Friday, December 27, 2013

SF Bay Area type-in report



Mike Clemens (clickthing) brought a classy Underwood De Luxe Quiet Tab:


He also checked out my Twolympia and pronounced it perfect:


It's the legendary Cheryl Lowry of Strikethru!



Cindy (The Cynthia Project) shows Herb her custom-painted Smith-Corona with huge Primary type ...


... AKA The Kandy-Kolored Bubblegum Flake Streamline Baby:


Carolee (superdilettante) is co-author of Good Mail Day and hosts Snail Mail Socials in SF.


Gigi Clark brought several of her wonderful portables. 
She's thinking of starting a blog -- let's hope she does!


Yes, that's Gigi's animal-key Corona with original rings:


Tony (Tony's Vision) drove down from Cool for this cool event: 


Timothy tells us about his typewriter habit:


Anthony describes himself as an analog guy in a digital world:


Christine brought in her purple Remington no. 3 for repair, and said that the type-in was inspiring her to use her machines more:


Anurag of The Typography told us how much his friends in India have enjoyed getting typewritten letters from him:


Poet Silvi Alcivar (The Poetry Store) chats with filmmaker Doug Nichol:

  
Ken takes a look inside Silvi's Royal:


Happy interactions between people, machines, and more people:





Some of the neat typewriters on display:



Here's a wonderful Continental from the Permillions' collection with some kind of Slavic keyboard and a typeface like Royal's Vogue:

 

This Cole Steel is so cool it needs shades:


Gigi's creamy-green techno-type Torpedo:




(Correction: the original sterling Sterling isn't just silver-plated, but its body is solid sterling silver. Here's Alan Seaver's machine.)


Here's what a real typewriter mechanic's workshop looks like. I'm impressed.


Goodies for the typists, on a very appropriate tablecloth:


Hey, this looks familiar:



Finally, a sample of the immortal prose we collaboratively produced:


The 3.5 hours flew by, with no formal events -- we just went around saying a few words about ourselves, and did lots of chatting and typing. I think everyone who attended hopes that this won't be the last type-in at California Typewriter.

18 comments:

  1. So many people I want to meet some day! Wonderful photos. I'd like to visit a typewriter shop like that some day.

    Another green+green Torpedo like mine, second sighting. :D

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  2. Awesome type-in! It's nice to see the Permillions, Cheryl of Strikethru (!), and other familiar names/faces. California typewriter is really the perfect venue for it. I'm curious, did anyone purchase a typewriter?

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  3. So many typewriters, so little time. Let's do this again soon!

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  4. Great people, great machines, great photos - great event indeed!

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  5. How cool to host a type-in in a repair shop. That workspace really looks amazing!

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  6. What a wonderful type-in! I wish I could have made it, but we had to change our plans to visit CA.
    That shop is fantastic and all the wonderful machines.

    It would be wonderful to meet all those who were there. Good to see Ms. Strikethru out and about, and Tony, and Mike, and ... everyone.

    Thanks for the report.

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  7. I am SO JEALOUS! Looks like a GREAT type-in. Can't wait to join one of those myself!

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  8. Your coverage couldn't be better, Richard. Thanks for reinforcing the connections of names with faces (and typewriters!) which my sieve of a brain could barely hang on to. The structure of the event couldn't have been better. Thanks for getting this to happen, and of course a big dose of appreciation to those kind folks of California Typewriter. And thanks for that photo of the workbench - I was happy to see that, other than the infinite collection of tools, etc., it resembles mine, in that there is barely room for the typewriter!

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  9. This looks like tremendous fun. Wish I could have attended!

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  10. added a link to this awesome report at http://type-in.org/ :D

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  11. Nice to see Cheryl again, it's been a long time.
    I really would have loved to have attended that type-in!

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  12. Great type in, wish everyone in the 'sphere could have been there. Favorite moment was when Herb, Carmen and Ken (the owners) talked about the resurgence of typewriter enthusiasts coming to the shop, and how great it was to see the shop full of people. Doug's typewriter documentary captured that moment I believe, and so hopefully everyone can share it. Saving typewriter shops is hands down my favorite thing about the whole movement. That's it. It's a privilege to do anything to help these shops stay in business. Long may they wave. As a totally vain postscript, that is a terrible picture of me. :-)

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    1. You're right, it's a terrible picture! Sorry to catch you with your eyes closed.

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  13. Excellent write-up, and great pics. Thanks for sharing, Richard. Wish I could've been there.

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  14. Oh, that green Torpedo! And you say it's techno typeface as well? Nice.

    Great report! Nice to see everyone out and about! And to see the shop. The one time I went to Berkley (for a brother's wedding) we stayed at a hotel just a few blocks from there, but the shop was closed, so I couldn't do more than press my nose against the front window and dream....

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  15. Could the Slavic machine be Lithuanian?

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    1. I don't think so, based on what I can find online. It's closer to Czech or Slovak, but it isn't a standard Czech keyboard.

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  16. Phew! What a great turn-out. And what a lovely looking bunch of faces familiar and new. Thanks for posting the write-up and spreading some of the madness/joy.

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