End of an era?
Greater Boston’s only typewriter repair shop has announced it will close on March 31. Tom Furrier, owner of Cambridge Typewriter Co., stated Sunday in a Facebook post that “after 45 years, I am retiring, and Cambridge Typewriter will be closing their doors for good on March 31.” Furrier said an “official announcement” with more details would come later, and that there will be a going out of business sale throughout March. “We are no longer accepting any new repairs but are still selling typewriters up until the end.” “I’ll be giving updates over the next couple of months as to how we are going to close it out. We will have a big party towards the end of March. It will be a Type-In disguised as a retirement party.” In April 2023, Cambridge Typewriter received an autographed vintage typewriter from two-time Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks. Hanks collects typewriters, but decided to gift his Olympia, model SM4 to the Arlington shop. Furrier told media at the time that he did not plan to sell Hanks’ typewriter, which was worth about $350. It is not known whether he has since changed his mind.
A resurgence of vintage typewriters started in the early 2000s, Furrier said. The millennials hunched over desk lamps, tiny tools and polishing cloths in hand, aren’t the only ones enraptured by the clack-clack-clack of these old machines. Poets, artists, writers, even high school students are putting words to paper and finding pleasure in the sounds of fingers on keys, the brrring! of the return wheel. “Typewriters never really went away,” said Bill Rhoda, co-owner and lead mechanic at Philly Typewriter. Police departments, courts, those who record birth and death certificates, title companies − many of them still use typewriters, Rhoda said. “We went away, the mechanics. The typewriters are still out there.” Rhoda, 35, had a background in higher education but was feeling burned out when he found an old typewriter at his mom’s house. It had no ribbon, though, so he searched online and found Bryan Kravitz, who specialized in IBM Selectric repairs. Rhoda wanted to learn, too. Kravitz was happy to teach him. “I just put my head down, and learned how to do it,” Rhoda said,
It’s a community, where like-minded people come to learn, read, write, create art and find others who are just their type. And it’s not the only community built around these old machines. In Midland, Pennsylvania, Fred Durbin’s students at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School are writing like many of the 20th century’s greatest minds: on typewriters. Guided by “The Typewriter Revolution,” a book by Richard Polt that Durbin described as “walking a line between writing and philosophy,” students use typewriters from Durbin’s personal collection. Some have even sought out their own typewriters at thrift stores and flea markets. Then there’s “the Taylor Swift effect,” Rhoda added, alluding to the pop megastar’s typewriter reference on the title song of her album, “Tortured Poets Department.” There’s a typewriter “graveyard” in the basement with machines beyond repair that are used for parts; cabinets stocked with components and manuals; even machines and schematics to make hard- or impossible-to-find pieces on-site.
Humor of a type
TYPEWRITER FOR SALE…
Per ect ondit on
A recent archeological dig was finished at historic Stratford-upon-Avon
They found many typewriters and many, many, more monkey skeletons.
Did you know the inventor of the typewriter was unknown until recent discoveries in China?
The new discoveries point to a man named Tye Ping.
It’s not my fault that I hate typing mistakes, it’s in my blood.
I’m type O negative.
January 22nd Birthdays
2002 – Miranda McKeon, 1960 – Linda Blair, 1982 – Beverly Mitchell, 1965 – Diane Lane
1971 – Matt Iseman, 1968 – Guy Fieri, 1973 – Gabriel Macht, 1987 – Ray Rice