FeedCity: Chris Aldrich

Chris Aldrich
25 Mar 18:30 • Chris Aldrich

You’re invited to a Southern California Type-In!

View of the front street entrance of Vroman's Bookstore. An elegant purple lettered sign hangs over the door. In the foreground is an artistic and quirky plastic red "chair" in front of a Little Free Library box. On the adjacent wall is the window for Tepito Coffee with a yellow lettered sign. Beside this is a painted wall mural featuring a typewriter painted in red with a page coming out of it that reads: I will forever be in love with you. And that's not fiction.

Date Saturday, May 10, 2025 Time 1:00 PM onwards Location Vroman’s Bookstore 695 E Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91101 2 blocks West of Lake Avenue, which has both East and Westbound exits off of the 210 Freeway. We’ll be meeting upstairs on the second floor. Parking available behind the bookstore as well as on surrounding … Continue reading You’re invited to a Southern California Type-In!

Chris Aldrich
21 Mar 20:34 • Chris Aldrich

Standard Typewriters versus Portable Typewriters and Ultraportable Typewriters

A hulking gray 1950 Royal KMG standard typewriter next to it's much smaller relative, the 1949 Royal Quiet De Luxe as they sit on an oak library card catalog.

Within the typewriter space there are three broad categories of typewriters primarily based on size: Standard (or office or desktop) typewriters were designed and meant for use in a stationary location, most often an office where they would be used for 8 hours a day (or more), every day of the work week. These typewriters, … Continue reading Standard Typewriters versus Portable Typewriters and Ultraportable Typewriters

Chris Aldrich
20 Mar 17:46 • Chris Aldrich

Save the Date: A Southern California Type-In on May 10, 2025

Two rows of four typewriters each lined up on opposite sides of a table.

I’ve been in conversation with a local bookstore in Pasadena to help host a type-in in Southern California. We’re making plans for Saturday afternoon on May 10th from 1:00 PM onward. So mark your calendars, limber your fingers, and start tuning up your favorite typewriter(s)! More details and specifics to come shortly. If you’re nearby … Continue reading Save the Date: A Southern California Type-In on May 10, 2025

Chris Aldrich
11 Mar 19:17 • Chris Aldrich

Great! Another evacuation warning. This time instead of for catastrophic fire, it’s for rain and potential mudslides from the burn scar. Fortunately (?) I’m still evacuated from January 7th about 6 miles south.

Chris Aldrich
11 Mar 06:28 • Chris Aldrich

Table level view of the front of a 1929 Corona 4 Portable Typewriter

Received on Saturday 03-08, but didn’t open it up until this morning. The case is fairly worn and has the fabric peeled off in several spots, but the leather handle is in tact and in reasonably good shape. The machine has seen better days certainly and needs a thorough cleaning. The paint has some significant … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
11 Mar 06:07 • Chris Aldrich

1920 Corona 3 folding typewriter viewed from table level

Received on Saturday 03-10 and unpacked this morning. This is now the oldest machine in my collection and the first true antique as it’s now 105 years old. The first thing I’m struck by is the tiny size and scant weight of the entire machine and the case. I’m curious to compare the weight to … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
09 Mar 06:37 • Chris Aldrich

Typed white index card sticking out of the carriage of a typewriter with the quote: "Gladys also tell you I drink my lunch? She forgets I eat the olives. That's where the nourishment is. Gladys talks too much. I ought to get rid of her, but she has it on me ever since I got juiced up at that Christmas party and made a couple passes at her IBM machine." --Henry Rufus portrayed by Henry Jones in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (20th Century Fox, 1957)

Chris Aldrich
06 Mar 07:00 • Chris Aldrich

A pearl gray 1957 Royal FP standard typewriter stands atop an oak library card catalog

Received in generally workable shape, though without ribbon; definitely dirty; internal foam disintegrating; brights are going to need a load of polish; temporary photos to provide some idea of condition until I get the chance to clean it up. My wide carriage 1958 FPE was so nice I thought I’d try out the larger face … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
06 Mar 00:33 • Chris Aldrich

I’ve finally broken a small barrier and am now ranked as typewriter hunter #115 on the Typewriter Database. I have a few machines that should arrive soon which in combination with doing some repairs and uploading some data should help me finally break into the top 100.

