Nestled in the heart of Berkeley is a quaint little shop where the past refuses to fade.
Inside, the clickety-clack of forgotten treasures is inspiring a new generation to tap into nostalgia.
“They have been coming out of the woodwork,” said Ken Alexander
A mechanic at Berkely Typewriter , Alexander said the shop was looking bleak just a few years ago. Now, business is booming.
“Most of my customers, to a T, tell me the same thing: when they get down on a typewriter and start working on it, a tactile feel is what they’re looking for,” he said.
Once destined for the trash heap, typewriters are making a comeback, fetching hundreds of dollars on the open market.
Typewriter poet Silvi Alcivar said these old machines are gaining popularity for all the features they’re missing, like the distractions of an internet connection and the constant prompts of a word processor.
“What i think the typewriter allows you to do, if you want to, is to be connected to a more stream of consciousness, a more flow of presence,” she said.