(paper moving)
(typewriter clanking)
When you use a typewriter,
(typewriter clanking)
you become focused on what you're thinking
and you just put your thoughts directly on paper
and there's nothing between you
but you and that little keyboard.
It's really magical.
My name is Paul Lundy and we're here
at the Bremerton Office Machine Company,
and we reside in a spiffy little 1946 office building.
Originally, Bob Montgomery and his dad started
the business.
He came here after World War II.
His dad had gotten the contract at the Navy Yard
and the company has been in business since 1947.
-What is it about typewriters?
(laughing) -What is it about typewriters?
That's so funny because you look
at these things, and it's just like they're just pieces
of mechanical stuff, right?
Permutations over the years and the decades
all doing one thing
and everybody having a slightly different idea
on how they should look, like that cute little Royal
Portable P, the most darling little typewriter.
And then you get this ponderous Underwood
sitting here, all doing the same thing.
Typewriters are a thing of the past.
(boysterous laugh)
You certainly...you certainly
wouldn't buy a modern typewriter today.
(laughing)
There's a large
group of people who I call typewriter enthusiasts
who uhm, like me,
have recognized the uniqueness of these machines
and what they do and the different styles
and the different eras of what they represent.
-Hi. -And they've become enamored with them too.
And they bring them in sometimes by the dozens.
So go ahead and put your machine there and...
Wow, nice Little Royal Ten.
And you're solving a problem for them,
which is kind of cool.
So it looks like
it needs paper rollers all the way around, okay?
You're helping them in some way, right?
You guys are really stuck.
Like today advising him
not to repair his typewriter because of rust.
There it is. There's some rust.
But going ahead anyway,
you know, or just helping somebody change ribbon.
One, two, three, seven.
And the customers themselves.
So yeah, 1929.
Hmm. It runs the spectrum,
everything from
the elderly who just need a helping hand with
with a more modern typewriter, to people
who come in with family heirlooms
that have been on the shelf for decades.
Yeah, well, we'll do our best.
-Okay. -Let me write up
a service ticket, then, you crazy person.
-Yes.
-Boy.
There's a very small group of people who write
and publish and have come
to realize that the typewriter
is key to their creativity.
And I am very fortunate to service
typewriters to these people and to just to listen to them
tell me how focused they've become
just because they don't do their first draft
on a computer or a pad or whatever, but on a typewriter.
Yeah.
This is a really good example
of a Smith Premier Number Two.
This is from the year 1900.
I have always
loved repairing things.
I've been in facilities, work for decades,
made a career out of facilities, worked
for a lot of local biotech companies.
This is the type basket and
you can see they come up from down below.
The original instructions had you rushing your type.
Tada! Look at this!
This is actually wood and these are all sewn in place.
I mean, the craftsmanship
of even just a cleaning brush is amazing.
Then one day I read in The Seattle Times:
'Last typewriter repairman at 92,'
and I thought, "Wow, I got to go see that guy."
So I went down here the next day, I met
Mr. Montgomery.
He knew every single manufacturer
and typewriter and model and all the different changes
that had been made on
any particular model throughout the decades. It was like,
the knowledge the guy had was it was just incredible.
I got hooked.
I just got hooked.
So this is a Remington Model One Noiseless.
They were known as the "noisy noiseless."
(loud typewriter clanking)
Not exactly noiseless.
Once a week and then twice a week.
And then pretty soon, I think I had two jobs.
Oh, look at that tiny screw. Oh, my God.
By the end of the year, I was having so much fun
doing this in my spare time
with Mr. Montgomery.
I just asked him,
"Do you think I got what it takes?"
And then he looked at me.
(deep sigh) "You're okay."
Looking at me over his glasses.
Classic, Mr. Montgomery.
I asked Lisa, my wife.
I think I'm going to do something crazy.
Are you okay with this?
And she said "This isn't the first crazy thing you've done,
so I'm
probably going to be okay." And then I bought the business
at the end of the year.
The reason why I'm here today is because Mr.
Montgomery really did stick it out.
I mean,
he created a little niche for himself that survived.
So look, if you're in your 90s...if
you bring something that's pretty simple,
I'm going to give you same day service.
Because we all know
that you got better things to do
than to be waiting for a typewriter sitting around.
But if you're younger, you're going to wait like
everybody else.
You know, you never know where life's going to take you.
And right now, it's taken me here with typewriters,
and I am having a time of my life,
and I'm going to do it for as long as I can.
(typerwriter clanking and chime)
(typewriter clanking)
For hours, location and how to make
an appointment, go to typespec.com.
♪♪
And catch Art Zone Friday nights
at 8 and anytime online at seattlechannel.org/artzone.
♪♪