Hidden Gems: TypeWriter Connection

(Image courtesy of wix.com)

Los Angeles, California is not the first place a person imagines a typewriter shop to be located. To the outside world, Los Angeles is the Delphi of Shallowness. As one peels the layers off the city, this python sheds it’s trendy coat in favor of preserving substantive performances of it's legendary artists, writers and actors. Typewriter Connection connects current generations to the writing instrument that allowed writers to create literary and film masterpieces. I found Typewriter Connection on Tik-Tok and wanted to learn more about this hidden gem‘s mission and vision.

(Image courtesy of wix.com)

1. What makes Typewriter Connection different from other stores?

Typewriter Connection is unique in that it is neither an online store or a fully functioning brick and mortar store - but it is a means of connecting people to one another through ephemera of the past.

(Image courtesy Ernest Hemingway works at his typewriter while sitting outdoors, in Idaho on Oct. 7, 1939. Lloyd Arnold—Getty Images. You can find this image https://time.com/3961119/birthday-ernest-hemingway-history-death/ )

2.How does Typewriter Connection incorporate its mission and vision into its product offerings?

Our mission at Typewriter Connection is to connect people with the past through typewriters. We strive to preserve typewriters and their beauty and function. We accomplish this through finding good homes for old typewriters that we restore and through local events that bring awareness of the past to citizens today. In a society and world that feeds off of discarding things easily and looking for the next new thing, there is comfort and a lasting joy in finding a tangible item that brings satisfaction and practicality to your life. These machines are not produced or manufactured anymore (Michaels typewriters do not count in our eyes), and we want to help keep them a part of the world today.

(Image courtesy of Bird .2007, Ratatouille, United States Walt Disney Motion Pictures)

3. How did the company evolve during the COVID-19 pandemic?

COVID-19 shifted our company because we could no longer do events which was a large part of how we curated and increased interest in typewriters. Through events we instruct people on what typewriters are, how to use them, and other information. We shifted gears to do Instagram Lives where we would have themed talks. We also shifted gears to create a showroom by appointment rather than doing large events during COVID-19. We also created a hashtag #COVID Correspondence where we brought the world together by initiating a pen-pal activity, connecting partners all over the world to write each other.

We also lost a founding member of our company in 2020 (not to COVID-19). The typewriter community has shown an outpouring of support and love as they have all felt the loss of a great typewriter mechanic, enthusiast, and evangelist.

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4.What is the future of the company?

As I alluded to, the typewriter community is tight-knit and supportive. Our future is closely linked to this community. Although we find each other digitally, the love of something outside of ourselves brings many minds together that allows us to collaborate, envision, and continually connect through typed letters and online correspondence. As long as there are typewriters out there and people who want them, our future is strong. Any company or organization depends on the authenticity of the leaders and of the people - we feel that Typewriter Connection is not a head of a company, but that we are a part of a community.

(Image courtesy of Wix.com )