Earlier this week I was contacted by Type Space owner Tony Valoppi. He informed me that Portland’s alternative weekly newspaper, Willamette Week, was going to be including his shop in their annual “Best Of Portland” edition. I was asked if I would be interested in participating in some way, perhaps doing a bit of typing for a social media video.
It sounded interesting enough to me and I’m happy to help out however I can when it comes to the local typewriter scene here in Portland getting more publicity and recognition. So earlier today I headed over to Type Space and then tried to stay out of the way as best I could until there was something for me to do. The photographer from Willamette Week had a number of creative ideas that he wanted to try out while he was there and he spent a good amount of time working to make sure that he had plenty of images and video painting Type Space in a positive light.
All in all, it made for a fun morning. But what is really exciting is to see a place like Type Space recognized by a publication like Willamette Week who make it their mission to stay on top of the pulse of this city. Typewriters it seems, are “in” right now here in Portland along with plenty of other places all across the country and elsewhere around the globe. While there is a chance that one of the images taken today will appear on the cover of Willamette Week for next week’s edition, I’m just happy to see the newspaper reaching out to a typewriter shop, period.
The reality is that the typewriter renaissance currently underway is a great story. So while I’m excited by today’s events, I can’t exactly say that I am surprised. Good for Type Space, good for Portland, and good for typewriters and typewriter fans.
Good to see the publicity.
Indeed, I’m curious to see how Willamette Week ends up presenting Type Space when their Best Of Portland issue drops this Wednesday.
Wonderful. Every city should have a place like this!
No kidding, wouldn’t that be great? I myself am most excited to see how Type Space becomes embedded within the community. Both as it regards current typewriter fans as well as those who aren’t really familiar with these machines that might become future typewriter fans.
Ha! Anthony talked about this on TCL yesterday, he got you in to type for him because he was self conscious about his two-finger typing on camera 😀
LOL, yep. I’m glad that Tony joined in for TCL as I was encouraging him to do so when I was there for the photo shoot. Sorry I missed yet another meeting, but my sleep situation has been horrible as of late. Worthwhile participation on my part would be questionable even if I were to make it. Hopefully this changes soon.
Sounds like a neat experience! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Bill. I agree with your perspective of this being good for typewriters and their adoring fans 🙂
It is feeling like we as typewriter fans might have even more to look forward to over the next few years — let’s hope so.