Saturday, December 29, 2012

A shiny Christmas







Photo from I Dream Lo-TechVisit the California Typewriter website here.





Paramount lobby, photo by "The Dude." The Paramount is almost too overwhelming to be captured in a two-dimensional image, but there are a couple of nice panoramic shots of the interior here.







Sorry about the poor iPad photography for my 200th typecast!



20 comments:

  1. OMG... chrome Studio 44!
    And the long-awaited Polt book project.

    This post is good for my jet lag!

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  2. Congratulations on number 200! I have never seen an all chrome typewriter and as Ton pointed out, a Studio 44 at that!

    The Paramount is my kind of theater. I love those big old fantastic nearly extinct beautiful theaters. I do not know which is worse. The cities that have them and allow them to be torn down or the cities that approve construction plans to make many tiny theaters out of one large one.

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    1. I'm with you on the theaters.

      Oakland also has another old movie palace, The Fox, which was recently restored after being shuttered since the '60s. I haven't been there yet.

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  3. Oh my.... The chrome makes the olivetti look like a motorbike or sports car. Did they explain a little on how it came about?

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    1. Jesse said that it was chrome-plated at the factory but they had it re-plated by a company in Mexico. According to Carmen at California Typewriter, Berkeley Typewriter has sold several chrome-plated machines recently.

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  4. That is one gorgeous typewriter. I've always loved chrome but with my obsessive compulsiveness, I'd keep wiping off my fingerprints rather than typing.

    I love the book idea! Go for it!

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    1. Jesse provided a detailing rag with the typewriter, advising me to clean off my fingerprints after use!

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  5. Great find Richard. I once mentioned the possibility of chroming a Lettera 22, and was told it was super expensive because of the metal Olivetti used.
    The book is fantastic news.

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  6. I think your book idea is a fascinating one, and that Chromed 44 is a beautiful Thing! :D

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  7. Wow, fantastic news, fantastic location, fantastic typewriter!

    I join the chorus saying, "yay, a book by Richard Polt! Me wants one!"

    That theatre is fantastic! I really love the Art Deco architecture, it is a fantastic period of architectural design that I've always admired a lot. If I ever have the chance to visit that place, I'm not sure if I'd actually watch the movie; I'd spend most of the time gaping and admiring all the details of the magnificent building. So fantastic!

    And the chromed Olivetti is just impressive. And it types very nicely!

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  8. This book idea of yours sounds fantastic. Print surely, none of this eBook stuff.
    Sounds like - just from the title - that it will become definitive print resource for typewriters today. Brilliant. Can't wait.
    (And what's left to say about a Chrome Plated typewriter? Marvellous)

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  9. Please make one of those old fashioned books, you know the ones, with spines :)

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    1. If the book comes to pass, it will definitely be a real book, made to last. And independent of electricity.

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  10. also make sure you have your anti-glare sunglasses on when you are typing on that marvelous chrome machine

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  11. Chrome Studio 44 - and a book - Yes, Please!

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  12. I would love to buy several copies of this book! And is Jesse as nice in person as he seems in interviews?

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    1. He was good to talk to, and evidently full of knowledge.

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  13. Two more recruited for the cause of typewriters at a young age - that's promising! Interesting observation on presence/non-presence resp. "elsewhereness" in the digital age. For the book, how to do it? Probably following the three rules of writing a phD: 1. write. 2. write. 3 write. I think what need to be done also is a print-out of the typosphere blogs so far. I have heard of services to print your blogger blog, but they seemed too expensive. Isn't there an application to do this by now? Oh, the chrome - I am envious!

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  14. Unlike a dissertation, this book would be (a) fun, and (b) written largely by people other than me. If it happens, I will invite many typospherians and others to contribute their perspectives.

    As for printing a blog, there are apparently services that will convert a blog to a PDF, which you can print if you like: BookSmith and Zinepal. I haven't tried them yet myself but will probably do so when I have a little free time.

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  15. This book sounds awesome. Let me know what I can do to help make it happen.

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