend bars: places that are crowded, but where people socialize only with those they came with.

“They’re not ‘third places.’ If you have time and you like to browse through the books, they’re suitable to that, but they’re not the kind of place that you can count on running into friends,” says Oldenburg, a professor at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. “But they’re new. Whether these have the potential to become meeting places, that will remain to be seen.”

Especially challenging, it seems, is pulling off an intimate atmosphere in a store that houses 200,000 books. But the company that owns Barnes & Noble and Bookstar is working hard at it. When it started opening Valley “superstores”--in Studio City in 1992 and in Northridge in 1993--each hired a community relations coordinator. At the Bookstar in Woodland Hills, that job belongs to Lisa Johnson.

Johnson schedules about two dozen events each month, each facilitated by someone on staff. In addition, Johnson has an opportunity to observe how people are using the store. Some come and literally stay for hours. Others, she said, browse the store on a date.

“I know it’s also a good place to meet potential dates. It’s easy to strike up a conversation with someone who’s browsing for books,” she says, then adds, “Please, don’t portray us as a meat market. But it’s certainly better than a bar. At least here you can determine that the person is literate.”

Even if they lack a full schedule of events, bookstores like Dutton’s Books in North Hollywood function as a neighborhood social center, said co-owner Davis Dutton.

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“We just try to run a generally congenial and friendly store,” Dutton said. “We have a lot of spontaneous customer conversation.” Recently, he reported, a couple came in to show off their baby. The new parents met in his bookstore.

Other bookstore patrons are content to be left alone. Nicole Resnick, 38, spent more than an hour thumbing through three books after buying them at The Book Grinders. She comes here several times a month, and has brought in friends to introduce them to her “home away from home.”

“This is the ideal place to hang out when you’re mad at your lover. You don’t have to buy anything. You can drink a glass of water and stay for hours,” says Resnick, 38. “Here is the place where I can come and feel at peace.”

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Havens for the Literary Set

* The Book Grinders, 13321 Burbank Blvd., Van Nuys, (818) 988-4503. This general bookstore with adjoining cappuccino bar is a Valley College hangout that draws a lot of neighborhood folk as well. Has programs ranging from spiritual channelers to live guitar music. Open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.

* The Iliad, 4820 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood, (818) 509-2665. Used bookstore with lots of books and lots of charm. Two cats and a dog roam the aisles, and two sofas grace the center room. Open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

* Dutton’s Books, 5146 Laurel Canyon Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 769-3866. A 35-year-old institution in the Valley, Dutton’s sells new, used and rare books. The thousands of books tend to dominate the space, but the store does have occasional readings and signings. Open from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

* Agoura Book and Coffee Co., 5649 Kanan Road, Agoura Hills, (818) 991-9256. General independent bookstore with a strong children’s section and a weekly story hour. Open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

* Portrait of a Bookstore, 10144 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake, (818) 769-3853. Literally a corner bookstore inside the Royal Grounds Cafe. Both are a regular stop for some local actors and writers. Open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

* Barnes & Noble, 16461 Ventura Blvd., Encino, (818) 380-1636. Huge. More than 200,000 titles can get overwhelming, so there’s an adjoining Starbucks for a coffee break. Different discussion groups--from contemporary fiction to drama--meet monthly. Open from 9 a.m to 11 p.m. daily.

* Bookstar, 21440 Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills, (818) 702-9515. Owned by the same company that owns Barnes & Noble, its programs are similar. A screenwriters group discusses recent film releases, and a “Meeting of the Minds” focuses on current affairs. Also has a popular children’s story hour on Friday nights. Open from 9 a.m to 11 p.m. daily.