Chris Aldrich
03 Mar 19:19 • Chris Aldrich

Frontal view of a 1964 Olympia SM9 typewriter sitting on an oak library card catalog.

In what I may call the Academy 97 typewriter because I received it on the day of the 97th Annual Academy Awards on March 2nd, I’ve acquired my first SM9. It’s a solid looking machine aside from some small damage to the rivets at the back of the case, some paint wear on the hood … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
28 Feb 18:34 • Chris Aldrich

For those interested in writing methods, Peter Elbow’s work can be seen as an interesting shift in pedagogy from the 1970s. Interestingly it relies on pieces of practices pre-dating him which inform commonplace book and related zettelkasten methods. For my own files, from the obituary, it looks like he was using an IBM Selectric I … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
25 Feb 06:16 • Chris Aldrich

Hero image of a 1945 black Remington 17 Standard typewriter on a wooden dining room table

When I was interested in getting my first standard typewriter last year, Ruben Flores immediately recommended I get a Remington 17. While I’ve picked up a handful of other standards in the meanwhile, I’ve kept my eyes peeled. I just couldn’t let this $21 beauty slip by. If my 1956 Remington Standard is any indication, … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
18 Feb 04:16 • Chris Aldrich

Typewriter Market: It may be better if you didn’t get an Olympia SM3 typewriter today

I’m not out to shame people for their purchases, just to caution uninitiated typewriter purchasers and budding collectors who aren’t carefully watching the market. Olympia SM3s are well-touted and excellent typewriters. They’ve recently been selling on ShopGoodwill in unknown condition for $120-150 based only on photos. Earlier today, an Olympia SM3 sold for $334! So … Continue reading Typewriter Market: It may be better if you didn’t get an Olympia SM3 typewriter today

Chris Aldrich
15 Feb 04:53 • Chris Aldrich

A bottle of Four Roses Select bourbon next to a 1958 Royal FP typewriter in pearl gray.

My partner got me some roses for Valentines Day. 😍

Chris Aldrich
11 Feb 20:06 • Chris Aldrich

A standard-sized Royal FP typewriter in light pearl/gray paint with a red Royal badge on the front. The platen is a honking 16 inches wide. The machine sits on a wooden dining room table almost as if is ready to taxi the runway and fly off.

I’ve been wanting to score an FP for a long time. Well shipped and in generally functional shape. My first typewriter of 2025 and the first since the Eaton Fire.

Chris Aldrich
04 Feb 01:23 • Chris Aldrich

Entrance sign at Eaton Canyon. Behind it is a partially burned tree next to a fence with a variety of red signs indicating the area is closed.

I’m not sure if it was a general sale or a geofenced one, but I was able to replace many of my Darn Tough socks today. I should have my warm, winter hiking socks well before Eaton Canyon reopens. #AltadenaTough

Chris Aldrich
01 Feb 08:01 • Chris Aldrich

Map of the burn area of the Eaton Fire in Altadena, CA in January 2025

As a 50 year old with a 13 year old daughter living in Octavia Butler’s neighborhood of Altadena, CA, it was eerie when I re-read The Parable of the Sower last summer. Today following the devastating Eaton Fire, the opening of chapter four just doubles down on the dystopia in which we’re living.

Chris Aldrich
27 Jan 04:59 • Chris Aldrich

Tonight, for the first time since January 7th, I made the depressing choice to drive from a friend’s on Lincoln across town on Altadena Drive. The utter devastation of the Eaton Fire is truly ghastly. So much of my town just doesn’t exist anymore. As I got to Altadena Drive and Washington, it began to … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
27 Jan 02:41 • Chris Aldrich

A positively dry and brittle Christmas Tree in late January deddfiad by simple lights.

This is officially the latest I’ve ever taken down a Christmas tree in my life.

