Usually I’m so busy chatting and marveling when I visit Helmut that I totally forget to take a few photos. Fortunately someone stopped in for some ribbon on a Hermes yesterday, so I took a moment to document some of the density of typewriters in Helmut’s spectacular typewriter shop. I only got photos of about half of the space, but tried to cover all the various refurbished machines ready for sale. Generally not pictured are the client machines for repair.
If you’re looking for a really great refurbished machine, then this is the place to stop in and try out almost anything ever manufactured.
I have to admit, even for an experienced collector, this shop is overwhelming, so perhaps do yourself the favor of browsing what he’s got listed online to make a shopping list before you go! Without some prep you could easily spend a week here and not see everything much less try out a tiny fraction of what’s on offer.
I did not know this place existed. I’ll have to put this on my must-see list of typewriter places. Thanks for posting this.
For what Helmut misses in the space of Bob Marshall’s showroom, he makes up for it in 10x the inventory. Most other places I’ve been to around the area really only repair machines you bring in and have nothing you could buy today.
I keep meaning to make an appointment to go visit Aaron Therol at Typewriter Connection as well. Have you been to his place in Downtown LA? https://www.typewriterconnection.com/
So very cool. Helmut said something about retiring to me not long ago. I hope it won’t happen for some time!
Helmut in his mid 80s and doesn’t seem to have lost a step. The nearer term issue is that the building he’s in has announced it will be torn down, though permits and neighborhood issues haven’t put a date or specific timeframe on the project, so he may have to move sometime in the next 6-24 months. I’m half-tempted to retire from my present situation and pull what I could only term a “Lundy/Montgomery” maneuver.
Ray Wargnier, an IBM trained guy out in Woodland Hills, recently mentioned to me that he would entertain offers for his busy business as well though he’s not in a rush. He’s really swamped with repairs and doesn’t have any ready machines to sell in the proverbial “showroom”.