“‘There’s going to come a time where there are so few people repairing these things that they’re just going to have to say, that’s the end of it.’” Mary Pilon visits Gramercy Typewriter Co.: The Last of the Typewriter Men.
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Friday, February 20, 2015
Life at Gramercy Typewriter Co.
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comments: 4
Just what I would wish I might be able to say when my (not too distant) end approaches.
I posted on F'bk that I have honored this man and his writings for more than 20 years now. We shall be the poorer for his absence, but all the richer for his life. It's wonderful to know he is satisfied, happy, grateful...for his life. As am I.
I made copies for all my students today. What a generous man to let other people learn from him.
As we contemplate our own personal Armageddon, it seems a most human thing to predict others. There will likely be a next "last" typewriter repairman, for I have seen and met some "last" of various kinds only to find small but growing interest in restoration beyond mere preservation. People are rebuilding things, even if only a few in number. From theater organs to light surrounds from the beginning of the last century, to steam locomotives to old cars, even hand operated printing presses and fish smokers, small foundries and, yes, one can buy a brand new buggy whip. The list is no doubt much longer. Perhaps for having seen so many take up something "old," I am infected with an optimism which precludes the too easy use of the word, "last." Hmm?
I hope you’re right. Gramercy does say it’s the last repair shop in Manhattan.
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