Grand Opening of Typewriter Muse

For about 7 years Typewriter Muse has been operating out of a home-like space, but this weekend they opened a lovely brick and mortar location in Riverside, CA in a nice sized business park with plenty of Doris Day parking right out front.

Their Instagram account has been documenting some of the move and set up over the past month, but Bob and the gang have unveiled their new space on Saturday, January 31, 2026.

Bob’s shop is one of the few I’m aware of with a multitude of people (at least six by my count on Saturday) working at any given time. (Most modern shops are one or possibly two person operations.) This means that the cleaning, repairs, oiling, and adjusting can be set up in an assembly line fashion. Machines come into the front of the shop on the left hand side, then move down the left to the rear where they do power washing and platen work in the back room. From there they move back into the main portion of the shop where the segments and internals are cleaned using isopropyl alcohol and long stick q-tips. (This generally means less health and safety issues by not using mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, or other caustic chemicals which require better ventilation.) From there they stage on a long desk before they go to one of two mechanic’s stations where repairs and adjustments are made before being stored for pick up or placed in the “showroom” The overall layout is quite well designed for moving machines in and out of the shop.

Unique for many shops, the front reception space has community room for a handful of small desks and typewriters to accommodate 8-10 people for small classes, demonstrations, or a small type-in. The room has been dedicated to local journalist Dan Bernstein. (If you’re in the So-Cal area and are interested, Bob has kindly offered the writing space for small type-in events.)

I drove out in the late morning from Altadena. As a typewriter enthusiast I naturally chose the apropos 71 S Corona route (California State Route 71 towards Corona) before turning off toward Riverside, which is about an hour from my house near Pasadena.

Who’d have thought the great typewriters were in Riverside and not in Corona?

Bob Marshall and Bryan Mahoney discussing a custom painted Royal P.

Try out a machine or twenty while you’re here!