In the middle of Berkeley, there is a cute little shop where the past won’t go away. Inside, the clicking of old treasures is making a new generation want to feel nostalgic.
Ken Alexander said, “They’ve been coming out of the stone walls.” Alexander, who works as a worker at Berkeley Typewriter, said that the shop looked bad a few years ago. Now things are going really well.
When they sit down at a computer and start to work, most of my customers tell me the same thing: they want something that feels good to the touch, he said.
Typewriters are making a comeback and can now be bought for hundreds of dollars. They used to be thrown away.
Silvi Alcivar, a poet who writes on typewriters, said that these old machines are becoming more popular because they don’t have all the features that newer machines do, like the steady prompts of a word processor or the distractions of the internet.
It seems like the typewriter can connect you to a more stream of awareness or flow of presence if you choose to use it that way, she said.
It’s been said that Richard Polt wrote the book on typewriters. He said that a lot of younger people are getting interested in old things again, in part because of Taylor Swift, whose music video for “Fortnight” featured an old typewriter.
He said that what they find is the kind of magic that can only be found by doing things in person, by doing things that need a more human touch and connection and that are hard to copy.
Alexander thought that this revival was a very important change. One that might make him put off putting up his resume for a while.
He said, “I don’t think they’re going anywhere.” They seem to be back for good.
