Are typewriters going the way of vinyl?
Note to those cave dwellers who’ve yet to succumb to Mad Men mania, it’s not that same route so traveled by the dodo. For a while it looked like the world’s supply of Underwoods and Olivettis was being requisitioned for hipster jewelry, but their recent comeback is rooted in their intended purpose. These days, they’re near fetish objects for romantic young writers conceived in the shadow of the Mac Classic.
Meanwhile, the likes of Cormac McCarthy and David McCullough, author of 1776, have yet to turn their backs on their beloved, quite likely lucky analog implements.
All due respect to the young Turks seeking to digitize the dinosaur, but the real hero of the typewriter’s post millennial survival is Paul Schweitzer, the ink fingered medicine man at the helm of Gramercy Typewriter. His once-robust competition consigned to the ash heap, Schweitzer has both the stubbornness and expertise to tough it out, in an analog lair that’s the antithesis of sleek.
No one will fault you if your heart lies with your various screens. But let’s not forget where you came from.
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Making Paper in L.A., Pianos in Paris: Old Craftsmen Hanging on in a Changing World
- Ayun Halliday is the author of a half dozen some books including the decidedly analog Zinester’s Guide to NYC.
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