The analog revolution is happening at Passyunk Avenue’s Philly Typewriter

In 2014, Kravitz, a career typewriter mechanic, manned his post in a storefront at 4th and Bainbridge every Friday evening from 4-6pm, in front of a display of the machines. “People would appear and I thought they were waiting for the bus,” Kravitz recalls, “and they would tell me, we’re here to see the typewriter repairman.” It was reason enough to turn his two-hour weekly repair workshop into a small store.

And then, Rhoda appeared: “He came in asking for the ribbon and never left,” Kravitz remembers.

When Rhoda needed the ribbon, he was convinced that the first Internet search result would either be Amazon or a sponsored post. Instead, it was Kravitz. He thought, “Oh, okay, I guess typewriters are back?” Then, in 2020, the boom happened.

The analog pandemic

It was the height of a long summer in quarantine when the business started to explode. “Phone calls, emails, everyone was furloughed and everyone was home cleaning out their attics,” Rhoda says. “All of a sudden, you find Great-aunt Ruth’s typewriter. So they started coming to us.”

The pair of mechanics were sure that this new world wouldn’t allow a typewriter shop to survive. But as multimillion dollar companies shuttered around the country, Philly Typewriter gained momentum and thrived with dozens of new clients. At one point, the Bainbridge Street shop had 80 machines covering every surface. Rhoda and Kravitz hurled themselves onto the Zoom train to keep up.

“We very quickly outgrew our space,” Rhoda says. “In 2019 I had started working on outlining an apprenticeship training program. What would a trade school look like? So Bryan and I set to work. We devised a program of three separate six-week courses to train six new mechanics. They helped us achieve some kind of balance again.”

The path to Passyunk

Meanwhile, Kravitz has a unique connection to the Passyunk Avenue space that would become their new home: he was married there.

“This wonderful, charismatic Rabbanit, Dasi Fruchter, developed a congregation that would meet and have services there. She fixed the building up, pulled the cover off the walls, exposed the brick and put in a beautiful wooden floor and new lighting.” She let Rhoda and Kravitz store their machine overflow in the basement. Just as they were wondering where they could possibly move the store, “Dasi told us, ‘I’m sorry to say you’re going to have to get your typewriters out of here. I’m losing the building.’ That was all we needed to hear. We moved in instead of moving out.”

That sense of community opened up countless doors for Philly Typewriter.

Big money in old typewriters

“Mike McGettigan, who owns Trophy Bikes, is credited with the world’s first Type In,” Rhoda says. “It’s basically a car show for typewriter nerds. Everyone brings and sets up with their machines, there’s a typing speed competition, everything is free to use, you buy, sell, trade and swap stories.” The second event, dubbed a Type Out, happened in New England. Rhoda says McGettigan was contacted by the New York Times, asking if that name was trademarked, “and he said nope. He kicks himself because now they constantly happen all over the world with huge turnouts.”

Older crowds and new enthusiasts alike bring out tons of collectors to these events. “There’s big money in old typewriters since there are so many rarities out there,” Rhoda says. “In the late 1800s there were many typewriter companies, but each machine was handmade. Only a couple thousand could afford to be made. They’re always hunting down the rare ones. There’s one-of-a-kinds, there’s million-dollar pieces.”

Who is buying all these typewriters?

Type Ins are one of many reasons to visit the Passyunk Avenue space. Standup comic Jamie Pappas, who calls the store a “goldmine” for jokes, began producing her weekly show Playtime Comedy there.

“How is a typewriter shop thriving in a city where people walk into each other while texting on the sidewalk? Is this a very elaborate front? Who the heck is buying enough typewriters to keep this place in business?” she asks. “It’s fun to roast the general existence of the store. Especially the idea that a white man can truly get a business loan for anything, including a typing tool that is essentially extinct in terms of production. It’s hilariously infuriating to me.”

The Revenge of Analog

Regarding the soaring popularity of their business, Kravitz quotes Mark Twain: “History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

“Anytime we’re invited to Philly Tech Week, we’re a hit,” Rhoda laughs. “AI on one side of us, robotics on the other side and yet our table is still flooded. As human beings, I think we want this real tactile connection again. People walk by our table, stop and say, ‘wait, really?’” Back in 2016, the duo hosted the release of Toronto author David Sax’s The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter, which, according to Rhoda, “explores the revenge of board games, pens, pencils and planners. In it [Sax] predicts that vinyl will outsell CDs in the next five years. Sure enough, in 2020, it did.”

After the book release, Kravitz and Rhoda gifted the author with a typewriter.

“He goes back to Canada, sends us an email with a picture of the typewriter,” Rhoda says. “It’s a sloppily written page that reads, ‘look what you’ve done.’ The next day he sends another picture of another much better printed page that read, ‘I think I have to create a blog.’ And he does. It’s called Thoughts from a Typewriter.”

In the first post, Sax gives Philly Typewriter a shout-out and refers to the typewriter as the “greatest, new writing instrument.” He highlights how many writers and authors are getting back to appreciating what these instruments mean.

The perfect city for typewriters?

In 2019, Philly Typewriter was featured in the last issue of National Geographic Traveler, Best in the World. Rhoda says it’s because of the “megalopolis” of Philadelphia as “the intersection between New York, Baltimore, New England, DC, and Harrisburg. We’re right off 95. Philadelphia is just so eclectic and weird that it’s the exact city that would be able to support the world’s largest typewriter company.”

As Kravitz puts it, “Revolutions happen in Philadelphia.”

Those who want to explore the art of typewriters further can head to Sheryl Oring’s Secretary to the People at the Parkway Central Branch of the Free Library, opening January 30 and continuing for the first 100 days of the new US Presidency. It will include related public programming.

At top: Visitors to Philly Typewriter enjoy a chance to use the machines. (Photo by Bill Rhoda.)