Chris Aldrich
21 Jan 04:00 • Chris Aldrich

When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king; the palace becomes a circus. —Turkish proverb

Chris Aldrich
21 Jan 01:13 • Chris Aldrich

Typed index card that reads: 2025-01-07 Crazy winds kicked up this morning around 5:30AM and woke up both Sonia and I early. I went out briefly around 6:00 A to batten down the hatches and move the car out from under the tree. Evie was already up and working on her math homework. I'm really proud of her for this as well as going to bed at a reasonable time last night. The trip to school wasn't too bad this morning, though I did have to navigate around a Christmas thee that had blown into the middle of the street. Winds are supposed to be bad all day long. I'm sort of worried about going to class tonight at UCLA, but I suspect that winds there probably aren't as bad based on what Sonia has said about her drive into the office earlier

We were allowed back into our neighborhood over the weekend and were excited to find our poor wind battered and smoke damaged house still standing. Naturally I brought back a daily typewriter, but it was eerie to see what I’d last typed on it two weeks ago just before we had to evacuate.

Chris Aldrich
18 Jan 01:56 • Chris Aldrich

A small ranch home on the waning light of the day.

Against all odds the house is still standing!!!

Chris Aldrich
16 Jan 05:31 • Chris Aldrich

Crystal glass with bourbon on the rocks in front of a bowl full of oranges on a dining room table.

Circumstances have totally dictated that I chose the wrong year to try “Dry January.” In fact, it was the dry Southern California January that got us into this mess…

Chris Aldrich
07 Jan 22:20 • Chris Aldrich

I often find things inside typewriters… LEGO (multiple), a chicken leg from a Calico Critters playset, a tiny 70s photo of a child, the stub of a pencil, glitter, a pocket knife, a mini clothespin… And naturally lots and lots of eraser bits, loose screws, loose springs, dust rhinoceroses, dried white out, dirt, cobwebs, even … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
07 Jan 19:26 • Chris Aldrich

1954 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter in brown with green keys and a gray spacebar sitting on a wooden table next to a green coffee mug and a small winter skating scene built of LEGO.

Fifteen minutes of tinkering and this machine is imminently usable. It’ll take about a half day to clean up properly, but this is well on its way to its former glory. I should be able to turn this $25 find into a proper $350 work-a-day typewriter.

Chris Aldrich
03 Jan 19:50 • Chris Aldrich

A black crinkle painted Remington Rand Deluxe Model 5 typewriter sitting on a black wood cabinet. Four shimmery gold mini decorative Christmas trees sit on the table behind it.

A belated Christmas present arrived today!

Chris Aldrich
02 Jan 00:28 • Chris Aldrich

A Solari erasing shield sitting vertically on a typed index card to count the number of typed lines of text on it. Each numbered mark on the side of the ruler counts the corresponding number of lines of text on the page.

Amidst all the typewriter paraphernalia I come across, the curved typing shield doesn’t get enough of its due. While it has some useful measurement functions, its primary functionality is as an eraser shield for erasing errors in carbon copy packs. You would move the carriage to the far right or left (to keep eraser crumbs … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
28 Dec 23:15 • Chris Aldrich

A 1941 Corona Standard typewriter with the body panels, platen, paper tray, rollers, and paper table removed.

The restoration work on my 1941 Corona Standard is coming along nicely so far.

Chris Aldrich
20 Dec 16:51 • Chris Aldrich

Grey typewriter carriage with a typed index card that reads: Hackday.io Typewriter Projects | Folks are often asking about doing curious hacks on typewriters (along the lines of the USB typewriter https://www.usbtypewriter.com/), so I thought I'd pass along this index of some prior projects and attempts to do interesting hacks using them: https://hackday.io/search?term=typewriter

Chris Aldrich
16 Dec 03:14 • Chris Aldrich

Black wooden typewriter case covered in black material. It's split into two parts and sitting on a wooden table in front of a 1941 Corona Standard "Flat top" in the background.

Spent an hour today cleaning up the case of my Corona Standard and removing some rust from the metal fittings. Some of the material is peeling away from the case and I’m debating whether or not I ought to recover the entire thing—a restoration project I’ve not yet done on any of my machines. Took … Continue reading