I’m watching the documentary California Typewriter and I’m just in awe. So many typewriters, many people who love or collect typewriters. And the family that owns the shop that sells refurbished typewriters and repairs them as well.
It’s a beautiful and heartbreaking thing. Many of you know I love and collect typewriters. It’s the same thing that Tom Hanks and John Mayer and the other people in the documentary say over and over: typewriters give you a tangible thing and a feeling completely different than using iPads and computers. It’s human. You put a piece of paper in, type, and your thoughts come out on the paper. Imagine that. What a thing.
A guy in the Boston Typewriter Orchestra (yes, that’s a thing) said “each one has its own soul and its own sound.” And they do. The keys feel and sound different as do the return bells on each model of each Smith Corona or Royal or Underwood or Olivetti or Remington or Olympia. Even more so than cars. I mean, does the horn on my Explorer any different than an Expedition?
A kid in the documentary says “you don’t have to turn it on and plug it in.” The seven year-old gets it. What a thing.
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